in the process of filling all the forms in. Alot of paperwork and not as easy as i first thought. One thing its made me realise not to take debt on in the first place, you definately learn by your mistakes. CCCS reckon my DMP will start August, so keep you posted

cccs just asked for a letter from my husband self certifying him? and my wage slip (which is no problem there)

Received my 'interview' and the man was very nice-ish. He went through every mortal thing i spend, but i found it difficult giving him my husbands income. He's self employed and so i gave an average, although it could be hardly anything some weeks. In the end he said i had £67 over but to do a DMP i would need at least £200 and it will take 9 years to pay off!! My next step is to prove i can pay this amount, and said i have to send a letter to self certify my husband, what is this? does anybody know? How do i self certify him? Confused again, more worry, and he said i need to do it quickly to get the 1st payments in to the creditors for August. Not as easy as i expected, all because my husband is self employed and has no contracts.

well tomorrow is nearly here, having the 'interview' with cccs and really getting worked up over it. have been trying to do I&E but how much do they allow for the housekeeping and travelling expenses? 4 adults in the household. I am worried that my husband does nt earn enough to cover all the bills even with my wages, and so don't know which way they will take it. This is my worry, cos if i aint got £100 spare they just make you sort all the creditors out yourself don't they?

thanks for yr help, i would have been so stuck if i had never come across this site. The CCCS are going to phone me about all my debts and i suppose are going to point me in the right direction, i have nt told them about LLoyds charges. Lloyds have been informed by myself that i am in finacial hardship and they did nothing to help, so thats why i ve gone further to FOS. Now i am gettin loads of messages on my answer phone saying it is important i phone them. Why? they don't want to help. What really confuses me is the fact i always thought its best not to ignore yr debts, but this is what i am doing all the time now by not answering to the calls or replying. Sorry to waffle on. Do you think i should send this debt collector a letter of phone harrasment?

i wrote to them, received letter back still asking for full amount and now saying we have no agreed arrangement with sainsburys and i must phone them immediately. Phone does nt stop ringin now, gettin at least 4 a day and now had 2 messages asking me to phone LLoyds (trying to get back 6 years charges and have complained to FOS, also got overdraft with them and its over the O.D). Should i ring them back or wait until my interview with CCCS next wk. Also, what will CCCS want to know when they ring me? Just so i can be prepared

Well would you believe it, stopped all my direct debits and LLoyds have started taking out overdraft interest charges now plus charged me for returned D/D's again. They had stopped all charges but since i ve cancelled all my D/D they have taken out last months charges again. Now i'm over my overdraft and can't afford to pay the charges to bring it under the overdraft, so next month more charges, great! I did telephone FOS on monday and they are looking into my case for financial hardship, but not sure what happens next. More stress........

hi again Still receiving 2 phone calls a day and i refuse to answer the phone every time, i have caller display. But even though i wrote to sainsburys and explained my situation, as you know they referred my account to Albion Collections Ltd. Well just had the 2nd letter which goes like this 'Amount you owe: £12,329.53 Dear Sir/Madam, Our client has told us that you have not paid the amount you owe, as shown above pay now or call us immediately on *********(phone number). If you don't, legal action may be taken against you and a debt collector may visit you at home to collect the debt. Yours faithfully His name Collections manager' Could you give me some advise on what to do, i still have 2 wks to wait for my interview with C.C.C.S

thank you yourbank. I ll start the letter and keep all informed. Lookoing at the success stories of people in financial hardship Barclays seem to be forgiving but not many at all mentioned the dreaded LLoyds

hi Thanks for the info, still had no reply from lloyds and i am now wondering if they think i don't have enough grounds to take them to the ombudsman. Surely they would try to put me off further. As you know my charges are an awful lot over 6 yrs, but my story goes like this In January my husbands work dried up badly, and we were charged again for overdraft etc. In February my statement said we were going to be charged £455 for all the D.D sent back etc I telephoned them to ask if they could stop the charges as if they took them out my bills would not be paid and then all the others wouldn't and it would just escalate my problem, reply was 'cannot help and cannot stop the charges, but to put a claim in for the last 6 yrs.' They told me to do it! Low and behold they took the £455 out and all my other bills weren't then paid Then i noticed this site and started the ball rolling to claim back all my charges. My bills were being sent back continuously and i have never recovered. I telephoned again in March and she looked at my expenditure and i told her my income. She agreed that i was in financial difficulty and asked me to change to a basic account, which i did. She said they would stop further charges and would up my overdraft to cover a few bills. but every month they lower the O.D by £50. Which i am still struggling to find along with my utility bills. I have since opened a parachute account and transferring my d.d to that account slowly. Do you think Lloyds have done everything to help me?, Do you think the Ombudsman would see it that its all my fault? I'm unsure whether to take it further because i'm not entirely certain that Lloyds have made it difficult for me. Although i feel they haven't helped much, since sending the letters about financial difficulty they have nt really responded, only the normal formal letters that they send to everyone about the OFT in July and all that jarglon What is the opinion you think of my case?

