In 2008, my wife finally succumbed to the effects of Bipolar and had to give up working as she was unfit to do so. This was all well and good, and the support we had was kinda good with Child Tax credits and Ill health payments supplementing my modest annual income. As the years have passed my wife is slowly getting better, however we now receive no additional help due to the recent government changes to benefits and the like. Needless to say some things need to give... and it was with regret that I started finding it difficult to pay bills / mortgage and arrears kept stacking up. I've managed to shake threats and letters off and recently I went through a major process to get my mortgage back on track. It's a NRAM Split mortgage - 1 part Secured, another part Unsecured. The folks on this forum pointed us to help when threatened with eviction from our home & I'm so glad I took everyone's advice to get involved with the CAB in Scotland. I am now in the position where I want to have a goal to fight and get my Credit rating back on track to allow us to live again, this means getting finances sorted once and for all ensuring we have a viable future. I currently owe out ~£27,500 on top of my secured mortgage and I believe I can afford to pay enough per month to fight for a 15 year DAS plan (of course this isn't guaranteed to be accepted) however it is the option I'm hoping for, however to get my Credit rating back at the same time, I was hoping for advice on some of the smaller "close to statute bound" debts that I defaulted on when my wife first became ill. I am not denying the debts, but would it be better to take these off the list for DAS until they are post statute barred? (remember this question is centered around 'Credit rating repair' rather than the feasibility of DAS) A decision has not yet been made regarding my options so I'm just investigating what you guys think. Creditor 1 - Defaulted 20/04/2009, Current balance ~£1800 Creditor 2 - Defaulted 14/04/2009, current balance ~£600 Creditor 3 - Defaulted 29/02/2012, current balance ~£100 Creditor 4 - Defaulted 14/11/2008, current balance ~£95 Creditor 5 - Defaulted 13/09/2010, current balance ~£3327 Creditor 6 - Defaulted 15/09/2010, current balance ~£3108 etc.... My final creditor (above) has just taken court action to get their money back (quite right & I can only afford to give them what I can give them), so I have an urgency in making a decision as to what to do to move this forward but with a very long eye on repairing my credit score. Any help will be most welcome ..J

Had to seek help on this front. Contacted my local CAB this morning and they are moving forward with it. These guys do the best of jobs, they must get so much job satisfaction! & they made me feel that I can get things in control again. J I'll keep you posted in case it helps others...

Sorry if I'm a bit scattered with my post - my head is not in the right place!

hi everyone, I am the first to admit I'm not the most organised with my finances and since my wife was diagnosed with Bipolar a few years ago my finances went worse. Over time, i've had a few Arrangements to pay on my Mortgage. It's difficult to keep up payments and sometimes I bury my head and get a little late with payments. I am in arrears with G&E, Council tax and Mortgage and when I was ill during June, my wife tried to use my card to make payment and was told no! When I was fit again, I transferred the money into my wife's account and she made a double payment - So from the last Arrangement to pay, I am up to date & this should clear my £900-odd debts be the end of the year. Unfortunately as the June's payment was late, NRAM has cancelled the ATP and I received late last week an eviction notice from my local sheriff court (I am in Scotland). After discussing with NRAM, I have spent my full week Faxing 3 months bank statements, wage slips and I&E along with a proposal to kickstart the ATP along with an extra payment to cover charges they have applied to my account. I was desperate to get these arrears cleared by the end of the year. Anyway my eviction has been planned for 31st July and I don't want to leave but they insist they want the full £900 cleared (as well as this months mortgage payment). Can someone advise me what I should do? I don't know where to turn and my wife's illness doesn't help when I'm trying to do it all myself. Any advice for Scotland would be much appreciated. Kind Regards J

I have been getting help with my creditors via CCCS. Had difficulties getting this sorted but am (nearly) finally in control of my finances. One final creditor is my local council - North Lanarkshire Council tax arrears of ~£500 - I am trying to arrange a time to pay - 10 months @£50 which is affordable and within the means of my budget, however Mesenger at arms is demanding £177 per month to pay it off. They are not being reasonable and I have given them a list of my creditors and my budget but they don't care, they're not moving on the £177. Final communication with them they told me to pay it or Wage Arrestment is imminent. I seriously cannot afford to pay £177 per month for arrears only (I am up to date with all other council tax payments) - How can I: 1. Stop them from arresting my wages 2. Get them to listen to my offer of payment which is definately reasonable considring my circumstances? Thanks for your advice J

I thought this may be of interest to some. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-bank-bank-scotland/80654-jdm-o.html#post715201 Hope it helps someone. J

So, I get the letter from the FSO saying they have received my letter and that someone will be assigned to look into it in more detail. Next letter I get, confirms the person who is looking after my account and that they will be approaching the Governor of the Bank of Scotland to make a reasonable offer from my 6years of claims. Finally, I get the letter I've been waiting on - the bank will offer to pay the full lot - over £2k in charges - Absolutely fantastic. I can only say thanks to everyone on this site and for all those living in Scotland - this is the route to go. I found it straight forward and I wasn't pushy - just determined and patient to let the process go through it's journey. Now to get my hands on the money - they say allow the banks 6 weeks to get the money to me - I may just send them a quick email. Thanks again J :D

Scottish Courts have completely different limitations and processes than our English cousins. I have decided to go down this route to avoid the court process as the FOS is a successful way of proceeding in Scotland. LBA has been delivered and BOS are treating this as a "complaint". Since it is classed as this, this is handled by a regulatory agreement of 8weeks to have completed their findings to the complaint. I have received these findings today - and they have fobbed me off. I look forward to continuing the complaint via the FOS. Cheers..J

Hi guys, waited the 8weeks for a final response to my complaint - just received it today 5days before 8week complaint deadline. "I am sorry for your complaint"......"I am satisfied the charges have been correctly applied to your account." Cheeky blighters put in a copy of their "Understanding Bank Charges" leaflet which made me smile. Anyway - next steps for me is the FOS - I will be contacting them next week to pursue the complaint further. I meant to add I am in Scotland claiming for in excess of £2k. Any advice on how to progress will be most appreciated... J

Just thought i'd say hi. I have recently claimed from the BOS for unfair charges. Received statements and sent my first letter asking for the charges to be repaid. Just received a letter acknowledging my complaint (just over the 2weeks) stating they now have 8 weeks to investigate any complaints. I'll keep you all posted with the progress. J