UE: The second wave.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: UE: The second wave.

No.. *hangs head in shame*

No shame Ames; just created those threads to help people figure out where things were etc.....

[Ames]

Re: UE: The second wave.

No.. *hangs head in shame*

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: UE: The second wave.

ooooh you mean you never read the user guide!! ---> User Guide - Missing Smileys / No wysiwyg Editor?

[Ames]

Re: UE: The second wave.

Aha, got it now, had to change something in my profile from basic to standard.

[Ames]

Re: UE: The second wave.

Nope, I'm not seeing that when I go advanced, just a text box with some smileys beneath it.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: UE: The second wave.

I'll have the money to do the payments when I get mum's insurance through.

I'm ignoring the Egg loan one really, counting down to April 2013.

So you'd go with making offers on them rather than UE? I was going to CCA request the Barclaycard and Egg one.

When I 'go advanced' there's still no colour options, just smileys?

See attached for how to change font etc! Its there, I can see it your profile

As for the accounts, yea send a CCA to the other two - lets see what happens, start again and lets get a cca and see what it brings yea?

[Ames]

Re: UE: The second wave.

Can you scrape together about £250 to clear this? if so give me a shout and we'll get the ball in motion, otherwise just ignore it for the moment as it's not urgent - certainly not if you can raise funds in coming weeks.....

With this being 4 years in default, i'd look to ignore it as it really doesn't affect you generally, due to the age etc.....

Can you scrape together about £250 - £300 to clear this? As above, if so great - gimme a shout, if not then just ignore for moment......

I'll have the money to do the payments when I get mum's insurance through.

I'm ignoring the Egg loan one really, counting down to April 2013.

So you'd go with making offers on them rather than UE? I was going to CCA request the Barclaycard and Egg one.

When I 'go advanced' there's still no colour options, just smileys?

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: UE: The second wave.

EGG CARD
Type of account: Credit Card.
Date commenced: Summer 2003.
Approx balance: 770 original balance, 820 with charges added in last few weeks.

Can you scrape together about £250 to clear this? if so give me a shout and we'll get the ball in motion, otherwise just ignore it for the moment as it's not urgent - certainly not if you can raise funds in coming weeks.....

EGG LOAN
Taken Out: Spring 2004.
Amount outstanding: 4.4k

With this being 4 years in default, i'd look to ignore it as it really doesn't affect you generally, due to the age etc.....

BARCLAYCARD
Type of account: Credit Card.
Date commenced: 2002.
Approx balance: 900.

Can you scrape together about £250 - £300 to clear this? As above, if so great - gimme a shout, if not then just ignore for moment......

[MustGetStraigh]

Re: UE: The second wave.

Ames, just wanted to say good luck with all of this. You're in a great place here to get practical help to give you breathing space and a long term solution.

(To get colours, click the "Go Advanced" button under the text box where you type your post).

[Ames]

Re: UE: The second wave.

BARCLAYCARD

Type of account: Credit Card.
Date commenced: 2002.
Approx balance: 900.
Date last paid: 2008/9 (can't remember exactly).
Are you on arrangement or not paying: Not paying
Status: default.
Account owner: DCA.


Passed to DCA last year, moved around a bit with no reply from me.

ACTION TO TAKE: Send CCA request to current DCA.

[Ames]

Re: UE: The second wave.

EGG LOAN

Taken Out: Spring 2004.
Amount outstanding: 4.4k or £130.
Date last paid: To OC, Autumn 2006, to DCA April 2007.
Are you on arrangement or not paying: Not paying as in dispute due to no CCA being produced.
Status: Both sides in default.
Account owner: DCA.

CCA sent: April 2007.
Reply: Still waiting.

Action needed: Tell current DCA to bog off.

As I have proof of the CCA request and haven't received anything, I need to send the 'I'm sorry you bought an UE debt' letter. But do I send it to Cabot, or Mackenzie Hall who claim to be acting on Cabot's behalf?

[Ames]

Re: UE: The second wave.

EGG CARD

Type of account: Credit Card.
Date commenced: Summer 2003.
Approx balance: 770 original balance, 820 with charges added in last few weeks.
Date last paid: To OC, Autumn 2006, to DCA around 2-3 years ago.
Are you on arrangement or not paying: Arrangement made, no payments yet made.
Status: default.
Account owner: DCA (Currently Cabot).

2011:

F&F offers rejected. Token payments agreed but not made.

I've had a response from Cabot already. They say that they don't have the info but they've requested it from the original lender. They've returned my PO saying that they don't make the charge for the info. Then they say they expect to be able to provide the info within the 12 days, but will be in touch if they can't.

I've had another letter from them, I'll type it out in a new response below.

[Ames]

Background:

When I was young and stupid I applied for a credit card. When it dropped through the letter box, I felt so grown up. I was very sensible, and paid it off every month for a year. Then I decided to go on holiday. And applied for another credit card to pay for it - hey, it was interest free on purchases so why not. Well, here's why not - 11 years later and that card hasn't had a zero balance since. Although the actual card is long gone.

