How I halved my debt in 6 months. Successes Against MMF, Wageday Advance, 1MonthLoan, 247 Moneybox, Safety Net Credit, PayDay UK and Wonga...SO FAR

I began my 'Get Out Of Debt Free' journey in April 2017, just before the old website was sold. I have found numerous ways to reduce and remove debt legitimately and by doing so I have taken my overall debt total(including my partners and excluding student finance) from £16,000 down to £7422.

I have broken down the PayDayLoan/Short term lenders below and how I won against them. In addition to this I:

Water Applied to my water company for an arrears tariff. I had £3000 of arrears with them . Provided I pay £20 per month for 12 months my arrears will be cleared!

Energy Bill I applied via Charisgrants for my energy providers grant fund. I paid £60 per month for 3 months and my bill of £900 was cleared!

Council Tax Some Councils have a Council Tax Discretionary Fund. I have applied for my arrears to be cleared and sent my local councillor a copy of the letter who is now supporting my claim. Although I was initially rejected, I am appealing this as we believe it was a rushed decision by one person after taking so long to respond and not spoken and discussed at a board/meeting as these things should.

Debt Collection Agencies (3 Letters Process)

MMF - Cleared one debt of five as they could not locate a credit agreement. Have sent other documents for other accounts and now repeating the 3 Letters Process with the new letters to reiterate their claims of not needing/being able to provide certain documents are unfounded.

Irresponsible Lending Process
Safety Net Credit - The easiest to win as they agreed they had acted irresponsibly. All negative credit file information removed and a full refund of £394.00

247 Moneybox - 'Nilled' account of £300 and removed negative information from my credit file

Went to Adjudicators at Financial Ombudsman and complaints upheld in my favour
1 Month Loan - PAID July £105.50
PayDayUK - PAID September £70.00
Wonga - PAID September £140
Wage Day Advance - To Be Paid October 2017, my estimate £200
One creditor that cannot be named as it is currently with an Ombudsman and already awarded £50 as compensation for poor customer service by an adjudicator.
Another creditor of which I believe I have an incredibly strong case for irresponsible lending and extremely terrible treatment & customer service I estimate will be £1000 returned.

So a total of £987 back into my account since starting this process in April! That doesn't even take into account the written off debts and Debt Collection Agencies added charges prior to being called back by the original creditors. I did have to 'double whammy' at times, often tackling a creditor for Irresponsible Lending at the same time as requesting proof of claims from Debt Collection Agencies for the same debt so I have endless tables and spreadsheets on my computer that have kept me organised - I have also been doing the same for my husbands debts though have more to do with these as I needed to finalise as many of my accounts as I could before my head exploded!

It has been 100% worth it, it is crazy to think that Stepchange had me paying these companies for what would have pretty much been the rest of my life and it is a shame that there doesn't appear to be any debt advisors offering this kind of information so we really are the lucky ones!

I will update again when all outstanding accounts are closed and update on what progress has been done with my husbands accounts too. My prediction is that by April 2018 our combined debt will total around £2800 (my husbands CCJ) and we will NEVER go back! I have been lucky that I run a business part-time so could spend the time needed to do this but the only real drain on my time was the admin - the hard work has been done for us all ready with the letter templates and guidance!

I thank those who took it upon themselves to continue the forum here and encourage everyone to see the processes through and never take no for an answer!

Great! Well done !!!

well done

Excellent.

Great to hear,

Dont forget to tell your friends.

Just Made my Day.
Thanks for Posting.

Great news dianne1985, thanks for sharing .

BRILLIANT well done!

An alternative, if your debts are under £20k and you're not a home owner, is to apply for a Debt Relief Order.  You can do them yourself, they cost £90, all your debts are frozen for 12 months then written off.

There are pro's and con's to them that anyone would have to look into, but they are worth considering if you meet the criteria.

The main con being your credit record is screwed for a further 6 years from the date of the order, so if you're looking to repair your credit rating they may not be for you.

