Hi Charlie

You've said that these debts originate from before April 2007, but you don't say when you last used the cards or paid anything towards them.

If you went a whole 6 years at any stage without payment or written acknowledgement, the debts may be unenforceable regardless of what paperwork they send you.

Also, bear in mind that companies like this one often threaten court action as a scare tactic but they don't necessarily follow through on that threat as they know it may not be worth their time and money.

Either way, we would be very happy to help you. Further to citizenB's suggestion that you get in touch, I just wanted to point out that we take a short Xmas break from 1pm on the 24th and reopen on Friday 2 January. So you are very welcome to get in touch before then.

Regards

Dennis

@natdebtline

Hi Longships

Just trying to make sure I understand things correctly.

I assume the business was wound up/dissolved after its failure so any outstanding debts now are ones you are personally liable for.

What was the large "personal" debt you refer to in your post, and do you recall why you were told it would not be provable in a personal bankruptcy? Money owed to friends/family etc., unless secured, can normally be dealt with in bankruptcy just like bank debt, credit cards etc.

Dennis

@natdebtline

I seem to be receiving conflicting advice then because I spoke to national debt helpline and

 

 

they said that time to statute barred usually starts from the date of the last missed payment

or something along those lines

and not the date of the default as some creditors can take many months to apply a default to the account.

 

There is also other posts on this forum which seem to indicate that SB also starts from last payment and not the default.

 

What is my best course of action,

any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hi uub

Happy to reiterate our stance on this.

The default could have been recorded any length of time after the last payment was made, so is not the best indicator of when the six years are up. If you believe that over six years have lapsed since the debt became due without any subsequent payment or written acknowledgement, and you dispute/defend the debt on that basis, the onus is on the creditor to prove you wrong.

Dennis

@natdebtline

An item on tonight's programme looks at what happened when bogus companies masqueraded as licensed loan broker websites. We (National Debtline) give our views on what happened and loan brokering more generally.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pj7xv

Unfortunately the answer is yes, it will show unless you can pay it off within 28 days.

***Pedant alert***

Strictly speaking, the deadline is one calendar month.

By all means, though, pay it off by the 28th day to be on the safe side

Dennis

@natdebtline

Will probably do that then... just off the phone to the co op and they are going to open an account for me 3-5 days,guy wanted me to apply for the all sing all dancing account with overdraft and the like but told him i just wanted the very basic account.

Hi albertz

Glad to hear you persevered and got the account you were after. The basic accounts aren't advertised and don't really generate any worthwhile income for banks, so I'm not surprised their agent was keen to "upsell" to you!

I think you will find this new account makes a huge difference to the degree of control you have over things.

Dennis

@natdebtline

Hi Laura

New to this thread but wanted to wish you well in your efforts to resolve your daughter's problems. Sounds like a truly horrible situation.

On a practical note, it is true that different organisations and creditors have varying approaches to DLA on budget forms. There is no single "correct" way for you to respond, but I would suggest that if you list the DLA income figure, but also list the equivalent figure as "disability-related costs" under Expenditure, it is very hard for anyone to argue that information has been withheld.

Dennis

@natdebtline

Hi again Sipea

Just following up on previous posts (though I am hoping lack of updates since Friday is a good sign???)

If deadlock is persisting, I would just reiterate what I said earlier about paying the amount you have offered, regardless of their responses. As you've explained paying online is n/a, perhaps you can post through a cheque or postal order for the amount you are able to pay, whether that is £30 or £50? Being able to show that you have paid/attempted to pay will stand you in much better stead for any further negotiations.

Dennis

Thanks, what do you mean by CEO?

Hi Ian

The reference to "CEO" stands for Chief Executive Officer, or however the top dog at your council is known.

Also, what can happen tomorrow? Can I refuse him entry? Can he break in?

