Page 1 of Oh dear!!!!!

I think I could do with some advise......... Today I recieved a letter from a debt collection agency telling me they have been instructed by my bank (HSBC) to collect some money I owe them, unfortunately I don`t have much cash as I`m unemployed and not signing on right now!

I did call them earlier but it was engaged, so I`m a bit worried as I don`t know how I`m gonna pay back the `£14,000` I owe them!!!!!!!!!

If they come to start taking stuff from the house, can they take anything or is it only stuff that belongs to me?

This item was edited on Saturday, 15th May 2004, 16:39

Don`t know too much about the legal side of things but i would shift all my stuff like tv dvd hi-fi microwave out, take them round to your mums or brothers or friends house if they`ll let you, the baliffs will take other stuff instead, but i think they will come back another day.

oh, forgot to say if you have a car on your drive or outside park it far away and hide the keys.

This item was edited on Saturday, 15th May 2004, 17:14

The problem is.... this is my parents house (they now live in Spain) and I share the place with my brother, so everything here is a mixture of mine, my parents and my brothers things! I was told they could only take items that belonged to me.... but now I`m not too sure!

I really don`t care if they take my stuff (my car`s not worth much and I don`t own much valuable stuff) but I think my parents might find out about my debt if they lose all their belongings! :)

This item was edited on Saturday, 15th May 2004, 17:21

Spooky

The only advice I can give you would be to contact your local Citizens Advice A.S.A.P. At the very least they will inform you what can be legally be removed by the agents of HSBC.
Furthermore they may be able to come to some arrangement with HSBC that may satisfy their short term demands and allow you to pay off the debt at an agreed rate. The CAB may also be able to reach an agreement whereby should you regain full time employment HSBC would retain the right to increase the rate of repayment.

Not great advice Spooky but think about it anyway.

Best o` luck

Choagy :)

Double check your original loan paperwork to see if you took out any insurance as well. Most of them cover involuntary unemployment. If this is the case and you originally loverlooked it then you may be ok. Also agree with Choagy - get down to your CAB ASAP and they will help you come to some form of arrangemnt with HSBC.

Hope it works out ok for you.

Neil
__________________________________
"When my people were writing philosophy, your people were still swinging from trees..."

go to the citizen`s advice, they will give you some phone number`s for debt managment (not a loan, VERY important) once the ball is rolling you will be assesed (sp) and means tested, a fair amount will then be allocated to the debt each month/week and as long as you STICK TO THE AGREEMENT they can`t touch you or you`re stuff, believe me i`ve been in you`re shoes (and still am) but ignoring it will make it much worse and the stress will grind you down. once you start dealing with it you will feel much better :)

hope this helps.

from now on NOTHING in that house belongs to you. Its all your brothers & parents. That way the Bailiffs cant touch a thing.

I actually had payment protection and did apply to use it.... but they turned me down!!!! I think it`s because I didn`t send them my P45 (they asked for it), which I don`t have as I was never given one when I was made redundant!

Spooky definitely call HSBC and see if you can come to some form of agreement with them. I had a debt of over a grand with Natwest and about 2 grand with Barclays and since I finished uni I couldn`t find a job and when they started sending me letters about recalling the debt etc I called them and they put me through to their finance dept and I started off paying a stupidly small amount per week and after say 3 months (when we agreed) they reviewed my payments and also to see if my situation had changed and all in all I cleared both debts within 5 months because I got a job and also they let me wipe off £500 because I had repaid the debt early!

Also do as others said and go to CAB. Don`t let this get you down and whatever you don`t ignore them. The banks would rather receive some money than none at all from you and don't be forced into paying what they want (when I first had to come to an agreement they wanted me to pay £50 a week and being unemployed and not signing on I just didn't have the money so I argued it down to £10 per week).

Good luck! :)

I`m definately not letting this get me down.... my friends think i`m weird because I always seem so happy when I should apparently be misirable and depressed because of this!!!!

I had a phone call from the debt collection people today, and they were really nice, they said I should call Norwich Union to see about trying to claim again on the Payment Protection (they even offered to call them for me!) - which I did and have been given a second chance to send the required documents to them (I now have a P45 but it`s one with the Job Centres details on it, not my old company)

:D