As promised we have moved, our new Blog toMoney Saving Expert . Talk Money Blog was born to talk about Money. This means that I will be talking about all the different aspects of personal finance and if there is money to be claimed then I will discuss it and I will tell you how to go about claiming what is due to you. I will not limit my discussions to “Do it Yourself ” if I feel that you need to get an expert to act on your behalf to claim then I will tell you. W e will talk about the credit crunch, mortgages, remortgages and much more and I want to encourage all of my readers to ask questions and to add your views and if you know about a topic that we could all benefit from then please drop me a line and I will investigate it and report back.  See you on the other side at Money Saving Expert

I think it is important that I inform my readership about the views I have expressed in my blog reporting. The views expressed here are my own views, opinions and understanding of the circumstance and are not directed at any other companies around. Every-one of my readers should carry out their own research into each company offering to assist them. It is my intention to provide my loyal readership and clients with the correct information so that they may make the correct decisions about who they choose to process their credit card, mortgage and loan claims.

Before we started assisting our clients with proving their cases for compensation claims, I had researched the current market place and I had looked at all the different companies around. My personal criteria for choosing to work with the two companies that we now use was that there was no back-end fees to be charged to our clients and no completion fees at the end of the process when the clients were awarded any compensation. This was the basis for selecting these companies we now support and work with.

Consider this for a moment, how will a client pay a back end fee, if their credit card provider has just written off their credit card debt and cancelled their Agreement. After all the agreement is proved to be invalid and then the client discovers that the credit card company will not or might not pay any compensation to them for one reason or another. It’s all a bit messy for me, but remember these are my thoughts and you must consider your own circumstances.

There are news articles around today that have been written and published. A recent publication was from “Mortgage Strategy” an industry based magazine who released an article about credit card, mortgage and loan claims. I understand that there are companies around who do not appreciate my opinions’ but we live in a democratic society, where free speech is allowed and wars have been fought for the right to free speech. So please remember when reading my blog that these opinions and views are those of my own and that you should search out the fairest proposition for your finances.

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Just click on the comments button, highlighted in red or blue at the bottom of this blog.

I did say that you would hear it first here on my Blog as the successes rolled off the Solicitors desks.

Mr. R had a credit card debt of £16,342.86; he has just received his monthly credit card statement showing a zero balance. Mr. R called his credit card provider to check that this was correct and they confirmed the balance as ZERO. Our solicitors have now started a dialogue with his credit card company for further compensation. 

This is now our third success in the last two weeks and thousands more are expected to follow.

The reason for not naming the credit card company providers is that I don’t want my readers to start pre-judging that their cards will go through and then be disappointed when it is turned down. We still see client who have their credit cards turned down for various reasons. Recently we had a client with five cards turned down when our solicitors checked everything out.

A question I am often asked is why we don’t publish people’s full name when we provide results saying Mr. R had his credit card debt wiped out. Firstly, our clients are protected by Data Protection and not everybody wants their name splashed all over the internet.

I recently googled someone only to find that they appeared as a testimonial for a car dealer in Lancashire and they were horrified at the thought of this as they had given permission for showroom use but did not realise it would be published worldwide. Our Clients can expected total privacy when dealing with us.

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Just click on the comments button, highlighted in red or blue at the bottom of this blog.

Obtaining credit has never been easier than over the last 20 years. For many people finance has been literally thrown at them. Credit has been given without proper in-depth income checks for affordability being carried out by the lenders and providers. The size of personal debts has grown in the United Kingdom and many people are now seriously struggling with debts that are bigger than most people can afford to pay back in their life time.

For many people debt seems to just happen. One day they have a small debt that they can control. Then out of the blue circumstances change suddenly – or that’s how it seems to most people caught up in debt. Often the causes of personal debts are illness, divorce, gambling, drinking or bad financial planning. The debt that was once controllable now spirals out of control. The stress and the strain of having to control and pay off the debt are too much for most people to cope with and they slide further into debt.

Most people today have a reasonable education but unfortunately our schooling system over the decades has not provided people with enough of the fundamentals of how to handle, manage and control their own personal finances. This lack of ability to control and manage finances along with the constant barrage of marketing that we are all subjected to daily; has created a material-based society that wants everything today – we will pay for it tomorrow. Years ago when times were more challenging, people would have saved the money before buying anything.

Some people argue with their partners, they may split up or get divorced and the debt then spirals completely out of control, leaving families completely wrecked. Other people bury their heads in the sand. It is not uncommon to leave a partner who is unable to control and manage the debt to look after it while they ignore the situation. When finally they accept the situation their debt has spiralled out of control.

So what solutions are available for you if you are in debt or debt that is getting out of control? The first thing you need to do is to acknowledge the situation.  Then you need to consider what help is available and what can you do to repay the debt.  The best place to do research is on the internet. Do not make any quick decisions until you have considered all the angles and options available to you and please take advice from a professional.

If you are a homeowner the easiest way to remedy the situation is to use the equity within the property to remortgage your property and consolidate your debt.  This is not always the best decision as you will be spreading the debt and the risk over a longer period and you can lose your home if you do not keep up your mortgage payments. The initial benefit is the reduced monthly payment but you will pay more money over the term of the mortgage.

Your first port of call should be the Citizens Advice Bureau. Here they will offer you free advice, help and assistance but remember this organisation is generally staffed with volunteers, who have had some training.  You should also contact one of the charity funded debt help organisations. They have no axe to grind as they are non-profit-making organisations and they are only interested in helping you.

