Credit card debt and constant phone calls at work..HELP!!!

[wanda pops]

Hi all,

 

My husband has a number of credit cards,

2 of which are under control

 

but 3 which has gotten out of hand with repayments due to interest rates they are charging.

 

He is getting up to 6 calls a day from them at work which is causing him huge embarrassment especially as his boss takes great delight in gloating about this situation!

 

I had a look at the national debt helpline site and was wondering if anyone has advice on DRO's and if it's a good route to go down?

 

After reading other posts on credit card debt I think the first step we should take,

if he doesn't apply for a DRO, is asking for CCA's from all creditors but what do we do next?

 

He has PPI on 2 of the problem cards as well as on a loan (fully paid off about 2 years ago)

which he is going to start the process of claiming back

but he could really do with having the interest and any charges on the cards stopped

 

so should we request the creditors do this at the same time as sending the CCA requests?

 

Thank you for any advice you can give...our situation is getting desperate now!!!

[dx100uk]

name and SHAME is the nature of the game

 

its is AGAINST all regulations to phone work numbers and/or a mobile phone during work hours

once your have informed whomever is doing it about the situation.

 

complain and complain again

 

as for the cards themselves

 

get reclaiming ynlawful charges etc

AND

 

have you checked his CRA file?

 

dx

[BankFodder]

Which company and which creditor?

[wanda pops]

OK here goes with the name and shame!!!

 

Virgin Money,

MBNA

and

Halifax - are the culprits of constant phone calls..

 

I have just written letters about the telephone harassment at work (which is to both the work number and my OH's mobile)

which will be sent tomorrow by signed for delivery.

 

If they ignore the letters then do you have any advice on the next steps to take?

 

I have also written the CCA request letters to them all and realised just how much interest and PPI he is paying each month:

Virgin charged £30.37 PPI and £89.11 interest on the last statement (the balance on the card was £3814 for that month)

 

MBNA are charging around about £12 for PPI.

 

Thankfully no PPI for the Halifax card.

 

Should I also write letters now to ask for interest to be stopped or wait for the CCA's?

 

The worst thing is he never wanted a credit card

but was bombarded with letters and phone calls offering credit and finally said yes followed by them all regularly increasing his credit limit...

 

now things are tight all he gets is constant harassment!!

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Any other advice would be very much appreciated

 

- just knowing there are people out there that have either been there themselves

and beat it or that can give advice has made my OH feel like it's not the end of the world

and something CAN be done!!

[dx100uk]

ALOT can be done

 

YOU BOTH need to take control now

not the creditors.,

 

if you have all the statements for each

you are 99% of the way there already.

 

just a side note:

when was each taken out please?

 

dx

[wanda pops]

He doesn't have all of the statements or know exactly when each was taken out but I had some success a few years ago reclaiming charges from barclaycard and capital one before the final court ruling put a stop to most claims. I had to request statements going back years for that so will do the same now. From what I remember I had to enclose a payment of £10 for this but neither cheque was cashed in the end.

 

All telephone harassment letters and CCA letters are written and ready to post tomorrow but think from the advice given/questions asked so far we should request all statements too so will get on with that tomorrow!

 

One of the reasons the late payment charges built up on his cards, and also the monthly charges spiraling out of control, is because we only got married in July this year and started living together not long before we were married. During the address crossover time he arranged royal mail re-delivery (first class post) but more often than not a whole bunch of letters would turn up for him (sometimes 10 or more) in one go sealed in a plastic bag almost like they had saved them up until it was worth the effort to deliver them. This meant a lot of late payments as he hadn't received the monthly statements which led to a lot of the whole out hand financial situation going on now.

 

Can we get some kind of compensation off Royal Mail?

 

I have taken on some big organisations in the past when I felt they were wrong and so far not fared too badly.....with your help this will be the next success!!!!

 

this is the 'stop the telephone harassment' letter that I shamelessly ripped and mixed up a bit from the ones on this site...any thoughts or suggestions for amendments would be very welcome....

