Possible candidate for UE?

[here-i-am]

Hello I’m looking for some advice.

I used (x5) low limit credit cards and a student overdraft pretty unwisely to fund myself through the final few months of my degree and to relocate for my first job. Unfortunately I had to leave my job due to ill health and I wasn’t able to pay any of these off. Since then I have pretty much buried my head in the sand. I am now much better, working and getting to a position where I might be able to start paying off these debts. My question is really about whether it would be in my best interests to pay them off.

In the long term I would like to improve my credit rating, and the above has obviously left some pretty horrible marks on my record. All of these are in the form of defaults but from what I have read it seems that many lenders regard a default satisfied in exactly the same light as a default.

Many of these debts are now owned by Lowell and I get the impression from the experiences others have described that it might be possible to barter with them to remove the default by offering to pay off the debt, but at the moment this very much seems like gambling with my money. Would requesting evidence of the debt be the best place to start?

I have requested my credit files (probably not the best idea – I might as well have shot a flare in to the air and screamed ‘here I am come and get me’ to all the DCA’s) and obtained the following information:

Current Account (overdraft)
Date commenced: August 2005
Approx balance outstanding and of default £2000
Date last paid: September 2012
Date of Default: December 2011(I’m not sure why the date of this default is so late – I expected it to be around 2009 / 2010.)
Owner: Credit report states RBS. However I have had letters from DCA’s and it appears to be changing hands again at the moment.
Additional: report also states ‘gone-away’ is it possible to have this removed?
Not paying

Credit card
Date commenced: April 2009
Current Balance: £576
Default balance: £575
Not paid after date of default.
Default date: December 2009.
Owner: RBS
Additional: Also states ‘gone-away’ and ‘balloon/deferred’ – I don’t know what that means or if it’s relevant.
Not paying


Credit Card
Date commenced: April 2009
Balance: £600
I’m uncertain about the balance of original default.
Default date: December 2009
Not paid after date of default.
Owner: Lowell
Not paying

Credit Card:
Date commenced: June 2009
Default and current balance: £150
Date of default: March 2010 (again seems late)
Owner: Capital One (according to credit report.)

The final two ‘debts’ confuse me as they seem to be duplicates of each other - but I’m not 100% sure. It also states that one of the debts has been satisfied – but I didn’t pay it….

Credit Card
Date Commenced: September 2006
Default Date: December 2010 (Again much later than anticipated.)
Default balance and current balance: £670
Owner: Lowell
Not paying

Credit card:
Date commenced: September 2006
Default Date: December 2010
Default Satisfied: September 2011
Default Balance £671
Owner: Barclaycard.
Not paying.


Any advice you could provide would be gratefully received.

[MrsD]

Re: Possible candidate for UE?

Hi

welcome to AAD

personally I would be going for SB with this lot unless anyone is bugging you for any of them. Sleeping dogs etc You are nearly 4 years in with some of them. The defaults would still show on your credit report, regardless if you paid them or not, so if they aren't chasing I would certainly not be admitting anything

[ScabHunter]

Re: Possible candidate for UE?

It may have been unwise to gain access to a credit report, but at least now you can begin to make definite plans for the future.

The first point to be absolutely clear on – do you have a bank account from an organisation which is entirely unrelated to any that you have had alleged debts with, into which your current income gets paid? If yes, you are safe, if no, you will need to get that arranged as quickly as you can.

Regarding the alleged debts, those which are from before 6th April 2007 may well be unenforceable, so it is worth sending off for your CCA. Are you being harassed for these? If not, I would leave it well alone until something happens.

The two from 2009 can be left alone if you are not being harassed, or you can attempt a 'blagging' course. I certainly wouldn't be donating money without a good reason.

Regarding credit files, you are almost at the stage now where you could begin to build that up again. Defaults which are more than three years old can have a greatly reduced effect on your ability to obtain sub-prime credit, and to begin building your rating again. If you need a mortgage, you will be screwed, but anything else should be possible.

I would start a thread in the diaries section, and make one post for each alleged debt.

SH

[here-i-am]

Re: Possible candidate for UE?

yes, thankfully, I do have a completely separate bank account I was hoping to start looking at mortgages in around 2 to 3 years, but realise that is probably completely unrealistic.

