My Debt - laid out - confused and lost

[TrueMisterSix]

Hi all,

 

I'm so sorry for posting like this but am lost in the FAQ section in a sea of terminology and uncertainty. I was hoping if I kind of lay it all out someone could jump in and advise/comiserate.

 

I've rounded all the figures up but not by much just to get a jist.

 

Essentially I have the following creditors with totals & monthly payments:

 

Virgin CC (MBNA) = £4,500 payment approx £130

Egg CC = £3,750 payment approx £80

HSBC CC = £2,000 payment approx £60

Barclaycard CC = £3,200 payment approx £80

Capital One CC = £200 payment approx £5

HSBC loan = £13,000 payment £320

HSBC Overdraft = £600 payment (on reduction scheme) £90

 

I earn £1,632 a month and pay £700 a month into a joint account with my Wife that we've put household bills against to keep them paid and away from the personal debt bills - this includes mortgage, gas, electricity , landline, mobiles, TV license, car ins, house ins, contents ins, PPI, council tax, broadband and a few small bits like AA breakdown cover.

 

This leaves me with £930 a month with £765 going to my CC & loan bills. I have £165 left a month which barely covers my petrol & household groceries share.

 

I've drastically altered my lifestyle to get to this position - I've reduced my mobile bill, gas & electricity provider, scrapped the Sky digital, quit smoking etc to get to these figures so far. I've stopped going out and have filled the cupboards with Tesco's value everything (Some items suprising tastier than the branded ones!) Things were much worse 12 months ago but since then I'm plying all these small savings towards paying the bills and reducing the debt - my HSBC overdraft was nearly £2000 this time last year and I'm down to arounf £600 now. I've a few other bits I plan on trying to reduce too once contract commitments expire - like my car insurance and my broadband solution.

 

Here's the crux of the problem though - with petrol prices increasing, recent MOT & service (Which resulted in an expensive repair), dry cleaning for my work suits and random other expenses constantly cropping up(It may sound small and ridiculous but the sole went through on my shoe this month & had to pay £8 to have them re-soled and the boiler had issues that resulted in a £40 call out) I'm forever going informally overdrawn and struggling to meet bills and incurring interest and charges. This then means I've not got full access to the paycheck when it goes in, which means the cycle starts all over again.

 

I've contacted the CC's & my bank by telephone and discussed solutions but no one (Other than Egg - they at least gave me a short interest break) seems willing to find a workable solution - which seems insane to me because its these ridiculous charges & interest rates (MBNA/Virgin actually sent me a letter increasing my interest rate because of the "conduct on my account"!!!!) are meaning they never get paid down! They all insist on me going through an "affordability breakdown" but I'm finding their equations to no way match the black and white breakdown I've done above and they don't seem to take into account that I don't see my full paycheck because of the informal overdrawing - when they calculate and tell me my disposable income its far more than the £165 I know I have left.

 

my Wife was just as foolish and naive as me when she was younger and is very much in the same position as me.

 

What do you all suggest?

Edited June 27, 2008 by TrueMisterSix
Missed something out

[Woozel]

Hi TMS, I'm afraid that I don't have practical advice to give just now (I'm still relatively new myself), but I just wanted to say that I've read your other posts, and I feel for you completely. I too am a victim of my own frivoulous and reckless spending of my youth & now finding myself in a position where I should be more financially solvent, but somehow accruing overdraft charges etc that go beyond my monthly income. I just want to reassure you that you are in the right place & you'll find support & advice here. I thank god for the day I found CAG!

[TrueMisterSix]

Cheers Woozel - I think to some degree for me and the wife just bottling it up and worrying about it together has had an impact! Just typing it out and complaining to EMPATHETIC people rather than blood sucking financial institutions has helped alittle tonight already!

 

On the frivilous youthful spending front - I am somewhat of the opinion that I was preyed upon and my naivety taken advantage of. As much as it would have p****d me off at the time one of them should have said "slow down there pal, you're a 20 year old student and you'll regret this one day because we like to suck people dry"!!! I feel that there is some governmental responsibility in terms of not educating me and lender responsibility for preying on me.

 

Still gotta pay it though - after all, I've got the beer gut to proove I spent it!

[saintly_1]

Hi TMS

 

Are there any late payment charges on your CC's? Claiming back these would reduce the amounts owed .... same with the loan

 

Any charges on your overdraft ... ?

 

 

saint

[Woozel]

Cheers Woozel - I think to some degree for me and the wife just bottling it up and worrying about it together has had an impact! Just typing it out and complaining to EMPATHETIC people rather than blood sucking financial institutions has helped alittle tonight already!

 

On the frivilous youthful spending front - I am somewhat of the opinion that I was preyed upon and my naivety taken advantage of. As much as it would have p****d me off at the time one of them should have said "slow down there pal, you're a 20 year old student and you'll regret this one day because we like to suck people dry"!!! I feel that there is some governmental responsibility in terms of not educating me and lender responsibility for preying on me.

 

Still gotta pay it though - after all, I've got the beer gut to proove I spent it!

 

ROFPMSL! Ditto! I was the tender young age of 18 +1 month when I got my first credit... Much drinking, new outfits every week etc... These people are VAMPIRES!

[rippedoffagain]

Cheers Woozel - I think to some degree for me and the wife just bottling it up and worrying about it together has had an impact! Just typing it out and complaining to EMPATHETIC people rather than blood sucking financial institutions has helped alittle tonight already!

 

On the frivilous youthful spending front - I am somewhat of the opinion that I was preyed upon and my naivety taken advantage of. As much as it would have p****d me off at the time one of them should have said "slow down there pal, you're a 20 year old student and you'll regret this one day because we like to suck people dry"!!! I feel that there is some governmental responsibility in terms of not educating me and lender responsibility for preying on me.

 

Still gotta pay it though - after all, I've got the beer gut to proove I spent it!

 

Too right you were preyed upon. My son and daughter (twins) were offered credit cards and overdrafts, they are students with zero income. The banks like to get them young.

 

Once you accept that your borrowings are out of control, you can start to take control of your life.

 

you need to realise that whatever happens, your credit file will be blitzed one way or the other, if you make an arrangement with your creditors, this will be noted on your file, as will defaults and CCJ's.

 

You need to CCA all your creditors, except the overdraft, find out just how good their paperwork is.Link to CCA letter

[TrueMisterSix]

Hi TMS

 

Are there any late payment charges on your CC's? Claiming back these would reduce the amounts owed .... same with the loan

 

Any charges on your overdraft ... ?

 

 

saint

 

Yep - definitely - but this is what I mean by being a bit lost & confused with all the various claims etc

 

The sites mega useful but I'm finding that there's almost too much info!

[havinastella]

Yep - definitely - but this is what I mean by being a bit lost & confused with all the various claims etc

 

The sites mega useful but I'm finding that there's almost too much info!

 

TMS, theres never enough info

 

In your first post you set out

 

Virgin CC (MBNA) = £4,500 payment approx £130

Egg CC = £3,750 payment approx £80

HSBC CC = £2,000 payment approx £60

Barclaycard CC = £3,200 payment approx £80

Capital One CC = £200 payment approx £5

HSBC loan = £13,000 payment £320

 

I would personally send the CCA letter

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

 

Letter 'N', with a £1 postal order, do not sign either to every creditor.

 

IF all the debts are with the Original lenders, I would also look at sending the sar

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/516-1-data-protection-act.html

 

to see what charges are on the accounts.

 

The CCA will show if the Credit Card Companies have a valid 'agreement', I would start a new thread for each letter you send and then post up what you receive back in the correct forum.

 

The sar will show what charges have been applied to each account and you can start to reclaim these as well.

 

Just have a read around the threads for a few days, it will sink in, I promise.

 

Jogs

[sequenci]

Hello there.

 

Please take a read of my 'How to get out of debt' thread, you'll find it very useful

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/getting-out-debt/120603-how-get-out-debt.html

 

Any problems drop me a line, I work full-time as a professional debt counsellor within the Charity Sector so Debt is my life, I'm here to help.

 

Best wishes,

 

Seq.

[saintly_1]

Yep - definitely - but this is what I mean by being a bit lost & confused with all the various claims etc

 

The sites mega useful but I'm finding that there's almost too much info!

What I would do is start a seperate thread for each account and keep each one updated regularly that way you wont get confused as to when letters were sent and received

 

HSBC forum is found here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/hsbc-bank/ use this for reclaiming any charges from your OD CC and loan

 

Barclaycard forum is here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/barclaycard/

 

For the rest they each have a sub forum here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/other-institutions/

 

The basic steps for reclaiming the charges can be found here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/31460-example-step-step-instructions.html

 

If you need any help then just ask

 

 

 

saint

[TrueMisterSix]

Thanks guys - fully plan on taking your advice!

 

Going to have to kick everything off on Monday - started of nice & friendly today with them all with some light, fluffy phone calls to gather some facts/figures but found most close the relevant depts over the weekend.

 

I've downloaded all the letter templates etc you've all recommended and am cracking on with that.

 

Would someone be so kind as to break down in very simplistic terms the CCA & SAR stuff? I'm still abit lost and confused with the info in the FAQ's and forums!

