Bipolar specific help

[shaggy717]

OMG I feel like crying i just spent over an hour putting everything down and lost it due to browser crash!

 

Here goes

May i first start by saying sorry in advance that I'm dyslexic and will make grammar mistakes but using my mail composer as it has auto save and spell check could not do it a third time!

 

You guys and girls are real true life heroes and may i say thank you for reading and replying to my post in advance!

 

I have spent the last three or four days trawling through threads but haven't found anything specific to my questions but have learnt allot thanks!

 

First some history

 

I have recently been diagnosed with bipolar and suffered with it for about 15 years I am a very strong person and have always found it hard looking for help hence taking so long to be diagnosed with three previous suicide attempts (early stages) it is only in the last 5 years i have found it impossible to get on in real life! The only reason for seeking help is that over the last year suicide has been at the forefront of my mind and decided that it is not an option there is too much to live for and i intend to live it! But in order to live it i need to sort out somethings!

 

In the last 5 years i have gone from being very successful in the hospitality industry to being unemployable! I have tried being self employed over the last three years but that is no longer an option(credit crunch) I have a very modest income and am barley making ends meet month to month but things will improve!

 

My first priority is paying back my friends who have been nice enough to lend me around 2k and am in the process of paying them back in three months i will have £100 that can be allocated to my dept to my consumer creditors and around 3 months later another £50 to £100 being available!

 

I start to take my meds from this Wednesday to try and stabilize my personalty and will take anything up to 2 years before i can seriously consider gainful employment! and increase my commitments to paying off my dept! (and even then it will be min wage as i have now got a drugs conviction! not a drugs problem)

 

My creditors are that i can remember +- £5k to £6k

 

John Lewis partnership card £1900 on the card I defaulted over a year ago entered into another agreement for repayments and defaulted again with me ignoring everything since!

( if i remember dca's have added another £500 to £1000 in charges and interest) If I'm not mistaken i can bypass these added funds by contacting the creditor directly and entering into another agreement if only token payments until my situation improves

 

Banks all unauthorised over draft charges and interest that is climbing at an astounding rate! total of around £2k to £4k (combined estimate) in all cases i was fined for not having funds in my account to cover d/debit I tried at the time to have these charges overturned in writing but was told to sod off and just opened another account with another bank and have ignored ever since

 

HSBC ignored for over 2 years haven't looked a statement in over a year so have no idea where it is and not sure who is now handling it!

Nationwide being ignored for over a year

Loydds tsb being ignored for over a year

 

All wherCe around £400 to £600 when i started ignoring them and climbing by around £100 per month!

 

All where over £35 fines how can this be legal the rich get rich and the poor are paying for it! ( i now understand why ppl make bomb threats and the likes)

 

Mobile phones

 

T mobile £500 plus what ever dca's have added, used for a month wasn't happy with an issue and refused to pay so they cancelled my contract and generated amount to cover full amount of contract

3 g around £63 unsure what dca's have added

 

 

Council tax £300 Edinburgh city council not sure what the dca has added! (have called and told them that i cannot afford to pay anything and haven't heard anything back)

 

I started looking at my situation about a week ago again and in a manic state decided that the easiest way to deal with it would be was to shred every bit of info i have from any of them so don't know who is handling what and what the account no's are! and wait for the letters to come in!

 

The dca's from memory are

 

Scott and co

westcot

and can't remember the others

 

I could ask loads of questions but they will probably be the wrong ones!

 

My main concern is can i start talking to them and hold them at bay for around 6 months before starting 2 make any real inroads to being dept free! remember that all i will be able to afford £150 - £200

 

Oh and i just had a guy from the TV licences here this morning! I lied i told him that i was under care due to mental illness he persisted I told him i was bipolar and prone to suicide so **** of and leave me alone! he apologized profusely and gave me a tel no for my care team to call or when i was ready to deal with it!

[blueda]

Hi Shaggy717, Youve come to the right place for advice in dealing with the debt, i hope you are attending a support group for help with bipolar and also seeing a counsillor as well as your doctor.Take things one day at a time. You do have to contact your creditors, or someone does so on your behalf, best done by letter as they can be upsetting on the phone, explain your circumstances, medical and financial, offer each of them say £1.00 a month each as thats all you can afford, the council tax, you will also have to make contact with them and come to some kind of payment agreement, i wonder if your doctor or social services could have a part in this or citizens advice. Ive had dealings with Scott and co and Wescot, who like the rest calmed down once receiving payments. One or more of the platinum posters such as Rory and silverfox will be along here and will give you further advice as they are more experienced than me at giving advice, keep with this site and remember one step at a time and you will get there.

Edited February 2, 2009 by blueda
typing error

[shaggy717]

Hi Shaggy717, Youve come to the right place for advice in dealing with the debt.

 

 

Thanks blue!

 

 

Another thing that i noticed was that t- mobile just started another d/debit with out my consent but i cancelled it before it had a chance to go through!

 

my main source of income is working tax credits £50 per week and i have released funds from a small inheritance that is trickled into my account but will only last another 2 or three years my other earnings are sporadic and over a year is approx 3500 last twelve months!

 

 

I have been told that i should go on to IB but want to avoid at all costs!

[rory32]

Hi and welcom to CAG.

John Lewis partnership card £1900 on the card I defaulted over a year ago entered into another agreement for repayments and defaulted again with me ignoring everything since!