In the new world of rampant consumerism and easy credit, two cards with a balance of around 1k combined seemed like small fry. Which is when the car loan was added. My old one, which had always been a pain to drive (literally), got very poorly. I decided, in my 21 year old wisdom, that rather than keep paying the car hospital's bills, I'd get a new(er) car. And when I found a nice little fiesta at a great price, it seemed like fate. And another of those grown up moments followed - my bank trusted me enough to lend me 6k!

Then I moved away from home to uni.

I'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder a few months before I went, and the psychiatrist waved me off with the cheery advice 'get help in Leeds if you need it'. I needed help, but didn't realise it. When I did realise it, I didn't think I deserved it. A big downward spiral with lots of problems with uni, friends, and landlord, followed, and coincidentally a big student overdraft built up. I moved into an unfurnished flat. I needed furniture. Which meant I needed money. And as I had another loan and two credit cards, it made sense to get another loan, buy the furniture, and consolidate my debts. And besides, years and years of repayments wouldn't matter, because I was going to kill myself long before then. I'd already tried it once in the middle of moving and sorting out furniture.

By this point I was no longer a student. Just on benefits. Mentally Ill. And applying for a 7k loan.

Clearly, insane people can easily find jobs - in the banking industry. Because someone approved my loan.

Off I trotted to Ikea, got good deals on the furniture, then onto Argos for white goods. Then online to pay off the Barclaycard, because it had the highest interest rate of all my debts. Then to ebay for manic spending on soft furnishings and 'original artwork' which is, frankly, hideous when looked at with a non manic brain.

Ooops, not enough to pay off my original loan. Nevermind, I could just pay off a big chunk of it, which would lower the repayments and I'd still be paying out less than before.

The rules had just changed. You pay all of the loan back, or carry on in installments. No in between.

Bugger.

Ok, don't panic, phone Egg. Hello, loan people, I've made a mistake, furniture cost more than I expected can I extend the term, or pay some back, or something, because I'm stuck with two loans, and the credit card I have with you, and can't afford it. No, said loan man. You don't work. You shouldn't have got the loan in the first place, someone made a mistake. We can't extend the length, or increase the value because you can't afford it. What about paying a chunk back? Noooo.

Fast forward a few years, during which I went through minor manic spending phases, had big benefits delays, and spent the rest of the loan amount, ironically much of it on the loan repayments. I realise I can't carry on like this when I move into a council flat, can't afford food after paying the £60 removal cowboy, and get clobbered with £120 of bank charges in one week because the £60 left me short for everything.

I call CCCS. 'We can't help you, because you have more than enough for your debts. In fact, according to your SOA you should be paying more than you are'. Erm, what about my care needs, surely I should use my DLA for that instead of for debts? I know, I'll try CAB instead. Sure, last time I went to them for help they got me sued, but maybe debt'll be different. CAB man 1: 'You owe council tax' Me: 'no I don't, it's a mistake, it's in dispute, it'll be sorted soon'. CAB man 1: You owe council tax. You could go to prison. I'll phone them and you'll agree to have it taken from your benefits each week'. I agreed. Then I found out I couldn't stop the deductions, only the Council Tax people. Then the dispute was settled and they realised I didn't owe anything. So I fought, got them to stop the deductions, and finally give me back my money.

CAB lady 1: following my query about irresponsible lending and getting the loan written off due to not being in sound mind (backed up by a doctor) and them making a mistake. 'yes, I'll write to them for you, but they'll probably say no'.

CAB lady 2: 'No record of CAB lady 1 writing to them. Just go bankrupt'.

Bankrupt, sounds a bit OTT for 8k. (As I'd become eligible for a motability car, I'd taken that, sold mine, and paid off the loan I took out to buy it). Call NDL 'Just make token payments, there's no need to waste money on bankruptcy, your circumstances aren't going to change'.

Mooch online, discover UE.

April 2007: Send CCA's to Egg card and Egg loan. Something came back for the Egg card, so I carried on with token payments, not feeling strong enough for a fight over whether or not it was properly executed. Deathly silence from the loan.

Since then, the Egg card has been passed on a few times. With the last DCA (Cabot) I tried to make a f&f but they wouldn't agree. I was supposed to start paying a couple of months ago, but for various reasons it didn't happen. So I'm going to try the CCA route again.

The loan's also been passed around, I just tell them to naff off as it's in dispute. To back up my case with that, I have a statement from Egg saying the balance is around £130, whereas I'm being chased for £4400.

Barclaycard keeps getting passed around, I've not done anything about it in ages, I'm going to do a CCA now on it.

So, now for the diary and log of events. I'm going to do it slightly different to Pixie, because I don't want to confuse myself with too many colours. So everything's going to be in colour to start with, and as updates come in anything previous will turn to black, so only the most recent info on anything will be in colour.