New Here and Not Sure Where to Post

[popjoc]

Hi all,

I have just signed up to this site on a recommendation from another online forum and have been told this is the best place to get advice. I will give more detail when I know where to post, but between my wife and myself we have approximately £55K of debt. We own our home outright, but neither of us are working as I have been diagnosed with a long term illness. We are looking for advice to reduce payments but as I say, if someone could point me in the right direction, then I will put in a full post, giving more details of our situation.

[The Tech Clerk]

diary all your debts with the info on them? Diana Mayhew

[nightwatch]

what the tech clerk means is that you can start your thread here,or start a new thread with your name in the title eg; popjoc, start of my diary, either way it doesn't matter.

All that matters is that you are here now and we are ready to help

welcome to the best place to be.

NW x

[popjoc]

Hi

Here is a list of all of our debts. I will start with mine first:

Flybe Credit Card £1232.93 Card Taken Out Aug 2016
Tesco Credit Card £ 672.40 Taken out 11/16
Santander CC £1723.77 Taken out 08/14 (Also have Current Account with them)
Marbles CC £3064.20 Taken out 04/16
Barclaycard CC £1747.95 Taken 08/14
Paypal Credit £696.06 Taken Out 05/18
MBNA CC £2537.80 Taken Out 12/14
Very £1657.96 Taken Out 05/12
JD Williams £642.58 Taken Out 05/13

My wife's are as follows:

Marbles CC £3027.80 Taken Out 09/16
Virgin MBNA £2565.74 Taken Out 09/09
Flybe CC £753.02 Taken Out 02/15
Barclaycard £8777.84 Taken Out 07/07
Tesco CC £5100.60 Taken Out 10/02
Capital One CC £4528.27 Taken Out 11/04
Next £591.19 Taken Out 03/10
Halifax CC £3100.00 Taken Out 05/11
MBNA £10323.56 Taken Out 03/11
Debenhams £1738.21 Taken Out 04/11
Very £424.43 Taken Out 11/12

These are all the debts that we currently have, None of these have been passed to a debt collector as up until now we have always just about managed to make the minimum payments. However, I am no longer working due to a cancer diagnosis, and my wife is my main carer so she also has no prospect of working anytime soon.

We own our own house outright, so there is no mortgage or rent to worry about.

We have sold our car, and many items have been sold on ebay. We also sold jewellery to help us out, and we have borrowed some from family, but that is no longer an option.

We are thinking of entering into a DMP and have made some enquiries, but if anyone on here can give us any advice, it would be very much appreciated,

Thank you

[popjoc]

Hi just wondering if anyone had had a chance to read this yet and whether they can give any advice. Thanks in advance.

[nightwatch]

Hi,
have you contacted any of the companys to explain about your health issues?
they do have to take that into account for any hardship matters, if they don't then a complaint can be made.

I think you should contact them to explain that due to your health issues , you cannot continue to pay the accounts due to hardship.
see what you get back, before we take it any further,

NW

P.S. was there any PPI on any of these accounts?

[popjoc]

Hi,
have you contacted any of the companys to explain about your health issues?
they do have to take that into account for any hardship matters, if they don't then a complaint can be made.

I think you should contact them to explain that due to your health issues , you cannot continue to pay the accounts due to hardship.
see what you get back, before we take it any further,

NW

P.S. was there any PPI on any of these accounts?

HI,

This is not something we have looked into as yet. I did not think this was an option. Would you have to make some kind of payment, such as a £1 token payment. Also, is there a template available for this. I am not certain about PPI on the accounts, but I don't think there is.

[nightwatch]

Hi I have not manage to look into this matter today as not had the time , if you can hold tight for now I will try and look into things over the weekend, try not to worry, back to you soon.

as for your options you have many, speak soon NW x

[nanna58]

Take a deep breath you definitely in the best place as Nightwatch says give her the weekend. Health is always more important than money take care
speak soon xx

[nanna58]

We haven't forgotten you just need the best help XXX hang on in there

[popjoc]

We haven't forgotten you just need the best help XXX hang on in there

Thank You

[nightwatch]

Hi me here,

1st thing cancel all the Direct debits to the above accounts,
2nd, you will need to change bank accounts to a bank that you don't have any debts with, the banks have a right of set off, which means if you have an account and a debt with the same bank, they have the right to take money from your account to pay the debt,.

this will give you some money to put at one side,

Now I need to ask the ugly question, how bad is your Cancer, is it treatable that you may return to work or not, sorry to ask but helps get a better understanding of the situation,

you may be able to get some of the debts written off , but don't put your hopes up on that score, some companys can be very pigheaded, at the worse a £1 token payment may be the option, BUT you will have to fill out a budget sheet to show that is all you can afford and, send proof of your illness.

unfortunately the companys your wife owes to may not be willing to write them off, as they may view it that she is able to return to work at some time, but we can discuss that later,

I will be back later

NW x

[The Tech Clerk]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40751939 meantime read this , as nightwatch will be back soon.

[nanna58]

That's interesting TTC x

[popjoc]

Hi me here,

1st thing cancel all the Direct debits to the above accounts,
2nd, you will need to change bank accounts to a bank that you don't have any debts with, the banks have a right of set off, which means if you have an account and a debt with the same bank, they have the right to take money from your account to pay the debt,.

this will give you some money to put at one side,

Now I need to ask the ugly question, how bad is your Cancer, is it treatable that you may return to work or not, sorry to ask but helps get a better understanding of the situation,

you may be able to get some of the debts written off , but don't put your hopes up on that score, some companys can be very pigheaded, at the worse a £1 token payment may be the option, BUT you will have to fill out a budget sheet to show that is all you can afford and, send proof of your illness.

unfortunately the companys your wife owes to may not be willing to write them off, as they may view it that she is able to return to work at some time, but we can discuss that later,

I will be back later

NW x

Hi Nightwatch,

Many thanks for the reply. All Direct Debits have already been stopped and I have managed to open a new bank with the Nationwide to whom neither of us owe any money to at all.

We have spent the last few days trawling through different forums and sites online and have gotten some really good information, We have decided not to sell the house to cover the debt, as that is a complete no-no.

Regarding my diagnosis, The cancer is being treated well, I am not getting as much chemo as previously, and they are hopefully winning the battle. I did have major life saving surgery when I had my Bladder and Prostate removed. I now wear a permanent stoma bag but unfortunately this is one of my main problems. I constantly have leakages, sometimes as many as 10 per day. This is a reason why both my doctor and consultant do not think I should return to work. They also are very suspicious of a couple of lymph nodes that is causing concern, and for this reason they will not say I am in remission, possibly never will be. I am also attending a psychologist to cope with the body image change, and being less of a man,. I have recently been diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease and this is a direct cause from the Bladder Cancer. I am on medication but at some point my kidneys may fail and I will have to go down the dialysis route.

There are a number of other issues, but this is something I can talk about another time.

We have been in contact with Stepchange and they have been very understanding, and through the statement of affairs, they have offered us a DMP at £450 a month and as we were paying 3 times that, this is looking like a strong possibilty. We are aware that this is not to be taken lightly, and there is a lot of work involved, but already it is making us feel hopeful that we can sort out our debt once and for all.

The advice given on here has got us moving, and we are so glad to have found this forum.

One final question, would it be advisable to go down the CCA route, with my wifes cards from 2002 and 2004?

Thanks again for all your help.

Popjoc