Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

onwardsandupwards127 · 17 October 2016 at 4:24PM

Hi
Hoping someone can advise.

I have had to recently post on here regarding a seperate statue barred debt.
A long time ago I took out a debt management plan, couldn't afford that and was advised if I didn't pay that due to my situation and circumstances there was nothing the people I had borrowed money from could do. This is over 7 years ago that I made any contact with any companies.

A few weeks ago I recevied a ccj form regarding one of these after I had sent them the letter stepchange had advised me to send regarding a statue barred debt.

I am yet to here back from the court.

Today I have received another letter from a different agency regarding a debt I have heard nothing about for years and years, they stopped sending letters.

Its from Robinson Way and its titled Proposed Reconnection visit. I have never had any knocks at my door for the whole of this.
It states they are proposing to send a field contact manger to my address on 23/10, if I do not wish this to happen to call them.

I was advised very strongly by then cccs (stepchange) that they would not act on these letters and people would NOT call at my door. I feel that they are trying to get me to contact them by scaring my with this threat.

They were all debts of loans and credit cards.

Obviously this has left me a little shaken.

None of these debts show on my credit history. I have a credit rating of 3/5. Stepchange couldn;'t even find the debt when they searched my report.

They are statue barred.

I hope someone can advise me.

jt225 · 17 October 2016 at 11:19PM

I'm writing to see if my sister-in-law can get any help. She had agreed to be a guarantor for her son when he took out some loans. All was going well and he had just started a new job, when he was admitted to hospital with a brain tumour, which because of other complications, cannot be operated on until he is well enough to survive the operation. We dont know how long he will be in hospital for, or how long his recovery would be. His new employer sent him a text in hospital ending his employment for not being fit to work. His mother is self-employed but not bringing any money in because she is by his hospital bedside daily. In the meantime, she is worried how she is going to pay his loans payments each month. She does have a boyfriend who lives with her, but I dont know if he is named on the mortgage or even if thats relevant. Is there anything that she can do to get through these months, and hopefully something that wont destroy her credit rating as she needs to change her mortgage lender at some point soon?

StepChange_Private_Messages · 18 October 2016 at 8:52AM

onwardsandupwards127 wrote: »

Hi
Hoping someone can advise.

I have had to recently post on here regarding a seperate statue barred debt.
A long time ago I took out a debt management plan, couldn't afford that and was advised if I didn't pay that due to my situation and circumstances there was nothing the people I had borrowed money from could do. This is over 7 years ago that I made any contact with any companies.

A few weeks ago I recevied a ccj form regarding one of these after I had sent them the letter stepchange had advised me to send regarding a statue barred debt.

I am yet to here back from the court.

Today I have received another letter from a different agency regarding a debt I have heard nothing about for years and years, they stopped sending letters.

Its from Robinson Way and its titled Proposed Reconnection visit. I have never had any knocks at my door for the whole of this.
It states they are proposing to send a field contact manger to my address on 23/10, if I do not wish this to happen to call them.

I was advised very strongly by then cccs (stepchange) that they would not act on these letters and people would NOT call at my door. I feel that they are trying to get me to contact them by scaring my with this threat.

They were all debts of loans and credit cards.

Obviously this has left me a little shaken.

None of these debts show on my credit history. I have a credit rating of 3/5. Stepchange couldn;'t even find the debt when they searched my report.

They are statue barred.

I hope someone can advise me.

Hi

Thanks for your message. I know what a shock it can be when debts resurface from a long time ago and I understand how this has left you feeling. I'm glad you have got in touch though as we can help.

For the two debts you have descirbed you have mentioned that in both cases the debts are statute barred. Just as a reminder, this means that six years has passed since:

· Earliest date the creditor could take court action to recover the full amount
· Date of last payment
· Date of last written acknowledgement

For the first debt that you mentioned you have recieved a CCJ for, you have grounds for defence against this on a legal basis as the debt is statute barred. You also mention that you are waiting to hear back from the court so I'm assuming you responded to the claim with the defence form (N9B) and explained that the debt was statute barred. If you haven't done this, you need to respond to the CCJ claim within the time frame allowed (mentioned on the N9 claim form).

For the letter that you have recieved from Robinson Way regarding another debt that you have mentioned that is statute barred, there's a couple of things to be aware of which you might know already, but just in case I'll explain. Firstly, when a debt becomes statute barred the debt does not dissappear. The debt is unenforcable against you though and this is why you have a legal defence against if a CCJ is issued aginst you.

