Hi
Can forum members let me know the reaction that they have had, if any, from their banks, credit card companies etc when they first approached them and stated that they are in finacial difficulty.
I am trying to find out if they are, indeed, being sympathetic to a debtors financial problems as stated in the banking code of conduct.
Thanks
This is something that has been on the top of my agenda as Chairman of the Debt Resolution Forum (DRF). You will be pleased to hear that following meetings that I have had (with and without colleagues from the DRF) with Northern Rock, HSBC and MBNA alot of progress has been made and criteria's have changed. Remember the Banks/Credit Card companies not only have to comply with the Banking Code/TCF but also now with the Unfair Trading Practices directive (which is now enshrined into UK law)in the way it responds to debtors in financial difficulties. It will be interested to see what response you get here from financial stretched/impaired debtors.
Last edited by David Mond on Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Regards, David Mond, Insolvency Practitioner for over 46 years. Personal Insolvency Practitioner of the year 2012, Personal Insolvency Practitioner of the year finalist 2013 & 2014 awarded by Insolvency & Rescue Magazine and 2015 finalist for Personal Insolvency Firm of the Year.
We approached hsbc our mortgage company to ask if we could have a payment break so we could attempt to get on top of our other finances - to say they were unhelpful would be an understatement! We were offered a payment break when we took out the mortgage but we didn't take it as we didn't need it, but on asking for one on this occaion we were told they 'don't do payment breaks'. The only option they gave us were to go into agreed arrears in the form of reduced payments. On contacting Next Directory to make a payment I told them I was unable to make the minimum payment but would make a token payment they did everything they could to get the minimum including asking me whether I could use a friend's card, which I thought was rude! In general i have found them very insentive and most are unhelpful, some are plain rude and snooty.
That's terrible asking you to use a friends card to pay!
And they will try anything to get the minimum payment out of you. Stick to your guns!
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
Our worst problem was the secured loan, Picture, they were very rude and unhelpful, even telling us to get rid our cars so we could carry on paying them[:(]
when starting our dmp the majority were useless and would not except. mbna were great (strange i know), however they have shown their true colours and although they have agreed reduced payments and i have paid them for 4 months they are now threatening court action. Picture however were great with us we missed a payment and they have just added it to the end of the term. as i said most have been very unsympathetic that is why we are now switching to an iva as our debt has increaesed by £10000 in 6 months in interest and late fees.( wish we did it months ago)
Our mortgage is with Mortgage Express and i approached them last week for a payment break, as hubby is self employed and there are cash flow issues, due to not much work!
I was (not so politely) told they do not offer payment holidays and if i missed a payment it would go straight on my credit file and after 2 months missed payments they go for litigation.
I was under the impression (maybe wrongly) that as they were part of bradford & bingley - now santander?? that they would be taking part in this.
I still had no choice but to make the half payment, but as i was spoke to so horribly that i almost rang back with hubby credit card details to make the other half payment.
I dont know what we will do if its not resolved by next month, seen as we are facing the threat of being made homeless - even though we are in neg equity too !!
In our DMP, most have been co-operative. MBNA are accepting about £3.50 a month, Egg have accepted our offer, Alliance and Leicester,, Halifax(Overdrafts and Credit Cards) have been very pleasant(although through blair oliver scott). Cahoot accepted too. GE Money were very unhelpful and passed on debt to Link, who have never ever been helpful. Link were phoning at all hours constantly, and were pressurising me to take another loan. Mint accepted, black Horse accepted.
The pain is Creation Finance(JJB card) who have accepted the payments at a very low rate of interest, however the Payment INsurance has been charged constantly since agreeing the DMP, yet the card is cancelled as was advised by Creation. How can an inactive cancelled card continue being charged this? JJB keep saying the insurance is seperate company, but the number they give us to try and sort it ends up with calling back JJB who seem to change every time we speak. Going round in circles.
Barclaycard are the most persistently rude company who keep rejecting offers and forever threaten legal proceedings yet its been this way since June last year!!
Skycard (Barclaycard): Told them i was doing an IVA 6 weeks ago and not a peep out of them since. 9/10.
