Debt Clear Solutions Information Pack

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1 Debt Clear Solutions Information Pack In these challenging and uncertain economic times, Debt Clear Solutions has recognised the growing need for a complete debt solution package for our clients one that is realistic, genuine and achievable. Every day people contact us who for too long have been throwing good money after bad on mounting debts and borrowing more and more credit, just to keep afloat. In addition to this, they may have also been overcharged for Mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance policies, only to find these policies are worthless should they need to make a claim. Now, more than any other time, thousands are struggling to meet their ongoing financial commitments. Aside from the stress caused by this ongoing pressure, this can result in the repossession of your home. So it is vital that you receive professional advice and assistance to ensure you are aware of your rights, what you are entitled to, and to make sure any financial difficulties you are experiencing are not left to spiral out of control. Unfortunately the debt industry is awash with poor or inaccurate advice and incompetence, often resulting in individuals merely swapping one debt for another. The Citizens Advice Bureau recently confirmed that the number of people contacting them for assistance has now risen to over 20% on previous years. What was also reported is a significant number had no idea as to their rights or were unclear as to how to go about effectively resolving their issues. At Debt Clear Solutions, we quickly assess the true picture of your current financial circumstances, and if needed, put in place a financial strategy to enable you to regain control over any unmanageable or unfair debt, negotiate with all your creditors on your behalf, and ensure you are paid any money you are owed. We achieve this by implementing a three-step process to ensure you receive the maximum benefit from our services as follows: 1. We Reclaim Money You May Be Owed By Your Lender. 2. We Identify And Challenge Debts You Do Not Have To Repay. 3. We Negotiate a Reduction On The Debts You Do Have To Repay. Our goal is to ensure you have a solution in place that accurately reflects your financial situation and your legal rights as a consumer. By choosing to use our professional service you can rest assured that every step is taken to maximise a successful resolution of any valid claim / debt reduction program.

2 Contents Page Why You May Be Owed Money 3 Why Your Debts May Not Need To Be Repaid 4 Reducing Debts That Must Be Repaid 5 Debt Management: Pros and Cons 6 Why Choose Debt Clear Solutions? 7

3 Why You May Be Owed Money Were you sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) with your loan or credit card? If you have PPI on your credit card, loan or mortgage, you may have been mis-sold. If so, you could have a claim for compensation for the refund of the premiums paid, plus interest. This applies to current loans AND loans you have already paid back. Any compensation claim would be in addition to any claim against your Lender on any credit card or loan agreement that may be unenforceable, due to breaches of the prescribed terms of the original contract. Extract from a letter sent by a High St Bank regarding the successful claim of our client, Mr Hammersley: I have now completed my investigation into the issues you raised on behalf of Mr Hammersley about his Personal Loan Protection Plan on this occasion I am prepared to settle your complaint. I propose to offer Mr Hammersley the amount of 2,491,78. This figure will effectively return the protection premiums Mr Hammersley paid (including interest). How can you tell if you ve been mis-sold PPI? Sellers of PPI, mainly loan and credit card companies, are legally obliged to tell you about the policy s terms and conditions and various exclusions when you buy it. You may have been mis-sold, and so entitled to compensation, if your circumstances match one or more of the following: Past medical problems? You weren t informed the policy could be affected by pre-existing medical problems. You were never asked about your medical history. Self-employed, unemployed, redundant or retired? If you didn t need unemployment cover and mentioned this when you took out the policy. If you weren t asked about your employment status. Sold a single premium loan policy? A single premium policy is where the total cost of PPI is added at the start of the agreement to be repaid over the term of the loan. In many cases a monthly insurance policy may have been cheaper for the same cover. Were you offered this alternative? Given full details of the insurance? Being falsely informed that the insurance was compulsory. Not having knowingly purchased PPI. Not being told about the full terms of the insurance. What can you do next? If you suspect you may have been mis-sold PPI, or even if you are not sure of you have PPI, contact us today, and we will send you an application pack.

