Can Someone Help and Guide Us

[unhappyhamster]

Hi Guys

 

Need some help and guidance please.

 

Won't bore you with all the details, but my husband is in a real mess with debt and I've only just go him to sit down and tell me what's going on!

 

He has been self employed for over a year and work has dried up!

 

It got to the stage where the savings had dried up and my wages can only cover so much!

 

He's now managed to get a job full time but its only a temporary contract, but it's a start.

 

in the meantime, his debt has got out of control,

he's buried his head in the sand and his all the post unopened,

 

I feel sick to my very stomach at how much he owes!

 

How and where do we start, its getting to the doorstep visits and I'm scared.

 

Two letters came today,

he owes a debt to T-Mobile and moorcroft are handling it,

they've said they need full payment, d

 

o we have any options as the debt has gone past 56 days!

 

The other is a missed payment on his van,

 

can I negotiate anything with them?

 

Please please can someone please advise?

 

Thanks x

[dx100uk]

just remember

 

DCA's are NOT BAILIFFS

 

and they have NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS.

 

if any man in a dirty mac does turn up

simply tell them to leave

and call the police.

 

now the van appears to be at present the priority.

 

FORGET the other debts like the mobile one.

tell us about the van finance

and any other MISSED priority debts

 

dx

[gordies]

was he self employed as a Limited Company or a Sole Trader?

[unhappyhamster]

Hi DX, thanks for your reply.

 

All debts have been credit cards, loans, insurance for his van and the van payments.

 

The mortgage is up to date and so is the council tax.

 

We are behind with EDF, but they have offered us a payment plan.

 

He defaulted on his insurance for his van, but I have payed that up to date now,

the finance company for the van took a smaller payment for 3 months, but this months payment of 153 has been missed,

and according to previous correspondence, they intend to repossess.

He can't work without transport.

 

The van is financed for 5 years, and he has paid for over 2.

 

I just don't know what to do,

 

I don't have the money they are looking for, I don't get paid till the month end and he doesn't get paid till next month.

 

Thanks

 

Hi Geordie, he was a sole trader.

[Bombaymix]

You'll get some good advice here on how to deal with it all.

 

I'd agree that if mortgage and council tax are up to date then the finance on the van is the most important thing for now.

 

The DCAs chasing the mobile phone debt and anything like credit cards, store cards, unsecured loans etc are the least of your worries.

They will shout and scream and tell you they'll come round and torture your next door neighbours cat if you don't pay,

 

as DX says, they're not Bailiffs and have no legal powers.

 

If the debts have just been passed onto DCAs to collect, then when you start going through everything, try and deal with the original creditors.

 

Try not to let everything get to you both! Being in debt is not a crime and you are not alone.

 

You'll get all the help and advice you need here.

 

Best wishes

 

BM

[unhappyhamster]

Thank you Bombaymix for your advice and kind words. I'm totally shattered by this but as you say, the van is our priority debt. Moorcroft have now called 10 times today saying that doorstop collections will start on Tuesday if the money isn't paid by Monday. For 100 pounds they're very aggressive, god knows what the rest will be like.

 

Thank u once again

[Bombaymix]

Grrrr @ moorcroft! You'd think they'd have better things to be doing on a lovely day like this.

 

If they phone again, refuse to complete their security checks. Don't answer any security questions and tell them " in writing only" and hang up. Once you've done it once, you'll become a pro at dealing with these bottom feeders.

 

I know you have a lot on your plate, but if you get a spare minute! In the library here at CAG there are telephone harassment letters and doorstep threat letters. Have a look, print one of each off or edit the 2 into one letter and post recorded delivery first thing Monday morning.

 

Hopefully this will shut them up for a while and enable you both to concentrate fully on the priorities.

 

If you need any further advise, don't hesitate to post here and hopefully we can guide you.

[unhappyhamster]

Thanks again for more help. Not answering them, just letting the machine do it, there call centre is very unprofessional, I heard another other harassing phonecall in the background. Thanks for the letter advice, that's my Saturday night taken care off. Should I offer them each one pound till we can work out what is spare each month?

 

Unhappy

[Bombaymix]

A token payment of £1 per month is good.

 

But before you acknowledge any of these it might be an idea to send a subject access request and a CCA request to all of your creditors. There may be Mis sold PPI or unfair penalty charges that you could be reclaiming.

 

When Moorcrap call and leave messages.... What do they say exactly? I hope they're not leaving messages openly discussing your financial business for anybody to hear.

[unhappyhamster]

Are there letters in the library for this and do I pay to get this information, I'm totally new at all this! I know that he had pp on his aa credit card and he said he never asked for it. He was in full time employment when he applied for jt, so he got paid when off sick. Yes they do leave messages for all to hear, I'm quite amazed by their attitude.

 

Thanks again:-)

[Bombaymix]

Ok! I'd say PPI on that alone is reclaimable! If he never asked for it and didn't need it then it sounds like its there to be reclaimed! Some absolutely amazing guys here who have literally assisted hundreds (probably thousands) of people in reclaiming PPI on their own without the need to use expensive reclaim companies.

 

Again, I know there's a lot on your plate right now, but if there's a few hundred quid or even (depending in credit card usage) thousands to reclaim (PPI + interest) bare in mind, on a £300 limit credit card, over 6 years I claimed back somewhere in the region of £600 for Mis sold PPI!

 

We can guide you through this too!

 

First of all. If you're still paying the PPI. Send them a letter and explain that you've noticed PPi on your account that you weren't aware of and would like to cancel it with immediate effect.

 

Then, in the library, there's a SAR letter, this will need to be sent to the creditor with a cheque or postal order for £10. They have 40 days to send all your paperwork (unless of course you actually have ALL statements from them over the years??)

 

We can then guide you how to work everything out. There will be a fair bit of data entering on a spreadsheet but I promise it'll be worth it!

 

Hope you're feeling a little more positive about everything now!!

 

Regards

 

BM

[Bombaymix]

(Phone battery about to die, will charge up and reply a little later)

[dx100uk]

can you list the other non priority debt and who they are with and how old

might be an idea to get his & your CRA file

 

see below

 

can you scan up the van agreement please

set your default scan page size to A4 less than 300DPI [150 will do]

scan the required letters/agreements/sheets - as a picture[jpg] file

don't forget you can use a mobile phone or a digital camera too!!

'

BUT......

ENSURE: remove all pers info inc. barcodes etc using paint program

but leave all monetary figures and dates.

*********************************************************

{DO NOT USE A BIRO OR PEN OR USE SEE THRU TAPE OR LABELS]

try www.pdfescape.com TO BLANK STUFF,

*************************************************************

or

DO IT IN MSPAINT.EXE or any photo editing program

goto one of the many free online pdf converter websites ...

http://freejpgtopdf.com/

..

if you have multiple scans/pics

put them in a word doc FIRST and convert that to PDF

or use www.pdfmerge.com

 

convert existing PC files to PDF [office has an installable print to PDF option]

..

 

it would be better to upload a multipage pdf if

you have many images too rather than many single pdfs

.

or if you have PDF as an installed printer drive use that

or use word and save as pdf

try and logically name your file so people know what it is.

though dont use full bank names or CAG in the title

i'e Default notice dd-mm-yyyy TSB

.

open a new msg box here

hit go advanced below the msg box

hit manage attachments below that box

hit the add files button on the top right

hit select files, navigate to your file on your pc

hit upload files

.

dx