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Topic starter
12/09/2016 11:41 am
Hi All,
It has been a long time since I was on here and appreciated all help previously.
Unfortunately my partner has recently had to leave his job as the hours were no longer suitable as we no longer have childcare.
He is currently looking for work and has a casual contract with no guaranteed hours to cover holiday and sickness with his employer at weekends which I do not work.
We are in the process of applying for tax credits as I think we would qualify for it.
However in the interim we are unable to meet the minimum payments for our debts (total £18k, it's amazing how it creeps up on you. Last year my partner cut his hours down due to child care and we have never really recovered and all the debt is in my name).
I have started the process of writing to all creditors and offering a minimum payment I can afford with a detailed breakdown of expenditure and other debts and asked for interest and payments to be frozen. I hope to deal with creditors direct as if we are entitled to Tax Credits and when my partner gets a permanent weekend job we would be able to afford the repayments.
Anyway my question is, one of my credit cards is with HSBC and my current account is with First Direct. Do I need to open another basic account for my wages to go into? I know FD are owned by HSBC so technically can they take money from my current account or freeze it?
TIA
Rachel
12/09/2016 11:57 am
Hello blacklilly.
I'm very sorry to hear that you're suffering this disruption at the moment.
I do believe that HSBC and First Direct are covered under the same banking licence. This means that, potentially, you might be at risk of money from one account being offset against another. Whether you're actually at this risk will depend upon the smallprint of the agreements you've entered into of course.
One other thing to bear in mind might be that First Direct are believed to be quite picky (from a credit rating point of view) about who they offer accounts to. I've no idea whether this might influence their willingness to retain an account holder if their credit rating went into a decline after becoming a customer though.
Do you have any credit facilities via First Direct?
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds 
Topic starter
12/09/2016 12:26 pm
Thanks TDA, think I will be safe and get another basic bank account, just in case they decide to close it.
12/09/2016 10:17 pm
I think that's a wise decision blacklilly.
It's a little bit of work and inconvenience, but access to banking facilities is so fundamentally important that it's worth the effort.
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds
Topic starter
13/09/2016 9:01 am
I am trying to be more wise 🙂 Luckily I have caught the debt and not buried my head in the sand again before it has spiralled too out of control and my credit record is ok (atm). I have been approved for a co-operative bank account (with a couple of final checks) and am just waiting for the paperwork. Hopefully I will be able to agree informal decreased payments with the creditors in the interim and will start researching a DAS going forward. Realistically I could clear my debts in 8.8years with just my wage. I assume with a does that a portion of my monthly payment would be fee's for the DAS and then the rest goes to creditors?
13/09/2016 9:18 am
There's two ways to access DAS blacklily.
Firms (like Kevin's and David's) provide the service but do charge a fee. As you say this is taken from your contribution with the remainder going to your creditors.
You can also access DAS for free. Your local Citizens Advice, or perhaps a local authority money advice team, may well be able to do this for you.
Qualified Debt Adviser & Forum Administrator - Ask me anything about Trust Deeds
Topic starter
13/09/2016 9:55 am
Thanks TDA, I will keep that in mind and see how finances go over the next couple of months.
