Hello, I’m new here and wonder whether anyone could please kindly give me some guidance, I’ve read some of the other threads but don’t know if the advice given would apply to my specific circumstances.
I have a high level of debt which I’m afraid to say has mostly built up due to spending more than I have earned over the last couple of years since I suffered a neck injury which still causes me to be off work when it flares up.
It recently got to the point that I asked the CCCS to help me develop a budget and then a DMP as I was unable to meet the minimum payments. I was amazed at how helpful and understanding most of my creditors have been as they have almost all accepted the proposal and frozen the interest and charges or advised that they soon will, except Lloyds TSB (& Egg who told me from the start that they would default my account and pass it onto a collection agency, although I haven’t heard anything from them since.) Some accepted for a period of six months, is this likely to be so that they can review my case regularly or pass it to a collection agency after that time?
Lloyds seem to be causing me a little difficulty; they phoned yesterday to inform me that my account had gone into arrears, they said the ‘Notification of Debt Management Plan’ that I sent took in excess of 2 months to arrive and that they haven’t received any proposal from the CCCS. I’m quite sure they did receive this communication from the CCCS as the CCCS wrote back to me within a month of the DMP starting to state that Lloyds had rejected the offer due to ‘Debt Transfer.’ Lloyds say this isn’t true; the debt was apparently transferred to their collection department not a collections agency, they haven’t written to the CCCS and that they are unable to consider freezing any interest until they receive a proposal. The CCCS have resent the proposal at my request but neither is able to telephone and speak directly to the other. The advisor at the CCCS suggested that I am being treated unfairly (as the delay has meant that my account has incurred approximately £600 of interest and charges) and should explain this to Lloyds in writing and advise them that I will complain to the Financial Ombudsman if this doesn’t change within the next four weeks. Lloyds also asked, while they were on the phone, that I cut up my card, I explained that I had enclosed it (in pieces) with the ‘Notification of Debt Management Plan’ which took so long to reach them, as I did with all my cards.
I’m not blaming Lloyds, it wasn’t them who spent the money, but out of all of the people I owe money to, they were the ones who were happy to constantly raise my credit limit frequently and without my request.
I don’t want to make excuses but I was run over by a car about 2 months ago and have received no income since then, my mobility is staring to improve and I am hoping not to have to be off work for too much longer but it has certainly added to my financial difficulties, I’ve struggled to find the £648 each month that is allocated to my creditors via the CCCS. I haven’t told them about this as I don’t want to miss or reduce payments so soon after commencing the agreement. The driver who hit me was uninsured; I have placed a claim with the MIB but believe it could take a year or more to reach an outcome.
I want to pay back what I owe but will only be able to do so if my creditors are willing to compromise, otherwise anything I can pay is more than wiped out in charges and interest meaning I’ll never get anywhere, in fact I’ll continue to be increasingly worse off. I had taken on extra work and have given up smoking (among other things) so that I had more money available each month to go towards reducing my debts.
Until the DMP began a couple of months ago I had never missed a payment and when I last checked my credit file I had a score of 980.
My debts are as follows; NatWest loan £22,488, NatWest overdraft £1,030, MBNA credit card £8,871, Egg credit card £3,190, Lloyds TSB credit card £13,613, NatWest credit card £270, NatWest Platinum credit card £1,379, Tesco (RBS) credit card £2,793, Next store card £384 and Homebase store card £454.
I have a joint mortgage (my only joint account) with NatWest; we bought the house three years ago without a deposit for £63,000 so with the recent falls in house prices there is no equity in the property. I have not, and will not, fall behind with my mortgage payments.
I have heard that some agreements may be unenforceable and (as a last resort so that, for now, I can concentrate on the creditors who appear to be able to meet me half way) would like to ask how I go about finding out whether this would apply to mine? I understand that this would only apply to accounts opened before April 2007, which brings me to my next question; I opened my credit card account with Lloyds some time before this date, but for some unknown reason they more recently sent me a new card which was a MasterCard with a different number to my old Visa, they transferred the balance and credit limit (along with any transactions and payments made using the old card for a month or so before closing the Visa.) The expiry date on the Visa was nowhere near reached when this happened. Does this then count as a new agreement (with a new commencement date) even though I didn’t sign any further paperwork?
In addition to the questions I have asked I guess I would like some opinions on whether people consider what I’m doing as the best way forward or if anyone can suggest any alternatives. Also how best to deal with Lloyds, I feel a bit cheeky complaining to them or threatening to contact the ombudsman.
Thanks for your time, sorry to ramble on, any advice gratefully received.