 

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re:− Account Number: XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company to both my mobile number as well as the number of my employer, which I deem to be personally harassing and causing unnecessary stress.

 

I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only.

 

I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

 

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) section 127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine.

 

Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company, to either of the numbers mentioned above as well as any other telephone numbers you may have on file for me, will be recorded and used in any future legal action against Virgin Money.

 

I will not under any circumstances discuss this matter verbally over the telephone or in person.

 

Cognisant of the ever increasing threat of identity fraud and theft of personal financial information and data, it has been our family policy , for quite some time now, in dealing with all our bank , service and other financial providers that we never give personal security information or a part thereof to inbound telephone callers , nor do we discuss financial matters verbally.

 

The above policies also apply to personal uninvited callers to our home and for this reason I would also ask you to note that I would never agree at any time for you, your agents or representatives to call personally, at my home or work address, nor would I ever discuss this matter with an uninvited personal caller, therefore please do not ask to make any such appointment.

 

In light of the above it therefore follows , given that any further calls by telephone or personal uninvited calls from you, your agents or representatives would never “get past” confirmation of identity nor would any “security “ information be disclosed , any further attempts by you to contact me in this way can only be seen (by a right thinking person) as an attempt to continue to cause further harassment and distress.

 

It may be the case that you were unaware of the reasons why I will not accept telephone calls and/or personal callers, however now that you are fully aware of the reasons , if you continue to ignore my request it will be at risk of formal complaints and possible legal proceedings and claims for damages.

 

It is also our family policy, in respect of dealings with bank , service providers and other financial providers to insist that ALL communications are in writing in order to avoid any dispute as to what may or may not have been said or done and to provide an audit trail of events. This can only be to our mutual benefit.

 

Whilst I appreciate that this is a very formal way of contact it does in fact allow the matter to be dealt with in a more efficient and businesslike manner.

 

I undertake to respond to written communication (excluding letters asking me to call you on the telephone or to make appointments or “threaten” personal calls to my home or employment address) normally within 7 days and certainly no longer than 14 days of receipt.

 

As a consequence of the foregoing you may therefore assume that any written communication from you which is not responded to by me within 14 days is likely to have not reached me and you may wish to re send the document- particularly if it is considered to be an important one.

 

May I also remind you that as holders of a licence to operate under the Consumer Credit Act it is your responsibility to be aware of and act within the rules of the CCA and OFT rules and guidelines and it is not for me to have to quote the legislation to you

 

I trust I have made my position clear and that we can now try to resolve this matter more amicably and efficiently.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

Mr XXXXXXXX

[dx100uk]

the court case ONLY affects bank charges

 

CC.loans. everything BAR bank account charges are all fair game.

 

go get 'em

see my sig

 

yes you'll prob have to sar them for the statements

 

can you check his cra file?

see my sig

[rebel11]

Hi Wan

 

To ring you at work is against the OFT Guidelines:-http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/OFT664Rev.pdf

[wanda pops]

Hi all,

Thank you for your help so far and sorry for not getting back sooner but we've only just had the CCA's back even though we asked for them in December!!

 

We will be sending SAR letters to reclaim charges and also PPI especially as my OH's SAR from MBNA says he didn't request PPI but they have been charging it anyway and his Virgin card also charges PPI but I'm more than positive it wasn't asked for as I did the online application for it and have always thought it to be completely pointless!

 

I have another question though -

 

My OH also has a credit card with Halifax which he has been struggling to meet the minimum repayments on as his working hours have been cut with the total debt being £3965 with minimum payments being £374 a month. He had a call from a company calling themselves Albion who were apparently very friendly and helpful and who offered to try to sort out a payment plan once he has given them an income/out goings expenditure form and also called a company called Pay Plan to get a reference number.

 

After reading other Posts about Albion I am a bit dubious about him dealing with them so wanted to ask your thoughts about this.

