Debt help please

[Beans57]

Hello, (I hope I posted in the right place) 
A mix of mental health, employment, unemployment and homelessness. 
Generous student overdraft £2000 which is still active with Natwest. -I dont really want to leave them per se.

And two ordinary credit cards (was £1000 Barclaycard but went to around £1091 and £1700 with Virgin Money that went to around  £1900) 
which have resulted in default to my knowledge. I didn't want to 'lose' either of them.

They date back to around 2016 and 2017, I had around two years of uninterupted minimum payment history that may be in my favour not missing a payment until mid 2019. I am just content now budgeting for Universal Credit for now trying to find work. Living with a family member informally for now. 

I have been paying £5 per month to PRA (Barclaycard) and £5 to Moorcroft who are managing that account for Arrow Global (Virgin Money) for the sake of doing something- I will attempt to ascertain which parties own the debts. 
 I am confused about the advice about parachute accounts. I've had banks behave as if they must be the sole bank? 
I must not be left without a bank or available funds for basic living.

I had flirted with the ideas of DMP And DRO but neither really appealled to me- meanwhile Insolvency and bankruptcy seemed like a step too far based on the total debt. 

I have seen Clearscore but nothing further in respect of CCA.  One last thing, I may also now need a car. 
Advice greatly appreciated.
 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Beans57

[fkofilee]

No no  - I have 2 bank accounts - Monzo and Starling.

They work really well together. 

 

Banks cannot be your "Sole" Bank nor have that mentality when dealing with you.

People used to open numerous accounts to get signup bonuses etc. 

 

 

[Will Goodfellow]

The idea behind a 'parachute' account is related to banks taking money from one account to pay off another which is in arrears. For example, it you have a current account with funds in it with Natwest, and a credit card with Natwest, it can take money from the current account to pay off credit card arrears. Where you open an account with a bank which you do not owe any money to, that money cannot be offset to pay other debts.

[fkofilee]

Commonly know as Right To Offset

[Beans57]

9 minutes ago, Will Goodfellow said:

Where you open an account with a bank which you do not owe any money to, that money cannot be offset to pay other debts.

This contradicts stepchange:

"If your bank isn’t able to help, or you’d prefer not to stay with your current provider, we recommend setting up a new basic bank account with a provider that isn’t connected to any of your outstanding debts." 

 

[Will Goodfellow]

It goes on to say, "If you don't do this, there's a very small chance of your money being taken from your account by your bank to pay your debts off, which could affect your ability to pay for your essential household and living costs."

 

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/basic-bank-account.aspx

 

That's explaining the right to offset. It doesn't contradict, Stepchange are stating exactly the same as I have, it's just worded differently. The only way creditors can take money from a bank account where you don't owe money to that bank is where a CCJ is granted and the creditor applies for a third-party debt order.

[Beans57]

I fear that a bank would not accept that I forgot what earmarking was.

[Will Goodfellow]

I'm not sure what you mean by that, you can open as many accounts with as many banks as you want as long as your applications are accepted. It's very unlikely that the Barclaycard and Virgin Money credit cards are still active if you missed minimum payments in mid 2019 and have been paying £5 per month for each to Moorcroft and Arrow Global. If you are struggling to meet those payments you can request to reduce the payments to £1 per month each. You could also stop paying and start the process of CCA requests and a SAR to try and challenge your liability.

[Beans57]

£5 to each is feasible at this stage- assuming these arrangements continue without statute bar complication or complication at the end or complication of settlement.
Furthermore, I have learnt Natwest also use Moorcroft themselves,  so I was concerned about ending up with two debts and no bank to pay towards either. 

 

[Will Goodfellow]

Paying £5 per month means that the debts will never be statute barred as the statute barring period of six years runs from the date of the last payment or the last date which you admitted to the debt in a signed admission of the debts.

 

As long as you maintain paying any interest due on the Natwest overdraft, it's unlikely that the overdraft account will be closed or that Natwest will refer it to a debt collector. But if your universal credit is paid in to that account, a large chunk of that would be swallowed in interest if it is due. A student overdraft is often interest free for a limited amount of time.

 

If you are concerned about losing your Natwest account and having no account for your universal credit to be paid in to, open an account with a bank you don't owe any money to and have your UC paid in to that account instead. You can still pay any interest on the Natwest overdraft from that account if it is due. But be aware that this can be considered a preferential payment if at a later date you apply for insolvency.

[dx100uk]

so two payments going out on 2 sold debts...

why have you never sent arrows and PRA a CCA request each.....

 

as for any income it should never go into any bank a/c whereby YOU do not totally control who gets any part of it whatsoever.

in this day and age it's sooo easy to simply pay what you must and to whom by BACS faster payment.

 

dx 

[Beans57]

Sold debts maybe, but I still spent money that was borrowed.

As for the CCA being a little bit unfamiliar with it I want to ensure I get it right. 


 

[dx100uk]

Throw the morality card out the window!

 

Why do you think 2 internationally renowned financial companies sold your debts for <10p =£1 rather than crush you in court?

 

Simply send arrows and pra a cca request each.

 

Dx

[dx100uk]

hows the cca's going.

did you send then?

dx

[Beans57]

Having seen other posts and read your advice I have not yet. Further conflicting report. 

Now I have seen another post with makes reference to saving an emergency fund and a mortgage! 
And another in which the letters are just disregarded notwithstanding the correct address.

I didn't manage to complete the tenancy process by the way with a housing association so now I am also known to an underwriter. as derrogory as that ever was.
 

[dx100uk]

oh well why seek advice if you ignore it...

 

dx

 

[fletch70]

There are lots of ways to deal with debt but before you start looking at advice think about where that advice is coming from

 

Stepchange are essentially funded by the banks so it is in their funders interests to get you to pay back. This is in the same way that gam care is funded by the gambling industry and talk about 'responsible gambling'. For most of us there is no such thing as responsible gambling.

 

CAB are only as good as the advisors , the same can be said for internet websites. Many of those are set up by companies who offer services where you have to pay - there are some like this one and others who do not.

 

I didn't get into debt on purpose, it kinda happened. By the end of it I had 50K of debts and nothing to show for it. I followed the unenforceability route before it was fashionable (people were saying using paperwork errors did not work but it did ). I am now debt free. I don't feel guilty - I had so much debt yet they fell over themselves to lend me more 

 

As for bank accounts I have several, some of which I really should close but two of them offer fee free transactions in Europe and another came with a fee free credit card  (for overseas purchases) with an APR of 9.9%.

 

So now my money gets paid into my B account , each week I transfer spends into ny Starling account . All I have now is 60K of student debt that is very unlikely ever to be repaid