Credit Card Debt in Difficult Situation Help Please

glaciercoffee

Let's say their initial response is not helpful and they insist that payments are made, so I then need stand my ground, how long is it before I am at risk of people knocking on the door/bailiffs etc? I presume this would take quite a while to happen and unlikely in the initial few weeks/months of negotiating with them?

sourcrates

They will have the account on their system as been a vulnerable person, so further recovery action is quite unlikely in my opinion.

But just for your information, should they choose to go down that route, there would be a long period of standard collection activity, 6/8 months or so, of letters/calls etc, they may then involve a debt collector, legal action cannot commence until a debt defaults, and even if they obtained a CCJ, most of them never get enforced, you probably stand more chance of winning lotto than having a bailiff knock on your door.

Usually the debt would likely be sold to a 3rd party, who you could then again ask to write off the debt for the reasons given earlier, there are a number of variables that could happen.

But like I said above, I don`t think they will take that path, its best to wait and see what actually happens, rather than speculate on the many various routes this could take.

RAS

They may imply lots of things in their communications which may be possible but are highly unlikely and require them to jump through legal hoops first. Their favourite word is may, designed to set hares running.

You need to keep tabs on letters, as all legal communication has to be delivered by snail mail.

You will probably get one scary letter demanding the repayment of the entire debt. It's not personal, merely a legal requirement before they are allowed to issue a default. Nothing more, but can appear scary if you don't know.

glaciercoffee

Thank you both

silverhandbag

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82165996#Comment_82165996

MBNA had the Virgin Credit Cards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Money_UK It reads that in January 2013 Virgin reached an agreement to buy some of the Virgin credit cards from MBNA.

From the following MSE 2015 thread, it appears that some went to Virgin and some stayed with MBNA?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5225293/is-virgin-part-of-mbna

enthusiasticsaver

Reading through I would advise you ask the credit card company to write it off in view of your spouses health and earning capacity so I am glad you have taken that first step. I would not worry about the first letter being less than helpful. There is a legal process to follow. Just reiterate you cannot afford to repay, your wife is unlikely to be able to return to work and she is vulnerable and needs care. They may refer to debt collectors but just confirm the same to them. You are not responsible for debts in your wifes name.

You won't get bailiffs at the door. They need court orders to do that and they are very unlikely to go down that route.

glaciercoffee

Hello! Just a short update. This week my spouse (the cardholder) has received 2 standard letters one saying to pay more than the minimum payment and the other saying interest and charges have been paused for 30 days.

Today we both received letters, this is the first time they have written to me too, saying that the complaint has been received and they will be in contact. Then this afternoon we received an email saying that the MBNA Mastercard has been changed to a VISA card. Do you think this is significant? Is this just a co-incidence? or are they up to something?

SpireCaptain

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82190753#Comment_82190753

The switch to Visa has been on the card for a number of months. I wouldn't read too much or anything in to it.