4 Why Your Debt May Not Need To Be Repaid In 1974, Parliament enacted the Consumer Credit Act (the Act ). The Act was designed to protect the public from unscrupulous Lenders. It laid down requirements that had to be complied with for a credit card or credit loan agreement ( Credit Agreements ) to be enforceable. The relevant part of the Act covers agreements for credit cards and loans with a current outstanding balance of less than 25,000. The Act was drawn up on the basis that Lenders who did not comply with The 1974 Act could not enforce repayment of the loan in a court of law. Although it was never intended to catch out the large blue chip banks and credit card companies, it has become apparent that many Lenders may have inadvertently fallen foul of the requirements and so some of their credit agreements are unenforceable; this means they cannot force the borrower to pay the loan back. The 1974 Act provides that an agreement must contain certain prescribed terms. If an agreement lacks the prescribed terms, it is unenforceable, unless the Lender applies to court for an enforcement order. There are certain circumstances in which the court does not have power or jurisdiction to enforce the agreement, so the agreement remains unenforceable and the Lender is unable to recover any money, in legal proceedings, from the borrower. This only relates to credit agreements signed before 6 April For agreements made on, or after, 6 April 2007 the court now has discretion under the Consumer Credit Act 2006 to enforce an agreement which does not comply with the 1974 Act s requirements. In exercising its discretion, the court must balance the prejudice that would be suffered by the borrower if the court decided to enforce the agreement, against the prejudice that would be suffered by the Lender if the court decided not to enforce the agreement. You will probably have seen advertised, both on the Internet and in the newspapers, a number of companies claiming to be able to eliminate your debts and claim compensation on your behalf. Some companies are claiming that over 80% of agreements are unenforceable, and or that they can guarantee to clear your debt. Some of these companies will be charging various prices in order to get you out of your debt and they may also charge a percentage of any savings that you make. They may also claim that they will subsequently claim compensation for you. This is simply not the case. What is clear is that certain agreements are unenforceable in certain circumstances, but it is wrong to assume that a high percentage of credit agreements are unenforceable. That is why it is so important to employ the services of a regulated company, such as Debt Clear Solutions, who have a respected firm of solicitors based in the City of London, highly experienced in Consumer Credit Law and commercial litigation. Should our solicitors assess you meet the criteria and deem you have a valid case, they will act on your behalf on a No Win No Fee basis. To find out if you have an unenforceable credit agreement, contact us today, and we will send you an application pack.

5 Reducing Debts That Have To Be Repaid Most people who contact our company genuinely wish to honour their debts to creditors, but often circumstances beyond their control prevent them for doing so in a way that is satisfactory to their lenders. If no agreement is reached, eventually, internal or outside Debt Collection Agencies are instructed by the lender to recover the debt, which inevitably creates even more stress for the already worried debtor. One solution to this problem may be what is commonly known as a Debt Management Plan, which traditionally seeks to enable the debtor to make reduced payments to their creditor/s whilst negotiating a freeze in interest, which over a period of time, sometimes several years, should enable the debt to be repaid in full. Traditional Debt Management Plans This is an informal arrangement and as such the debtor is entirely in the hands of the lender, as to whether or not (a) reduced payments will be accepted, and (b) the interest will be frozen to enable the debt to be cleared. Unfortunately what happens in practice is that payment arrangements are often broken, and some lenders will not freeze the interest; alternatively, the lender may agree to freeze the interest only to reinstate it in the future, making such a plan a total waste of time. Several organisations offer FREE Debt Management Plans, but as these third parties are virtually all funded by creditors, they can never be said to be impartial. These organisations have little, if any, interest, or the resources, to monitor these plans going forward, whereas fee paying Debt Management Companies are more acceptable to some lenders, as they have a vested interest in making sure the client maintains the agreed payment plan, because failure to do so will result in the company not receiving their ongoing commission for collecting and administrating the monthly payments. Nearly every Debt Management Company will only deal with debts on credit cards or loans. What happens if an individual is also in arrears on their mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities, mobile phone, or there s an impending court case? The list of creditors can be lengthy, but the debtor will still have to deal with these additional creditors themselves. An Alternative Way to Reduce Debt 1) Debt Clear Solutions offers a DEBT REDUCTION PROGRAM that differs from traditional debt management companies. After assessing our client s true financial situation, we put a strategy in place whereby we secure an initial reduction in monthly payments to our client s UNSECURED creditors. 2) We then facilitate ways for our client to then save money, resulting in a FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT offered to the creditors, which will close the debt in as short a time scale as possible. We endeavour to reduce the outstanding balance by 30-40%. 3) We also support individuals in respect of ALL their creditors making us unique within the debt industry. We achieve our results by a number of methods which involve working very closely with clients, and assisting them in utilising their Disposable Income in such a way as to enable them to achieve the maximum benefit in as short a time as possible.

