Is all debt secured?

[ordinary_world]

Hi Lesley,
Yes thanks, that's helpful. So it looks as though they dont have a physical high street presence but lurk around the high st by financing store cards and hire purchase agreements (cars, pcs etc).
How have GE money treated you?

My general concern is that the US outfits (GE money, MBNA, Capital One) appear more aggressive towards customers experiencing financial difficulty. For example, could such companies apply American law in the UK? Sounds silly, but if they could that would be interesting! Storm, any views on this?

Best


OW

- 'I wont cry for yesterday 'cause there's an ordinary world somehow I have to find...'

[lesley]

I owed them £250 and they were the biggest pain in the a**e. They got the message eventually but they were the first default notice and the reminders were every other day. I wouldn't have bothered but from start to approval of IVA I had only missed £33.00 worth of payments. Be firm and honest with them and they will be ok.
Capital One phoned a couple of times and when they didn't speak I hung up, so when I answered and waited they hung up on me, I thought this was quite amusing, when I eventually spoke to somebody from the collections department and explained what I was doing they stopped all calls straight away.
MBNA weren't bad considering the reports I'd had about them, when I told them I wasn't contacted again.
My MBNA and GE money have been passed onto Eversheds now they just sent me letters telling me that they will deal with IVA supervisor from now on and to ignore any other communications. I have been lucky as it has been relatively painless considering how much the debt is. Good Luck!![:)]

[MelanieGiles]

American law is unlikely to hold under English jurisdiction - but again check the terms of your loan agreements carefully.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[ordinary_world]

I know it's late, couldnt sleep. So just been surfin' a couple of other forums and websites about MBNA and the US law for the use of credit cards and its shocking! [:0]

If interested, check out the following links:

1. CAG forum for experiences with MBNA: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/fo ... -sell.html

2. An interesting if not worrying excerpt from the wikipedia entry for MBNA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBNA):

"MBNA was one of the prime movers in lobbying for the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. The company, among other credit card issuers, had lobbied for 11 years to increase restrictions on personal bankruptcy declarations since the bill was first vetoed in 1994.

MBNA was one of the companies mentioned on a 2004 Frontline PBS special about unfair business practices by credit card companies. Reported practices included changing aspects of the contract without the consent of the customer, doubling or tripling fees and interest rates, changing billing due dates monthly, and invoking universal default on first offenders who's payments were a single day late."

3. 8 Things to know about credit cards in the US: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... dit/eight/

Note that I found the 3rd thing to know about US credit cards most disturbing so I've reproduced it here:

"
» There is no limit on the amount a credit card company can charge a cardholder for being even an hour late with a payment.

In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court in Smiley vs. Citibank lifted the existing restrictions on late penalty fees. Back then, fees ran to $5 or $10, and usually did not exceed $15. After the Court's decision, fees soared, reaching upwards of $30. Since then, the amount of revenue the companies generate from fees (including late charges, over-the-limit fees, and charges for returned checks) has doubled. Duncan MacDonald, one of the lawyers who worked on the Smiley case, predicts penalty fees could rise to $50 in another year."

The concept of 'universal default' sounds very worrying whereby lenders increase the interest rate on your account without warning as they perceive your risk to them has increased (even if you've always paid CC bill on time - because they've checked your credit performance elsewhere e.g. credit ref agency or similar). This is yet another example of the system intruding on our lives to 'protect' the creditor according to some adhoc principles or judgements.

So could the above be an indicator of what is to come for the UK credit card industry (e.g. no limits to interest or charges)? If so, it'll be a bad day for the consumer including those going for an IVA or bankruptcy!

I've scared myself enough, I'm off to bed![:0]

Best


OW

- 'I wont cry for yesterday 'cause there's an ordinary world somehow I have to find...'

[MelanieGiles]

I don't think so - the recent changes in law with regard to bank charges over here would indicate that we are moving in another direction.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk