Me & My Debts

[1littleduck]

Hi all,

Very new to this, but have found it very interesting and would be grateful for a little help. A longish story, but will keep it short.

I have a problem with the HSBC bank. I sold my home 6 years ago, and used the equity from the sale to clear off a second morgage which was taken out by my partner to extend his home so myself and my 3 children could live there.. The bank was all to willing to take my money, but when I asked for my name to be added to the title deeds, I was told that this was not important and could be done later. Well it took me 8 months to do this, without the help of the bank..which inturn spoiled our relationship and caused me a lot of worry..

I had no job, 3 children and my partner never gave me any money, so I lived on credit cards for quite a while so the debts were mounting up.

I approached the bank 2 years ago, (by this time I was working and had a income of 11k) to take out 40k equity release on my property, I had no morgage on it, but my partner did. I explained all about my debts and they agreed a new 'joint' morgage. They did not tell my partner what the money was going to be used for, but I think that they only did this because they did not change the deeds and add me to the morgage in the first place.They said they would pay my debts off with the equity release money, but they did not and left that to me, they also sent me a credit card with a limit of 8k...I couldnt believe it..needless to say, most debts were never paid, and the credit card used.

I cannot remember applying for this card, I simply remember it turning up.

Now they are going to take me to court, as the debt management company I have employed to help my situation has made them an offer that is unacceptable to them. They are also asking if they can put a charge on my house.

Surley they knew I was unable to keep up any payments on a credit card, and I cant believe that they ran any checks on me, or this card would not have been issued, but the bank had all of my credit history, an what a mess it was. As i said, I dont even think I applied for it, and I have asked them for a copy of the signed agreement to put my mind at rest.

Is this irresponsible lending...can they take me to court and put a charge on my house?

Any help would be gratefully listened to.

[kennythecelt]

Hi and a very warm welcome to CAG.

 

You have had a tough time but you are in a community where these types of problem have been encountered and resolved.

 

You will get all the advice you need here to help you on the way to resolving these issues.

 

Unfortunately, you have posted in the Bear Forum, which is an off topic discussion area where folk unwind. It would be better for you if I moved your post to the debt forum.

 

I take it that is OK with you.

[1littleduck]

Hi there Kennythe celt,

Thank you, I did look for the post a thread button but could not find one..lol, but I may have sorted it now.. I will copy and past it straight away.

This site is amazing, best thing I have ever come across on the net..

Thanks again

[1littleduck]

Hi all,

Very new to this, but have found it very interesting and would be grateful for a little help. A longish story, but will keep it short.

I have a problem with the HSBC bank. I sold my home 6 years ago, and used the equity from the sale to clear off a second morgage which was taken out by my partner to extend his home so myself and my 3 children could live there.. The bank was all to willing to take my money, but when I asked for my name to be added to the title deeds, I was told that this was not important and could be done later. Well it took me 8 months to do this, without the help of the bank..which inturn spoiled our relationship and caused me a lot of worry..

I had no job, as I was talked into giving this up by my partner, who told me he would support me and 3 children, my partner never gave me any money, so I lived on credit cards for quite a while so the debts were mounting up.

I approached the bank 2 years ago, (by this time I was working and had a income of 11k) to take out 40k equity release on my property, I had no morgage on it, but my partner did. I explained all about my debts and they agreed a new 'joint' morgage. They did not tell my partner what the money was going to be used for, but I think that they only did this because they did not change the deeds and add me to the morgage in the first place.They said they would pay my debts off with the equity release money, but they did not and left that to me, they also sent me a credit card with a limit of 8k...I couldnt believe it..needless to say, most debts were never paid, and the credit card used.

I cannot remember applying for this card, I simply remember it turning up.

Now they are going to take me to court, as the debt management company I have employed to help my situation has made them an offer that is unacceptable to them. They are also asking if they can put a charge on my house.

Surley they knew I was unable to keep up any payments on a credit card, and I cant believe that they ran any checks on me, or this card would not have been issued, but the bank had all of my credit history, an what a mess it was. As i said, I dont even think I applied for it, and I have asked them for a copy of the signed agreement to put my mind at rest.

Is this irresponsible lending...can they take me to court and put a charge on my house?

Any help would be gratefully listened to.

[emmaf01]

First get that CCA- see if they actually have one.

 

What debt management company have you employed- are they charging you for this service? If so, ring up CCCS. They come highly recommended on this site.

 

If the idiots take you to court after you have made them a reasonable offer, then the judge will frown upon this and will probably award them less.

 

You're in a great place here and people will try and help all they can.

[1littleduck]

Hi emmaf01,

Thanks for your responce, the debt company is gregory pennington and I have to pay them £100 to manage things for me, if I change them now, it will cause all the problems with the phone constantly ringing again, and I dont think I can cope with this anymore.

