Debts and DV

Always_Fishing

RhiBi said:

One little positive.  I had a phone call back from the GP surgery and the debt and mental health form is ready for me to collect with no fee to pay.  I’ll take that as a win, although I haven’t picked it up yet so no idea what they’ve said, but for today, it is a win!

Good news 👍

RhiBi

So I’ve collected the form from the GP.  They’ve stated that I have anxiety and significant trauma as a survivor of DV.  They’ve completed the back saying that I am a victim of financial abuse and that I’ve recently ended a 6 year abusive relationship and I’m a victim of alleged financial abuse.

The word ‘alleged” worries me slightly, but I’ll forward it on to CAB for them to do what they need to and go from there.

i am hoping that as I paid solicitor fees and a court fine in respect of the guilty plea of assault by beating on a credit card that that will at least carry some weight.

KittyKat423

Hi RhiBi, There's an organisation that specialises in helping survivors of financial abuse. They have a Financial Support helpline and are likely to know better than CAB how to deal with DV related debts. The org is called Surviving Economic Abuse. 
I'm not allowed to post a link as I only just signed up to the forum. 

RhiBi

Hi @KittyKat423 I thank you.  When I contacted creditors, one (M&S bank I think) of them directed me to that site.  I’ve read through it but not called yet as it’s hard saying it all out loud.

Brie

RhiBi said:

Hi @KittyKat423 I thank you.  When I contacted creditors, one (M&S bank I think) of them directed me to that site.  I’ve read through it but not called yet as it’s hard saying it all out loud.

Hugs for being so strong with this.  Yes it is difficult to talk about and some people never manage to do that.  But you've "said" it here so that's good start.  With all difficult conversations maybe if you write out a bit of what you want to say then if you get stuck you can refer to that.  

And I was surprised that you were being told about a charge for the form - I didn't realise that it might be different in other bits of the UK.  I double checked on the StepChange website and it says "In Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland - A GP can ask for payment. But this is rare."  I'm glad your surgery has been sensible about this.  

RhiBi

@Brie thank you for you lovely words, and to everyone for their kindness.

Theres a long road ahead of me, with all this financial stuff to deal with.  I won’t go into the emotional side on here as that’s not what this board is about, but I am afraid that road might be even longer.

all I can do is keep plodding on and hope that there are brighter days ahead, to enjoy the people and things I love.

RhiBi

Sorry, I know I’ve got lots of questions!

I’ve been reading about affordability complaints and I feel that the Nivuna finance loan I took out in January 2024 may come into that category.  I was already maxed out on credit cards, had 2 other loans and I knew at the time I couldn’t really afford it and was shocked that they gave it to me.

my question is though that as I have currently signed over discussions with creditors to CAB who are dealing with the mental health/dv side of things should I let that run its course first?  My thoughts are whether to send them off now, or whether to wait until I end my involvement with CAB and then look into that.

Those thoughts lead onto another question, I was regularly doing balance transfers around all 3 credit cards so have interest free periods on the 2 big balances.  If, and I guess it’s a big if, I were to win affordability complaints, what could they offer as from what I’ve read, they normally remove interest but in my case I haven’t paid any on those cards.

as you will see, my thoughts do run and I tend to overthink!

fatbelly

Just do an affordability complaint to Novuna for now

RhiBi

Thank you, I’ll put that on my to do list today!

RhiBi

I’ve sent the email using the debt camel template.  I logged on to the account and it’s daunting to see that I currently owe over £12,000 for an £11,000 loaned that I have been paying nearly £241 a month for the last 22 months.