Blog · Debt Camel

Making bankruptcy look more scary than it is

It's natural to feel worried about bankruptcy, but some websites set out to make it sound a lot worse than it is. Some of what they say is simply wrong. Other bits may be right but they leave out important facts, so the issue sounds more difficult than it is in practice. And it's common for problems associated with bankruptcy to be listed in detail, but very similar points … [Read more...]

Settling old debts – ask for the CCA agreement

A reader asked: I have a Debt Management Plan where I still owe 17k to 10 creditors. I have been paying for ten years at £150 a month, so it will end in about 8 years. Most of the debts have gone from my credit record but a few are marked as “on a DMP”. I want to pay off the debts and improve my credit rating. I have been offered about 7k by a relative, so I could offer all my DMP creditors … [Read more...]

Debts – why, how & when to ask for the CCA agreement

The Consumer Credit Act (CCA) gives you the right to be sent a copy of your credit agreement and a statement of your account for most loans, credit cards, catalogues, store cards and Hire Purchase agreements. CCA agreements are important! If a creditor can't find it then: you can't get a CCJ for the debt; and you may decide to stop paying the debt. But the right to ask for the CCA … [Read more...]

Barclays & Barclaycard send letters offering a refund

UPDATE Spring 2024 Barclays is sending people some “NOSIA” letters – because Barclays failed to send you a Notice of Sums In Arrears letter and because of that it is refunding interest after the date the letter should have been sent. The Response Form can be found here https://www.barclays.co.uk/help/remediation/orf/ – that is a genuine page. It says some people may need to send a picture of … [Read more...]

Complaining to the Financial Ombudsman – what happens

When you have a complaint about a loan, credit card, mortgage, pension or insurance and you can't get it settled with the company, send the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). FOS describes what happens: Your complaint will be investigated by one of our case handlers, who will try to understand what happened and if the business did anything wrong. Your case handler will let you … [Read more...]

Can a debt collector or a lender call you at work?

A reader asked: I work in a Finance Department and I am worried I will be called by a debt collector about a credit card. Can I say I don't want them to call me at work? This is a common worry. Whatever your job, you don't want your manager or your colleagues to know you have money problems. It could be a lender or a debt collector, it could be an overdue bill or a debt. Creditors should … [Read more...]

What happens after an IVA fails? What can you do?

Your IVA seemed like the perfect solution when it began, but now it may be failing. Will you be back to square one and have difficult creditors to deal with? Or could you even be made bankrupt? First, there may be ways to rescue your IVA An IVA failing may not be a disaster, for some people there are better options! That's what the rest of this article looks at. But don't assume nothing … [Read more...]

How the Wonga administrators will handle refunds – the Proposals

The Wonga Administrators sent a letter in late October to some of Wonga's creditors with their proposals to handle the administration. These include: background on the events before administration; how to decide the payday loan affordability complaints that have already been sent to Wonga; and how to encourage other customers to submit a complaint. These Proposals were agreed by a … [Read more...]

Dear Payday Lender CEO – should you start a redress program?

On October 15, the FCA sent a Dear CEO letter entitled Affordability of High Cost Short Term (HCST) loans to payday lenders. This letter tells the lenders to review their affordability assessments. There are some very clear points about what the FCA expects a payday lender to do if it is not making good affordability assessments now or hasn't done in the past. "Chains of loans" over an … [Read more...]

2018 – Ombudsman decides it can look at payday loans over 6 years old

The Financial Ombudsman (FOS) has published in September 2018 two Decisions involving payday loans over six years old: Mr H has complained about fifty-four payday loans Lender C lent to him between March 2010 and September 2014. Mrs W’s complaint is about nine short-term loans from Lender D between November 2009 and July 2012. In both cases FOS has decided that its rules do allow it to … [Read more...]

IP regulation – Insolvency Service find major problems

The Review of the monitoring and regulation of insolvency practitioners that was published by the Insolvency Service last week found evidence of many of the problems in Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVAs) that I and other free-sector debt advisers have been talking about for several years. Although it is often not specific about what has to be done, the report is clear that change has to … [Read more...]

Lessons to be learned from Wonga – 6 policy challenges

It's now a few weeks since Wonga went into administration. This seems like a good point to ask some difficult questions about the lessons from Wonga and what should be done to reduce consumer harm in future. Much of the media coverage has gone as follows: Wonga was the worst - then the FCA fined them and made them write off debts in 2014 and introduced good payday loan regulation in 2015. … [Read more...]

Adding Liability Orders to credit records – a bad idea!

County Court Judgments (CCJs) are added to people's credit records, so why shouldn't the same be done for Liability Orders (LOs) for council tax arrears? This is a really bad idea, involving major problems and costs for local authorities and magistrates courts. These would massively outweigh the potential benefits. Magistrates Court Liability Order processes are not comparable to County Court … [Read more...]

Identity theft – what you need to do

This article grew out of a reader's question. Mrs J, asked: Since February my husband has started to receive letters from WageDay Advance, Satsuma and QuickQuid saying that he has loans with them that need repaying. He doesn’t have any loans. We have sent Prove It letters to all three. We have now had letters saying that WageDay Advance and QuickQuid have passed the account to debt … [Read more...]

Mortgage repossession and your credit record

A reader, Mr D, asked: I had a mortgage shortfall from 2006 after my house was repossessed by Natwest. As a mortgage shortfall stays on file for 12 years, I decided to make a Full and Final settlement offer in January this year which they accepted and which has now been paid. Now with both Equifax and Experian, the account has disappeared, it doesn't appear in my open or closed accounts. … [Read more...]