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As I lost all my data when BALWI closed before I could paste and copy it across to here, I will start again with an account of how I have ended up on the EU journey.
I am a small business owner on the wrong side of middle age. I started my business back in 1991 after returning to the UK from many years overseas.
As the business I am in is quite unique I soon established a good customer base and enjoyed steady growth, and building up the business to have 4 employees’ one of which is my Son. All was well until 2002 when the foot & mouth epidemic hit the UK.
As my customers activities required access to the countryside, the ban on travelling on much of the countryside meant that my turnover almost stopped overnight.
It could not have come at a worse time, we had just invested quite a lot of cash on new equipment, I know the sensible thing would have been to close up and sit it out until the foot & mouth issue was over. But my employees (including my Son) all had homes and young families to support and I really thought the F&M disease would be quickly contained and the countryside ban would be lifted in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately it was to go on and on for months, eventually the money ran out so I started to inject cash from my credit cards to keep afloat and pay the company overheads and staff wages.
Eventually the foot & mouth disease was dealt with and the countryside was open for business again, we immediately started to see some of our customers back but the F&M countryside ban was 6 months and it took a further 6 months to get back on track to previous turnover, by this time I had pumped almost £150K into the business from my credit card accounts.
I was paying back in the region of £30K per year on the cards, as the payments came out of the business and our turnover was quite good, I never really took much notice of the fact that the amounts owed did not appear to be going down by very much, such was the extent of the interest I was paying on the debts, it was only early 2008 when we started to see signs of a recession on the way and once again our turnover started to drop as customers tightened their belts and cut back on the activities they used our company for.
The result was things went from bad to worse, ever the optimist, I thought ok it’s a bit tough now, but things will get better. But I was now using credit cards to pay credit cards, until they were all maxed out, it simply could not go on, by last year I was in such despair that I could not focus on anything other than worrying about these debts, I reached such a low point that the thought of suicide was a becoming a real possibility!
I felt such a failure, my kids (Son & Daughter) both grown up with families of their own had always turned to me for advice if they had any problems, “dad would know what to do, he always does”, and I thought now look at me, who am I to give out advice! I think that was probably the lowest point in all of it, the feeling of failure to my family.
The turning point came earlier this year when somehow I don’t even know how (maybe it was my guardian angel guiding me) I found myself logged onto MSE, a particular thread by Mouseann (Phoenix on here) made me realise I was not alone in my debt despair.
I posted in Mousanne’s thread and was overwhelmed by the replies of support, no one was judgemental, and many of us faced the same debt issues. From then on the rest I suppose is history, First MSE, soon to leave for BALWI, and now here on Niddys great new site. So I embarked on the journey of UE, I know there are some out there in society that will say “look you have had the money so pay it back!” well I don’t have any moral issue with going the EU route, I have paid back the capital borrowed and many thousands of pounds in interest as well, the banks offered no help or consideration when I explained my situation, I asked for a reduction or a freeze on interest charges to give me a chance to clear the debts. But no they just did not want to know and continued to ramp up the interest charges.
I stopped paying all the cards in April of this year, and started to send out CCA requests using Niddys letter templates for guidance. And I have to say, Niddy’s advice has been nothing short of lifesaving for me. I feel a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I am not naive and know I have a long hard journey before I am out of this dark tunnel, I also know some of the debts will be enforceable, so I will still have to address those and make some sort of payment arrangements in due course when I have reached the end of the blagging process.
The business is still going, and is actually doing somewhat better since I stopped draining it of funds to pay credit cards! We are currently in the process of my Son taking over the business and I will stay on as a self employed consultant, I am even called to work overseas in the USA, as the skills I have learned in a hobby I have, are in demand there from time to time.
So that’s it, I hope I have not bored you too much, but I hope that anyone reading this who is in turmoil over their debts can see there are many people in the same position, and the members here will offer anyone as much support and advice that you may need, and as I said before “without being judgmental”
Below is a list of my cards and balances when I stopped paying in April.....does not make very good reading does it!!
Unfortunately as I was overseas when BALWI closed, I did not have the replies I had from Niddy on my diary there backed up anywhere in respect of which of the CCA’s I had sent over to him, so apart from a few of the debts I am not sure which Niddy deemed UE or not. So that’s something I will have to re address!
Lloyds TSB £11,498.77
Marbles £2,507.87
Halifax £11,507.87
Citi card £13,773.43
Capitol One £4,153.44
Co-operative bank visa £10,040.05
Monument Visa £3,902.66
Royal bank of Scotland M/card £6,137.98
GM card £10,696.23
Mint card £7,208.28
MBNA Sony Card £2,349.83
MBNA Visa card £4,210.03
MBNA M/card £2,970.25
Barclaycard Goldfish £8,052.51
Barclaycard £6,099.23
Egg card £9,059.20 £2K F& F paid May 2011
Total £114,613.43....and increasing by the day !!