 

feel free to call me a dunce on this - very aware how comprehensive the step-by-step guides are but I'm just not minded this way and am struggling a little to figure things out!

[havinastella]

TMS,

 

A CCA request is your legal right to see your credit agreement that you signed to get credit.

 

The sar request takes it that step further and requests 'Everything' they have on you, including statements of account, manual intervention on account, voice recordings (you'll be lucky) credit agreement etc.

 

Jogs

[saintly_1]

Ok the CCA is to check that they have the correctly executed credit agreements.

 

SAR is a request for all data that a company holds on you -- theoretically if you ask for a full SAR then you should receive any credit agreements that they do have

[saintly_1]

snap has ;-)

[joolzh13]

I am also in the same debt position myself. I hoped to be able to get something back from First Plus with a mis-selling of the policy but that doesn't look likely. I was mortified when I realised that cancelling a protection policy didn't reduce my monthly payment by £150.00 as I had expected.

I don't know what course of action I am going to take yet but what I can say is another family member took an IVA arrangement and I have been dealing with that because although I have got into financial difficulty myself that is more to do with losing my job, getting a job earning alot less and having to commute and fuel now costing me £70 a week to get to work. The long term gain in my job outways the financial loss so I have to grit my teeth and bear it. However, I've learned with the IVA's the debt is written off at the initial creditors meeting and the creditors agree bascially that whatever they get back after 5 years is a bonus. Sounds good to the debtor except its the IVA company that are still making lots of dosh.

 

I would sooner try and approach the creditors directly. You sound like you've got a sound head on your shoulders for this type of thing. Why let someone else benefit from your situation if you can find the time to write the letters yourself. Only get help if it all gets too difficult thats my opinon.

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Hi there truemistersix.

 

Just a few words of moral support really. I too needed to have a reality check on my finances. I had and still do have different circamstances to you but that ia mainly due to burying my head in the sand for far too long and letting it get too out of control.

 

Congratulations in waking up and doing something before it spirals. you are in safe hands here.

 

If you follow the advice then you will be able to get everything back in to a position were you no longer need credit. It is quite strange some days the postman goes straight past my house. I almost have the urge to chase after him just to make sure he really doesnt have anything for me.

 

Good luck

 

olives xx

[TrueMisterSix]

Thanks Olive.

 

The biggest help this website has been to me is just to know that there are others out there!

[citizenB]

MisterSix, how are things progressing ?

[palomino]

He hasn't been here since last August so I guess we'll never know.

[TrueMisterSix]

Hi guys,

 

I'm still around - I'm just a lurker. I'm not much of a poster really but I still read up on stuff and follow the odd thread here and there.

 

In terms of how things are going...well...things have become a little more interesting over the last 6 months really.

 

I dipped my toe in a little and managed to get some claims through - I got my Capital One, Virgin and Mint card charges reclaimed (I no longer have Mint - it was balance transferred onto the Virgin card) with some straight forward letters using the Martin Lewis guide and got my PPI on HSBC back too - all of which were little wins but a nice cash boost, which was put straight back in to paying stuff down.

 

I've also fully re-hauled my budget and spending habits significantly and about 3 months ago I had successfully pulled everything into the green and under limit. I've stopped my Egg, Virgin, Barclays, and HSBC credit cards so I can no longer use them, paid down some of my overdraft and not been charged for months. My situation now looks like this:

 

Virgin CC (MBNA) = £4,250 payment approx £115

Egg CC = £3,600 payment approx £65

HSBC CC = £2,000 payment approx £60

Barclaycard CC = £2,900 payment approx £65

Capital One CC = £165 payment approx £5

HSBC loan = £11,000 payment £320

HSBC Overdraft = £300 payment (on reduction scheme) £90

 

And as you can see all is down a little, and the little difference in the lower bills (Although not much - yet!) is starting to feel like breathing room.

 

The complication is: I received my "At Risk Of Redundancy Notice" a few weeks ago and it loooks like I'm might be out of work realistically by the end of April - the company I work for is struggling with the "current climate" and all that.

 

I'm looking for new work but there's not much out there. I am insured for redundancy but its only for 12 months and 60% of my salary.

 

Which brings me to today - I'm re-budgeting again and looking at how to weather the recession storm. I'm thinking about less petrol and not dry cleaning suits as often because I'm not in work and cruising Totaljobs and Monster everyday.

 

Whew - sorry about the long post there - nice and cathartic though!

[citizenB]

Hi MisterSix..

 

Thank you for the update. I am pleased to hear that financially you have managed to sort out a few things including a few small wins:)

 

Sorry to hear however, that you are at risk of losing your employment. Just as things were beginning to turn round for you.

 

Dont be a stranger, come and say hi every now and again.