Creditor Calls & Letters

[Hels]

I have been visiting the forum for a couple of months now and am currently in the process of sorting out an IVA. All of the experts and regular posters on here do a great job, so thanks for all the valuable info you pass on to others. [:D] I have just sent my proposal back for 58p in the £ on debts of £67K. I have 12 creditors, HSBC (£21.5K), Egg (15K), Sainsbury's Bank (£6.5K, MBNA (£6K), Tesco(£3K), Halifax (£6K), Black Horse (£0.9K), Mint (£0.3K), Cahoot (£6.8K), 3 Catalogue/Store Cards (£0.8K) approx balances. I have started a blog which has a bit more info on my story so far.

Anyway, I have a question....

Any advice out there on what to expect from Creditors over the coming weeks? How soon were they hounding you after your first defaulted payments? I had a few accounts defaulted last week so am waiting for the calls and letters to start rolling in....[:(!] Luckly HSBC will not default for another couple of weeks yet!

I've had a couple of letters from Cahoot and MBNA asking have you looked at all your options, etc. MBNA nicely pointed out that if I do an IVA I will struggle to get credit in the future....oh dear, what I shame! Considering I never want to be in this position again, I don't think I will take too much notice of that.

Any advice greatly appreciated. THANKS!

[hallway]

hi my iva was approved in march,im a bit of a scaredy cat so i took aboard a peice of advice i was given and got BT to change my phone number it was done within 5hours of asking, i then just gave family and friends my new number so i didnt have added stress of nasty phone calls.i was just about up to date with payments (robbing peter to pay paul) when i started the proccess and luckily Iva when through within 6 weeks of initial contact so i only recieved any letters after Ip had informed creditors of creditors meeting date.good luck hope all goes well.

[Sopty]

Hi Hels,
I found once I had the creditors meeting arranged most of the calls stopped, some never even phoned me after defaulting and stopping all direct debits. My only adivce is that with most creditors, let them know whats going on and tend to leave you alone for a while, but from what others say some creditors are a nightmare, if you find this problem, take hallway's advice and change numbers.

Cheers, Mark.

IVA accepted, so 1 down, 59 months to go!!

My one bit of advice, if I can do it, so can you!

View my IVA story blog at: http://sopty.blogs.iva.co.uk

[DMB42]

Hi,
I can only agree with all that's been said here. If you let creditors know, they seem to back off.
My IVA was approved in December. Since having it approved, I have received one letter from a creditor which was "threatening". When I contacted them to say IVA had been approved, they backed off right away and couldn't apologise enough. They are bound by the terms of the IVA, so cannot threaten you...which is a huge relief.
Good luck with your IVA...it does make a HUGE difference to you when it's been approved..
DMB 42

[louiseh]

Some creditors don't phone at all, some phone twice a day. I have creditors that have phoned once, noted all details and have said just keep us informed whilst others take no notice of whatever you tell them. Just seems completely random, the amount of harassement doesn't even relate the amounts owing. I have one creditor who started harassing me 2 weeks before I even missed a payment!, I thought I was doing myself a favour by informing all creditors of the up and coming situation. I have reached the stage with this one creditor where I have informed them in writing that I will not be answering any more of their phone calls as they are harassing and trying to bully me. I have also told them I'll take matters further if they persist, we'll have to see what happens with that one! Basically all creditors behave differently and treatment seems to differ between debtors.

[ordinary_world]

Hi,
After keeping all of our creditors informed, we've generally been left alone (we stopped paying our creditors in March).

The only problems we've had is with HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Nationwide. All had appeared to ignore my letters (to inform them of my circumstances and letter of authority), even though they were sent by recorded delivery. In some cases, I originally sent letters to my local branches but they didnt pass them on to their HQ thus HQ kept sending us letters and calling. Sooo, I ended up sending HQ copies with the recorded delivery code for the original letters etc. First Direct (HSBC) just ignored our letters and issued us with a default notice. Nothern Rock, although intense at first, appear to be understanding and giving us time.

The most annoying was Nationwide's automated telephone service...it would contact us up 4 times a night!! I complained to their HQ that if it continues I will log them and report them to FOS for harrassment.

Most of our 19 creditors have been understanding though.



OW

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

[gimmewine]

The more I read on this forum the more I realise how lucky I have been with First Direct acting completely out of character in my case. They were my main creditor holding my mortgage, credit card and bank account with overdraft but they were very understanding.

Although they closed the account, they gave me 30 days to find a new one and transfer direct debits, froze the interest on my credit card without me asking and allowed me to withdraw £100 a week for living expenses throughout the 30 day period. Furthermore they allowed me to clear the overdraft over 6 months by letting my child benefit go into the account. They warned me the letters would continue as they are computer generated but I never had any nasty phonecalls, they gave me a contact name and number and just wanted a monthly update from me.

Now this may have been because I contacted them the moment I realised I was in big trouble and because they knew if they sat tight it would enable me to remortgage and pay them in full but if they could look at my case based on individual circumstances why can't they apply that same policy to everyone else?

Here's thanking my lucky stars at having been spared the stress

[DebtDummy]

I can honestly say out of all of my creditors HSBC was the worst. They would contact me three times a day every day. Even after I had given them the IP's name and contact telephone number. Gosh! They were just awful.

Since filing for bankruptcy and moving house AND changing telphone numbers I only received mail( we had the mail forwarded) from them. I mailed them a photocopy of the bankruptcy order and presto! They have finally stopped mailing me.



All I have left is my humour.

View my blog http://www.debtdummybankruwoman.blogs.iva.co.uk.

[Hels]

Thanks for the advice.

HSBC are my biggest creditor. I have a loan, credit card and overdraft with them so I'll just have to wait and see what they throw at me!

Thanks to the advice on this forum I quickly switched my current account to the Co-operative so at least my wages are now safe from the clutches of HSBC.