UE - SIX Years On!

[cymruambyth]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Congratulations to everyone becoming SB. My only advice is don't be taken in by the 'nice' banks . I did and although defaults have nearly all dropped off, 2 debts have a long way to becoming SB

[Numpty Monkey]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

|Love, Stupidity,Debt, DCA's, Letters, Door step collections, Despair, Hope, DMP, UE and SB – where can I get the T-Shirt?


I guess its time to announce another success story for Niddy to add to alland's



I'm not very good at this sort of thing but here goes,


A bit of the background story of what has been a long journey


Once upon a time, in 2006 a Numpty and woman met and decided to live together, after 3 months the relationship broke down after the Numpty had got a £5000 (£7500 with interest – front loaded) loan in his name and had given her the PIN number to his credit card, low and behold within 3 months it was maxed out £3000 (£2000 in cash with drawls) and an overdraft from the bank in total £11,000 with intrest adding to the Credit Card– I'm just glad we didn't live together longer.



I was struggling to make the payments and getting letters about the arrears and started looking on the internet about bankruptcy I was that desperate and ended up on Motley Fool, someone suguested I should post on MSE, back then it a was a a good place (and I still have friends from back then on here and in real life).


I contacted my creditors explained the situation and they accepted reduced payments and froze interest for a while, until the credit card company wrote to tell me they were reintroducing interest again but would accept my reduced payments – repayment £50 per month interest charge £49.97 per month. - so paying 3p a month off the debt.

I made a choice to go on a DMP with CCCS(as was, now Stepchange ) it was working for me at the time, interest frozen debt balances going down,



A few years later I was made redundant, but I cleared the overdraft with a reduced F&F. I kept up the DMP payments as long as I could but got to the point when I couldn't make the payments and I was just paying token payments of £1 a month.


I then got the letters saying the debts had been sold on sold to a DCA – Bramber.(the first of many)
I stopped paying – if the OC had kept the debts I would have tried to repay what I owed, but I wasn't paying no DCA bastards.



Around that time me and Niddy had been chatting on MSE on various threads and one night or early morning, he finally talked me into sending a CCA request for the 2 debts I had left, which I did, 1 Came back as unenforcible (illegible copy) 2nd was ok, but then the DCA when they were sending all thier multitude of letters kept getting the account/ref numbers mixed up so we descided to “bluff it”and now it seems to have worked,


After going through some old paper work - I didn't realise how many DCA's I'd had letters, phone calls and visits from, I found a few statements that all tallied up to the debts now been SB.



I guess all I have left to do is send to the DCA's the “Statute Barred” type letter, if and when I feel like it.





Many thanks Niddy and everyone, for your help, support, kicks up the arse and getting me through.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

See I must be too cocky. I'm nowhere near SB - I've got 8 defaults and still 2 credit cards but boy have I got bank accounts!! I honestly don't think I'll learn. Co-op is the only main bank I've never used / abused.

It's heartening to read all your stories. It's been a long time coming but I knew back in 2010 that what I was doing was the right thing and the successes we see on AAD confirm that.

Thanks to you all we've become even better at what we do & with our solicitor dealing with the legal stuff (at tremendous success) it's a really good time to be a part of the AAD community. Your time, successes & failures will all come but at least you know you're not alone & won't get slated for being in a predicament.

As they say, shit happens. We're here to help you utilise their consumer rights. Not judge you.

Well done guys. Keep your stories coming in

[Elsie52]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Well done to us all.!!! Getting there eventually, and for all others further back than us, keep going, the finish line is in sight, no matter how far ahead, you will get there. Thanks Niddy.

[Phoenix]

Re: UE - One year on - now five years

Brilliant post, as ever, Alland. You speak for so many of us with those words!

Love your post, as well, Niddy. To say that you knew that starting this site was the right thing to do is a massive understatement. And I love the bit about not judging people - something many of us are afraid of us when we start our journeys.

[Numpty Monkey]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

See I must be too cocky.

No shit Sherlock

[lookingforward]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Six years ago today the 11^th May 2010 I begin my UE journey when I posted CCA requests to my various creditors. Back then I was in despair at facing the realisation that I had credit card debts totally an incredible £138K! And as I sent off those CCA requests I really had no idea what lay ahead.

Prior to going down the UE route I did try to face my debts head on and looked for a solution by contacting my creditors and being completely upfront to my plight that I could no longer service my debts (which I was doing to the tune of £30K per year !) I asked for interest to be frozen and a reasonable monthly payment arrangement, my requests were met with no help at all, credit limits immediately got lowered, and interest rates raised which on paper plunged me deeper into debt.

That was the turning point for me, no longer did I feel any remorse for my creditors, they had bled me dry for years after giving me more credit that I was ever going to be able to repay, it was time to get off the treadmill – enough was enough, I wanted my life back before they took that as well!

My creditors by giving me a ridiculous amount of unsecured credit had entered into a poker game, who would win the pot was a gamble, and has been for the last 6 years ! ...over the next few weeks I hope to be able to play my winning hand and end the “game” as I enter into the next and hopefully final phase of the UE journey as my status changes to Statute Barred ! The debts will always be there and I will still be looking over my shoulder for a while longer yet before I can fully relax.

