Worried About LLoyds credit card debt and SCM Solicitors

[worried sick18]

I wanted to ask the forum for advice with dealing with my Lloyds credit card debt which is about œ7000.

I have been having problems for quite some time with them.and am several hundred pounds in arrears with card

.I have tried to pay them what I can afford between œ60 and 150 off card each month

.I have received many default notices but up to now I found that as long as I paid them at œ130 a month though they kept sending me threatening letters

at least they for a long time did not progress things any further

and it seemed to stop them escalating to threats of any legal action,

so all that would happen would be that I got yet another default notice the following month

so seemed to be keeping them at bay paying them that amount.

I know that things were far from ideal in the fact that the money I paid them was not clearing debt as they were adding œ24 charges for late and over limit charges each month,

plus of course a credit cards normal high high interest charges So that my debt was never going down and even went up some months in spite of the large payments.

However at times I was just relieved that they were not taking me to court as I did not want to enter into any disputes with them

as they have I suspect an 100 per cent enforceable agreement as it was drawn up post 2007 and also I have a current account with an overdraft with them .

and been a customer of theirs for many years so am trying to avoid to getting into any disputes over credit agreements unfair bank charges or unfair irresponsible lending with them

I suppose I was being an ostrich burying my head in the sand hoping that better times would sometime come around and would eventually be able to chip away at this debt.

However to my horror this month instead of receiving my usual default notice I received a letter from their solicitors SCM solicitors demanding

I pay them the full œ7000 owing on card and threatening that they may commence legal action if I didn't,

They did however say if I could not afford to pay them this sum that I could ring Lloyds to see if I could come to a realistic payment plan with them.

So I rang them though reading many horror stories on here about telephone DCAS and having nasty experience with atelephone DCA in past

I was very reluctant However to my surprise the DCA I spoke to was polite and pleasant but insisted that they send me an income and expenditure sheet before coming to any arrangement with me,

I rang up debt line and also did an online budget planner on their site and told that I only have about œ! surplus .

So should only be offering a non priority creditors like Lloyds TSB just a token œ1 .

I cannot imagine Lloyds accepting such a low amount from me for an this debt and terrified when they see my budget sheet especially if I try to stick to debt lines suggestion of a œ1 a month that they will haul me into court especially as I am a home owner

.So really worried about what I should offer Lloyds and what will happen if they issue me take me with a court summons if they not happy with token payment

Edited March 10, 2012 by citizenB
increased font size for easier reading

[worried sick18]

I wanted to ask the forum for advice with dealing with my Lloyds credit card debt which is about £7000 I have been having problems for quite some time with them.and am several hundred pounds in arrears with card

Edited February 22, 2012 by worried sick18

[dx100uk]

firstly

dont worry about these fake/tame solicitors - they have no legal powers

ignore the threat-o-grams

 

noe you say you have lots of penalty £12 fees

 

you can reclaim THEM ALL

 

as for the default notices

i suspect these are not DN's but markers - big diff.

 

have you got all the statements?

 

if not sar lloyds and get them all

 

as for the threats etc

 

pay what you can by your internet banking site

say £10?

 

dont worry its lower than what they want

it's YOUR monry, not for them to dictate what you pay.

 

just pay 'something' on a regular montly basis

till we get the sar back

 

dx

 

oh and stay off the phone too

[dundeelaw]

SCM Solicitors are one of Lloyds In-house Debt Collection Solcitors. Don't worry about them.

 

Check whether you just have Markers on Your Credit File or have received a Default Notice and Termination Notice in the post.

 

If you have received both Notices, then they cannot add any charges at all (regardless of the amount) to your debt as there is no agreement for them to do so (THEY TERMINATED IT).

 

Claim them all back. I used MCOL and they defended but paid out before it got to court. They know they will lose in court.

[worried sick18]

Having trouble with editing and putting gaps in my post .Will try again later as my editing does not seem to be working at moment

Edited March 10, 2012 by worried sick18

[worried sick18]

Thanks for all your responses and now update you on progress,However it is mixed news now both good and bad!I did do a I and E sheet and sent it back to scm with a payment installment offer.It is still quite a bit more than what debtline advised and probably a lot more than I should be offering but at least it is a lot less than the £130 to a £150 I was paying them and was making me fall behind with priority debts

[worried sick18]

I did get a letter from another organization last week called MHA collections who informed me that Lloyds had accepted my offer and that Lloyds would write to me confirming the arrangement and telling me what was going to happen in 8 days

[worried sick18]

I also asked them to freeze interest rates as I would never clear debt or have any hope of improving my financial problemsHowever though I was initially very pleased and relieved that Lloyds had accepted my offer and as looking forward to them confirming it all properly in writing and giving me instruction as to whether I had to pay the money into a new account or whether I would continue paying it into my card account and confirmation they would be freezing interest ,I still have not heard anything and it has been over eight days since date I received communication from M H A collections

[worried sick18]

However today to my dismay when I checked in on my online accounts I noticed they still adding their huge interest which is approx £130 a month and just added another £130 a couple of days ago

[worried sick18]

I can also confirm that I have received a proper default notice! I must admit I am rather worried about going down the road of reclaiming charges as I don't know a lot about this and am not very brilliant at maths ! plus I was hoping that if Lloyd was reasonable and stopped interest that it would balance things up and did not really want Lloyds closing my current account and calling overdraft in which may happen if did try to reclaim charges as I heard that banks can get vindictive when people try to get their charges back

Edited March 10, 2012 by worried sick18

[worried sick18]

I suppose I should write to Lloyds again asking them again to confirm they will freeze interest rates before I make any more payments to them as it is like throwing money down the toilet if I pay them and they still increase my debt every month.If they will not cooperate then I suppose I should consider going down the unfair charges road

Edited March 10, 2012 by worried sick18

[citizenB]

We have spread sheets that automatically calculate hte figures you enter - so dont worry about "maths". We also have quite a few guys who can help

 

You might need to add an extra carriage return in your posts in order to get the spacing issue resolved

 

You will not be able to reclaim any charges that have been applied to your current account - only those applied to your Credit card or any loans you might have.