 

Should he talk to them or should he keep all contact about this debt between him and Halifax? Because our financial situation has, much the same as many other people, gone from bad to worse we will be asking them to accept a token payment and freeze all interest until our situation improves as well as reclaiming PPI from the creditors that are charging it but Albion have told him he must ring Pay Plan tomorrow and ring them back straight after to arrange this proposed payment plan.

 

 

Any advice would be so appreciated, thank you!!

 

Wanda x

[dx100uk]

no def not

you should not be discussing your debt issues with a complete stranger

all they want is your money

which you haven't got!

 

you can go with payplan if you wish

or

you can do it yourself

 

we;ll help

 

dx

[wanda pops]

Hi everyone,

 

I started this asking for help with the constant telephone harassment my OH was getting from credit card companies and Albion about his debts but need advice on IVA's (among other things) now!

 

Albion advised my OH to get in contact with Payplan which he did and they started putting together an IVA proposal for him based on his debts:

 

BARCLAYCARD: £5886

 

HALIFAX: £4366

 

VIRGIN MONEY: £4262

 

MBNA: £1490

 

SANTANDER: £2188

 

He also has a couple of bank accounts with overdrafts that total about £-1000 in debit.

 

He received the IVA proposal a few days ago but parts of it seem very confusing and I havent even got through reading it all to the end yet!

 

 

Firstly they seem to be counting my income as part of the income/expenditure form which they have used to calculate his disposable income. The things they have included are the very small

 

amount of maintenance I get from my ex-partner for my 16 year old daughter - they say it is not enough and the creditors may tell him to ask for more, the child benefit and child tax credits that I

 

get for her and have also questioned why my 20 year old son makes no contribution to the household income (he had his JSA stopped for missing 1 application form out of the reams of paper they

 

gave him every time he signed on).

 

We have a small amount of rent arrears (tenancy in my name only) which my local housing authority have agreed to me paying it back at £10 extra a week. Other arrears (also in my name) include

 

Council tax and British Gas (dual fuel). Of these only the rent is listed as a priority debt.

 

After reading other posts on IVA's I'm not so sure this is the way to go. We have CCA'd them all and it looks like PPI has been charged on the MBNA card even though the box for it wasn't ticked

 

and after a bit of research, any Virgin Money credit cards taken out before a certain date required a box to be un-ticked to opt out of PPI which applies to my OH (both were applied for online).

 

We recently sent letters to all of his creditors explaining he was experiencing financial hardship and had been in touch with Payplan to rectify the situation asking if they would accept token

 

payments of £2.00 a month until a payment plan was put in place but unfortunately we forgot to ask them to stop adding interest although thats easily sorted with another letter!

 

He also had a loan from Barclays which has been paid off but was told at the time he applied for it that he would not get the loan if he didnt have PPI on it. Their reply to the CCA request was that

 

they had no legal obligation to send it as the account was no longer active.

 

 

From the look of the IVA proposal we will have no money spare for 5 years and the money I get for my daughter is expected to go towards paying off these cards. The amount Virgin were

 

charging for PPI was about £40+ per month with MBNA charging about £20 a month. By reclaiming this those debts can probably be reduced by £1000's which at the moment seems like a much

 

better option than paying £143 a month for the IVA - an amount I'm not even sure we can afford right now but after agreeing to the IVA it looks to me that if we reclaim PPI, it will go towards the

 

debt but it will still run for the full 5 years and he will have to still pay the £1950 Payplan have included as costs - money that we would rather put towards paying off the debts!

 

Any advice on where to go now would be great..feeling quite confused about the best way to turn

 

Thank you

 

x

[victoria_siempre]

Hi pops

 

IVAs carry great danger; it is a formal arrangement for a long time which if you breach may worsen your position; there are large costs involved; those advocating it are on commission.