I sent a letter back stating that i plan to take them to the Ombudsman if no reply within 7 days, reason being that i do not think they have looked at my case under the hardship rules. Well the 7 days are up today and had nothing back. Whats my next step?

hi bang my head up the wall!! Had another letter today, this time off LLoyds credit card asking me to pay full amount owing 'so we can make a fresh start'. Eh? never heard of it, also i have sent them the usual letter about freezing charges and sent a £1 token payment but have they not read it? What should i do?

Thanks again Do you think i should phone CCCS and tell them, my worry at the moment is that i still haven't even had the interview with them yet. Can't fit me in until 15th June! I feel like i'm on standby and then all hell will break loose, which is what seems to be happening. Have told them about my situation but as you say, they aint interested in my problems, si do i still send the £1 token payments and who to now? Sainsburys or DC?

Lollipop, I cannot thank you enough for your help. i feel as though i just want to end my life but have so much to live for. I can only blame myself for getting in this mess, but my husband keeps telling me its not my fault we took out the loans in the 1st place, its just that all work has dried up, which means we cannot pay our way like we used to. I have never felt like this before and always like to pay my way. I thought of having a remortgage on my house to pay the debts, (my mortgage at the moment is a third of what its actually worth), but then i have been told not to make my unsecured debts- secured! Then again, will we afford the new payments if i do that. Husband has very little work and i am struggling to even pay my utility bills. Will these morons(D.C) start knocking at my door? i will not be able to cope with that, and should i phone them at all to tell them my situation? Even though Sainsburys are fully aware of it.

Well what a waste of time. Received a letter from Albion Collections yesterday, Sainsburys have transferred my debt to them and they want £12, 276 now! Immediately! The have also put £50 on top for admin charges. Please, what is the next step? is it court? I am petrified by all this. I am sure Sainsburys have done this because of the phone call i received in the week, when i was also abrupt to them phoning. Don't like the route where this seems to be going

Well, this company is the pits, i have had a loan with them for 6 yrs and never missed a payment until 4 months ago, my husband has no work. I v written to them and paid a £1 token until i get an interview with the C.C.C.S, but they do not want to know, just received a letter from a D.C, Sainsburys have transferred it to them. So that says it all. Total s***s

Received a phone call from Sainsburys today, my husband took the call, he did nt realise he should nt speak to them over the phone ( i have since told him not to). They have asked why we have missed the payments, asked us to bring the debt up to date. My husband told 'him' that we sent a letter stating our reasons why we can no longer afford the payments, 'he' said there was nothing about a letter was on our file. Husband then told 'him' letter was sent by recorded delivery and we was waiting for a response from them. 'He' then went quiet and said a reply had been sent to us! 'He' then threatened my husband with legal action, and i took the phone off my husband and told 'him' this is a tactic they use, making out they haven't received my letter, but 'he' was talking over me with all the jarglon they give so told 'him' not to ring again and only respond by letter. I then put the phone down on him. I feel like we are going backwards, my husband says this is the 'calm before the storm' and it scares me to hell. I feel these letters i sent was a waste of my time. Please whats my next step?

received 2nd letter, they are gettin stroppy now. They say they are not in the wrong and i have to wait until the ruling, and they will still charge me the usual charges as i agreed this when i took out the account. I thought if i was in financial hardship they should take a different approach? If anything, they have got worse! What step should i take now? Getting really worried and stressed out again

thank you DG, you have been so helpful for me and seem to know exactly how i feel and what steps to take. Will keep you posted.

thanks DG, bank holiday over and i did relax a littie but now gettin worked up again. Quick question, when i did my I&E, i did it as an average, does it have to be to the last penny and exact on every mortal thing?

sorry but i aint asked for the cca's, did nt really understand why i have to. I thought if i took out a credit card in the 1st place it would automatically give me an agreement

sorry did nt reply, but sainsburys never did phone our house or visit it. My husband in all day, hence, no work again. I did nt ring to cancel so wonder why they sent the letter in 1st place. Also have noticed alot on here that you're asking people to ask for their credit agreement, but don't we automatically get an agreement when we take out the credit card at the start? Have sent the letters to creditors with a £1 token payment, but i feel awful doing it, i feel like i'm just trying to swindle out of paying the amount owed, even though i can't afford to pay them. Is this normal to feel like this, still upset and crying all the time with the stress.

Well still waiting to hear from lloyds. It seems they close yr account and then send overdraft owing to debt recovery, so how can that be helping out under the hardship rule? I watched on gmtv last wk that an advisor said carry on claiming because under the hardship rule they can't put you in the queue until the high court ruling in july. Dont understand how its any different to just waiting in the 'queue'

1st class, gave me until 2nd may to pay outstanding balance of £944. Not sure what happens next

normal postage, not registered or anything tried scanning onto here, but unsuccessful