Critical debt problem – dubious advice from StepChange - Scotland

[PrawnCocktails]

I am really struggling month to month and have been for over three years,

I am essentially at my breaking point now and I really want to sort this out before it escalates further and gets worse.

Long story short,

I was in a good financial position back in 2021.  I moved to a new job and lost a significant chunk of income. Throughout the rest of 2021 I started to struggle and have accrued a very silly amount of debt since. I eventually got promoted at work this year and my salary is now very good.

The problem is,

what goes in essentially comes straight back out every month and I have £0, over the last few years I’ve relied on short term loans and credit cards to survive prior to getting this new job. This, coupled with one personal loan which was sold to a DCA has done me over, and of course my own ill disciplined approach in the first place.

I’ve had a look at my credit report. I have 2 defaults, one from a missed payment this year that I just forgot to pay but did eventually, and the other from 2021, with the same story. I would love to get on the property ladder at some point in time, but I fear this won’t be happening anytime soon.

I’ve spoken to StepChange who advised a Debt Payment Plan. I have since read that this may not be the best route. 

I then considered debt consolidation loan, but it didn’t take me long to figure out this was a stupid idea. 

Other option I have considered, is setting up a new bank account, getting my salary paid into that account, and moving the priority bills to that new bank account.

This would allow me to snipe off these debts one by one whilst shaving my expenditure down on a monthly basis so that I can actually live a normal life and begin to save for the other debts.

Of course, I think this route would wreck my credit file, as there would several defaults added, and I’d get harassed by the debt collectors, which I’m not really keen on considering my living situation at the minute.  

another possible route for this would be to move the priority bills plus credit cards to a new bank account, and defaulting bf on the stupid loans, because they are what’s causing me to have no money. I can then snipe them one by one from there. 

My salary now is in good shape, if I never had all these stupid loans and credit card payments every month I’d be laughing, but sadly I’m not. 

I would be really keen to get peoples advice. 

Debt info:-

LikelyLoans Personal Loan - original payment was £300ish a month, I went into a payment plan for £50 a month. In July this year they sold/transferred my loan to ACI, who then carried on automatically taking the £50 payment (I didn’t know they could do this). 

Scurrent payments are £50 per month, with a balance of £7150 remaining.

Everything else is up to date, and I am not behind with anything else.  Balances below.  Can provide more info if needed. 

Credit Cards:-

Aqua: £3100  - minimum payment each month 

Cap One: £1450 - minimum payment each month

Vanquis £1495 - minimum payment each month

Zopa: £955 - mpem

Zable: £325 - mpem

Monzo Flex: £508 - mpem

Loans:

I have a loan that comes off my salary through work, balance £620, can repay balance whenever. 

Moneyboat £215 (2 payments left)

Salad Money £230

Credit Spring £250

Loans2Go - early settlement £450, otherwise £105 a month for next 12

Other stuff:- 

Car insurance - £102 a month until June. Got an open claim against me which the insurer put down as me being at fault, this was the cheapest I could get (for info my insurance was only about £33 a month last year. Con artists)

Car on hire purchase: £530 p/m, around £14k left, car valued about £13k.

Then you have the must have expenses such as rent and other essentials, my out goings are actually more than my monthly income.

I have a small overdraft at the bank of £100, of which sometimes I have to use the full amount and other months I only use a little. 
 

thank you in advance, I will be sure to engage 

[dx100uk]

evening...

you know what i'm going to say......

get a bank account not linked to anyone you currently have credit with.

get all your income paid to there.

stop paying ALL your non priority debts... NO exceptions. it won't hurt for a few months...

original creditors don't do court, they'll sell the debt on... but not before they issue a DN and thats when we'll act.

the quicker you get each one issued with a default notice, the quicker it no longer shows on your credit file..(DN's 6th B'day) .then your future begins.

one default is as bad as 20. but they'll all be gone along with the whole account in 6yrs.

ok you already know this doesn't mean the debt is still not legally owed...but between now and then you will act.

well done on not using stepchange or any DMC...10/10!

i know your salary is now good but using that to prop up not getting a default on one debt is pointless.., you've gotta admit the debts and deal with it the correct way. excess wages can be used to start an F&F pot , you say one wants to settle so there's a use.

