Bankruptcy the best option?

[Melisandre]

I have debts totalling in the region of 4,000 approx. I am not currently working, and I do not claim benefits as my husband works full time.

 

The debts are non priority debts, mainly catalogues.

 

I fell behind with the repayments following redundancy,

the minimum payments kept increasing and it spiralled.

 

The debts are solely in my name and were accrued before I met my husband.

 

Is bankruptcy the most suitable course of action?

 

I am getting increasingly threatening letters from Westcot et al and I am starting to panic.

 

I can't afford the repayments they are insisting on.

 

ETA: I am in Scotland.

[Bazooka Boo]

Wetcloths can't demand you pay them anything, silly little children.

 

If these are non priority debts, then all you are legally able to pay is £1 a month, and don't pay a DCA pay the catalogue direct, Wetcloths along with all the other DCA's have zero legal powers, all of their silly little letters are generated by a zx spectrum, they have absolutely no truth or meaning, ignore them.

[sequenci]

Hello there.

 

Are you in Rented accommodation? Do you have any other assets?

 

Given your situation Bankruptcy may be a good option, and more importantly LILA Bankruptcy.

 

Here's a little more info for you: http://www.aib.gov.uk/Services/Legislation/accesstobankruptcy/Debtorsapplication/Lila

 

Best wishes,

 

Seq.

[Melisandre]

Hi

 

I am in rented accommodation through the Local Authority, and have no assets.

 

Thank you for the link.

[sequenci]

Given what you've said it's likely you have 3 options here.

 

A) Informal negotiating affordable payments by communicating with your creditors yourself

 

B) The Debt Arrangement Scheme: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/factsheet.php?page=22_debt_arrangement_scheme

 

C) Bankruptcy: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/factsheet.php?page=01_bankruptcy

[debtinfo]

hi, just to add to what sequenci has said, when deciding what to do you probably need to look at what your income prospects are ,will you be looking to go back to work? IE you need to look at whether you need a permenant solution or simply a short term solution to tide you over

[dx100uk]

hi MS.

 

i'd certainly, poss in parallel, or maybe first...

 

have a wee look for PENALTY charges on those cat debts.

 

the majority of them levy all manner of unlawful fees

for everything from late/over/letter/ debt management/phone call charges

 

you can reclaim ALL of those & of course any PPI you have.

 

i'd not worry about wetclothes in scotland either, simply tell them or any doorstepper to go away.

they are NOT bailiffs and have no powers to do ANYTHING to you unless they OWN the debt.

 

have you all the statements?

 

what does your cra fill say about these debts?

 

any chance you can list them?

 

you've guess right about staying off that phone too.

 

NEVER EVER discuss cebt on the phone...full stop.

 

dx

[Melisandre]

Hi

 

I am currently on the books of a temping agency, my last assignment with them finished a month ago.

I am looking for employment of a permanent nature, but it is difficult as I can only work part time hours and most jobs being advertised at the moment are full time.

But I do plan to be working again in the foreseeable future (fingers crossed).

 

I never entered into any repayment agreements whilst temping simply because I had no way of knowing how long an assignment would last,

and didn't want to be tied into a repayment agreement with them that I couldn't get out of if I could no longer afford it.

 

I haven't looked at my credit file,as I read somewhere that as soon as you do that creditors know that you are definitely linked to that address?

 

I don't have any statements or anything at the moment - I have stupidly just been throwing the letters away

 

3 of my debts are catalogue.

 

One is a debt made up entirely of bank charges which I plan to contest.

 

I also have a debt to a utility company as they never provided me with a gas bill for a period of 2 years despite repeated requests for them to do so

- they kept claiming they weren't the supplier.

They clearly were as they have now sold the debt on.

[dx100uk]

ok MS

 

so we're getting somewhere.

 

it might well be an idea to pop over to the utilities forum

and start a thread about this gas debt.

 

sounds iffy to me.

 

as for your cra file

 

if you,ve been at you place for a while

all the info will be there anyhow

 

i'd say get it

noddle is free see below,

 

the bank charges debt you can almost forget about

as no-one will go near a court for fear of a counter claim esp DCA's.

 

 

dx

[Melisandre]

Ok, I have posted in the utilities forum regarding the gas debt.

 

In terms of the bank charges debt, is the best course of action to write to the bank to contest these? Or should I contact Westcot about it?

[dx100uk]

ok i'll go look in a mo.

 

bank charges....

 

do you know all of these?

got all the statements?

 

IMHO i would not contact wetcloths at this stage.

 

if you have the info..

 

fill this out:

 

FosCISheet v101.xls

 

dx

[Melisandre]

I tried to view my credit report with noddle, and it wouldn't let me register as they could not verify my identity?!

 

I got married in March and applied for my report in my married name, with the bank card registered to my current address and in my married name. Any idea why they couldn't verify my identity? Bit worried about that to be honest.

[Stigman]

Any idea why they couldn't verify my identity? Bit worried about that to be honest.

 

Don't be worried, Noddle does not like me either!

 

Every time I try my identity cannot be verified, I have spoke to them and all Noddle say is that what details I put in are not correct so have ordered a £2 statutory report because god knows what details they hold on me lol.

 

Stigman

[Melisandre]

I can't get my credit file without jumping through hoops to get it (Equifax said the details they held didn't match either?!). I can only think it is because I got married and changed my name, and I am not on the electoral roll. So, I did a bit of digging.