I was thinking the same thing and will be moving again shortly so it isn't a huge problem if I have alerted them to my whereabouts.

The only thing I'm still unsure of is the overdraft debt. I suppose there is a possibility that it might be unenforceable since the account was opened in 2005. I'm guessing that would be the only way to get the default removed. I assume RBS is probably much less likely than DCA's to agree to accept f&f for removal?

The overdraft default is 2011 (less than 2 years ago) so I'm wondering if my credit report would look (even slightly) better if I agreed to pay it off? Also, I do get the occasional forwarded letter from a previous address from a DCA seeking payment. My main concern is that as it is for such a lot of money they might opt to go down the CCJ route which would make things worse.

P.s It's very nice having somewhere to voice all of this, I haven't mentioned anything about my debts to anyone at all, and it has been nearly 4 years! Thank you.

[MrsD]

Re: Possible candidate for UE?

actually it's not a lot of money in the greater scheme of things, most of the others are pretty low too.

Can you set up a royal mail redirect to your new property?
then you can keep an eye on the letters and if anything nasty pops up, you can come on here and we'll help you deal.

thank you, we never judge or throw abuse on here, we are all in the same boat, some with enormous amounts of debt, so feel free to visit the chat threads here and get it all off your chest!

[ScabHunter]

Re: Possible candidate for UE?

The overdraft default is 2011 (less than 2 years ago) so I'm wondering if my credit report would look (even slightly) better if I agreed to pay it off? Also, I do get the occasional forwarded letter from a previous address from a DCA seeking payment. My main concern is that as it is for such a lot of money they might opt to go down the CCJ route which would make things worse.

It would be idiotic to pay off a £2,000 alleged debt on the basis that you could one day be taken to court for it. That is like resigning a game when you are still in the lead, on the assumption that you are suddenly going to start losing.

It may go to court, it may not. If you are that worried about a CCJ affecting your credit file, you can always save up enough money to allow yourself to pay any judgment before it is registered. If court never happens and the alleged debt goes SB, you can then use the money for something useful.

Don't surrender while you are still in the lead.

SH

[here-i-am]

Re: Possible candidate for UE?

Thank you SH, what you have said makes a lot of sense and puts things in perspective.

I guess I'm having one or two issues looking at the picture in a logical way as I still feel pretty guilty about not being able to pay off debts.

But none of these organisations seem to feel any guilt about the methods they use to get money out of people, so I suppose I really ought to forget feeling guilty and play the game too.

I think that pretty much sorts everything out for the moment. When they figure out where I am and start sending me horrible letters I will definitely come back here for advice.

Thanks again.

[ScabHunter]

Re: Possible candidate for UE?

Thank you SH, what you have said makes a lot of sense and puts things in perspective.

I guess I'm having one or two issues looking at the picture in a logical way as I still feel pretty guilty about not being able to pay off debts.

But none of these organisations seem to feel any guilt about the methods they use to get money out of people, so I suppose I really ought to forget feeling guilty and play the game too.

I think that pretty much sorts everything out for the moment. When they figure out where I am and start sending me horrible letters I will definitely come back here for advice.

Thanks again.

You got it.

SH

[oldyboy]

Re: Possible candidate for UE?

Thank you SH, what you have said makes a lot of sense and puts things in perspective.

I guess I'm having one or two issues looking at the picture in a logical way as I still feel pretty guilty about not being able to pay off debts.

But none of these organisations seem to feel any guilt about the methods they use to get money out of people, so I suppose I really ought to forget feeling guilty and play the game too.

I think that pretty much sorts everything out for the moment. When they figure out where I am and start sending me horrible letters I will definitely come back here for advice.



Thanks again.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I think we all feel the same way at the start, but when you get to realise that to the banks you're not, and probably never have been, a person then what you say in the paragraph after comes into play very quickly.

Don't worry about asking for your credit files. You haven't set off any flares! Sending CCA requests off at the moment probably will though.

As Scabhunter and Mrs D have both advised, I'd be tempted to let sleeping dogs lie and wait it out for statute barred. If or when you should get any DCA snottygrams land on your doormat then post again and just rest assured you'll get all the help you need.

One thing to help you stay in control is as Mrs D also suggests, is to set up mail redirection if you still can.