You are entitled to refuse him entry. However, as he appears to have carried out a levy on your goods last year, he will argue that he is entitled to force entry if necessary - this could only be for the purpose of removing the listed goods. In practice, I expect this to be very unlikely - you have made it quite clear that the items are of only very nominal value and I wouldn't expect him to be the slightest bit interested in lugging them away. What the agent will want is cash, and he will hope that out of panic you do whatever it takes to pay him the full amount.

Should I phone this "enforcement agent" on his mobile? I can't think of anything I would say except that I haven't got the money to pay the whole bill. I don't understand the whole thing with Rossendales saying he works for them, but then it was like he's a completely independent agent so they wouldn't talk about anything else with me.

 

I'm absolutely cr*ppng myself.

Enforcement agents nowadays are typically self-employed individuals rather than employees, and firms like Rossendales contract work out to them. Either way, if you don't wish to speak to the agent directly, you can write to/email Rossendales directly. If you are in a position to pay something/anything, you should be able to do so via the Rossendales website.

Please be reassured that situations like this are very common; if you are unable to pay the amounts demanded, it is generally a case of "toughing it out" until the enforcement agent accepts or returns the account to the council.

Dennis

@natdebtline

Hi Sipea71

I would second BA's advice that those clothing/telecoms costs appear perfectly reasonable in this context. Rossendales appear to be implying that you should budget for £0 across these two areas, which is nonsensical.

I would advise you to make payment of the amount you deem affordable by the above deadline, whether Rossendales have formally accepted it or not by then. Paying by a more "impersonal" method, such as via their website, might be best as it avoids you getting sucked into further debates about what is or isn't acceptable expenditure.

Dennis

@natdebtline

Hi irishboy

Was the property (or your share of it) specifically excluded from the Trust Deed when it was initially set up?

If not, this explains the obstacles to her transferring the mortgage into her sole name.

Typically in a Trust Deed, control of your assets belongs to the trustee handling the arrangement. This would include your share of that property, meaning it cannot simply be transferred or handed over to a third party without the trustee's approval. Certainly if there is equity in that property, the trustee would want to get their hands on your share so that this money can then be paid into the Trust Deed.

I think the very first thing you need to do is to refer back to the Trust Deed paperwork to establish how the property was to be dealt with. If it does not make sense, you should ask the trustee for a plain English explanation and take further advice from there.

Dennis

@natdebtline

Hi all

This is a little late as it's actually episode #6 of the second series tomorrow (I don't know how many episodes are scheduled overall).

However the previous episodes are available on demand until 19 November.

Dennis

@natdebtline

 

 

I would also like to know how much damage they have cause to my credit score with thier mistakes

and if there is anything I can do to repair this damage.

 

Hi garyr

I don't know that this particular situation will have had any direct impact on your credit file. A DWP debt, disputed or otherwise, would not be reported to credit reference agencies, unless of course a County Court Judgment was obtained.

Of course, none of this excuses any poor service you may have had from the debt management company. I too would advise you to make a formal complaint.

More to the point, are you still using their services at present and paying them monthly fees? I would suggest considering the free alternative solutions available.

Dennis

@natdebtline

Hello there,

If Lowell have taken your 'prove it letter' to be a complaint you may wish to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service now that eight weeks have passed. You can read more on complaining here: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

 

All of the debts are relatively modern, but I will also request information via a CCA request. Thanks for your help, and I'll try and update as soon as I get any further info.

The magic date is the 6th April 2007. As a creditor may be able to seek leave to enforce a debt after this date regardless of what the paperwork looks like - it may be more tricky to broker a good reduction on debts taken out after this date. That said, for the sake of a pound, a CCA request is a very cheap and often powerful tool to aid with negotiation.

Best wishes,

David.

Hello there,

I've flagged this with the site team for you. I do hope you get a response soon.

Best wishes,

David.