Tiggy wrote:An alternative, if your debts are under £20k and you're not a home owner, is to apply for a Debt Relief Order.  You can do them yourself, they cost £90, all your debts are frozen for 12 months then written off.

There are pro's and con's to them that anyone would have to look into, but they are worth considering if you meet the criteria.

The main con being your credit record is screwed for a further 6 years from the date of the order, so if you're looking to repair your credit rating they may not be for you.

A Poor mans version of
Decaring Bankruptcy ?

Society of the Spectacle wrote:

Tiggy wrote:An alternative, if your debts are under £20k and you're not a home owner, is to apply for a Debt Relief Order.  You can do them yourself, they cost £90, all your debts are frozen for 12 months then written off.

There are pro's and con's to them that anyone would have to look into, but they are worth considering if you meet the criteria.

The main con being your credit record is screwed for a further 6 years from the date of the order, so if you're looking to repair your credit rating they may not be for you.

A Poor mans version of
Decaring Bankruptcy ?

Basically, yes, but without the current £750 (?) bankruptcy fee.
Will suit some but not others. Needs to be throughly researched by anyone thinking of it to make sure it is throughly understood and it suits their circumstances.

Awesome story, keep it up and keep us updated!

I had already come close to a DRO but didn't want to commit to a further terrible 6 years credit file and possibly beyond - it may become something that goes against people 20 years down the line and given the same stigma as bankruptcy. This way has meant that with each refunded payment - my credit file has improved each time as they remove defaults and mark accounts as settled! I've also had money IN my pocket. I would never suggest anyone go for a DRO without trying out 3 letters/Irresponsible Lending approaches first and seeing what utility companies can do to help reduce the debts beyond 'payment plans'!

Hi dianne1985

A DRO is the last thing you should do ,

Agreed!

Just an update from me. I'm not quite debt free yet as some old debts that were not quite statute barred cropped up so I am fending them off but to date, since my original £16k debt, my debts sits under 5k but I know this will reduce further with this new round of claims! I am currently awaiting my payment from a company who tried to fight it all the way but still lost at F.O. It's crazy that at one point around 10 years ago in my 20s I had 22k debt and thought I was screwed for life!

I now find that I speak to people, particularly family members and am in a position to help them with the knowledge I have. It saddens me to think how many people would just enter bankruptcy or a DRO due to not knowing about the 3 Letters process/ Irresponsible Lending/ Energy Grants and schemes etc.

I have helped one family member with a ridiculous overdraft and another we are in the process of an Irresponsible Lending claim against a catalogue, a third is coming to me next week for help with a large water bill!

My other half jokes that I should do this for a living!

Good to hear from you again & well done.
With your first hand experiencies it would be good if you could spare more time here to assist others.

Yep well done and thank you for continuing to share your successes with us!

definatly as per DI, mrblue

(855)

Cabot tried to chase me for an old banking debt that had dropped off my credit file and I believed to be Statute Barred. A simple letter later and they have confirmed the debt is Statute Barred and further recovery action will be taken.

:tick: Cabot/Bank

Almost 2 years on from my original post, today my household alleged debt sits at £4992.

£444 - will become Statute Barred 9th November 2019
£1200 - I expect will be cleared by energy fund awards
£400 - I expect will be wiped due to a Financial Ombudsman 'Irresponsible Lending' case.
£215 - I expect will be wiped due to a Debt Purchaser being unable to prove they have rights to claim this debt (will be defended in court if necessary)
£370 - As above.
£449 - As above.
=3078

The remaining debt is legitimate and manageable. To think I started at £16000+!!!

WOW £16000+!!! so far well done, hope it gets to £0 very soon.

Thank you, not sharing for praise but rather to show the different methods available and what is possible!!

Well done for being so extremely well organised too! Not easy with so many on your hands BUT it is a key requirement if one aims to be successful, as you clearly are

Congratulations, really nice to hear another success story.