Halifax/Sainsburys Credit Cards... don't know where to start

[AppleCrumble]

Hi

I have been very foolish, and let things get totally out of control and want to try and rectify it but I really don't know where to start...

 

Basically, several years ago I had Halifax and Sainsbury's Credit Cards, and I gave up work in 2003 to go back to university. I lived off them for a couple of years, run up a debt to the limit (£3000) and then in 2005, spent a year unemployed. Got into a huge financial mess, both cards taken from me, defaults issued.

 

I made an agreement to repay them £10 a month. They froze interest, for about a year everything was fine. During 2006 I started on the process of chasing my banks for refunds and had succeses with my bank accounts and with Capital One Credit card. Despite numerous attempts, I never received the full transaction details from these two organisations, and because at that time I got evicted, had work difficulties .. I gave up pursuing them. It just became too complicated with everythign else going on in my life.

 

Sainsburys stopped chasing me and I eventually just stopped paying them. I get an occasional letter from them but I think they may have just written it off.

 

Halifax however... another story. Constant phoning, they started adding on interest again, the debt was going up and up. Last January I just thought, the best thing for me is to let it go to court. I stopped paying them the standing order (still just £10 a month, but as they were whacking on over £70 interest each month the balance never went down .. I think it's up to £5000 or something now:()

 

I get lots of letters from Halifax/Blair Oliver & Scott etc. I've just been ignoring them, having no idea what to do, feeling totally out of my depth and sick with nerves/worry.

 

It's time to stop being an ostrich with my head in the sand, but I really don't know what to do. I'm scared of contacting them now and letting a caged tiger loose again!

 

I want to repay both of these, in some way, but I know I won't be able to pay the full amount... I am a single parent and currently don't have a job.

 

I'd like to clear my credit file of the defaults too, which I am sure is a total mess (I got a copy a couple of years ago ... eurgh).

 

I just don't know where to start .. if someone could give me a pointer I would really appreciate it. I'm reading forums and getting more and more confused...I don't think it is worth chasing them now for charges, it's gone so far beyond that ... I have looked at the IVAs and thought about bankruptcy ... I'm lost.

[sallysas]

Well done for wanting to take charge. My advice would be to send a copy of your income/expenditure to Blair, Oliver etc which shouldn't take you long on benefits should it? I had an account passed to them (they are Halifax in-house collections agency) and they charged me no interest which is good news.

 

I would also send a sar to Halifax along with £10 cheque requesting ALL data. No point taking years paying this back if they have been merrily adding charges on. Credit cards are not affected by the Test Case so that is good news.

 

Sainsbury's are part of RBOS so I would send seperate SAR to them as well as income/expenditure sheet. Just go for one at a time if you want (or one a month) to give you a bit of a breathing space. In a few months things will be better. Just keep posting here to let us know what you are doing. If it were me I would start a new thread for Sainsbury's so as not to get confused.

[AppleCrumble]

thanks for the advice Sally. It's still daunting as in all my dealings with Halifax Visa so far, I've found them really difficult ... refusing to stop interest etc ... what started as a £2,000 debt nearly four years ago is now doubled

 

I'm wondering if it is would be better for me ultimately to get them to take me to court ?

Edited September 16, 2008 by AppleCrumble