6 Debt Management - Pros and Cons Firstly, you need to establish whether a Debt Management Plan (D.M.P) is suitable to your current financial situation. The following checklist may help you decide: 1. An advisor has looked at all other options and honestly appraised your financial situation, and believes that a D.M.P will benefit you as the best solution. 2. Any monthly Disposable Income figure to be offered needs to be based on honest and accurate figures, so enabling you to comfortably afford the agreed repayments. 3. The company involved has a high degree of success of freezing interest in the majority of cases. 4. All fees are disclosed upfront, and there is a clear understanding of exactly what debts are to be included in the plan. 5. An explanation of how the company is funded is available - in other words, is it supported by creditors. 6. Establish whether the company will send you regular updates on what is happening with creditors, and their progress with a view to offering a Full and Final Settlements, where possible. 7. Try and establish how long the plan is likely to run for, as virtually every Creditor will want to review any arrangements after 6 months from the start of the plan, and will be reluctant to look much further than that time period. Why Debt Clear Solutions Offers a Unique Service We assess all areas of your Income and Expenditure and examine areas in which we can save you money prior to advising any course of action. We are 100% transparent: there are no hidden charges, and we are not funded by your creditors. Our debt management experts offers a unique and unparalleled service within the Debt Industry to reduce your monthly repayments AND any outstanding balances you are required to pay back. Should you feel that a Debt Reduction Program is appropriate to your needs, we will work closely with you to formulate a financial strategy that will enable you to be DEBT FREE as soon as possible.

7 Why Choose Debt Clear Solutions? While there are many companies claiming to eradicate your credit card and loan debt, claim back compensation, or help with debt management, it is important to take the following into consideration: 1. Debt Clear Solutions is a bona fide claims management company regulated by the Ministry of Justice in respect of regulated claims management activities: (Authorisation No: CRM15623) and licensed under the Data Protection Act. 2. Our service consists of a PROVEN LEGAL PROCESS. We have an exclusive partnership with our City of London based SOLICITORS who are bound by a strict code of conduct and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. 3. Unlike other claims management companies, we assess your Credit Agreement AND reclaim any compensation from a Mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance policy for a one off fee of just As the current market price for just auditing a Credit Agreement alone is between per claim, we pride ourselves on offering genuine value for money. 4. We operate a comprehensive in-house appraisal of each and every case to formulate the best possible solution to any financial issue our clients may have. 5. Each client s Credit File, regardless of which bank or lender it is with, has to be evaluated on its own merits. Consequently, each case file is assessed individually before proceeding to the legal stage. 6. Debt Clear Solutions operate an ETHICAL client care policy: E. Endeavor to always put your interests first. T. Transparency with no hidden fees or agenda. H. Honestly implementing the right solution to suit your needs, not ours. I. Integrity by working on your behalf to the highest professional standard. C. Caring whereby we put your needs before personal gain. A. Approachable and available for advice. L. Listen to your needs and concerns to ensure we find the appropriate solution. So why not find out TODAY how we may be able to help you: Save Money Reduce your Debts Claim Back any Compensation that is Rightfully Yours. CALL US NOW ON and speak directly with one of our Claims Specialists. It Pays To Claim