hello guys well Ok here is the updates went to NatWest and asked for a standing balance and Sarah thought It was £4k worth but its £2,950.04 she owes £1,000 to the bank but the rest are charges £1,950.04 worth which she will also be claiming back and using for her other debts I think the joint loan will be paid off by the EX but would she be more sensible in writing a letter to the creditor explaining her situation and that every month she is -£250. oh we also found out about the CSA basically the EX was giving his mum the money to pay in the CSA and the mum had been spending it !!! so Sarah is now owed £100 or something so Sarah was really really happy, she has 3 months more till she has re assessment on the £5 a month we will send another template letter about getting it to £1 a month or even wiping it as she is always £250 over the amount she gets!! any suggestions please thank you loads clarissa & sarah

she needs every statement for the last 17 years we need to see how much money they have charged her in total, and £10 i thought it was £5? thank you for your help

SARAH When I first moved in to my flat, I was 4 months pregnant. Myself and father of my child decided we would get our appliances on credit for the new flat. Jeff (my daughters father) was denied credit at Currys where we tried to get a washing machine, cooker etc. So, at this time I wasn't working but the lady in the store said to try to go for it in my name and it went through! Cant remember the amount we had on credit but this is where it started, as we went back to Currys to get luxruy items such as television, and pd world for a computer. We ended up having I think 4 accounts with curry's and pc world who are linked. This was all under the agreement that as I wasn't working Jeff would pay but it was in my name. From then I decided to get a JD store card, Outfit Store card, French Connection Store Card and Jeff asked me to get him a Halfords card as he had just got himself a car on credit and wanted to do his car up. All again were being paid by Jeff. Soon after this we consolidated the different debts just from curry's and pc world but as a joint loan. So now we owe together approx £7000 to HFC. Also owing approx £300 to JD, £500 to Outfit, £500 to French Connection, and £1000 to Halfords. Jeff had been paying these so then with my NatWest account, I had a overdraft of £100 and myself and Jeff went a little silly with the cheque book, spending roughly £800. Again he said he would pay this but we couldnt keep up with payments, and was being charged ridiculous prices as i ahd gone so far overdrawn. So now being in alot of debt not being able to keep up with all payments i decided to go with Harrington brooks debt management as I was advised by many debt companies. After 4-5 months I realised even the a month they were asking for was out of my control and I couldn't keep you with it,especially after Harrington Brooks keeping first £100 instalment for themselves, and the 17% out of every months instalment. Basically where Harrington's Brooks took a long time setting up the agreements with my creditors, i was getting so many charges for not paying etc making my debt even more unmanageable. Also in this time we called HFC and told them we were finding payments hard to keep up with and so they agreed to £150 per month interest free. Myself and Jeff are no longer on speaking terms and so he doesn't pay anything for me. So I cancelled the agreement with Harrington's Brooks and wrote to all creditors offering them a payment for £5 per month. I have heard and set up agreements with all expect Halfords who haven't contacted me, and HFC as Jeff was paying the agreed amount of £150 per month. I am still struggling to pay the instalments of £5 per month and Jeff is no longer paying HFC joint loan, also Jeff hasn't been paying his CSA so in turn I am not receiving my Child Maintenance Premium of £10 per week. even though he earns £36/£37K PA! I am now still trying to contact Halfords and am going to send my fiancial spreadsheet to HFC to show them i am incapable of paying the amount required.

Sarah says - well when all this started and I had to go with Harrington's Brooks I was originally with NatWest and Barclays I am now with Woolwich even though Woolwich is connected with Barclays but I went abbey national and they said I couldn't have an account not even a basic one My NatWest account is in collections if this is what CMS is? hope this helps? I am In alot of debt * I don't actually know how much fully in total as I have put it to the back of my mind* and it is now getting to much I have a joint loan with my ex boyfriend my half is £3,500 I am on benefits and have a 2 year old baby. I will post every little detail really soon so your in the know of the situation and the steps I have made each time. from Clarissa_D & Sarah:)

Hi ya well I found out that because she got into overdraft she cut up the card and assumed she would recieve statements. I have advised her that prints of statements will cost £5 only In the long run it will be worth it as her bank needs to be sorted. It hadn't occured to her she has been having alot of problems facing up to the debt that has been mostly caused by her ex Boyfriend they have a joint loan and she has only just found out one of the other loans HFC hasn't been paid at all and he hasn't been paying her CSA money I am desperately trying to get her sorted so she can move on with her life, Which will mean going to small claims court for a number of reasons and will be a long battle but worth it, we seem to be hitting a brick wall at every turn as she is unsure of the total amount of debts outstanding total she can't give an exact figure and no one will help. I have been swotting up on the 70% wipe for debt and how to go court for charges, already got her to type a letter to creditors to offer token payments but even paying £5 a month she still finds it hard to live also having a 2 year old baby Isn't easy. thank you for listening sorry I went off topic It is all information though and if anyone can help in anyway we really appreciate it alot! from clarissa_D & sarah

Hi ya well I found out that because she got into overdraft she cut up the card and assumed she would recieve statements. I have advised her that prints of statements will cost £5 only In the long run it will be worth it as her bank needs to be sorted. It hadn't occured to her she has been having alot of problems facing up to the debt that has been mostly caused by her ex Boyfriend they have a joint loan and she has only just found out one of the other loans HFC hasn't been paid at all and he hasn't been paying her CSA money I am desperately trying to get her sorted so she can move on with her life, Which will mean going to small claims court for a number of reasons and will be a long battle but worth it, we seem to be hitting a brick wall at every turn as she is unsure of the total amount of debts outstanding total she can't give an exact figure and no one will help. I have been swotting up on the 70% wipe for debt and how to go court for charges, already got her to type a letter to creditors to offer token payments but even paying £5 a month she still finds it hard to live also having a 2 year old baby Isn't easy. thank you for listening sorry I went off topic It is all information though and if anyone can help in anyway we really appreciate it alot! from clarissa_D

hello I'm posting to say my friend has been with Natwest for 17 years and she hasn't recieved 1 statement in all that time! and they are charging her like £50 a day, as she is in arrears. just can't believe she never recieved 1 statement when she went into the bank they gave her a basic print out for that month she need's the whole time so we can calculate charges and proceed with claims.

hello all ive been banking with Lloyds tsb since i was 12/13 im 23 now and i made a big mistake in getting a 2,000 loan out for a 'so-called' mate i have had 3 years nearly 4 years of hell in getting the money back. i phoned the bank explaining situation giving them court claim forms to fax to HO now its finally settled that the 70.00 she gives me 50.00 of that goes to the loan and 20.00 to all the charges where when agreed dates for money to be taken out on they moved dates wich incurred charges after phoning repetedly also with personal problems run up nearly 700.00 in charges i have no idea how to go about adding interest on to this and going to court we could really do with the money as im on benefits and have a 4 month old baby. as you can guess i had a bad pregnancy and was in and out of hospital so i incurred charges thru that april 05 till now! any advice welcome i love moneysaving expert forum