Advice / thoughts / help

Jabby1

Ok so I only found out about affordability claims this year. 

I think I’ve had unaffordable lending for years which has kept me in a cycle of debt I know I am partly to blame and have made some poor choices but now I’ve looked into this I can see some lending was totally wrong and should never have been given to me. 

At one point Mbna gave me 3k credit card when my monthly income was under £1k and I had other debts already struggling to pay. 

NatWest gave me a loan when I was already on a reduced payment for a credit card and in my overdraft every month 
and very kept increasing my limit even though I was in persistent debt and making minim payments. 

I wish I could turn back time and make better choices but when I look at it some of this was irresponsible on my part but some of it was used just to afford essential things like food and electricity and the like 
anyway I’m putting in claims and just wondered if anyone had any advice or would be willing to share their experiences 
anything I get will help me get of debt faster and that is all I want I don’t think at this point I ever want credit facilities ever 

ManyWays

I think all these claims are very individual, so other peoples experiences dont necessarily help. If people say they won complaints against payday lenders, that just means that was what they claimed about, it doesn't make it less likely that you will win complaints against MBNA and Natwest, or that you have to have had several loans to win a case. The 3 you mention sound worth making.

You are in a Payplan DMP I think, any claims you win will speed up the DMP by reducing the balance to be cleared and may also get your credit record cleaned sooner. 

dunstonh

At one point Mbna gave me 3k credit card when my monthly income was under £1k and I had other debts already struggling to pay.

By £1k do you mean £1k a week or month or year?

Had you already defaulted on debt or got into arrears?  (important as if you haven't then there are no flags to show that you have financial issues as you are servicing the debt within the agreed terms)

NatWest gave me a loan when I was already on a reduced payment for a credit card and in my overdraft every month and very kept increasing my limit even though I was in persistent debt and making minim payments.

 Was the loan for repaying the debt?.  Loans are cheaper than overdrafts and credit cards and are considered acceptable to use to reduce borrowing costs and bring some structure to repaying the debt.

and just wondered if anyone had any advice or would be willing to share their experiences 

Firstly, do not assume you will win your complaints. i.e. don't get excited that you could be on to something.    Most of these complaints fail. Especially when against the mainstream banks and providers.     It's the payday loan, high-risk loan companies where most issues lie.

Complaints should be personalised and not from a template.  Personalised complaints have a higher success rate than template.  Partly, as many of these complaints rely on balance of probability decisions, and if your complaint has a bunch of bullet points from a template that can be proven false, you lose credibility.  Where a balance of probability decision needs to be made, often the more credible party is believed.  Plus, you want the complaints handler to be on your side and using a template that they have seen many times before with try-it-on complaints will often make them sceptical against your complaint. 

Do not use a claims company.   If you have defaulted, had amounts written off or gone into arrears, a successful complaint resulting in redress can see the money go against the debt rather than in your pocket.   You end up with a bill for the claims company that you have to pay despite not seeing some or all of the redress personally.