Credit card debt and suicidal, please help if you can

[Mr Worried]

Hello

 

I owe on 3 credit cards, most of the debt is due to the stupid mistake of borrowing on cards to avoid reposession.

 

Short history, after having second child I suffered post natal depression and couldn't go back to work. I then read about a developer selling investment properties which would give me an income. I guess I was vulnerable and desperate for a solution as I couldn not work having had a total breakdown. I thought I did my due diligence and so we bought a house. Fortunately said we'd only buy one even though the devleloper wanted to sell me 5!! For those who don't know, Buy to let mortgages are given on the potential income of the property, not the income of the borrower. Well we thought we did due diligence by getting the solicitor to check the rental agreement, checking the valuation of the property etc etc. Later we found the tenants never materialised and the valuers and solicitors were taking bribes from the developer. This is being looked into by the serious fraud office so please do not think I am making this all up. It has also been covered in two BBC Panorama programmes.

 

Anyway, out of the 130 odd people we know who also bought properties ( most of them several rather than a single house), many were repossessed or have gone bankrupt. To avoid this, we spent most of our wages proppping up this house. I returned to work part time but then fell pregnant again. I had recovered well from my depression at the time and had a trouble free pregnancy. Unfortunately this baby died during birth and it was a terrible tragedy for us. Again, I was ill for a very long time ( physically as well as emotionally as I had 4 blood transfusions). This is when the debt spiralled out of control as we were paying two mortgages to avoid repossession and I earned nothing. And interest rates on the mortages kept going up.

 

Ironically, it turns out that the other people who were victims of the same fraud and allowed themselves to get repossessed are in a better position as their losses are crystallized and easier to quantify for compensation which we hope to get one day.

 

Credit card debts

 

10 K with Marbles - I had a payment agreement with them, £5 a month and the froze the interest but this has just ended. They now say they want 32.9 %!!! The minimum payment will be over £200 and it won't touch the capital. I just cannot cannot pay this

 

8 K with Barcalycard - they originally charged nearly 30%, referred me to a debt collection agency and now they have reduced the interest to 3% and I pay £110 a month but this is reducing the capital, slowly. This was originally a Morgan Stanley card from many years back ( maybe around 2000/2001) and they have sold to Bcard.

 

6 K with Egg. Egg also froze their interest and took £1 a month. Last week I got a letter from Apex debt collectors saying that they had bought the debt from Egg. In the same envelope was a letter from Egg saying they had sold it to Apex. I emailed Apex asking whether that agreement is in force. As my mother is very worried about my state of mind, she asked me to find out if they would accept a payment and end the debt. She hasn't got the full 6 K but she asked me to find out what they would accept but they have not replied.

 

In terms of the property, we paid 250K and the valuation before the crash was 170K. I have no idea what it would fetch now but if we sold, our understanding was that the bank would come after us for the shortfall. And we haven't got it.

 

I accept that I have messed up. The court case for compensation re the property has been dragging on. I feel terrible and guilty for the stress I have put my family through because of my naivity. I just want this debt to end and I dont' knwo where to start. I have tried to read through the site and some of the info seems to conflict but that is my limited understanign I guess. I find it hard to even type this through the brain fog as I am very depressed and I just want this to end. I am desperate to sort this. I printed out CCA requests but don't know if I should send them or to all at one or just one at a time or.....? I saw someone had written to egg and got replies but it doens't seem straightforward at all with them sending standard letters back.

 

Please can someone give me a very simple step by step guide that I cano follow? My brain does not seem to function well enought at the mo.

 

If you made it this far, thank you so much for taking the trouble to read. I am quite happy to donate to the site, I am always grateful for help I receive.

 

Hi Desperadette

 

Welcome to the forum

 

You are not alone

 

First thing first...Please calm down, I wish I knew where you lived and I would come around and do your typing and get things moving for you, but I dont and I cant, so here is my advise and whatever I dont cover then another cager will.

 

Put together all of your woe's and in order ( in your opinion ) of urgent, non urgent, pending etc.

 

Then post up the amounts, at what stage they are at and what progress ' if any ' you have made.

 

Dont worry about the cc wanting min payments after the initial 6 mth ' lay off '.

 

We can help you a great deal, believe me I have been saved since I joined here, and look at me a year later I'm offering you advice, read my first few posts and I was as bad as you are.

 

Tell your mother I will tell her off if she attemts to pay off Apex. DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM OR ANY OTHER AGENT ETC THAT CALL YOU, simply reply politley, thankyou for calling however I will not go through security, would you please put anything you have to say in writing.

Then make a log of the call, put it in your new book, and post up in this thread what happened.

 

All of the cagers will see it as we are subscribed to this , your thread. so be rest assured we will get back to you.

 

I for one will be keeping a close eye on you, any help you need then just ask, c'mon keep yourself together girl we'll get you through this.

