who has lived a life of debt...

knip · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:23

Greebo said:
That's nothing due to early young excess, an affair, a failed business venture I had debts of £40,000 on top of my mortgage.

In another 18 months I will be debt free!

Yeah but at the time that amount was more than I earned in a year, I was on about 12-15k in the period i ran up the debts. I do have a car to show for it, but that was on HP at 0% so separate from the loan.

Rizo-UK · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:24

ShadowMan said:
....forgetting you have to pay it back one day.

Very true.

As some have said its better to learn now then mess up when im in my 30s/40s when i cant do much about it.

Going to leave it another year, then apply for a barclay card and see what happens as i need to build a credit rating back up.

Biohazard · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:26

Most people live a life of debt one way or another.

elmuzzy66. · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:29

I racked up a few £0000 at uni in od's. 3 acounts in 3 different banks. How the hell can banks give overdrafts to unemployed students so easily? This in early 00/01. Is it the same today?. I just left the country :cool:

Freefaller · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:29

Morba said:
Good work clearing £17k in that time period at a time of your life when spending money is easy!

Indeed. Top work OP well done mate.

Been there done that and just about to clear off my student loan this year then I'll be free!

ChrisD. · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:29

Rizo-UK said:
Going to leave it another year, then apply for a barclay card and see what happens as i need to build a credit rating back up.

Barcleycard can be very funny about who they accept. Capital One are good for building up history and they accept people with poor and little history, plus the limit will only be £200.

Steve2000 · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:32

I never had a chance to live a life of debt. I was about 35 when I got my first credit card.

Plus I have always been unbelievably tight. Never bought anything I never had the money for, except the mortgage of course which is long paid off now.

Rizo-UK · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:32

MilanoChris said:
Barcleycard can be very funny about who they accept. Capital One are good for building up history and they accept people with poor and little history, plus the limit will only be £200.

Thanks for the tip Chris

. As i said im going to wait a year to get some kind of history going again as its been dormant for 5 years.

Rizo-UK · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:33

elmuzzy66. said:
I racked up a few £0000 at uni in od's. 3 acounts in 3 different banks. How the hell can banks give overdrafts to unemployed students so easily? This in early 00/01. Is it the same today?. I just left the country

Mine was in 2004/2005 and again was very easy to get credit on anything :/

ChrisD. · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:33

Rizo-UK said:
Thanks for the tip Chris . As i said im going to wait a year to get some kind of history going again as its been dormant for 5 years.

Best thing mate. Be careful though with credit building credit cards, as the interest rates are normally shocking.

Rizo-UK · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:34

I see your only down the road from me too

loopylou · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:38

Just moved in with the Mother in Law for 6 months, by the end of that we should have paid of £11.5k of debt, and have about £2k in savings. If it all goes to plan.

Michaeljcox24 · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:45

A few years back I took out a contract with vodafone and the guy in the shop said I could have a bolt on that allowed me to cheaply call my g/f in America (long distance relationship) on a cheap rate.

Took the contract out, made some calls to the States, BANG, £1100 first bill.

Turns out the guy hadn't even put the bolt on, and had been sacked since I took it out.

Whilst disputing this, Vodafone put a default on my credit account, and since then, I haven't even been able to get credit with anyone, despite earning in excess of 25k in my job, I can't even get a mortgage, hp, loans, credit cards, etc. Even now, as the debt shows as 'settled', nobody will touch me.

They refuse to take it off, no matter what I say, and I think if I managed to track down the guy who sold me the contract, I would probably put him in hospital and do some time.

Biohazard · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:48

Take them to court!

Michaeljcox24 · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:53

I have spoken to consumer direct, citizens advice, the lot. Basically it boils down to the fact I have no proof that the sales rep said I could get cheap calls (despite me asking them why the **** I would run up over a grands worth of calls in a month.

This is how stupid it is, I even tried an application for Hitachi finance on the absolute minimum amount not long back (I think it was for a monitor), payments were £9 a month, which you could probably afford on the dole, lets me honest.

Still got refused. It's an absolute joke.

Fuzz · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:54

I'm a moth away from being completely clear of owing anyone anything and I shall be shouting it from the rooftops.

Bought my first Brand new car when I was 22 and it has been a downward spiral ever since.
Bearing in mind I'm now 37..
Will be glad to see the back of it next month if it all goes to plan.
I was £30,500 under..
Sorted my **** out, family member helped out too.
To say I've learnt a lot would be a bit of an understatement.
For the first time ever I actually have a life plan and am making roads in the direction I want to go in. I'm being a bit of a boring Scrooge but sod it, it's been a long time coming.

TFleming · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:54

elmuzzy66. said:
I racked up a few £0000 at uni in od's. 3 acounts in 3 different banks. How the hell can banks give overdrafts to unemployed students so easily? This in early 00/01. Is it the same today?. I just left the country

IIRC they totally revamped the system a few years back. You can only have one student account now and all the banks work together to ensure you can't get more than one.

ChrisD. · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:59

Michaeljcox24 said:
I have spoken to consumer direct, citizens advice, the lot. Basically it boils down to the fact I have no proof that the sales rep said I could get cheap calls (despite me asking them why the **** I would run up over a grands worth of calls in a month.

This is how stupid it is, I even tried an application for Hitachi finance on the absolute minimum amount not long back (I think it was for a monitor), payments were £9 a month, which you could probably afford on the dole, lets me honest.

Still got refused. It's an absolute joke.

Have you tried writing to Vodafone's CEO? If you send him an email, someone from the directors office will call you back.

[email protected]

Noxia · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:59

My loan is paid off this month, I then have to pay off 4k on credit card and I'm debt free.

PMKeates · 8 Feb 2011 at 21:01

MilanoChris said:
Have you tried writing to Vodafone's CEO? If you send him an email, someone from the directors office will call you back.

[email protected]

That's probably worth a shot. What I would do is make sure you highlight how the mistake made by the assistant they have since fired is causing you personal financial harm even today. You are distraught and unable to move forward with your life financially as a result. You just want acknowledgement of the problem and someone to look in to having the mark removed.

The sob story will be the best approach with this, as it's the sort of situation a lot of people feel they could see themselves in. That empathy potential is what senior Vodafone employees will spot, as empathy = public outrage if this was to get some media attention. Much easier to make it go away, especially when it costs them literally nothing to correct it.