UE - SIX Years On!

[PlanB]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

you probably paid more that in interest - not to mention the blood, sweat and tears .....

. . . . and Prosecco . . . .

Plan B x

[Phoenix]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Prosecco??????

And there was I thinking it would be Louis Roederer Cristal, at the least!

[DojoJoJo]

Re: UE - One year on

Well done you. Takes guts and determination to get through this process. I am sure many of us members recognise the sick to the stomach and gut churning feeling of yet another piece of threatening correspondence dropping on the doormat and having to hold your nerve.

I happily joined the 'debt free club' last December when approx 50k worth of cc debt became statute barred and I am also ecstatic that last month all of the default markers and creditors dropped off of my credit reference agency report. My score is only around 500, but that is only because I do not have any credit to record! A good thing. I am about to apply for a low limit card to start building my credit score up again.

Lesson learn't though, I will never let myself get into that situation again.

I cannot praise this site and supporters enough for the help and invaluable information I have gained from being here since 2009. I feel like I know the Consumer Credit Act of 1974 backwards now!

The whole process has given me the confidence to not just accept everything as correct from companies/organisations, but to fight back, whatever the situation. All of the large financial and legal big boys over time have generated a fear factor to prevent us ordinary folk challenging them.

I challenge EVERYTHING now and investigate my rights before accepting anything on face value.

And you know what, I find myself hungry for more knowledge and love the investigation side of it all.

Currently studying the Land and Property Act 1925 with regards to easements and covenants on my property conveyance and having a ball doing it!

Best wishes to all and at the risk of moans and groans, may I be the first to wish everyone a very happy and debt free Christmas..............

[greymatter]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Thats great news

[5corpio]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Another Default dropped off - 2 more left for this year......

[Susiebling365]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

I first read the #1 post way back in 2012, I ve just read it again, its a classic for people who want inspiration and encouragement. This particular bit really gets to me as its what I have wrestled with all along.

I had always believed you had to pay back what you owed, In fact I suppose I still do, but then I thought, ok I have used credit card money, but they have had the capitol back and profit on the loans over the years, they had me well and truly on the hook paying back the outrageous interest charges each month, they didn’t care about me as a person in trouble, they don’t want you settling your debts, they just keep squeezing until there is nothing left to squeeze out.

When the banks made a mess of their finances while continuing to pay themselves massive bonuses, they simply went cap in hand to the government for a bailout plan. Where can the man in the street go for his bailout plan? No where! So do I feel I am doing something morally wrong, no not any more? This is my life, the only one I have got, and I don’t have a lot of it left at my advancing years.

So now that I am helping my daughter sort her debts and get through a messy divorce I am going to pass it on....Thanks Alland and hope things are working out , its an inspiration .

[debtguy]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Amen to all that!! I had exactly the same moral doubts, and I spent several years on a treadmill trying to pay back ever-increasing interest payments, in a vicious circle and 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'. For the last 8 months or so before my default I was having a real last push to pay off my £90K or so of debt before the interest rates shot up, selling everything I could on eBay and working 12-16 hours a day at it, but I found that I needed to make £2-3K a month just to keep up with the payments, even at lowish interest, and £6-8K to make any real dent in the principal of the debts.

But I was trying to do it, managing about 1 month in 3 and falling more behind in the other two, and getting more and more depressed and stressed and hopeless as the egg-timer crept towards the day when the low-interest loans would all end at once and the whole £90K would shoot up to 30-40% interest, until one month about 3-4 months before the end of the low(ish) interest credit periods my eBay sales crashed, and I literally couldn't make the payments.

So I had no choice but to default, and as doing so was bound to destroy my hitherto good credit rating and wipe out my ability to get reasonably-priced credit, I had to default on 'all or nothing'. So it had to be all, bank account included (because the credit card companies can steal money from you if there is anything in it), and for about 2 months I felt terrible.

That was 15 months ago, and I am going through the same process as everyone else, watching the time pass and fielding the letters from DCAs. But you know what? It's not real any more. When I was on the treadmill it filled my entire life and I was always scared shitless at missing a payment (because of the aforementioned fact that I needed a good credit rating to keep servicing the debt). But now it's not real any more. I'm free. I've shaken it off. I know that in theory I am only pretending the debts aren't there, but in fact the wonderful, light-headed feeling I have when I think about it makes it feel the other way round - it feels as if the debts weren't real and now they have gone away.

And the way credit ratings work actually precipitated the problem - the worse a risk they deem you to be, the more interest they charge you, which causes a vicious circle and makes you a worse risk. I could see some sense to that attitude if it were confined to new debt, because they wouldn't lend to people who couldn't afford it (although in fact they do do exactly that).