32 minutes ago, PrawnCocktails said:

LikelyLoans Personal Loan - original payment was £300ish a month, I went into a payment plan for £50 a month. In July this year they sold/transferred my loan to ACI, who then carried on automatically taking the £50 payment (I didn’t know they could do this). 

this one will probably be your immediate danger. ACI (perch Capital group) are very litigious ( lots of threads here)   so expect a letter of claim as a dca cant issue a dn only the original creditor can and likelyloads would have done this on or before sale... comeback here if one comes.

 

[PrawnCocktails]

Thanks.

so the plan is then.

1- open new bank account

2- get salary paid into new bank account - this won’t be able to happen until end of Jan unfortunately, as the payroll for December is already in process and finance dept can’t change until after

3- transfer priorities over to new bank account, whilst leaving the loans/cc

4- allow credit cards/loans to default, whilst also starting a F&F pot

5 - once defaulted, make a full and final settlement offer? How should I prioritise these?

as for ACI, I am in Scotland, so not sure if that affects things at all. Obviously I want to avoid any legal action at all if possible

 

[honeybee13]

That sounds about right but dx is the expert. As he said the important thing is to find a bank that isn't in the same group as the people you currently have debts with.

HB

[dx100uk]

as for 5...well poss but we'll cca request the debt owner 1st. dont run to f&f.

as for perch, ive seen no scottish court claims by them here  to date?

dx

[PrawnCocktails]

Hi,

I've opened a new bank account (Starling).

Now just need to wait until post xmas and can update my salary payments etc.

Just on a side note.

I've had a look at my credit file (ClearScore/CreditKarma and MSE Credit Club), and I have not seen either an account for Likely Loans OR ACI at all. Very strange. 

Okay that's not true.

The original loan is marked as closed with a balance of 0 on the MSE credit club report.

However they are 'missed payments' on that one. 

Edited December 18, 2023 by PrawnCocktails

[dx100uk]

On 15/12/2023 at 00:00, PrawnCocktails said:

LikelyLoans Personal Loan - original payment was £300ish a month, I went into a payment plan for £50 a month. In July this year they sold/transferred my loan to ACI, who then carried on automatically taking the £50 payment (I didn’t know they could do this). 

so there should be a defaulted date registered before or on date of sale.

[PrawnCocktails]

I'm not seeing a default. The Experian/CreditClub report is the only one that has this account.

I'd upload the image of what I'm seeing or I can PM you one if I could but the "!" icon that creditclub report has which says represents a default isn't actually there? 

Um okay I'm confused now. I've got a free copy of my statutory report from Equifax which has the account.

The below is what is on it;

Loan from OAKBROOK FINANCE LIMITED (I)
Repayment Terms 36 payments
Status Settled
Payment Frequency Monthly
Credit Limit N/A
Start Balance £0
Current Balance £0
Default/Delinquent Balance £0
Start Date 11/08/2021
Date Updated 12/06/2023
Date last Delinquent N/A
Date Satisfied 30/05/2023
Default Date N/A
Supplementary Information N/A
Payment History

I've attached a screen grab of the report and the creditclub one.

I am genuinely not seeing a default anywhere here? 

 

 

Equifax report.pdf

[dx100uk]

dont put up docx file

all your pers info is in file info/properties..now a PDF.

arrows have simply not reported the debt under their name yet.

which they should.

but the debt must be defaulted for proper assignment (sale) user the rules and a notice of assignment sent out,, else it's useless to arrows toward any enforcement.

did you received a NOA or a termination notice

as for the credit file ignore the cal markers no-one bar you and the debt owner can see that.

-6 or 6 used to mean defaulted which was 9mts ago.

just type no need to keep hitting quote.

 

[PrawnCocktails]

Thanks dx.

Have had a look through letters I've received this year and e-mails. I didn't get any notice from LikelyLoans (Oakbrook) at all. The only e-mail I got was from ACI.

In other news. I have switched my salary payment to my new bank account, although this won't take affect until end of January. 

For this month I am going to transfer funds over to my new bank acct and I'll update my bank details for my important bills (car/insurance etc) and let the loans/credit cards miss payments/default.

Should I let the ACI/Perch Capital one miss also?

[dx100uk]

they are part of your overall problem

On 15/12/2023 at 11:38, dx100uk said:

as for perch, ive seen no scottish court claims by them here  to date?

i was lying, but this one was to an old address which is a no-no in scotland so thats probably why they did it, they knew it would work.

 

[PrawnCocktails]

Well the chasing has began, and I've ignored all so far.

First steps taken

[dx100uk]