Secondly, a Field Contact Manager is not an enforcement agent. This is a person that works for Robinson Way. If they do come to your house (which is unlikely) they do not have any powers against you and they can only ask you to pay the debt back. You don't have to speak to them. You may not even be in the house especially given the 23rd of October is a Sunday.

Best thing to do would be to write to Robinson Way and reiterate that the debt is Statute Barred. Here's a template letter that you can use.

I hope this helps.

Take care
Richard

StepChange_Private_Messages · 18 October 2016 at 9:13AM

jt225 wrote: »

I'm writing to see if my sister-in-law can get any help. She had agreed to be a guarantor for her son when he took out some loans. All was going well and he had just started a new job, when he was admitted to hospital with a brain tumour, which because of other complications, cannot be operated on until he is well enough to survive the operation. We dont know how long he will be in hospital for, or how long his recovery would be. His new employer sent him a text in hospital ending his employment for not being fit to work. His mother is self-employed but not bringing any money in because she is by his hospital bedside daily. In the meantime, she is worried how she is going to pay his loans payments each month. She does have a boyfriend who lives with her, but I dont know if he is named on the mortgage or even if thats relevant. Is there anything that she can do to get through these months, and hopefully something that wont destroy her credit rating as she needs to change her mortgage lender at some point soon?

Hi there,

Thanks for your message. So sorry to hear of your sister-in-law's son's health. I hope he gets well soon. We can help with the debts though. I'll explain how.

Just to explain, your sister-in-law's credit rating can be affected by the guarantor loans. As a guarantor she is liable for the loans if they go unpaid. If the contractual payments aren't met she could get a default notice on her credit file as a result.

The actions she can take will largely depend on what she can afford to pay. But it is worth explaining the situaiton to the loan companies as they may be willing to offer a period of grace to help with the situaiton. There's no guarentee of this and they may well refuse. Even if they agree to give some time there's no set period that this will be. They could still issue a defualt during this time too. it will just be up to the companies to decide how they respond.

Without knowing more about your sister-in-laws finanicial situaiton it's hard to give any further advice. Is her boyfriend in a position to help? Him being named on the mortgage is not relevant as far as these loans are concerned, but it is relevant in the grander scheme of things. As your sister-in-law is not able to work at the moment, she needs to make sure that her priorities, especially her mortgage, do not go unpaid as she could risk losing her home.

I would suggest that she uses our advice service to work out what she can afford and what options she has available to her. You can do this for her with her permission as I understand that she may not feel up to it. There's two ways to get advice from us:

Use our Debt Remedy tool on our website. This self-help tool allows you to build a budget in your own time before providing advice on how to deal with the debts.

Call our Helpline and speak with an advisor. They will make the budget for you and then explain your options also. All our contact details are available here.

I hope this helps and wishing a speedy recovery.

Take care
Richard

SomeGuyUpNorth · 19 October 2016 at 8:59PM

As the above says, I got a letter through the door today from the council saying if I don't pay them 900 and odd quid from an overpayment in 2009, they are going to set up a DEA and take it from my wages.

What are my rights here? And is there any chance of getting it written off? I'm in no position to pay this as I'm working a minimum wage job, living on my own, and struggling to make ends meet as it is.

I almost feel like getting sacked and just going on benefits and let them take the money from those, because I'd be no worse off financially if they go ahead with the DEA and take 12% or whatever it is a month from me.

Alwaysintrouble · 19 October 2016 at 10:50PM

I wont bore you with my marriage problems but I rarely get to see any post due to anything resembling a debt is thrown away or shredded before i get to see it. However Ive been trying to rebuild our credit rating and recently discovered we've been given a ccj for £20,000 :eek: This must go back a fair few years and has obviously been sold on to a large well known Solicitors and debt collection company.
As I only found it because i subscribe to a credit reference agency you guys recommend, I have contacted the court with a N244 form and paid the £250 to have the judgement set aside so I can be there in person.
I contacted a financial advisor who said go for an IVA rather than bankruptcy.
However ive just read on here that on average an IVA gives the company 20p in the pound that means theyd get £4000 approx. But the IVA costs between £5-7000!
Would it be worth asking the company if theyd just accept the £5000 in one lump sum (I can get it off family memebers) or wait for it to go back to court?
Which the financial advisor laughed at and said theyd rip me to shreds and have about another thousand pounds worth of costs added on

StepChange_Rachael · 20 October 2016 at 9:48AM

Hi

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post.

I’m sorry to hear this debt’s causing you to worry. I can see how it’d be a stressful situation for you.