 

Your total accounts are modest in the grand scheme of things and might be better dealt with by a DMP. We at CAG prefer DIY using CAG, but CCCS is the next least worst option. Talk to Nationaldebtline first; I did and I'm still kicking.

 

love

 

vic

[brokebutnotbeatn]

The only income that should be counted is anything you contribute towards bills etc. He shuld do an I&E for your use and then as Vic suggests write and offer what you can afford, even if its only £1 per month. I don't think you can go down the IVA route just yet as you are still confused about it and are not agreeing with the way they have calculated what monies you ahve available. As Vic says, talk with National Debtline.

[victoria_siempre]

Hi again wp

 

Slow down; their tactics are designed to make you panic and the First Lesson will take some time.

 

1. Don’t agree, do or sign anything unless you are comfortable with it; you can check it here

2. Avoid formal remedies if you can like DROs (very good for very poor folk though), IVAs (a plague) and voluntary bankruptcy ( a no-no).

3. Reclaim all PPI (easy peasy)

4. Reclaim penalty charges (Read on CAG)

5. Work out what you can comfortably afford to pay in the long term and offer this to the OC if all interest and charges are frozen

6. Pay this to the OC but not a DCA

7. Complain vigorously to the OC when DCA bandits start to harass you.

 

This is enough for the 1st lesson; we are always here because we’ve been there.

 

Love

 

vic

[wanda pops]

Thank you both for your advice! The whole IVA proposal seemed very wrong on a lot of points with mistakes in income and the fact that benefits I get for my daughter were included as his income. You have both confirmed that it's right that he holds back on that as the way to go and reclaim PPI and see what's left to pay after that.

I have been working on doing an I/E for us but it's taking far longer than I first expected because there's no point in it unless I do it properly and go through the last years worth of bills to get an average monthly amount for everything! Hopefully I will get it finished tomorrow and also send off the SAR letters to start reclaiming.

I have one question though, he has already signed and sent off the permission to act forms so can Payplan still go ahead even though he hasn't sent the signed proposal back? Also would it be worth sending Payplan a letter saying he withdraws his permission for them to act just to make sure?

 

thank you again! x

[National Debtline]

Hello there.

 

If you fancy giving us a call for a second opinion please don't hesitate to do so. We're open tomorrow from 9.30 'til 1pm.

 

Best wishes,

 

National Debtline.

[wanda pops]

Thank you National Debtline,

I will pass on your number as we need all the help and advice we can get...feels like a downward spiral with no way back up right now! I know things will get better eventually but even after cutting back on everything we can it's still a struggle to even afford food some days!

 

thank you everyone for your advice and support

x

[sammysausage]

Hi wanda pops,

just stepping in to see if you are aware of the British Gas Energy Trust - if you have arrears with any supplier and are on a low income and/or struggling to pay these arrears you can make an application to them for a grant which, if successful will be paid straight to your energy supplier. Also you haven't mentioned Water Rates arrears however most water authorities have a Customer Assistance Fund where you can, through an adviser, make an application to pay just your ongoing water charges and after a year all of your arrears are written off as long as no payments are missed (I've just summarised the process here but if it's relevant to you and you want more info just let me know).

[wanda pops]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for not posting for a week or so but we had no internet 'cos we couldn't afford the bill

- something that needs looking into as Virgin Media are charging a fortune!!

 

 

Sammy sausage, thank you but I applied to BG energy trust a while ago (it was unsuccessful).

.I need to check the date as I think I can re-apply either next month or the 1 after.

 

We had a letter today saying we have been over payed housing and council tax benefit since August last year which has just added to the panic about everything.

 

Things are so bad right now that me and my OH are on 1 meal a day

(mostly beans on toast with a bit of cheese on top when we're feeling extravagant!)

so that we can feed the kids (3 of them between us).

 

I have (finally) completed an I/E sheet which is really quite scary and composed letters for both British Gas accounts

which I will post during the week when I can afford to send them by 'signed for' post.