CCCS or Consumer Credit Counselling Service is one such charity dedicated to providing confidential, free counselling and money management assistance to financially distressed families and individuals. This charity does not charge any fees and they are very helpful, knowledgeable and able to assist you in finding a solution to your debts. Do your own research and you will find many other organisations and internet forums where the public go to talk about their experiences, their problems and solutions.  You will often find good advice here from people in the same situation.

Most debt organisations and counselling services will assess your situation and ask you to complete a full financial review to see what you can afford or perhaps cannot afford. These organisations will generally not charge you.  They are a free service to help you. The general options or schemes available to help you sort out your debt are Debt Management, Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) or for extreme situations Bankruptcy.

Within the Industry, Debt Management is also called an Informal Voluntary Arrangement (not to be confused with an Individual Voluntary Arrangement).  There are companies who will gladly take your debts and turn them into one affordable monthly payment for a monthly fee and in some cases an upfront fee as well. Debt Management arrangements are an informal agreement with your lenders and is not a court approved agreement.  Therefore it can be changed whenever required. This means that you will be paying off your debt forever, with no real end date in sight.

The second choice you have is an IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement.  Here you have a formal arrangement that is done by a qualified IVA practitioner. Under an IVA the term over which the debt is to be paid is agreed by the practitioner and your creditors. This is an official agreement unlike a Debt Management scheme.

With a Debt Management scheme and an IVA you keep your home as long as you continue to pay your mortgage and the agreed monthly payment towards paying off your debt. With these agreements the interest is generally suspended. Both of these schemes protect your home.

Each type of scheme has good and bad points. For example a Debt Management has not been done through the court and your lenders are “bullied” into taking the monthly payments. The Debt Management companies know that your creditors cannot take you to court as long as you are making an attempt to pay something each month.  N.B. this does not apply to mortgages, secured loans, hire purchase and leases.

Recent news is that creditors are not readily agreeing to Individual Voluntary Arrangements, and would rather see people go bankrupt. Possibly the reason for this is that the creditor stands to lose up to 75% of the debt and the clients pay back the difference with no interest being charged.  Then, after 5 years, clients will walk away with their credit files purged. If the client had gone bankrupt they would be scarred for life – or at least a further 6 years after the bankruptcy period has finished.

Well now there is a fourth option (which is not a Debt Management Solution nor an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) nor a Bankruptcy Scheme). There is a rapidly growing, yet relatively unknown key to unlocking credit card debit.  There are companies in the United Kingdom that have found that Credit Card Agreements and their Terms and Conditions are flawed and therefore invalid and unenforceable,

It is also possible to legally detach yourself from some mortgages, loans and finance agreements.  It is estimated that approximately 20 million finance agreements may be flawed and unenforceable.  Some lenders have set aside vast amounts of money to pay possible compensation claims that may arise. This fourth alternative solution is capable of wiping out your credit card debts legally and your mortgages, loans and finance agreements. To find out more information go to: www.finance-claims-checker.com    

When I first heard that figure being mentioned it sounded outrageous, unbelievable that the finance industry could leave themselves open to court action on such a large scale. My source to coin a phrase ‘worked on the inside’ and had read a document that made these allegations. Then people in the know started to talk about finance companies putting money to one side to pay off the claims, billions of pounds.

We all watched for the past few years as the claims for bank charges happened, the banks were not willing to go to court for fear that they would lose a court case and then the flood gates would have opened. They were able to control the situation by paying out claims and saying that it was a good will gesture.  It’s happened The Office of Fair Trading took the banks to court last year; we all wait with baited breath as the courts decide.

So the moral of todays blog is where there is smoke there is a fire. Over the last five years various people have been going to court and proving their finance agreements and the Terms & Conditions to be invalid and unenforceable. Follow this link for the story http://youtube.com/watch?v=iDsEzSkk1sk

If you would like to contact us at Finance Claims Checker then please go to the Blogroll on the left handside of this page and click on Finance Claim Checker and complete the Online form and we will call you back. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Just click on the comments button, highlighted in red or blue at the bottom of this blog.

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It’s great to see that members of the public are taking part in my blog.  Some very interesting questions being asked. Do keep them coming and I will do my best to answer them. It seems that some people that we have spoken to are amazed that they can make a claim against their credit card and loan companies for compensation when they really did not know there was even a problem or a claim. It great to now have the choice!

The situation now is due to the finance providers not having checked the validity of their finance agreements, along with their respective terms and conditions to see that they would stand up under legal challenge in court and be 100% legal.

You can claim compensation back on your Credit Cards, Loans (both secured and un-secured loans) and your Mortgage, in fact you can claim back compensation on most finance agreement (private or business) that started before April 2007 in the United Kingdom. It is estimated that there could possibly be 20 million flawed Finance Agreements in circulation and there are finance providers who have set aside billions of pounds to settle these claims.

The Solicitors used to defend our clients cases will not get involved in any litigation case for claiming compensation for an invalid, unenforceable or flawed contract unless they believe they can win that case. Our solicitors only get paid on cases that they win. If they don’t win then they don’t get paid, so they will not be taking on cases that have a slim chance of success. Your thoughts and comments are welcome. Just click on the comments button, highlighted in red or blue at the bottom of this blog.

Just click on the comments button, highlighted in red or blue at the bottom of this blog.