 

You will of course require the statements and will need to send a Subject Access request in order to obtain those. You will find a draft letter in the CAG library, which is linked at the top of each screen.

 

Do you know if there was any Payment protection Insurance applied to your loan ?

[dx100uk]

banks are NOT allowed to take retailitory action against you for reclaiming

 

the process is very easy

you dont need to do any maths thans to ims21's spreadsheets.

 

right lets get your ducks inline

 

who are you currently paying?

 

and do you have all your statements?

 

dx

[worried sick18]

Thanks citB and dx for your help .

 

I suppose I will need to bite the bullet and do an SAR on them.,

 

Thanks for reassurance about help on CAG about working it all out.

 

I see lots of other people been successful !

So why shouldn't I !

 

I was hoping that Lloyds would be reasonable but they seem to be one of the worse banks for helping people with problems going by my experiences

and other caggers experiences

If they had been cooperative and frozen interest rates I would have called it quits and not gone down SAR and charges road

but if I don't I now can see they are going to walk all over me and will increase their debt to very frightening levels.

 

No I did not have PPI so can not claim that!

 

Right will do a sar request !

[dx100uk]

to be honest

 

i would write to lloyds offering a goodwill payment of £10PCM

for the next xx months, with a review in 6mts

 

and as a return goodwill would they please freeze interrest and refrain from levying unlawful PENALTY charges

 

dx

[worried sick18]

Will still have to contact SCM to try and see if they will freeze interest rates and ask them what happened to my written confirmation of what is going to happen to my account which they assured me Lloyds would be sending me, I don't want to start my payment agreement until they can tell me what is happening to interest charges etc I assume this organization M H A collections will be taking my payments when I start making them

[worried sick18]

ThaNKS dx i have offered them £40 a month already ,It is more than i should be offering them i admit but i suppose now i made offer i should stick with itas it will rattle their cage if i lower it now

[worried sick18]

Thanks again for all your help CitB abd DX ! Now going of to relax and try and forget about dratted Lloyds for rest of evening !

[dx100uk]

ok look

 

you dont offer anything you TELL THEM.

 

and for get SCM

 

no DCA nor their tame/fake solicitors have ANY LEGAL POWERS

 

deal with lloyds direct

use the bits in post 15

 

TELL THEM not OFFER

£10 will do

 

you must take control

not let them dictate

 

dx

[Bazooka Boo]

I often advise using the deduction method when telling them how much you will be paying them.

 

You've started at a very generous offer already, so when they refuse it drop it by 50%, and offer £20, when they refuse that drop it by 50% and offer them £10, then £5, all the way down to the token payment of £1.

[worried sick18]

Just a big thanks to everyone who been helping me on this thread!

and an update!

 

Great news!

 

I was getting very worried as I kept getting letters phone calls from scm other Lloyds collection dept's MHA collections etc

and assumed they were hassling me to try and frighten me into parting with more money that I could not afford

 

How ever when I contacted them to ask why they were still sending letters phone calls and asking me for budget sheets to me

after I had already been told that they had accepted my offer

 

I was amazed when I agreed to go over my budget over phone with them and talk about circumstances on condition

I was sent a written communication of what was discussed on phone call

 

in the end I got a very nice human DCA who went over budget with me and she told me that what I was offering was to much

and she seemed very concerned that my budget had not included things such as house and vehicle maintenance special occasions

such as birthday Christmas or leisure or holidays and that two adult people one of them a smoker who could not give up

could not possibly manage on the amount I had set aside for housekeeping

 

.Also she was concerned that we will be facing a shortfall in our mortgage next year.

and said that she could see we were having genuine difficulties and the concern was that I had been offering too much

and that there was no there way I could manage and the payment was not realistic because i was offering to much,

 

So she said that for moment she would be happy to accept token payments of a £1 a month which was what debt line had told me to offer originally

 

So that is a relief as I thought going by some of the horror stories on forum that there would be no way they would accept just a £1 a month

[worried sick18]

sorry i not formatted this post very well.Can not seem to get hang of editiing spaces and gap. Computers not my strong point!

sorry

[dx100uk]

now get reclaiming!

 

i'd sTRONGLY advise though NEVER EVER talk on the phone regarding your debts to ANYONE

 

and NO_ONE has any legal right to know aNY of your pers financial details

only a JUDGE can demand that.

 

 

dx

[dx100uk]

sorry i not formatted this post very well.Can not seem to get hang of editiing spaces and gap. Computers not my strong point!

sorry

 

type you reply in NOTEPAD not word

 

then copy and paste if its a long one!

 

dx

[worried sick18]

Thanks Dx will try that next time!I am a bit of a dunce when it comes to computers!