I am a small business owner on the wrong side of middle age. I started my business back in 1991 after returning to the UK from many years overseas.
As the business I am in is quite unique I soon established a good customer base and enjoyed steady growth, and building up the business to have 4 employees’ one of which is my Son. All was well until 2002 when the foot & mouth epidemic hit the UK.
As my customers activities required access to the countryside, the ban on travelling on much of the countryside meant that my turnover almost stopped overnight.
It could not have come at a worse time, we had just invested quite a lot of cash on new equipment, I know the sensible thing would have been to close up and sit it out until the foot & mouth issue was over. But my employees (including my Son) all had homes and young families to support and I really thought the F&M disease would be quickly contained and the countryside ban would be lifted in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately it was to go on and on for months, eventually the money ran out so I started to inject cash from my credit cards to keep afloat and pay the company overheads and staff wages.
Eventually the foot & mouth disease was dealt with and the countryside was open for business again, we immediately started to see some of our customers back but the F&M countryside ban was 6 months and it took a further 6 months to get back on track to previous turnover, by this time I had pumped almost £150K into the business from my credit card accounts.
I was paying back in the region of £30K per year on the cards, as the payments came out of the business and our turnover was quite good, I never really took much notice of the fact that the amounts owed did not appear to be going down by very much, such was the extent of the interest I was paying on the debts, it was only early 2008 when we started to see signs of a recession on the way and once again our turnover started to drop as customers tightened their belts and cut back on the activities they used our company for.
The result was things went from bad to worse, ever the optimist, I thought ok it’s a bit tough now, but things will get better. But I was now using credit cards to pay credit cards, until they were all maxed out, it simply could not go on, by last year I was in such despair that I could not focus on anything other than worrying about these debts, I reached such a low point that the thought of suicide was a becoming a real possibility!
I felt such a failure, my kids (Son & Daughter) both grown up with families of their own had always turned to me for advice if they had any problems, “dad would know what to do, he always does”, and I thought now look at me, who am I to give out advice! I think that was probably the lowest point in all of it, the feeling of failure to my family.
The turning point came earlier this year when somehow I don’t even know how (maybe it was my guardian angel guiding me) I found myself logged onto MSE, a particular thread by Mouseann (Phoenix on here) made me realise I was not alone in my debt despair.
I posted in Mousanne’s thread and was overwhelmed by the replies of support, no one was judgemental, and many of us faced the same debt issues. From then on the rest I suppose is history, First MSE, soon to leave for BALWI, and now here on Niddys great new site. So I embarked on the journey of UE, I know there are some out there in society that will say “look you have had the money so pay it back!” well I don’t have any moral issue with going the EU route, I have paid back the capital borrowed and many thousands of pounds in interest as well, the banks offered no help or consideration when I explained my situation, I asked for a reduction or a freeze on interest charges to give me a chance to clear the debts. But no they just did not want to know and continued to ramp up the interest charges.
I stopped paying all the cards in April of this year, and started to send out CCA requests using Niddys letter templates for guidance. And I have to say, Niddy’s advice has been nothing short of lifesaving for me. I feel a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I am not naive and know I have a long hard journey before I am out of this dark tunnel, I also know some of the debts will be enforceable, so I will still have to address those and make some sort of payment arrangements in due course when I have reached the end of the blagging process.
The business is still going, and is actually doing somewhat better since I stopped draining it of funds to pay credit cards! We are currently in the process of my Son taking over the business and I will stay on as a self employed consultant, I am even called to work overseas in the USA, as the skills I have learned in a hobby I have, are in demand there from time to time.
So that’s it, I hope I have not bored you too much, but I hope that anyone reading this who is in turmoil over their debts can see there are many people in the same position, and the members here will offer anyone as much support and advice that you may need, and as I said before “without being judgmental”
Below is a list of my cards and balances when I stopped paying in April.....does not make very good reading does it!!
Unfortunately as I was overseas when BALWI closed, I did not have the replies I had from Niddy on my diary there backed up anywhere in respect of which of the CCA’s I had sent over to him, so apart from a few of the debts I am not sure which Niddy deemed UE or not. So that’s something I will have to re address!
Lloyds TSB £11,498.77
Marbles £2,507.87
Halifax £11,507.87
Citi card £13,773.43
Capitol One £4,153.44
Co-operative bank visa £10,040.05
Monument Visa £3,902.66
Royal bank of Scotland M/card £6,137.98
GM card £10,696.23
Mint card £7,208.28
MBNA Sony Card £2,349.83
MBNA Visa card £4,210.03
MBNA M/card £2,970.25
Barclaycard Goldfish £8,052.51
Barclaycard £6,099.23
Total £114,613.43....and increasing by the day !!
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