In late September I took out a pay day loan from Wonga as I was told by Student Finance (currently a full time student) that it would be no longer than a few weeks till I got a grant I was waiting on. Complications arose, and I didn't get that money, and won't have it till early 2011. However I've been unable to pay back the loan to Wonga, and approx £500 has now (with there interest) become £1100 I owe them In theory I should be able to pay this off some point in January, although it pains me to think of how much money I will have lost due to there interest. I tried contacting them a few weeks back via the contact thing on there site, but they replied basically telling me to call them (which I don't want to do, as I don't want to potentially be talked down to or intimidated by some over-proud call centre employee). Is there any way I can try to get them to knock off some interest and let them know I should be able to pay them back by the end of January, or am I just going to have to accept that I in a sense got myself into this mess and will have to pay that vast interest occured? Thanks in advance for any replies. I did a forum search before making the topic, but most people seemed further down the line of Wonga passing things on to debt collection companies and such, so I couldn't find an answer for my own situation.

Right, I've had a read out on here and a google on Debt Management Plans and it seems like perhaps the only reasonable option I have right now...as long as it all goes to the theoretical plan. However...I had a letter through the door about a week ago saying someone came round to the house wanting to collect stuff in order to get money for one of my debts owed :\, as well as another letter saying they're about to do the same thing. So I really need to get things in motion a.s.a.p as my parents are sometimes opening these letters (as I share the same name as my dad) and my parents already have enough problems with me as it is...it just makes things worse when they have actual evidence to have a go at me. :\ Anyway, are CCCS the best people to get in touch with regarding a DMP? and does it have to be set up over the phone? I'm not looking forward to potentially having to have a judge allow my DMP in court (from what I read), but if i have to I guess I'll just have to deal with it. Once again, thanks for the support and help so far to everyone who's took time to reply to me in here, I really appreciate it.

Thanks for the replies everyone. First up, if I was to try and sort some sort of payment plan with these creditors, can I request this in writing? ...as I really don't want to phone them and have someone have a go at me or whatever, plus it'd be more clear in writing and I'd have evidence to go back on if they should try and screw me in anyway I guess. Also I have no income at the moment so it's not like I can even arrange a payment plan at this stage, I am looking into selling a few things of mine that I have no use for at the moment, but really that's just going to cover me for general day to day living, especially at the moment as I'm still awaiting my student loans to come in (due to the delays some people [i.e. me] have had this year and what not) if it was something that would help me out of debt I would've got on the case right away. Hence why i feel trapped. No income + a lot of pressure from various creditors. Second up, the reason I was so casual about bankruptcy is because I thought it was off my record after approx 6 years or so, and as I will hopefully spend at least the next 4 years at Uni, it wouldn't really have much of a hit on my life as I won't be getting a mortgage or anything like that anytime soon, and if i needed to rent a place, I think a lot of places will take references and possibly a guarantor as a back up...and I should be able to provide those easy enough. I would ask my parents for a bit of help in this case, but I have a bad relationship with them and can't turn to them for help in times like this, I wish it was different but it's too complicated to go into and just not an option.

Sorry to bump this but today I was given a letter that I guess my mum found or opened saying that Bailiffs had tried to visit the premises with intention of seizing goods upto the value of £306.90. I think this is regarding Council Tax from my old address with some charges of there own chucked in. This is pretty serious now and I really need to get something sorted in regards to filing for bankruptcy if that is the best option for me. Like I said in my last post (which was something of an update), I'm currently at Uni and have no job or income to sort these things out right now. I already have bad credit markings against me that will stick with me for a long time, so I think being bankrupt won't really affect me any worse than I already am (will it?) and it will mean Instead of paying the near 3k I owe, I'll only have to pay the filing for bankruptcy (£500ish) won't I?

