debt and solicitors

Hi everyone.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice.


Lost my min wage job in late Jan. Over the following months I fell into a depression that I can’t seem to shake.

I have a term loan with BOI since 2009 and was paying back 270 month - its my only debt. Since losing work though I haven’t been able to pay anything as can just live on the 188 welfare. Before anyone says anything about stiking my head in the sand I knowI should have sorted something but just hoped or prayed that something would come along.

Been looking for work etc but no joy. I didn’t make any repayments since then and have been ignoring the letters. I know whats in them and don’t know what to do to answer them. I was away from home last week and came back Friday evening to find a letter from Fitzpatricks solicitors telling me I had to pay the balance of 13,000 within 7 days or they’d take me to court. I don’t have it and don’t know what to do. I haven’t slept all weekend thinking about it. The bank have also closed my account which I assume means they don’t want to deal with me.

I have looked for advice online and found stuff about court judgements etc and I couldn’t do that. I’d feel too ashamed to have to go to public court and discuss my situation. I live alone in a house I inherited from my parents but will probably lose that cos of all this. And as far as I can tell I wont be able to open another bank account because of it and so wont be able to get a job. I cant afford a solicitor and don’t think I can fight one.

(I did submit this @ 4:30 am this morning but it was deleted cos I had a bad word in it (a synonym for excrement). I hadn't checked it since.

what can i expect form solicitor when i call them

Hi Tommy

The first thing you need to do is chill ! It's not as bad as you think.

The second thing you need to do is write into the solicitors (maybe CC the bank too) and tell them you are in receipt of social welfare and are finding it difficult to make repayments. You can offer to pay a small amount of say €10 a week and see if they accept that. Alternatively you should make an appointment with MABS and they will work out what you can afford to pay and put a proposal to the bank/solicitors.

The bank just want you to engage with them. You are not the only one in this situation. If you ignore it then you are going to find yourself with a summons to deal with.

As stated this is not bad at all. I would write a letter explaining that you are out of work and requesting to try a plan. They will write back and try and force you to pay what they want. The main thing to remember is that you are in charge of what you pay and not them. The worst case scenario here is that they will get a charge on the property you are living in (and this is assuming it's in your name and they know that) for the debt so that if you ever sell they will collect the outstanding amount. However, by engaging you can avoid that. Firstly, do they know you have a property ? If not, dont tell them. Secondly, engage in writing only, if they ring or in very unusaul cases, call to your door tell them you will not talk and will only engage in writing. This solicitors letter is standard practice to try and get the reaction that you are now showing. Keep calm, engage and take charge. You will be fine.

If it was me I'd be checking out a DRN under [broken link removed].

tommyb14;

Am with most of the advice given;

Your biggest issue is FEAR and DREAD;
Go to MABS , get an appointment. Write NOW to BOI and enclose copy of your social welfare payment. Admit you panicked and ignored them but that at present you just can,t repay them.
Request they hold off until Mabs comes up with a plan or you get work.

Never forget they have to try to see have you any funds , if you have funds they rightly want some , but if you havn,t there is no point in chasing you.

Do NOT and I mean do NOT allow fear to rule you , please.

tommyb14
try not to worry one debt is not the end of the world, do contact mabs especially the castlebar one, they are wonderful and make things seem a lot easier, they will contact people on your behalf, they did it for us and they help with any you may have. As people say you cant get blood out of a stone, and if you are only getting social welfare, most companies do undertand, please try not to worry, after all its only money

Hi Tommy, I find it hard to believe that no bank will let you open an account with them just because you have an outstanding debt? Ok you might have trouble getting a credit card or an overdraft, but I don't see why a bank wouldn't let you open a normal current account with no overdraft facility? You should go into a bank and try before assuming you can't and therefore can't get a job because of this issue. Best of luck with the job hunting

Ulster Bank were the most understanding of people with no jobs etc.

All the other NAMA banks won't touch an unemployed person who looks for an account.