I owe a lot!

[loopy_lou1]

I need to take stock here - it's ridiculous. I'll be honest - I owe £32-34k and I just got paid £676.00 for a month. How can I possibly pay this back it will take forever??

 

I am at the end of knowing what to do now??!!

 

I've tried an IVA and it failed - TWICE - I did it legitimately through Payplan and got nowhere.

 

Is bankrupcy my only option because I've been down all other routes and I am left with nothing. I'm 33 live at home with my parents and my life is on standstill because I can't afford anything.

 

I have numerous DCA's not two

 

I have HSA, Moorcroft, Robinson Way (who are bas****), HFO, Blair Oliver and Scott, IQOR (Legal and Trade), Buchanan Clarke and Wells!!!!!!!!!!!

[Robdblynd]

If these debts are things like loans, credit cards, store cards etc, why not CCA them all to see if the debt is enforceable. At least waiting for the responses will buy you some time to see what you can do.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

 

Read this, it will start you off on the process of dealing with things.

 

Then look in here

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/73030-taking-back-control-your.html

 

and this one

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/83035-guidelines-requests-original-agreement.html

 

I know it's a lot to read but at least you'll have a better idea of your options and may be able to put a plan together after you've got your head round these.

[loopy_lou1]

Well I can do all of that - I've got another thread with all the advice to do this but the debt still exists if they can be CCA'd - ok I should read the Finances control thing first!

 

It's such hassle why am I so stupid and how did I get into this mess - living at home and no rent - just overspending not knowing about Credit Ratings etc., and how easy it is to get a card - and not so easy to pay back.

[standingupformyself]

Dont give yourself a hard time. You aren't the only person to have made mistakes.

[Robdblynd]

The debt exists but could be unenforceable if they haven't got a properly executed agreement.

 

While no one advocates debt avoidance, if you can check that they don't in fact have an enforceable agreement if gives you much more bargaining power to sort out a payment plan paying token amounts. I know it will take a long time, but at least you'll be starting to get your life under control.

 

You've taken an important first step in asking for help and on this site you'll get plenty of that. Don't beat yourself up, we've all been in similar positions to you, that's why we're on here. Some of us have managed to sort things out so that we're in control and we're trying to help others to get that control for themselves.

 

Take it one step at a time and you'll get there in the end and when you look back you'll realise how much you've learned along the way.

[loopy_lou1]

The thing is I want it gone! I don't want to be paying creditors forever. I'm not married and what happens when I want a mortgage?? And at the moment I'm doing NOTHING about it - they're just there! Hanging over me!

[Robdblynd]

Then do something ..... CCA the lot of them and see who can enforce and who can't. Then tackle them one by one until they're all gone.

[Goldlady]

Hi Lou, a year ago I was close to bankruptcy - now from all I have learned on here and the help I have had I have discovered that at least half of my debt is unenforceable and the rest is still hanging in the balance. I am no longer afraid to answer the phone and look forward to the post to see what is happening in each of my battles.

 

What a lot of these card companies are 100% guilty of is irresponsible lending - in my case it was ridiculous (like 2K increases at a time) but I was so skint at the time (business not personal extravagances) that I saw each credit limit increase as pennies from heaven. So if they haven't got their paperwork right, well that's their misfortune:D. Ask for as much advice as you need - you will get loads of help.

[loopy_lou1]

You're all giving me amazing advice - I'm being negative but what if they are ALL enforceable by law? I could breakdown everything for you but it'll take ages. I will in a couple of days. I don't understand this CCA thing properly - I send them a letter and they send me an agreement and then what? I'm paying nothing to anyone at the moment and I don't know if they have already sent me CCAs!!!

[Goldlady]

it is highly unlikely that they will all be enforceable - if any. Basically you have a right to ask for a copy of your original consumer credit agreement which is the evidence they would need to prove the debt if they took you to court. Many companies have not got anything at all, having destroyed the paperwork (in my case so far about 40K), and a great deal more send a copy of the application form which is in many cases not a valid agreement. One of the CCA gurus will no doubt post a list of the 'terms' which need to be on an agreement for it to be enforceable. Whether or not you have the original agreement is irrelevant - what you are now asking for is what they have on file against you.

 

Even if they are all enforceable and you did have to go bankrupt you have nothing to lose really - and if you find they are not enforceable then you have everything to gain.

[loopy_lou1]

Thank you darling, you can just pat yourself on the back for making a sad woman smile

Basically do the bloody lot and work from there??

 

Wonderful!

 

I've ignored this and my debt has been increasing every year since I was 21 and I am now 33.