Right...2 months later, and I've made little progress in terms of sorting out my debt and relieving a lot of pressure that is on me, but heres an update. I'm now at university, I'm still waiting on my loans to come through tuition/ maintenance, but Student Finance is bombarded with requests and a lot of people are in the same boat as me in terms of the delays there. I'm happy to of found out on the internet today that bad credit history doesn't affect student loans too. Now...onto the real problem, my debts. I definitely have a number of bad credit scores against my name at the moment due to unpaid bills, and all the threats and actions companies are wanting to take against me, and I spoke to someone who works at a bank the other day who said that stuff will be on my account for a while. So I'm thinking, I owe about £2,500 (estimate) in total, but as it stands I still don't have a job, and when I do eventually get one, I'll need that money just to get by. So I'm wondering... am I still eligible to file for bankruptcy? I say this because it's clear to me that I'm going to have a bad credit rating for the better part of a decade as it stands at the moment, so if I'm to declare bankruptcy, it will basically just leave me in the same boat I'm already in, but mean I have less to pay (only paying the upfront fee, as opposed to paying off approx £2,500) in debts. Initially when it was mentioned to declare bankruptcy I was hesitant, but now...with pressures mounting (in a time where I really can't be dealing with so much increased stress), it seems like the best option. As long as me declaring bankruptcy won't affect my student loans or anything regarding my university years, then I am fine with it. As for the next 4 years at least I will be studying. So if anyone could shed some light on the information I need to know about to declare bankruptcy, what I'd need to do, what effects it'll have on me, etc? That'd be great. Lastly, I tried to log on to my online bank with Natwest today as I was going to tally up all the bank charges they've taken off me in the last 24 months, as I'm pretty sure it's about £300 in total, I was going to try and go the financial hardship route with them to try and get that money back. However, I currently "owe" them about £80 I think, and it's been a while since I've corresponded to them, so I think they've froze my account or what not and won't let me view my account. Is there alternate ways I can get my account history off them so that I can send them a letter to try and get the money back they 'took' from me as well as getting them to stop hassling me for the small amount of money that they've conjured up for me to 'owe' them? Thanks in advance

Hi thanks for the replies so far. As for the Debt Relief Order, I will have combined assets over £300 so I wont meet the specifications for that. and with bankruptcy how long does that take to get processed, and I'm worried it may affect me whilst I'm at uni (tuition fee loans etc). I understand I'll be paying more off to get out of debt with one of those consolidation companies, but the convenience they'll save me (as long as repayments aren't TOO harsh) then it may be the best option, as I can't do it personally through family or anything. I should be able to pay about £250 a month towards my debt I think...if i consolidated it...so in which case if I did that, I could be out of debt via repayments in approx a year? I'll try and sort out the bank charges side with the banks and try to get them done under hardship, as combined probably about £500 of what I owe is simply just bank charges spiralled out of control. In which case I deduct that approx 500 (possibly a bit more) off what I owe as that's not money I owe...thats money they're trying to steal. Also, In the next 2 days I will open all my mail and my a list of whom is asking for how much, and what the total I owe is.

Hi, sorry for the late reply, busy last few days. The majority of the money I owe is to Currys for some things on Finance, and I believe that has been passed over to an external party to chase the cash for them. Theres a few other smaller ammounts I owe though, and because all of this started around December/ January this year, I believe the majority of these ammounts have been passed to debt collection agencies, as it has been just over 6 months that this has been going on now :\.

I'm sorry to actually make this topic given the many many topics already on here, and the stickies etc, however it's just all so much to take in. I'll give you my story in as brief as possible. Although please bear with me if it does get a bit "wall of text"'y. For those with little patience, I've put 3 little red asterisks further down this post where my question/ idea regarding help is. Everything between here and there is generally my story on how I got into debt, and how bad it is. Basically I'm 23, hoping to go to Uni in Sept (got a position etc, just need to sort out my loans). I'm currently in about £3000 of debt, this is due mostly to things I got on finance a while ago, and approx £500 of it is bank charges related. I lost my job late last year, which then followed with me splitting with my partner at the time, depression, moving back with my parents, missing payments, etc etc etc... For the early part of this year I had planned to eventually sort things out and get my payments sorted, but I was severely depressed for a while (which I'd rather not go into, but you get the idea), so I just wanted to avoid anything negative (bills, my ex) and just try and stay positive. This went on for a while, and then eventually I was back on my feet in some ways, but I'd ignored debts, they'd got worse, and its all just got a bit overwhelming. I haven't opened any mail of mine that doesn't seem to be from University or such in about 3 months, unfortunately for me, I live with my parents and my dad has the same name, and some letters that my dad has mistaken for him have been opened, and the ones I've managed to get my eyes on have been the usual threatening requests. I get calls each day from 0800 numbers and such, and i just never answer them, and delete there voicemails, but I do want to sort things out. My mum had a bit of a go at me earlier regarding a letter from whomever is dealing with my car insurance cancellation fee money i owe, that company is saying that if they dont get repayment in 7 days they'll pass it onto some company who will likely get a doorstep collection person round, or something of that nature :S. I'm technically jobless at the moment, but my dad does what he can to try and give me things to do for some cash. I hope to have a full time job as soon as possible (although whos to say when that'll be in the current state of employment in the uk). *** A while ago I had the idea to try and get with one of those companies you see advertised on TV that try and consolidate all your debts into 1 repayment etc, the adverts show all smiles, but some internet searching on them showed a darker side :\. Now, I don't know if they're all like that, but considering I'm only 3k in debt (I say 'only' as there are people unfortunately far worse off than me), I'm wondering if something like that is a sensible option? and if so, whom have the best reputation? If I got myself sorted with one of these companies, I would get my parents to be my unnoficial "guarantor" and ensure I never missed a repayment to them as I don't want this to spiral any further out of control than it already has become. ...many, Many! thanks if you took the time to read this, and all help is most definitely appreciated in this matter. ~Kevin