But to apply that reasoning to someone who is already heavily indebted is ludicrous, courts disaster, and makes the credit card companies less likely to recover their money (but more likely to ruin your life trying). What a lunatic situation. I could have and probably would have stayed on the treadmill if I could have kept getting credit at 0-7%, but as soon as they banged the rates up to 30-40%, as they would have done, I had absolutely no chance, and I didn't have enough assets to give them.

So it serves them bloody right - it's all a poker game to them anyway (seen the Wolf of Wall Street?). But it's my LIFE, as Allan says, and with each passing day there is less and less of it left, and I am not going to get back any of the days I wasted trying to service the debts.

And ditto eBay - they play around with their search algorithms and they can make or break you in a flash (and they ditched small sellers years ago). So b*llocks to eBay. And b*llocks to the banks and c card companies.

So I got off the treadmill, and THANKS TO ALLAND AND NIDDY for empowering me. I haven't looked back. And I don't feel guilty. And more to the point, I don't even think about it any more - I just get on with my life.

Bugger em...

[SaltnVinegar]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

What set me against the banks and creditors, is that when the brown sticky stuff hit the fan, is that they were not prepared to abide by the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act, or the guidelines issued by the regulatory bodies, but instead embarked on actions of harassment that at best were immoral, and in a couple of instances could be considered unlawful.

Its all very well stating 'well you have signed a credit agreement, you should pay it back' but that credit agreement ALSO contains provisions on how companies should be behave and conduct themselves should the agreement break down, and they had no compulsion in ignoring those provisions.

When I discovered that my bank was also potentially acting unlawfully (applying charges to my account, as a result of charges they had already applied for example), that was when I decided to fight back.

The 'please get in touch with us if you think you're going to have difficulty making repayments, we're here to help' attitude is complete BS. They want you to contact them, not so they can help, but so they can be first in the queue ahead of other creditors you may have before your money runs out.

My 'financial difficulties' were short term. I did the 'right thing' and contacted my creditors to let them know and they screwed me over by immediately cutting off my lines of credit, which in turn meant I had to borrow money to cover my outgoings, resulting in more debt, with increased interest and charges, meaning I owed more money.

Had I kept my mouth shut I probably would have been able to muddle through but instead I did 'the right thing' and got screwed over for almost 7 years now but they are still not done.

This week 8 defaults dropped off my credit file, and with less than 12 months to go on several more, and the fact that I'm back on my feet, creditors are crawling out of the woodwork with the threat of CCJ's which would screw me up for a further 6 years.

So if they're going to 'play the system' then so will I.

[Susie]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

S'nV, goodluck with the next 12 months or so until they are all SB. Hope they do not try CCJ tricks on you and if they do you are able to knock them on the head

[debtguy]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

If you are using a shovel to dig yourself into a hole, a credit card company will be happy to give you a JCB !!

Just saw Susiebling's signature, and it's cheered me up no end!

[Susiebling365]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

I liked it too Debtguy, my debt was peanuts compared with some of you here, and incurred through my naivity and my ex, greed, but like someone said it no matter £100 or £100k the feeling is still the same, and if you have n't got it you cant pay . I used to be as Alland said, you got into debt, you got to pay your dues but its not that straight forward is it? Example the big companies who get into debt for millions and get the government to bail them out and give the people who contrived the mess a golden handshake to bugger off!! Its all very irresponsible, and greedy.

But the posts on here are inspiring, I am now helping my daughter who is being pushed into a corner by her mean cruel ex husband, she has 3 credit cards she took out in an attempt to give the 3 children things that kids want and need, and often when her ex didn t supply enough housekeeping. He by the way is well funded with pensions, shares and the like. Anyway you on here are an inspiration and I do the posting she sits beside me reading , and is amazed... what I love here is no one judges ... only helps in whatever way they can.

[marypoppins]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Last one of mine dropped off this week.

Six years, where did it go!!!

I wouldn't have got through it without the fantastic help here, I started off being a member of another forum which was good but suddenly, a lot of members disappeared.

After a few nudges via private messages, I eventually got here and never looked back.

Thank you so much to everyone!

[JLC]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

I'm only a year in. All mine are falling off this year as I spent 5 years on a DMP. Here's to the next five years!

[Spent2much]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Last one of mine dropped off this week.

Six years, where did it go!!!

I wouldn't have got through it without the fantastic help here, I started off being a member of another forum which was good but suddenly, a lot of members disappeared.

After a few nudges via private messages, I eventually got here and never looked back.

Thank you so much to everyone!

Mine are SB next July .

[Spud]

Re: UE - One year on - now SIX years

Mine are SB next July .

And I bet the time will fly by.......

Its really nice to read of people reaching the light at the end of the tunnel.........Such an inspiation..........well done Marypoppins, It must be such a good feeling