 

Good luck and hope to speak soon.

 

Remember to get your ( woe's ) and values posted up here.

 

Mr W

[Mr Worried]

despredetta

 

You see 2 hrs after I posted to your thread help and advise came along by way of blueda, DX and dg.

 

Keep your chin up and let us help you.

 

Mr W

[Mr Worried]

Thank you, Mr worried, diamond girl,dx100uk and blueda.

 

I cannot tell you how moved I am to get such wonderful support and so quickly. I am trying to stay calm - the nature of this illness is that I cannot see the wood for the trees.

 

Yes, I will try and go through paperwork and try and get things in order. I felt exhausted after typing my long post and my husband very kindly told me to get some rest. Despite the fact that he is very stressed too. About an hour ago I made it downstairs and plucked up the courage to open today's post.

 

I think I mentioned that I was paying a pound a month to Egg who had frozen the interest. I then had a letter from Apex saying they had bought the debt. I wrote to them asking them if the terms and conditions were the same (they said yes) and I also mentioned that my mother has asked for a figure for full and final settlement. As she is worried about my mental health. Well, in this letter they say they will settle for just under 30% of the balance. I have to say that I am really surprised that they have agreed to it. I know Mr Worried said not to pay them but if it is paid it is one less debt to worry about.

 

I have 2 sets of mortgage arrears but I have payment agreements in place so they won't repossess me as long as I keep to this. I find that the credit card lenders are harder to deal with than the mortgage lenders.

 

I will try and put up a full breakdown as soon as I can sort all the paperwork. Tomorrow I have to do an income/expenditure form for Marbles so I should have all the info by then.

 

Thanks guys for taking the time to read and reply.

 

I'd be interested to know what everyone things of this newest development from Apex. I have about 3 weeks to pay them off.

 

Feeling a bit more hopeful now

 

Hi despredetta

 

Glad to see you have responded to us.

 

Do not pay Apex anything...why do you need to do a I+E for marbles?

You need to get your debts re cc on here asap, so we can advise you further.

 

Just to try and relax you further, I have dealings with Apex, they were very aggresive at first, now they eat from my hands.

 

Take care and do not worry.

 

Mr W

[Mr Worried]

Good Morning Nick

 

Sound advice although, I would cca apex as at the moment she will be paying a debt she do's not know is enforcable?.

 

Anyway go and rest your fingers from typing. you have written loads.

 

Mr W

[Mr Worried]

And a Good morning to you as well.

 

Well I do not think it is right just to write to some body with something like "send CCA to A, SAR to B and stick a middle finger up to C" and that is it. People should know why you are doing certain things so they can learn to see the picture and how the jigsaw is going to fall. Later on they can learn to analyse the problem, split it, look at it and then take the appropriate action.

 

CCA Apex in my opinion will be a waste of time. Apex bought the debt not the file. If you read other threads you will notice that basically all DCA's say that they will write to the original lender for a copy. So why bother "writing to the Jester when the person you want to talk to is the King"? So sending a CCA to Apex all she is doing is "showing her hand". At the end of the day, this is like a game of poker. You get the cards, and then you play the game........... Apex's faith has already been sealed. Now it is just a matter as to whether Egg will hand over "the nail to seal the coffin". And also remember, who is it that is claimed to lift signatures and copy them? Lenders or DCA's? Last one, have to be careful how to play this one. All the debts are over £5,000 so it will not be small claims............ So lets play the game nice and slow and see how it goes.....;-)

 

You do have a point you Y front underwear wearer, big bellied, bald headed movie star. :-D Though Egg and Marbles I doubt it. Barclays, well it might be. Asking for a CCA to a credit card issuer does not harm relations. But you do have a good point as Barclays is my first bet that will throw the cards in.

 

So Desperadette as the handsome lad that watches tv in his underwear has said........ whos your bank. And, have you done a credit report check lately? To see if any of these have put a default on your credit rating? If not go to Experian and join for the 1 month free trial. (Make sure you make a note in the diary to delete the membership after say 26 days and before the 1 month free is due or you will get charged £6.99p.

 

Please answer these two questions.

 

Hi Nick

 

Like I have said before and I have been told, we all work in different ways, and I fully understand your thoughts.

 

Enjoy your Sunday roast.

 

Mr W

[Mr Worried]

Hi To All

 

Very good craic there from M and Nick, however I dont like to see ' Names' being noted, despedetta I am sure you are feeling a lot better than you were 48 hrs ago, your husband too!

 

Keep posting and keep us informed.

 

Good luck over the next few weeks

 

Mr W

 

ps..Nick your very informative and knowledgable, but slightly overwhelming(imo) and thats good, maybe I can buy you a pint sometime.

 

Only if you promise not to mention the x wife.