Halifax Credit Card – never-ending debt

[rbrtjoiner]

Hello – am hoping someone can give me some advice, I am at the end of my tether

 

Debts:

Halifax Loan: £6,276.71

Nationwide Credit Card: £6,490.58

Halifax Overdraft: £1,594.00

Halifax Credit Card: £14,770.55

Total Debts: £29,131.84

 

My circumstances:

Work full time (earn less than ‘average’ but too much toqualify for any working tax credits or housing benefit)

Rent my house from the council

No assets

 

Halifax Loan & NationwideCredit Card in payment plan (quite) happily paying. (Showing as ‘Late Payment’on Noodle)

 

Halifax Overdraft: Defaulted (on Noodle)

Was passed to iQor

Queried account reference numbers so requestedaccount info – arrived in full.

Wrote querying fees being charged

Received letter from Halifax saying account has nowbeen passed to drydensfairfax

Will wait till I hear from drydensfairfax

 

Halifax Credit Card (showing as ‘Late Payment’ onNoodle)

In 2010 Halifax wanted to increase interest. I spoke to them on the phone agreed to cut up card & keep interest at 18%

Started having financial difficulties in Feb 2012 so researched payment plan (DMP) contacted all debtors and started regular monthlypayments in April 2012 (not through an agency – did it myself)

Repeatedly asked Halifax to stop interest & fees, fees suspended (although fees/charges were added & deducted so many times I can’t track what was actually added), interest still at 18%

June 2012 renegotiated payment plan – less money available as youngest child left education & I lost all Child/Working TaxCredits & CSA payments.

Wrote several more times requesting interest be stopped

Stopped paying Dec 2012 – sick of paying interest –wrote & told them.

Lots of threatening letters /unanswered phone calls

Spoke to representative on the phone 11thFeb 2013 – she seems soooo helpful! Arranged for 1% interest. I agreed to start paying again on 1st March 2013 – said I wanted the offer in writing. As a gesture of goodwill I paid a monthly amount that day.

No letter arrived by 28th Feb so I stopped paying & wrote to tell them why!

28th Feb 2013 also wrote requesting all account info – about 2 weeks later I received a huge bundle via courier – it was myoriginal agreement (signed) and all statements from 2001

I looked through the statements & this is what I found–

 

From 26/04/2010 to 24/04/2013 total amount clearedfrom this debt in three years: £287.20 (I didn’t have the heart to add up allmy payments made!)

In the last year: 26/03/2012 to 24/04/2013 Totalamount cleared from this debt: £12.02. Total payments made in the last year: £2060.67

 

This is what I wrote to Halifax 7th May2013:

‘The Conduct of Business Sourcebook (COBS) contains a set of principles which are legally binding on all firms which are regulated by theFSA, including:

 

6. Customers'interests

A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly

You have ignored my requests for freezing interest and fees. You are not acting in my best interest as the sums above show how little of my debt has been paid off because you insist on adding interest and fees which makes the debt literally never ending.

I am eager to get this debt under control. To this end I therefore enclose a personal budget sheet which shows my total income, and my total outgoings.

As you can see, I have only £xx a month left for my creditors.

I have worked out the offers I have made to my creditors on a pro-rata basis, and I have written to all my creditors asking them to accept these offers.

I am now proposing to pay £xx a month, starting on 1st June 2013. But this payment plan is offered with the condition that you freeze interest and charges on this account.

If you are unwilling to freeze interest and charges on this account, please provide me with a positive solution that will lead to me being able to pay off this debt within a reasonable amount of time.’

 

Yesterday I received a letter from Halifax accepting my offer of payment & reduced interest of 12.69% & charges suspended, but no mention of anything else in that letter (they don’t even acknowledge receiptof letter – only payment offer)

 

I am now losing the will to continue fighting these people – all I want is a reasonable repayment plan that will eventually mean that I pay off the debt. I know it’s my fault that I accrued so much debt (it was so easy to get & got me through some difficult times as a single mother)

Does anyone have any suggestions to what I can do next??

Stop paying altogether & wait for default?

Pay up & stop fighting?

 

I have spent a lot of time reading this forum & have foundsome very useful advice, so any help would be great!