The offer that has been made is really more than I can afford just now, as I am unemployed again, but if it turns out that I never ordered this card, as I cannot recall doing so, then they wont get anything from me, and hopefully this will be one less worry.

If it turns out that I did sign an agreement, can they put a charge on my house?

HSBC knew about my credit history, knew how much debt I had, and knew what my wage was, so to issue me with a credit card with such a high limit on makes me think that they were irresponsible, and they simply ignored all the things that the checks would have thrown up.

I am pleased to be a member of this site, as looking through the theads, the people here are smashing...couldn't ask for more!!

[kennythecelt]

Thanks for that.

 

Heres a link in case you could not find it. We will merge your posts later.

 

Read the stickies once you have started your own thread here

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/

[sillygirl1]

Gregory Pennington are hopeless - take it from me - I got a CCJ through their incompetence.

 

What you need to do is get a list of all your debts from them, send the telephone harrassment letter to each original creditor FIRST and then CCA the lot of them.

 

If you go about it that way then you can slowly drop GP and get down to dealing with people yourself.

 

Why are you paying them £100 which could go either into your own pocket to help you get a better life or towards the creditors who really DO exist. GP don't bother with whether or not a debt is legally collectable or even legally owned by a company, they just act as an intermediary.

[ukaviator]

I have merged your threads to keep it all tidy for you.

 

As Sillygirl says, CCA all of your creditors to see if you do have credit agreements, and if if they do are they legal.

 

Here is a link to the letter you require:

 

Consumer Credit Act template - Consumer Wiki

 

Don't forget to add a postalk order made out to the bank/card company for £1.00.

[1littleduck]

Thank you sillygirl and ukaviator.

I have found the letters I need, and once I have their addresses will post them out following all of the points stated on the site.

I am not sure if they should be sent to the credit card payment address or the issuing banks head office, I guess it is to the credit card payment address, but I am sure you will put me right...lol

I cant believe this site, and I am e-mailing all my friends in the same position as me, so they can get help as well.

Thanks very much every one...It's great to have someone to talk to!!

[emmaf01]

It depends what you are sending. For CCA requests send to the DCAs if they are now in charge of the account or if it is still in the hands of the credit card company look under their heading in the Bank Action Group section of this forum. Sometimes there is a specific address, head office, legal department or data controller.

 

Make sure you send everything recorded or special delivery.

[1littleduck]

Thank you emmaf01, of to do that now.

[1littleduck]

Hi,

Cant find the addresses that I need, so I will wait until the next statements come in and take the address of them.

As there has been a few changes in the law regarding the t&c, I have read that the cc companies are no longer committing a criminal act by not complying in the time allowed, does this change anything else?

[citizenB]

Little duck, what addresses are you looking for, perhaps someone can help you find them. Sending them to the payment address isnt always advisable as the people staffing those have little understanding beyond finding a cheque in the envelope and banking it. Invariably a letter throws them into a massive wobbly and they just bin it. After banking your postal order that is

 

Yes, the new regulations have removed the criminal offence aspect of a company not complying with your CCA request, however it also gives Trading Standards more power to investigate any complaint for the OC/DCA not sending you one.

 

For HSBC bank, you might want to use the following address for your CCA request. Send it recorded delivery and keep both the receipt for the postage and the postal order receipt. You might want to make a copy of your letter and staple the receipts to it.

 

Customer Credit Services

PO Box 449

Salford

M5 4WQ

[1littleduck]

Thanks for that Citizen, I will post the HSBC of today.

I have had a report from GP listing all my creditors acceptance of what has been offered, these amounts they say will continue until the full balance owed is paid off, which will take 8 years. by sending out the cca letters now, will this make them stop accepting the offers and cause me trouble,

I thought I would remove the first line in the letter stating that I will not enter into any correspondance with them until they comply, but still request the copy of the signed agreement, is this all ok?

Thanks again.

[emmaf01]

I would leave it in, but these things are personal.

 

One of the main reasons for having that in is to stop creditors from continuing to harass for payments when they haven't proved that they have a debt (or ownership of the debt) to harass you for payment of.

 

The way that this site has shown me in relation to dealing with my debts whether I am acting in a reasonable manner. I have my income and I have to have my family fed, clothed and warm. After that I have money to pay my debts.

 

This is to be split between my creditors in proportion to the amount of my total debt that is owed to them- if I owed £100,000 in total and out of that I owe creditor A £50,000 of that. My monthly money to give all my creditors is £100. Creditor A is therefore to get half of that, so gets £50.

 

This is what a judge (if it ever got that far) would consider reasonable.

 

I hope that makes sense. (I think I'm explaining it to myself out loud, not you).

 

So you see that whole calculation- that's what you're paying Gregory Pennington to do, along with printing out some letters.

