Hi, I'm looking for some help with regards to a loan my wife and I took out in 2006.
a little background: My wife and I were sucked into a bit of a scam, we effectively bought into an idea for a business which we believed in, we threw everything and more at this. We used credit cards and saving to pay for everything to be set up, on the big day of the launch, nothing, not a penny came back. The details of the business are irrelevant, the fact was we had huge debts on credit cards we could not pay back. We were using one credit card to pay the others, if that makes sense.
That was early 2006, this could not carry on, all our cards were maxed, we had nothing but threats from lenders, overdraft was over £7000 we had loans for other things before this so we were in a right state. We had huge limits on our credit cards, god knows how they got up that high cos we never asked for that amount? Capital One £18,000 - Lloyds TSB CC £15,000 - RBS £10,000 to name just 3 I could go on.
So, with loans and credit cards we owed around £75, 000 yep you read right, over £70k! We were so desperate, we went to a company we now absolutely despise, First Plus. We asked them for £80,000 to get sorted and buy a much needed car and stuff in the house that had been neglected during all of this. First plus in their wisdom said "oh no, please take £85,000 and go on holiday" or whatever it was they said, well we were so desperate for money, we listened to them, took the loan, and the bloody PPI which was about £17,000 on top of the loan, we were shocked but as I said, we were worried about loosing our home and god knows what else. We felt we had no choice, with First Plus promising all the help in the world, we convinced ourselves with what they were saying that we could afford the repayments so we went ahead! They leant us almost £102,000 on a secured loan.
We live in a 4 bed det house with huge monthly outgoing, the bills for the house, phones, TV gas elec etc. alone come to around £700 without food etc.
We very soon found out we couldn't afford them, very soon we were using the very credit cards we borrowed to pay off to now pay this bloody loan.
my point is this; I was earning around £25,000 and my wife was earning around £10,500 at the time and we already had a mortgage of £134,000 which is nearly 4 times our salary. We have struggled on, missed payments all along, told them we can't afford it, we are in arrears now, although we are making the contractual payment, we just can't afford it. They ring us nearly every day with threats and the promise of debt collectors and now have told us our arrears have gone to such a company, we are in threads here!
Does this sound like irresponsible leaning on their part?
I would like to say this, I'm not as daft as I sound, we had the money and we used it to clear our debts, if this were to go to court or whatever the process is, we are not asking for the debt to be wrote off, just the interest. We have paid £60,000 to first plus and just £2,740 has come off the actual loan. Would a judge scrap the interest and take the amount we have paid off our balance to give us a fighting chance at this, but also, take it off our house?
I've just found out I am loosing my job in 5 weeks, we so want to keep our house so any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you you for taking the time to read my post, again, any help... Thanks.
a little background: My wife and I were sucked into a bit of a scam, we effectively bought into an idea for a business which we believed in, we threw everything and more at this. We used credit cards and saving to pay for everything to be set up, on the big day of the launch, nothing, not a penny came back. The details of the business are irrelevant, the fact was we had huge debts on credit cards we could not pay back. We were using one credit card to pay the others, if that makes sense.
That was early 2006, this could not carry on, all our cards were maxed, we had nothing but threats from lenders, overdraft was over £7000 we had loans for other things before this so we were in a right state. We had huge limits on our credit cards, god knows how they got up that high cos we never asked for that amount? Capital One £18,000 - Lloyds TSB CC £15,000 - RBS £10,000 to name just 3 I could go on.
So, with loans and credit cards we owed around £75, 000 yep you read right, over £70k! We were so desperate, we went to a company we now absolutely despise, First Plus. We asked them for £80,000 to get sorted and buy a much needed car and stuff in the house that had been neglected during all of this. First plus in their wisdom said "oh no, please take £85,000 and go on holiday" or whatever it was they said, well we were so desperate for money, we listened to them, took the loan, and the bloody PPI which was about £17,000 on top of the loan, we were shocked but as I said, we were worried about loosing our home and god knows what else. We felt we had no choice, with First Plus promising all the help in the world, we convinced ourselves with what they were saying that we could afford the repayments so we went ahead! They leant us almost £102,000 on a secured loan.
We live in a 4 bed det house with huge monthly outgoing, the bills for the house, phones, TV gas elec etc. alone come to around £700 without food etc.
We very soon found out we couldn't afford them, very soon we were using the very credit cards we borrowed to pay off to now pay this bloody loan.
my point is this; I was earning around £25,000 and my wife was earning around £10,500 at the time and we already had a mortgage of £134,000 which is nearly 4 times our salary. We have struggled on, missed payments all along, told them we can't afford it, we are in arrears now, although we are making the contractual payment, we just can't afford it. They ring us nearly every day with threats and the promise of debt collectors and now have told us our arrears have gone to such a company, we are in threads here!
Does this sound like irresponsible leaning on their part?
I would like to say this, I'm not as daft as I sound, we had the money and we used it to clear our debts, if this were to go to court or whatever the process is, we are not asking for the debt to be wrote off, just the interest. We have paid £60,000 to first plus and just £2,740 has come off the actual loan. Would a judge scrap the interest and take the amount we have paid off our balance to give us a fighting chance at this, but also, take it off our house?
I've just found out I am loosing my job in 5 weeks, we so want to keep our house so any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you you for taking the time to read my post, again, any help... Thanks.
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