When a debt isn’t being repaid then after a certain amount of time the council could look at taking the payment directly from your income as a direct earnings attachment (DEA) if they feel this is the only way they can secure its repayment.

If they have only mentioned they might look at a DEA but haven’t gone ahead with it then letting them know you're getting debt advice and help might stop them going ahead.

There are many ways to deal with problem debt but it’s important the advice is right for you and your situation.

We can advise you of your options going forward in dealing with this debt and any other debt.
Our advice is free and impartial and you can find our contact details here.

I hope this helps.

Rachael

SomeGuyUpNorth wrote: »

As the above says, I got a letter through the door today from the council saying if I don't pay them 900 and odd quid from an overpayment in 2009, they are going to set up a DEA and take it from my wages.

What are my rights here? And is there any chance of getting it written off? I'm in no position to pay this as I'm working a minimum wage job, living on my own, and struggling to make ends meet as it is.

I almost feel like getting sacked and just going on benefits and let them take the money from those, because I'd be no worse off financially if they go ahead with the DEA and take 12% or whatever it is a month from me.

StepChange_Rachael · 20 October 2016 at 10:18AM

Hi

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

With an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) there are fees involved as a practitioner oversees the IVA. These are normally taken from your monthly payments or if a lump sum IVA from the lump sum so there’s no added cost to the individual. However some creditors add further charges on for their services. So the added charges mentioned could be these.

With an IVA it’s important to include all your debts as any left out could cause implications further down the line. You’ve not mentioned if your credit file brought up any further debt or not.

Lump sum offers are an option for some depending on a person’s situation. However it’s important that the lump sum would be split fairly between all creditors as an offer of payment and the agreement is in writing.

This is because if one creditor full and finally settles a debt with a lump sum offer but there are other creditors that aren’t receiving payments they may see this as preferential treatment and be more likely to take their debt down the county court route as well.

I’m not sure who you’ve spoken with or how far you’ve gone with any solutions advice but I’d suggest getting further advice on all the options available to you before making a decision as there isn’t enough information here for me to recommend a best route for you.

If you’d like some further advice we can help. It’s always useful to know all your options and our advice is free and impartial.

You can find our contact details here.

Thanks
Rachael

Alwaysintrouble wrote: »

I wont bore you with my marriage problems but I rarely get to see any post due to anything resembling a debt is thrown away or shredded before i get to see it. However Ive been trying to rebuild our credit rating and recently discovered we've been given a ccj for £20,000 :eek: This must go back a fair few years and has obviously been sold on to a large well known Solicitors and debt collection company.
As I only found it because i subscribe to a credit reference agency you guys recommend, I have contacted the court with a N244 form and paid the £250 to have the judgement set aside so I can be there in person.
I contacted a financial advisor who said go for an IVA rather than bankruptcy.
However ive just read on here that on average an IVA gives the company 20p in the pound that means theyd get £4000 approx. But the IVA costs between £5-7000!
Would it be worth asking the company if theyd just accept the £5000 in one lump sum (I can get it off family memebers) or wait for it to go back to court?
Which the financial advisor laughed at and said theyd rip me to shreds and have about another thousand pounds worth of costs added on

PoisonGirlSasa · 20 October 2016 at 6:08PM

I am looking for your professional advice please? I have a loan which has £878.78 outstanding. Due to illness I wasn't making full payments for some of the loan term and whilst the repayments are now up to date and I am paying extra where I can each month the loan is now over it's term. I received a refund of solicitors fees this month totalling £576.05 which was an unexpected surprise. Do I use this extra money with some overtime hours this month to pay off this loan - total due would be £1026.78 due to legal fees? This would leave me in my £200 overdraft (I'd be using every penny on bills and bare minimum) for the next couple of months and things would be tight but I would be 1 loan down and wouldn't have to pay out £300.00 each month.

Or, do I keep the £576.05 to keep me out of my constant overdraft and continue to pay the £300 loan repayment each month until it is fully paid off?

I honestly, don't know what's best to do. I am not aware of the interest rate as I type this and don't know if it is better to continue to use my overdraft and clear the loan or vice versa.

Please help I am so keen to be debt free! Thank you in advance.

Jojo1398 · 20 October 2016 at 10:58PM

Hi im new to all this but here we go iv been paying into a iva for 2 years now i work full time with 2 children and it's been a struggle, i have missed payments managed to get into more dept

i suffer from depression i do have it under control most the time but things are just getting too much..
I dont own my own home or car would bankruptcy be the best option any advice would be so helpfull x

Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free