Struggling with debt? Ask a debt adviser a question

Flooz30 wrote: »

Thank you
I wrote to virgin 4 weeks ago asking for information and clarity and have heard nothing back.
They won't speak to me on the phone as I do not have an account number.

Is it in your experience usual after 5 years 8 months of nothing to get issued a default & not be able to defend it as have no recollection or information?

Helpneeded1980 wrote: »

Struggling to figure out how to start a bew thread...want to ask about a salary overpayment. My work told me inwas entitled to a allowance...they told me to complete the form to claim it and 3 years later now want all the money back...any advice?

amy_charlotte wrote: »

Hi all,
I am looking for some advice on reducing my credit card debt.. I have embarrassingly let things go slightly and ended up acquiring a lot of interest with out realising.. so my current credit card balance is £12,000. I would like to transfer this to a 0% balance transfer card, but cannot find one which would allow me to transfer this much. Does anyone have any ideas? Or would I need to get a loan to make my payments more manageable?
Many thanks in advance.

tricardo wrote: »

Hi,

I have been in financial difficulty for some time now, and had taken out various payday loans to help pay for essential expenses (like car repairs). I also have a personal loan with Lloyds bank which I was struggling keeping up the repayments with and have been living in a sizeable overdraft for some years. Something had to give...

After missing various repayments on some of these payday loans, I contacted all of them individually to arrange repayment plans at a more affordable rate. All of them agreed to more favourable terms.

My biggest squeeze was the £196 a month cost towards the personal loan. After missing a scheduled payment with Lloyds, I contacted them in August by telephone asking them to consider a repayment plan that I could afford (£20 a month) which I could increase as and when my circumstances improve. They agreed to this, but said that as it was not substantial enough, they would have to refer my loan to one of their partners to arrange this (probably a debt collection agency). They said this whole process could take 2 months.

On September 24th, I contacted them again after having received a number of scary looking loan default notices in the post (also advising of my arrears that needed paying) just to check that all was processing OK, and that I didn't need to do anything else. They assured me that all was fine with this and that my loan was still in the process of being transferred. Later in the phone call, the advisor brought up that I was in a substantial overdraft, and asked if I'd considered transferring this over to the new arrangement. As I thought this might be a way of consolidating my bank debts, I thought this would be a good idea and agreed to this. They advised in time that I would need to open a new bank account up as my current account would eventually be closed. No timescale was ever mentioned, or cut off date given. I got around to opening a new account up with Natwest in October, but when I'd finally received all the paperwork it was too late for the cut off for my October salary.

On Friday 26th October, my salary was paid into my Lloyds current account. I was still in an overdraft, but massively reduced. I was able to make my usual manual payments to credit cards, manually paid a few of my payday loan repayments a couple of days early and could take cash out of a cash machine. On Saturday 27th October, I could still take cash out of a cash machine. By Saturday evening, my available balance had been reduced to zero (by Lloyds) when I should have still had access to between £800-£900.

Obviously irate, I phoned up Lloyds and was transferred to collections to be advised that I had been made aware that my account was going to be closed from my conversation on 24th September. I wasn't disputing this with them. I explained to the advisor that I have a new bank account set up elsewhere, and that I'd planned for the October salary to be the last into the Lloyds account. I argued that if I'd been given a specific date when this would happen, I could have potentially made other arrangements as I'd have no excuse, but nothing had been communicated with me. The fact that they've shut my account at some point during Saturday afternoon, to leave me with zero cash for the rest of the weekend when I have three children is disgusting. The lady on the phone said that she will arrange for me to be able to go into my local branch on Monday morning (so that's time off from work) and withdraw what I haven't spent out of my salary in cash, if I ring the collections department from within the branch. I'm sure that won't go according to plan, but I'll reserve judgement for now.

I have rent due to leave my Lloyds account in a few days, and a few other payday loan repayments due to go out by direct debit. Obviously, these are all going to fail as my account is effectively closed, and I may now be slammed with notices of non-payment from these payday lenders, and ire from my landlady.

I appreciate that all debts are repayable on demand but am I wrong to expect that they should have done more to keep me informed of their intentions / timescales, and that they shouldn't just leave me with no money for the rest of the weekend?

Its caused me so much anguish and upset. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Is this something I could complain about?

Thanks,

(ps. I'll update this with my experience at the bank tomorrow morning)