Sorry to bump, but can anyone assist. Also another current road bump in my search to get this is that it's hard for me to prove my earnings as I'm currently just working for my dad but earning a fixed amount so can steadily pay back the loan easily.

First off, here's my situation. I have approx £900 of debt at the moment (mostly unpaid bills, and problems with an ex girlfriend over paying her half etc). However I'm really hoping to go to university in September, and I NEED a laptop (as my pc is badly dated), I was hoping to spend about £400 on one, and thus be able to work on a portfolio beforehand also. My situation with bills has landed me in bad credit, and basically I just want to get a personal loan, pay off all the individual debts, and have piece of mind knowing I only have 1 company to pay back pretty much. The specifications are basically, I want to borrow £1500, but pay back over 6 months (before I potentially start Uni). I had a look on a couple of websites, and it seemed like I could get this loan and only have about £250 to pay back a month, which was doable. However the problem is, the attractive places to get said loan are likely to reject me I think. I've only tried 1 place so far and that has been Egg.com (who denied me today). Since then I've tried focusing on places that offer bad credit loans (as seen on tv), 1 person mentioned Yes Loans...to which I "googled" them, and have read a lot of negative about (as well as the fact they require an upfront admin fee). I then did some looking on my own, and came across "Welcome Finance" to which I "googled" and heard a mixed bunch of views on. However I believe Welcome Finance push a really high APR, and have been known to mis-sell a few customers. I'm basically wondering if there are any decent companies out there to go to for this loan? I understand what I'm getting myself into, and my current life situation is perfectly suitable for paying back this loan after some recent hard times, I just don't know who is my best option. Thanks in advance :edit: Also, some people are suggesting I try to get hold of a credit card that gives me £1500, or whatever amount, but allows no interest for the first 6/ 12months. This way I could technically have access to the money I need, and as long as I've paid it back before the interest period is over, I should be ok right? I've always avoided credit cards, but if it's the better option then I'll go with it (as long as I'm not silly with it, and with my recent minor taste of debt...I really really don't want to let things get worse). Still though, the question of "who can I approach" who offers and would accept me for such a thing?

Thanks for the info. I went into the bank today. Not with anger in me, just worry. Told him my story, he listened, sympathised, didn't make me feel bad or anything, and did what he could. Spoke to a guy who was nice, couldnt refund me anything, but he's had all my D/D's cancelled (fair enough really as I'll be moving out soon and most will be final bills). He sorted out a thing for the time being where the bank have put an overdraft that covers the £75ish that I'm overdrawn on my account and given me 3 months to pay that back. Obviously now with the D/D's cancelled I won't get any more charges, and with the overdraft in place Natwest can't charge for being overdrawn. So I have no further worry about that really. It'll be annoying having to wait for letters (or alternately calling) all the people I have D/D's with to pay via whatever other means, but I'm ok with that till I'm back on my feet. I suppose the next step now is to get all the charges together for what Natwest have taken since Jan 08 (thats when the first charge I've had that I've not had refunded happened), and try and get the financial hardship case in place. My story in brief is. Lost my job, tried to get jobseekers, that didn't happen and is ongoing, not had any proper money in (just eBay, and money I've borrowed off parents etc), relationship fell apart, moving out (back in with parents). Charges are unfair and I could do with that money back. The guy I spoke to at Natwest just said to call Customer relations about the charges to see if they could be refunded (as he couldnt do anything about them personally), he said he knew it wasnt guranteed to get them refunded, but he'd done his bit to stop further things happening so I had no reason to argue with him how useless calling would be. A side story is that I have the same ongoing problem (but worse) with Halifax. August - Got a charge (without realising), when I found out I had this charge I tried to get it back, they said no. In the time they were replying to me, I got another one. Sent another letter, these werent the standard "I'll take you to court if my demands arent meant" type thing that would normally be sent from here....but me knowing about the test case I decided I'd send sympathetic letters and see if they could respond to that rather than just the usual automated corporate bank reply stuff. They didn't get me anywhere though. Anywho, they replied to the 2nd letter saying how they were investigating it, and that was the last I heard (I'd moved but not changed my address with the bank, and the letter got sent to my old home address [parents]), however I didn't receive the reply to that. In the time of the investigation, more charges were added and it got to about £190 in charges, then they passed it over to there debt collections side. They've hit me with a default notice, and said I owe £290 (although these debt collectors are adding an extra £30 a month I believe). It's £290 because it's £190 in charges and my £100 overdraft which I was using pretty much to capacity at the time this began. So basically I need to try and see if I can get Halifax to refund the charges, a.s.a.p (whether via financial hardship, or after the test case), the thing is though. What do I do about the added charges each month from Albion (Halifax's collections agency?) Can I claim them back? I'm financially screwed for 6 years with the default notice too if I can't get all this mishap sorted. I'm suprised I haven't killed myself with everything thats fell apart recently :/ Sorry for going on about the Halifax bit in this post (seeing as it's the Natwest board). Just a reply on what to do next in terms of "going down the financial hardship road" side of claiming back charges would be helpful.