 

As for the credit cards:

We wrote back in early December requesting CCA's from all credit cards

and got them back from MBNA and Virgin while Halifax sent a reconstituted one with the promise that the real one would be sent ASAP..

.we still havent had it sent.

 

As for the MBNA CCA, it shows that my OH didnt request PPI (online application and the box wasn't ticked)

but they have been charging for it anyway and the Virgin card was taken out in January 2006 which,

after a bit of research, was before all companies agreed to stop using boxes that had to be un-ticked for online applications in July 2007.

 

I know it's a lot to ask but we need urgent help and advice on all of this..

 

we're both in quite a panic at every knock on the door or phone call from a number we dont recognise!

 

thank you all again,

x

[dx100uk]

social tarrif for the gas?

 

as for all the debts that are causing you and your kids troubles with food

STOP PAYING THEM SO MUCH.

 

you really need to take control

 

anything thats NOT a priority debt [ctax,rent,mortgage, gas/elec]

 

drop EVERYTHING else down to £1PCM..

 

and get reclaiming.

 

it might well be an idea to start a new thread in the named forum

for each card

and detail the history.

 

lets get things split off and running on their own threads

that way it will be easier to manage

 

but you REALLY must stop pay non-priority debts and mobile phones etc anything more than £1PCM.

if ANYTHING>

 

dx

[gezwee]

Wanda

 

If you are living on 1 meal a day to service non priority debts there is something seriously amiss

 

As Dx suggests, send each and every creditor an offer of a nominal £1.00 per month..... end of, no discussion, no arguments, thats the extent of what you can afford, thats all the t**ds get.

 

Use next months money to SAR the numptys at MBNA and reclaim the PPI + interest.

 

Housing benefit? Assume you do not own your own property........ use the PPI reclaim to get yourself below the DRO threshold [15k] and have a chat with NDL or CCCS, its a big step to make but will clear you from unwanted attention after 12 months once effected. From my own experience sorting out a relatives affairs, CCCS will accept the £90.00 DRO fee spread over the term.

 

Gez

[sarge69]

Hi there if you have up to but not exceeding £15,000 of debt then you can go through your local Citezens Advice Bureau to get a Debt Relief Order..Depending on your situation you may have to make an offer of payment but if like me you have less than £50 a month after paying out bills and rent and basic living costs then you could possibly be accepted onto a DRO.Go to your CAB and they will set up appointments and deal with your debt..The DRO will cost you £90 as this is the fee they charge..This will need to be paid before the application can be made..If you decide to apply then you can do 1 of 2 things..You can get all the info put onto your DRO application then pay the £90 fee in installments or they can process the application there and then but you would only have 10 days to pay the fee..It just comes down to how quickly you want to get it done..As long as you have up to date paperwork with all currents sums owing then once the fee is paid it will be sent to the Insolvency service..I completed a DRO on a wednesday and by the saturday i had received my approval letter..They will send a copy of this letter to the creditors as long as they are named on the DRO..To make sure i actually rang my creditors and also sent them copies of the letter..stating the DRO reference number then after a year they debt will be dissolved after whats called the moratorium period..Hope this helps

[victoria_siempre]

Hi Sarge

 

Sound advice; you don't even need up to date paperwork as the DRO process includes a free CRF check.

 

x

 

v

[sarge69]

Yeah i know but i always like to cover myself..as my CAB adviser didnt even contact any of my creditors so nobody knew what was going on..I havent had any calls mind you i have changed my number..havent had any letters either..so hopefully they have got the message and have acted on the info i sent them..

[wanda pops]

Thanks Gez and Sarge,

I've had a look at the cccs website about DRO's and it looks like the way to go but we'll SAR MBNA and Virgin CC's to reclaim the PPI first, as suggested by Gez, as he's just over the 15K limit. Any idea how long reclaiming PPI takes after getting the SAR response?

I know things will get better eventually but it seems a long way to go right now!!

x