My credit file will now begin to repair itself as defaults drop off but I’m in no hurry to look at it anytime soon, I’ve done what I thought was the impossible for the last 6 years and lived without credit and I intend to keep it that way.

AAD or as I personally call it Armour Against Debt has been my mentor throughout the last 6 years, guiding me through the minefield of creditor demands. Thank you AAD, thank you niddy, and thank you to the many friends I’ve met here and who have always been there with support. I could not and would not have done it without you.

I too sent off my CCA requests in May 2010 having made my last payments in April so have now reached that fabulous SB milestone. Debts totaled over £80k when I found Niddy OTR and we'd just run out of money and faced a bleak future. The DMP I was on would have run until 2037 and I'd already paid over £10k to them plus god knows how much before that direct to the various creditors so I have no guilt. When asking for help all you get is grief from them or their chasers

At the beginning there was a lot of activity with phone calls and letters every day (or so it seemed) but it does get better and other than one CCJ I couldn't fight at the time I've managed to dodge all the others chasing me and it has been fairly quiet for some time now. I did expect to get a late flurry but nothing.... ps I actually unplugged the phone 5 years ago and have only just plugged it back in and that helped a lot :-)

I too would like to thank Niddy and all the wonderful people on here without whom it would not have been possible.

So my message too is stick with it and you'll get there

ps I got a letter from one of the creditors today asking me if I'd like to set up an installment plan to help me become free of this debt.............................................. ...now what to do with that ;-)

[MustGetStraigh]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

What a great post, Allan You must be chuffed to bits.

I started my UE journey at the same time and I think I'm pretty much there. My last default dropped off a while back (I got defaulted quite a bit earlier than I stopped paying.. Kicking myself as I did carry on paying token £1 per month for a while)... but by the end of July I can say I'm SB on all of them (I know I'm definitely SB on one, just not sure about the others).

I can't begin to relay the sense of relief. I feel I'm getting my life back. I couldn't have done it without Sir Nid (of course) and the wonderful Guys and Gals of AAD. You've all been AWESOME

[Enforcer]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

I agree, thanks for the post. My first default was Capital one, dated 23 June 2010. However I seem to have made one payment of £10 in November 2010. Pretty sure that this was for SAR, but not so careful keeping paperwork at that stressful time.
Just shows that if you follow the help and advice, you can get over a really bad time of your life.
Thanks all, getting there!

[nanna58]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Hi ,well I've done it !(almost) I've miscalculated on 1, Aug 2010.but SB now on the other.S o proud of myself because I am not the strongest inside under stress and we all know how the stress of this gets us down.This is where this home comes in. Thanks to Niddy and the team back then I started my journey and yes at times wanted to give up ,what with all the other things life throws up.We can do it yes we can , so Niddy and team thank you a thousand times over.This site has now grown to what it deserves to be and still helping those being bullied.Thank you xxxxx

[Susie]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

I am still keeping my fingers and toes crossed for a while that I get to the magic dates. I stopped paying later on a couple than others but the first ones are approaching SB from a payments stopped date but need a bit longer to get to the safety of the defaulted dates in case of anything happening and getting caught with the wrong judge who would say the default date is the one to go by.
Very well done to those who can now relax and let the letters come in without any worry, it must be like the start of a new life for you, and an even bigger well done to Niddy who has somehow managed to keep so many of us on track and stop much of the panic I for one got when letters arrived to get people to this point

[julian]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Just don't forget to cancel the Direct Debts as soon as you can. I did not know I could. As a result of this ignorance, money was leached out of an overdrawn account and when there was no money there were bank charges upon bank charges. Crafty swine on the creditor's Delinquent Accounts' team would send in several DDs for differing amounts every month (till I cancelled the DD on-line) trying to access any amount I may have had, incurring bank charges when insufficient funds and robbing money needed for priority debts. This went on for 2 years with loads of bank charges before I was defaulted 3 days after I cancelled.

[helmsman]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Hi,
Squeaky Bum time in the Helmsman household 6 months until SB roll on xmas.

[Enforcer]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

I agree, thanks for the post. My first default was Capital one, dated 23 June 2010. However I seem to have made one payment of £10 in November 2010. Pretty sure that this was for SAR, but not so careful keeping paperwork at that stressful time.
Just shows that if you follow the help and advice, you can get over a really bad time of your life.
Thanks all, getting there!

Lovely letter today from Deborah Green at Cabot.
Dear Enforcer,
We are closing your account

Thank you for contacting us, after your communication with us we have reviewed your account and have decided to uphold your dispute.
We have made the decision to close your account with us, and you will no longer be contacted about it by us or any other company on our behalf.
We will also, where applicable, be arranging to have the relevant entry deleted from your credit file. This may take up to six weeks to be completed.

Result!

This was a Capital one for over £7K+ all they sent as a CCA was an application form, stating quite clearly, "if your application is accepted". They never had a cat in hells chance with this one.

I really got desperate with the constant phone calls and harassment from Cap 1 never ever thought it could possibly get worse! Barclaycard proved that it could get worse!

With Niddy's help, and the FOS we sorted Barclaycard.

Now have a LLoyd's account in dispute with Cabot, separate disputes department, I have 3 "true reconstituted agreements" and yet they are all different. Which one, if any, is a "true" agreement? Will wait for their reply.

[MustGetStraigh]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Wow, that's a great result! I live in hope that she will write a similar letter to me