I'm personally in Hardship, and over the weekend 2 DD's tried to come out, failed and they've charged me £76 on Sat for the unpaid DD's. Anyway, I can't have this right now, it's already guranteed to be a **** christmas for me and people I'd give presents too, but now with this they're going to make a lot of deductions for bank charges and mess up a lot of bills for me as I can't afford what they're doing. Would I get anywhere if tomorrow I went into my branch to talk to someone face to face there (never done this sort of thing before) but I have quite a few D/D's spread all over the month and I'm barely managing to pay bills...I CAN'T afford the bank charges too. I lost my job at the end of September, tried to get Jobseekers in October, but due to a lot of stringing me along and asking for more info, I've STILL not had a payment (I currently need to get proof of 2 of my partners wage slips and try and get some papers on her uni fee's). If they're fine with what I give them then I'll get back dated paid for the JSA claim from the start of Oct when I applied. Thing is though, is that with all this money hassle, me and my partner have split up. Which sucks. (I'm 22 she's 20, been together 16 months and currently live together, but thats another story). After all is said and done with the messing around to get JSA to be happy with how much she gets and if that could support me, I'll then need to tell them I'm single, which I hope won't complicate things further with that. Anyway, recently I've had to borrow about £400 off my dad and another £250 to make rent the other day. I have no income whatsoever at the moment (other than eBaying some stuff here and there). I haven't told my parents the extent of how bad things are (or the fact that me and Laura (my gf) have split up), but things are REALLY tough, and I just can't take it anymore. I need to go into Natwest tomorrow and have them sort things out tomorrow. I need at the minimum for them to take back those 2 charges they've hit me with at the weekend, but ideally I could do with them paying me back every charge they took off me this year. (They've probably taken something near £300. Sorry for the wall of text above, but if i state my case in person tomorrow and tell them how bad things are...what is the likelihood they'll pay me back my charges and give good customer service for once? If not I'm just going to have to tell them to close the account tomorrow as I can't afford them to just keep screwing me with charges...and have my bills get paid through other means.

Thanks for the reply I won't be able to look into tonight I don't think, but definitely tommorow or Saturday afternoon. Just to clarify though, are you saying I should go over my statements and issue a claim for the excess ammount that I am still unpaid for after the goodwill payment? I.e. the £339 - 290 = They owe me £49, then issue the claim? Also, the Natwest letter...what would you (or anyone) advise me to do about that...they have me in a catch22 situation, I either take the money and have no D/D ability, or don't take the money and have D/D abilities. There being arrogant about it to say the least.

3 new posts over the past week or so and no replies Anyway...I got a letter of Natwest today basically saying they have responded to the Office of Fair Tradings statement of April 5th 2006 etc...but they are still within there rights to make charges because charges are only valid on credit cards, and not debit cards... They said they'd pay me the £38 as a gesture of goodwill providing I sign the sheet (which also says that by signing they'll cancel any D/D's on my account). I don't want to sign this now...because I use my natwest account to pay my phonebill via D/D. What should I do?...LBA it? Also regarding my Abbey claim, should I go the next step (after the LBA) do you think? I could really do with the bad credit note lifted off my account and I could do with doing the easy way (which is to make them have to do it), or the long way (which is start paying my wages into that account for 3 months).