[Goldlady]

You will need a big file to keep all the letters in - keep copies of everything you send and every reply. I have lived without borrowing anything for the last 18 months as all my cards don't work anymore for some strange reason - sometimes I have no idea how I am going to buy food and stuff but I have managed and I will never ever again have a credit card.

 

Best of luck Lou - I look forward to hearing how you get on:)

[loopy_lou1]

So start from scratch - I don't need all the letters and stuff then? Start from Monday with a new file and a new start???

[Goldlady]

Well you will probably need all the old letters, just incase, but if you start a new file for the new fighting back campaign it will make you feel so much better. I get so much therapy from filing stuff in my 'action' file.

 

It's almost like alcoholics anonymous - Hi my name is Goldlady and I am a victim of irresponsible lending.

[loopy_lou1]

HAHAHAHAHA

 

Hi I'm Lorna and I too am an irresponsible lender!

 

I've got most of the old letters - some I've chucked but most of them - the ones for non payment of their agreement usually which has only been made by phone. I'll CCA all of them this week and see what happens and Goldlady - I'll need your help and anyone else who wants to listen and give me advice!

 

Thanks x

[Goldlady]

Another thing - if they are giving you grief on the phone you can ask them to only contact you in writing. I am not very good at linking to letters but there is a whole rake of letters you can use on here for every possible situation.

 

Hope you can manage to carry all the CCA letters to the post office:D

[loopy_lou1]

All this started because a company called HFO put the frighteners on me this morning - check out my other thread and PriorityOne and Rory have been amazingly helpful and so have you. Now instead of being scared of the b**stards I feel grateful that they made me take stock!

 

I was absolutely terrified!

[loopy_lou1]

If I can't remember which DCA is dealing with each debt or who they actually are can I phone the original creditor and ask them?

[Goldlady]

I think that is how most of us ended up here. These people are pushing too hard and it is about time the worm turned! Hopefully you will get a good night's sleep, unless you lie awake plotting:D. It is almost unbelievable that you can get rid of certainly some debts because they haven't done their homework - sounds too good to be true. But the good people on here are not some sort of hard-sell bullsh*tters - they are people like you and me who have been a bit silly - as have the lenders.

 

One thing that amazed me was that I worked out on a spreadsheet ages ago that I had actually paid back the money I had borrowed from my cards and that all I now owe (or did in some cases) is interest and charges. So if I hadn't borrowed the damned money in the first place I would owe nothing to anyone;)

[Goldlady]

You could work it systematically rather than trying to do it all at once. You can send the CCA requests to the DCA's - they should pass it back to the original creditor (OC). I have done that with mine - waited until they got nasty and then sent the CCA letter.

[loopy_lou1]

I know that I've had CCAs from my original creditor well at least a couple if not more. I thought it was the DCA I was applying for a CCA from? Oh I think I need to go to the CAB I'm getting a bit confused.

[Goldlady]

I have just read your other thread. Will you please stop panicking - you have the help of some of the best people on here and you will be fine. Promise.

[loopy_lou1]

I am panicking - it's a ten year debt and I am fed up of being like this and not having money and moaning etc., and the phonecall about heavies did scare me. I am grateful for all the help, really. I am just praying that I can at least get rid of some of it because at the end of the day I've overspent - it's MY fault.

 

Thanks though, I will do the CCA thing.

[Goldlady]

Yes, perhaps it is your fault, but if they hadn't put the temptation there would you have done it? I think not. You have a life to get on with and you cannot let this destroy you. And it won't.

 

I lived in terror of people coming to the house and one day when I was here by myself a thuggish character in a suit knocked at the door. I lay on the bedroom floor for at least half an hour, shaking like a jelly. i found out later he was from the council cos the neighbours had complained about our rubble mountain as we were converting the loft.

 

Never again will I let anyone put that fear into me. And neither should you - debt is NOT a crime - lending money to people who really can't afford to borrow it in the first place in my opinion IS.

[loopy_lou1]

For everything you've said I am more than grateful but I am of the argument now that at the time I could afford it. Mine main problem was consolidation after consolidation.

 

I went to Debt Free Direct for an IVA and then they hassled me. I got to the last stages of IVA and it was refused - TWICE.

 

I suppose what everyone is saying here is that it's "manage debt" rather than eradicate and I still feel really upset about it.

 

I'd be terrified, too. I am still scared these swines are going to come to my home. My father found a letter a couple of months ago about a £6k loan - that is the tip of the bloody iceberg - he'd go MENTAL if he knew the actual amount. He supports me and I have overspent and he thinks it's disgusting I am in that amount - what could I do if bully boys from HFO came round?