 

I phoned the original catalogue companies I had agreements with. The debts have been sold on to Moorcroft, Commercial Credit Services and Red Debt Collection. The catalogue companies I spoke to said I now have to deal with these DCAs. These debts total just under 1400.00. I am sure at least one of the amounts I owe has charges piled on as the goods I ordered did not add up to that amount.

 

I also owe RBS 800+ (this is with Westcot) for rolling bank charges, and apparently 850+ to British Gas (this debt is now with LCS)

 

I phoned a compnay I found on google called money expert, they were trying to get me to enter into an IVA.(clearly hadn't paid attention to the fact I am in Scotland). A couple of things concerned me. When I mentioned bankruptcy, he instantly dismissed it as not being something I should do - I understand bankruptcy is a drastic step, but when I said that I wasn't currently working and did not have my own income, he just said that my husband should be supporting me with these debts (despite the fact they aren't his?!). He also told me it would cost £900.

 

I then tried to explain about the RBS debt being made up entirely of bank charges, and said there is nothing I can do about that, I cant contest it. Apparently 'you could years ago, you can't now'.

 

The whole thing smacked of a sales type call to be honest, although I am not quite sure what he was going to be getting out of it as he said at one point they don't charge a fee. He said they could get my total debt down to approx 2600 and I would pay £100 per month for 26 months. When I asked if he could guarantee that the creditors would agree, he just said 'oh they will, because we are a big company'.

 

He is meant to be calling back this morning, I am not sure whether to take the call or not.

 

I wish I had never tried to view my credit file now because I am worried that the DCAs will get more aggressive with the letters if they now have a definite link to this address.

[Melisandre]

I don't have any paper statements relating to the RBS debt as did my banking online.

[dx100uk]

so all in all quite good.

 

they'll never go near a court on a debt with PENALTY charges on it.

 

so soes that not include all your debts?

 

why dont you get the £2 report from anyone of the cra's.?

 

 

citizenB has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Help! - Natwest have instructed capquest - large debt - in the Debt Collection Industry forum of The Consumer Forums.

This thread is located at:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=330724&goto=newpost

Here is the message that has just been posted:

***************

not all the creditors/dcas report to ALL of the CRAs.. so to obtain a full check, you really need to contact the 3 main players.

 

Company Secretary

Equifax Limited

Capital House

25 Chapel Street

London

NW1 5DS

 

 

Company Secretary

CallCredit Limited

1, Park Lane,

LEEDS

West Yorkshire

LS3 1EP

 

Company Secretary

Experian Limited

Talbot House

Talbot Street

Nottingham

NG80 1TH

 

You can either complete the forms online or send a letter (below) with a £2.00 postal order.

 

---Quote---

All of the three Credit reference agencies offer a paper version and they only cost £2

 

Noddle (who are part of CallCredit) off free online credit reports but as they are the smallest of the threee, they may not have all the info

 

Experian paper app.

http://www.experian.co.uk/downloads/consumer/cfa.pdf

 

Call credit

http://www.callcredit.co.uk/media/53...itfile-app.pdf

 

Equifax

http://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/cr..._file_0310.pdf

 

Send with a £2 postal order.

 

You can use Experians online free trial. just make sure you cancel before the trial runs out

 

Address

 

Company Secretary

CallCredit Limited

1, Park Lane,

LEEDS

West Yorkshire

LS3 1EP

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

*Limited Data Subject Access Request

s9(2) The Data Protection Act 1998*

I hereby request a copy of my Statutory Credit Report, served under s9(2) of The Data Protection Act 1998.

I enclose the Statutory Fee of £2 paid via Postal Order, number: 123456.

For the purposes of confirming my identity, I can confirm the following details:

*My full name*:

*My Maiden Name: *

*My Date of Birth*:

*My current Address*:

 

I have lived at the above address for XX years.

 

I note that under s7(3) of the above Act, a data controller is not obliged to comply with a request under this section unless he is supplied with such information as he may reasonably require in order to satisfy himself as to the identity of the person making the request and to locate the information which that person seeks.

However, I feel the above information identifies me sufficiently to discharge your obligations to establish my identity before posting my Credit Report.

I am aware that you have 7 Working Days to post the Credit Report to me, commencing the day after this s9(2) Statutory Request has been delivered to your Company.

*This letter must not be regarded as granting your Company any Data Consent*.

Yours faithfully,

*Enclosures:

*1 x Statutory £2.00 Fee via Postal Order Number: 123456

*Notes*:this letter is being sent via Royal Mail Special Delivery service

---End Quote---

there is also

www.checkmyfile.com

....ends

[Bandit127]

Back to the top for me.

 

Bankruptcy is nearly always not the best option.

 

And it must only ever be the final option. The consequences last your lifetime.

 

You owe £4k (I think) and have a hubby earning. With the help of the experts on here you could reduce that by claiming back charges etc and reduce that amount.

 

I think you are a long way from needing to go Bankrupt.

[Bazooka Boo]

And it must only ever be the final option. The consequences last your lifetime. Could be 12 months or until it is discharged, it won't last a lifetime.

I think you are a long way from needing to go Bankrupt.

 

Agreed, plenty of avenues to go down before it even reaches that stage.