I got a letter from Abbey yesterday telling me basically that there charges are legit, and will remain, but as a gesture of goodwill they paid me £290...which is close to my full ammount and I would've happily accepted that and called it quits to be honest...but last night I tried to get my bad credit note lifted off my account and I basically got treated like crap over the phone (abbeys phone banking services are pretty much full of s***). Now I'm thinking I may as well go the next step so that I can make sure that my bad credit indication gets lifted.

Ok... Today I got a letter through from Abbey saying they're sorry I'm unhappy and are looking into my charges. They still have until the 30th/31st as far as me giving them time to respond goes. ...anyone I checked my bank account today and they've put in £290 today (in various £20-35 increments) all as miscellaneous fee refund's. I'm just under £50 short of what I should've got, but maybe they're still yet to add them. Anyway, I looked in my NatWest account today also and saw that I had been charged for an unpaid direct debit. I have been charged for one by Natwest over a month ago (like mentioned previously in this topic) and they wrote back saying they'd refund me this time as a gesture of goodwill, but in future they wouldn't. I should still claim that back though right?...I mean, what they said was lies...I have every right to claim and will win won't I?

*Sent! Hopefully there response will be what I want to hear. Are Abbey likely to pay up with this letter, I've had a flick through the site and it seems the success rate of claiming back bank charges is phenomenal, but I don't know if Abbey have a different reputation or anything. It's Approx £339 I'm claiming off them so it's not like I'm that big of a dent to there finances.

Right...just now I've got around to sorting out my LBA letter, it was about a month ago I recieved my response from Abbey, and I really did mean to respond with my LBA sooner, but things have been busy recently and I just kept putting it off. I've just finished editing the LBA template to my own personal info and I'm fine to still send my LBA though right? If so I shall send it off as soon as I get a reply tommorow (Monday October 16th).

Ok, Friday I think it was... ...I received letters from both my banks. Natwest's consisted of something along the lines of how they're sorry I'm unhappy, and how they don't accept the statement that the office of fair trading brought up, however they where willing to refund the £76 they'd taken as a gesture of good will, which was a nice result! Abbey though...they've basically said they're sorry I'm unhappy, but they won't offer a refund because the charges are in accordance with there charging structure, they sent a formal complaints form with the letter too. My next step now is to send Abbey my LBA right? This one - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/92-letter-before-action-consumer.html ...but I'd need to obviously edit out the bits that don't apply to me (for instance the line that mentions them not responding to my initial letter...as they did).

I received both my statements for the last month from my bank today. I'm not sure if this is around about the time I'd usually receive them, and I don't think I normally get them on the same day...but they have come but there is no response to the LBA I sent them last week, although there is a 'tips on managing your account' letter that has come with the Abbey statement, that has a list of all the different types of charges they enforce. They (both Abbey & Natwest) still have until the 22nd to respond though.

I sent my LBA letter off to Abbey as well as 1 to Natwest for a recent overdraft charge they hit me with. Just opened up a new account with Halifax as well as a parachute account incase one of those 2 decides to boot me. What are the chances of them settling the fee's after receiving an LBA letter? Or is it pretty much always the next letter that lets them know you mean business and know what your doing that convinces them to just pay back what they've taken from you?

Ah I see, I checked the FAQ section before I signed up, so the topics weren't showing. I shall have a read now. Thanks for the help.

I got linked to this site by a friend earlier today after mentioning I was going to claim some bank charges Abbey hit me with earlier this year. Anyway, I've read the FAQ and had a look around but I don't know what the usual procedure is to start a claim . Abbey owe me £300 in charges (not including interest as that comes to about £5 so it's not really a high priority to me). I paid them back for all the charges though, but when I heard more about bank charges being illegal and that I have a right to claim them back I started to look into it, and a guy on another forum sent me this letter template to claim my charges back with. I was planning on filling out my details on that template, as well as sending some print outs of my bank statements from the months that the charges we're in (there all from Jan-May this year) and highlingting the charges out to them. ...after reading around on here though I'm getting mixed messages as to what to do first . Also, just to clarify I'll list the reasons they put for my charges just to make sure that I can actually claim them. Anyway, here they are; Charge for Overdraft that has not been authorised x 5 Clearing Visa Payment whilst Overdrawn x 4 Charge for unpaid Direct Debit x 2 Basically, is the way I'm going about claiming these charges back sufficient? and also, am I able to claim back all those charges listed? Many thanks in advance.