Default/Debt advice

debtfreedreamer23

Hi All,

I’ve made a real mess of my life these last few years and got myself in a financial disaster. I don’t want to go in to specifics but I have made the right steps to getting this sorted for the sake of my family, before I had all the right intentions but none of the will but that has changed now. 

I have about £36k worth of debt over 5 credit cards, 2 are on 0% and the other 3 are interest - 2 are manageable but my MBNA card is such high repayments and interest (£400ish with £250 of that interest) 

I’m currently on maternity leave so really struggling to make the repayments, I called MBNA to seek advise and they said they would close the account which would lead to a default but that I could then make affordable payments. 

I’ve had a couple of letters through advising they would close the account but the latest one says that they will be requesting the amount due in full. This is not what I was expecting at all and obviously cannot afford it as it’s around £12k. 

Is this a standard letter and once the account has defaulted we can work out a payment plan or is this is and I have to pay the full amount or go to court? 

I’m absolutely terrified now that I’ve made the wrong decision. 

Grumpelstiltskin

OK  Stop panicking, that is the normal standard default letter, hang on to see if they sell the debt on and if so you will hear from whoever buys it.

Forget any payment for now, when it is sold on come back for advice.

Remember if you can't afford to pay your unsecured debts just stop paying all of them, nothing terrible is going to happen  and also remember you are in charge not your creditors, you make decisions not them.

sourcrates

I commented on your first post in 2023 when you were in financial difficulty, so I take it things have not improved much for you?

Surely you must have received a default notice in the past, its a statutory letter that must be sent under sec 87(1) CCA.

It must be sent to comply with the consumer credit act, and its best to take a common sense approach to these things, they can ask whatever they like, but they can`t take what you don`t have now can they, try and calm down as this is nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately these letters sound very worrying to the uninitiated, they should really be in plain English instead, and simply explain that this is the process you have to go through in order for you to pay a reduced amount on your debt.

As it is you get a standard letter with standard wording, and not much of a clear explanation, so your debt will likely be sold, once it defaults, so just wait until someone writes to you, and you can then set up a payment plan, all very easy, and very simple to do.