[1littleduck]

Emma, Thank you for that, and I will leave it in..

It would help me if I listed all of the cca letters on here as i send them, and let you know what they say..

Can anyone of the credit cards companys make me bankrupt, or if they take me to court, will the judge simply award them what I can afford.

Have they got the rite to stick a charge on my house even if the debt is not a secured bedt?

I need to know all this just incase they have got legal documents to prove the debt.

Thanks again...youv'e been a great help!

[notsoevil]

HI little duck,

 

I would consider going to the CCCS I dont believe they charge for helping people on debt matters (please let me know if i am wrong!). They are very good and the benefit of having a third deal with you creditors is that you dont get any hassle yourself. (Just checked CCCS is free).

 

Greg. Penn. I havent heard any good news about them from the people I have spoken to!

 

Wish you well

[emmaf01]

We need some experts for those questions.

 

If you are in an agreement with the CCCS/Payplan, and this is agreed by the creditors, and you stick to it, then I believe a judge would not let them get more. I think if one creditor tried to get a charge on your property this would not be in the interest of your other creditors- as they have to have equal treatment- and so you could refuse.

 

To get a charge on your property from an unsecured debt they would need to take you to court. You could defend this and a judge would have to rule on this.

 

I hope this is all correct- can someone with more knowledge check?

[1littleduck]

Thanks notsoevil and emma.

I have decided to get rid of GP as soon as I have the signed confirmations of all my credit card agreements, and those that cannot supply a copy because there isn't one, I dont have to worry about...is this right?

Once I know who I legally owe to, it will, or should get alittle better and maybe I can afford to pay more to those legal ones than I am doing now.

I took out a personal loan on internet banking with the TSB, and it was an instant loan, they put the money in my account within minuites. This was digitally signed, as all I had to do was put in my password...There would be no ink signed signature of mine on this agreement. also, I believe that when I opened a higher account with them, they just issued a platunim credit card with it, so not to sure if I signed for that, but time will tell on that one.

[citizenB]

littleduck, emma and notsoevil are correct. CCCS, Payplan and National Debtline are all free Debt counselling agencies. They will do everything that the DMP you are using at the moment except they wont charge for it.

 

The ony thing that none of the agencies will do is to stop paying a creditor because there is no agreement. If you discover that one or more of your creditors dont have one then you will a) through the DMP have to continue paying or b) take the management of your plan on yourself.

 

There is a budget planner on the site somewhere, if you cant find it give a yell and I will have a look for you.

 

Any unsecured debt would have to made into a secured debt before any further action for bankruptcy could be made. Emma has already advised that to do this the creditor would have to take you to court. This, can be fought successfully, you only have to look around the forums to see evidence of this.

 

Do I take it you no longer own your own home ?. If this is the case, then there would be little point in a creditor attempting to make you bankrupt as they most certainly would only be awarded what you could afford through the courts and in most cases I understand interest is stopped.

 

BTW, many thanks for the click.

[1littleduck]

Bin thinking.....if you take out an unsecured loan, as credit cards are... then both parties are aware that this loan is unsecured....so why should it become a secured loan if you default on the payments.. if you had wanted that to happen, surly you would have secued it to start with?

Is there anything in the contracts to say that they will secure the debt against your property if you default?

[emmaf01]

I think it is just that they will pursue the debt through all necessary means. Which is why they have to convince a judge that it is the only way they can get their money back.

 

First thing you need to do is find out if they have any CCAs, so if they have any basis to enforce the debt in the first place.

 

The key with getting through this business is to look at it one step at a time. Read up about each step in the process. Set up a file for each debt. Write each of them a letter asking for the CCA. Then see what they each come back with.

[1littleduck]

Thanks again citizen and emma,

ok. will take it a step at a time..and thanks

[citizenB]

Bin thinking.....if you take out an unsecured loan, as credit cards are... then both parties are aware that this loan is unsecured....so why should it become a secured loan if you default on the payments.. if you had wanted that to happen, surly you would have secued it to start with?

Is there anything in the contracts to say that they will secure the debt against your property if you default?

 

Hmmm, now there's a question. There is quite a bit of debate going on in the forums regarding this. In the first instance, unsecured credit attracts a larger interest repayment because by its very nature it is unsecured. A lot of people are unawares that steps can be taken if you default to secure the debt. Very scary.

 

All you can do at this stage is to wait for the replies to your CCA requests and take it from there. As you have already been advised. Get a few folders one per creditor/DCA and keep EVERYTHING.. copies of letters that you send, the replies you receive, receipts for postage. Always get a receipt for posting if not recorded/special delivery at the very least get a Proof of Posting which is free. Postal order receipts, etc.

 

You will find that you are advised never to speak to creditors/DCAs on the phone. Keep everything in writing.