Barclaycard: Passed to Mercers who seem to have difficulty in understanding what an IVA is (and i suspect most things in life). After several calls and stupid letters i've been left alone. 4/10.
Citi Financial: Pretty much the same as Skycard, and i owe then quite a bit. 7/10.
Halifax: Loans: Passed to Albion collections who are plain stupid. Bank account: Great, i pay £1 per month to stop calls and letters (this by the way is a permanent deal!). Credit card: Pretty good too. Overall, 8/10.
Renault Finance: Not even sent one letter asking for money. Can't rate them as never spoken to them! They must be planning something......??
GE Capital: Funny lot, 6/10.
Capital One: I get a call once every 14 days. £1 shuts them up each time. I've just been sent a default notice telling me i have 28 days to pay or......they will send another default notice giving me more time. 7/10.
What really gets me though is the fact that (like most of you reading this) is that i am actually a very busy person with a lot on and whilst i may be poor managing money, i'm not at other things and so talking to some of these "collectors" is a real chore and takes a lot of time up as they simply don't understand anything you tell them (how many time do you have to repeat yourself..?). I know it's their job, but really - am i, or anyone else deliberately doing this? No. Try to help yourself and get life back on track and some companies want to keep kicking you.
Hi
Here is the first two paragraphs from the Banking Code of Conduct, dealing with financial difficulties
14.1 We will be sympathetic and positive when we consider any financial difficulties you may have. Our first step will be to try to contact you to discuss the matter.
14.2 If you find yourself in financial difficulties, you should let us know as soon as possible. We will do all we can to help you to overcome your difficulties. With your cooperation, we will develop a plan with you for dealing with your financial difficulties and we will tell you in writing what we have agreed.
HSBC didnt stop calling me once every 20 mins for two full days until I lodged a complaint.
HFC called a lot wanted payment, I paid they would call back, if I didnt pay they were aggressive. (threatend me with BR after I offered full and final, said they needed 75 per cent). They sent a BR stat and I agreed to let them make me BR, I'd had enough. Two months later they changed their minds and demanded I pay or a court judgement would be issued.
Moorcroft, didnt bother me on the phone kept on sending final notice letters, didnt answer any of my letters.
GE Money, a few calls but not as bad as HFC and HSBC they we quite nasty and smug.
Argos, no calls, letters and that was it.
I cannot remember the others, there were a few but not too much owed on them.
None were helpful, HSBC and HFC were the worst oh MBNA, terrible, called all the time, vile they were.
when my bank hsbc contacted me about my overdraft on sat morning at 8am they told me to get a part time job even though i already work 60hours a week if only i had the time!
Hi,
northern rock and cahoot were the most flexible and understanding- these are loans.
credit cards- bank of scot,lloyds,mbna,and barclaycard were all pretty ok. The main culprits were goldfish(now barclaycard)constantly phoned and demanded post dated debit payments,otherwise threatning action,not happened yet.Had some really nasty conversations; in the end after days of calls, told them i was beening haressed and i would report them. this stopped the calls for a few weeks.
Triton credit services on behalf of mint, very cold,unsympathetic demanded £400 per month topay off a £3000 debt, even when i explained situation -time off work due to disabled daughter and husband off work due to major surgery.
Tried to re negociate but in the end this is what has pushed us to apply for an Iva, as there is no way we could sustain this level of payment.
On reflection they have probably done us a favour as it made us look at our total debt. I ashamed to say we were using dla benefit to pay these people.
HSBC tried to get me to take out a managed loan to pay off their loan - and also suggested that we extend our mortgage (which we foolishly did) to pay them off (which we didn't).
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
My husband and I are currently going through an IVA and are waiting for the proposal to be put together. This has been going on for several months and out of all the creditors we owe, I honestly cannot say that any of them have been sensitive to our circumstances. We receive calls and letters from the same companies on a daily basis. MBNA inparticular has passed our debt over to a debt collection agency which continued to contact us even when MBNA sent a letter directly acknowledging that we were going through an IVA.