Hello there,

The general approach would be to make full & final settlements based around a pro-rata share to each creditor. These means that you would offer the creditor with the largest amount outstanding the highest amount, followed by the next highest debt - and so on. That said, prior to making offers you could consider making a formal request under the Consumer Credit Act [often referred to as a CCA request] to see if these creditors still have the paperwork in order. We've often seen creditors accept a much smaller full & final settlement where it has been shown that the paperwork either no longer exists or doesn't meet with the requirements of the act [e.g. is missing a prescribed term or the debtor's signature'. It could help you save a significant sum.

We've a useful fact sheet covering full & final settlements here.

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

Hello there,

There is a little further information (via the CAB) that could help you too. If you purchased the vehicle in good faith, you may be able to argue that you have 'good title' to the vehicle. Further info here: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland/consumer_s/consumer_cars_and_other_vehicles_e/consumer_problems_with_the_car_you_bought_e/consumer_the_vehicle_you_bought_doesnt_match_its_description_e/the_vehicle_is_still_on_hire_purchase.htm

Very best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

E-mail would be perfectly fine,

David.

Hi there,

You can find a sample letter to use right here: https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/11%20EW%20Mortgage%20shortfalls/Page-12.aspx

Do consider sending it via recorded delivery or with a proof of postage.

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

Thanks to the Fox for posting up our budget. We've also a useful fact sheet outlining the various options you have with payday loans you can find it by clicking through this hyperlink.

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

Hi W

Cashflow is, and has always been, separate from My Money Steps. Of course there are distinct similarities but Cashflow is a system that is aimed at a wider sector rather than something that is specifically NDL branded. Now that the My Money Steps update has been completed our attention has now turned to updating the Business Debtline website. We are hoping to launch this within the next few months. As you know we have a very close working relationship with the CAB (we handle tens of thousands of their debt-related telephone calls every year), and from a personal perspective I absolutely love to see the more pragmatic, forward-thinking branches working in exciting and novel ways to meet increasing demands within a world of very tight funding constraints. I particularly celebrate the work that NEDCab do, as you know already. Coventry CAB is another favourite of mine. I'm not a decision maker when it comes to policy, but since we have various inhouse resources that do a similar job to Cabmoney I'm assuming that's why there isn't a link to it.

I just want to add that NEDcab also makes the best coffee out of any CAB branch I've ever visited!

David

Hello there,

Please do consider completing this financial statement (you can click through to find it) as it meets a recognised industry standard format. Although I cannot say for sure, it may well be that the one you completed with the mortgage lender didn't cover everything that you may reasonably need to list within your outgoings.

Please make sure that you attend the hearing. If you can show the court that you can meet the mortgage payment plus a little extra on top towards the arrears the likelihood will be that you will be granted a 'suspended possession order'. This means that you'll be able to keep the property - so long as you can meet the arrangement. The court should allow you to pay the arrears over a long time, this could be several years. In fact, an important court case called 'Cheltenham & Gloucester v Norgan' has reinforced the fact that you *could* pay the arrears off over the whole remainder of the mortgage term.

We have a really useful fact sheet that covers mortgage arrears in detail, you can find it here.

Please also investigate whether or not the lender has been charging you for late/missed payments - if so, you should look into claiming those fees back - this site is absolutely the right place to be to help you with that.

Very best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

Hello there,

Although we do not administer DMPs ourselves we have a significant amount of experience in setting up DMPS for our callers. We use both Stepchange and Payplan to administer them on our behalf. I've been involved in countless cases where callers have switched from a fee-charging firm to a free provider, I've yet to come across a case where the creditors have made it difficult for anyone. Afterall, the'll be getting a better cut of the surplus.

Really hope this helps!

Very best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

Hello there,

MKRR would need to provide clear evidence that the 'payment' was made by you (or an 'agent' acting on your behalf). They would need to be able to show how the payment was made and where. Unless they can provide proof they will not be able to rely on the 'payment'. As Chuffter mentions you should dispute the payment and ask for proof. A CCA request and a SAR could be useful too.

Very best wishes,

David @ National Debtline