( if i remember dca's have added another £500 to £1000 in charges and interest) If I'm not mistaken i can bypass these added funds by contacting the creditor directly and entering into another agreement if only token payments until my situation improves

The DCA's can forget their charges as there is no basis in law for them applying collection charges unless it is part of the agreement you signed. Even then it would be classed as an unfair term of the contract and potentially void the agreement.

 

Of this £1900 do you have any idea roughly how much of it is made up of charges e.g. late payment fees overlimit fees?

 

All of the charges applied to all of these accounts you can claim back, which will substantially reduce the outstanding debts. We can help you do this but do it at your own pace and deal with as much as you think you can and no more at any one time.

 

T mobile £500 plus what ever dca's have added, used for a month wasn't happy with an issue and refused to pay so they cancelled my contract and generated amount to cover full amount of contract

3 g around £63 unsure what dca's have added

Again any charges can be claimed back. I think the important thing here is that the contract was cancelled. They can not charge you for a contract you did not use. If it states that they can then that is an unfair term. Either way you certainly won't be paying them this amount of money if anything at all.

 

Council tax £300 Edinburgh city council not sure what the dca has added! (have called and told them that i cannot afford to pay anything and haven't heard anything back)

What are the name of the company dealing with this? It may be a DCA but they are more likely to be sheriff officers in which case they will have added about 10%.

 

I started looking at my situation about a week ago again and in a manic state decided that the easiest way to deal with it would be was to shred every bit of info i have from any of them so don't know who is handling what and what the account no's are! and wait for the letters to come in!

I think what we could perhaps start doing is start the process of reclaiming the charges on some of these accounts as you know who they were originally with. You don't need the account number to do this as they will be able to find you on their system. Then when the letter comes in from the DCA you can just send them an account in dispute letter back.

 

You'll need to send each bank a Subject Access Request along with the tenner fee to get a breakdown of all the charges they have added. A template for the Subject Access Request is here

 

I'll look out the addresses for each company that the Subject Access Request should go to.

 

Remember any questions just shout as we are all here to help

[shaggy717]

Hi and welcom to CAG.

The DCA's can forget

Thank you and thanks for your speedy reply and advice!

 

 

 

Of this £1900 do you have any idea roughly how much of it is made up of charges e.g. late payment fees overlimit fees?

 

not much maybe £100 -£200 there charges are £12 but not sure if it's for default and letter or if they charge sep for them!

Does this include if they have put me on a higher interest rate for defualt?

I'm not saying they have just wondering!

 

Again any charges can be claimed back. I think the important thing here is that the contract was cancelled. They can not charge you for a contract you did not use. If it states that they can then that is an unfair term. Either way you certainly won't be paying them this amount of money if anything at all.

 

 

Is there a template that i can use to ask for relavent info?

 

 

What are the name of the company dealing with this? It may be a DCA but they are more likely to be sheriff officers in which case they will have added about 10%.

 

 

I'm fairly confident it's Scott and co!

 

 

You'll need to send each bank a Subject Access Request along with the tenner fee to get a breakdown of all the charges they have added. A template for the Subject Access Request is here

 

I'll look out the addresses for each company that the Subject Access Request should go to.

 

Remember any questions just shout as we are all here to help

 

I shall prepare what i can and do one or two at the end of the month when i can juggle an extra £20 £30 i am guesing that recorded mail is the way to go or is hand delivery to branch ok first class mail? can i send a check from my business account? as would prefer to save on costs of postal order as they charge for them if my memory serves

 

 

And again thanks!

Edited February 2, 2009 by shaggy717
bb codes

[rory32]

Does this include if they have put me on a higher interest rate for defualt?

I'm not saying they have just wondering!

Unfortunately not as they can vary the interest rate and your credit limit. Another approach for this card would be to ask for a copy of the credit agreement. If the credit agreement doesn't comply with the Act then the account is legally unenforceable. Most store card credit agreements don't comply in some way.

 

Is there a template that i can use to ask for relavent info?

Did you see the link I provided in my previous post?

 

I'm fairly confident it's Scott and co!

 

They're sheriff officers so should behave themselves a bit better than most DCA's.

 

I shall prepare what i can and do one or two at the end of the month when i can juggle an extra £20 £30 i am guesing that recorded mail is the way to go or is hand delivery to branch ok first class mail?

Really it needs to go recorded delivery to their registered address. I dig the addresses out for you.

 

can i send a check from my business account?

Yes, you certainly can.

[shaggy717]

Ah cheers i did see the link and have already saved a copy to desk top for ease of use later, but was asking if there was one for the t-mobile issue! Sorry for the miscomunication!

 

And again thanks

 

You guys and girls are true life heroes!

If only the general concept on this planet was give and not take imagine what a wonderfull world this could be!

 

i am feeling alot more confident about it after ignoring it for so long! thanks

[rory32]

but was asking if there was one for the t-mobile issue!

You can use it for t-mobile but would obviously need to adapt it quite a bit. I think the main thing to ask for in the t-mobile SAR would be a copy of the contract and the terms and conditions of the contract.

 

And again thanks

You're very welcome

[blueda]

Igot Scott and co mixed up with Blair Oliver and Scott, Westcot i have dealt with.

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

that should take you to the link for CCA request template.

Letter N

Edited February 2, 2009 by blueda
added content