I’m sure there are plenty of drivers who are sinking in unmanageable debt. The problem is it’s such an emotive issue and the lack of responses seem to back that up. Most who have bad debts are either extremely embarrassed about it or they stick their head in the sand and hope it will go away. Neither will post here saying how bad it is. Nearly every post is from those who aren’t in debt or have a relatively small managed debt.
Tipper Tom:
i know it’s not my place to give advice or issue bollockings
exactly…so let me decide who I consider “worth listening to”
I owe nothing, although it dd take 2 years to get debt free after my marriage broke up.
Chas:
Genuine answer . . . several reasons which all boil down to something that most people can’t understand.You mention “reaping the rewards”. What rewards?
How do you define success?
This side of a huge pay packet, do you define success as a huge pay packet?
I never worked for £money, the money was only ever incidental to me.
The first inkling I had that something was wrong (I didn’t realise it at the time) was when I was prescribed beta blockers to control my heart rate. I’ve always been fit & healthy & in my mid 20’s I was almost at an athletes fitness level. Being prescribed beta blockers in my early 30’s was a big shock, what was wrong with me?
Another big moment was when I phoned home looking for some comfort after spending yet another few days away from home, my daughter answered the phone & she was delighted that ‘daddy’ had phoned home for her 8th birthday. This one event nearly destroyed me, but I managed to convince myself that my family were better off for me working hard & keeping all that £money rolling in.
This one was the big one, the one that kick started the whole process of winding it all back in.
I’d called a meeting in Nottingham to start at 9.00am prompt & I was stuck in bloody traffic. I have never been late for a meeting in my life, I hate lateness. I was renowned for vigorously chewing the heads off anyone who dared to turn up late, especially for one of my MY meetings.
I was sat in my 3 weeks old S class Merc’ in lane 1 & drumming the wheel in frustration, just as I was contemplating forcing myself into the now moving lane 2, I caught a glimpse of an old bloke struggling to carry his dog over the grass verge.
So that’s why I’m now late for my bloody meeting is it, some old codger has gotten his dog run over so the whole [zb] world has to stop for awhile. For a split second I contemplated jumping out & giving him a hand. He really was a very old chap & the dog looked very badly injured. I thought for a split second about chucking them both in the back & whisking them off to the vets. Then I thought about being late for the meeting & dog snot & blood on the back seat of my lovely new Merc.
Nah! Stick it in drive, force your nose out into lane 2 & gun the motor you fool.
The reality of what I’d just done hit me half way through the meeting, it was a very bad meeting on the grand scale of things.
A few weeks later & I’m talking about this with my Dad on his bench back at the farm. I told him all that you’ve just read, only with a lot more clarity & detail. By this time I’m beginning to seriously question myself whether I was right or wrong in driving past that old bloke & his dog.
My Dad had always told me that he was proud of me & all that I had achieved. Without saying a word he tapped his stick on the ground, patted his dog awake & never even gave me as much as a backwards glance as he wandered off.
Unless you are me, you will never understand, never know how much that hurt me.
Seriously you are wasted on here, go and write fiction…oh, you already are.
m1cks:
I’m sure there are plenty of drivers who are sinking in unmanageable debt. The problem is it’s such an emotive issue and the lack of responses seem to back that up. Most who have bad debts are either extremely embarrassed about it or they stick their head in the sand and hope it will go away. Neither will post here saying how bad it is. Nearly every post is from those who aren’t in debt or have a relatively small managed debt.
I was in serious debt a few years ago now. As in up **** creek with no paddle to the tune of about £35k on credit cards and increasing by a couple of hundred every month as the money went out faster than it came in. Kept it totally secret from the wife, of course. Had the full round of depression, substance abuse etc. Physical health went down the toilet (almost literally), work suffered and I was in a very dark place indeed. I even had detailed plans of exactly how and where I was going to kill myself when the time eventually came and Pandora’s box finally burst open - as I knew it surely must.
Fortunately for me, working in the public sector with a switched-on line manager meant that professional help was available just before the dam burst and I managed to turn things around. Took a few years to get straight again - but it was all done without recourse to bankruptcy, IVAs etc and in the end had little effect on my credit rating. But I did (and still do, to an extent) feel deeply ashamed of the state that I had allowed things to get into - It was just like I imagine an alcoholic’s first AA meeting would be like, when they introduce themselves to the group and say “I’m Fred, and I’m an alcoholic”.
That’s probably enough for an open forum though - But if anyone wants to know a bit more or recognises some of the same things happening and wants some pointers, feel free to PM me.
It’s a well known fact of life that people who are seriously in debt tend to be “secretive” about it, rather than discuss it on here! It’s not something people admit to on forums, anymore than they would chat about it down at the pub. Possibly because many people feel a sense of guilt about it. Most of the replies on here are most likely going to be from debt-free people who have never owned a credit card in their lives, and they can’t wait to tell everyone about how bloody wonderful they are 
. So I doubt that much will be gained from this thread.
Having paid off a lot of debts created by my ex wife, I am now once again debt free. And it feels wonderful. It’s easier to avoid debt when you are single, rather than when you are married to a shopaholic and have kids pressuring you to keep up with the Jones’s!
Roymondo:
m1cks:
I’m sure there are plenty of drivers who are sinking in unmanageable debt. The problem is it’s such an emotive issue and the lack of responses seem to back that up. Most who have bad debts are either extremely embarrassed about it or they stick their head in the sand and hope it will go away. Neither will post here saying how bad it is. Nearly every post is from those who aren’t in debt or have a relatively small managed debt.I was in serious debt a few years ago now. As in up **** creek with no paddle to the tune of about £35k on credit cards and increasing by a couple of hundred every month as the money went out faster than it came in. Kept it totally secret from the wife, of course. Had the full round of depression, substance abuse etc. Physical health went down the toilet (almost literally), work suffered and I was in a very dark place indeed. I even had detailed plans of exactly how and where I was going to kill myself when the time eventually came and Pandora’s box finally burst open - as I knew it surely must.
Fortunately for me, working in the public sector with a switched-on line manager meant that professional help was available just before the dam burst and I managed to turn things around. Took a few years to get straight again - but it was all done without recourse to bankruptcy, IVAs etc and in the end had little effect on my credit rating. But I did (and still do, to an extent) feel deeply ashamed of the state that I had allowed things to get into - It was just like I imagine an alcoholic’s first AA meeting would be like, when they introduce themselves to the group and say “I’m Fred, and I’m an alcoholic”.
That’s probably enough for an open forum though - But if anyone wants to know a bit more or recognises some of the same things happening and wants some pointers, feel free to PM me.
I’ve a little bit of debt too. I think ironically when you’re on good money and sailing along with a good credit record then its easy to get into that situation. People struggling along on low pay, no job, crap credit rating etc. are probably never going to get into that situation.
Ryy86:
I owe £177 to some company who bought the debt off the TSB, it is from years ago.Funny thing is I re-opened a TSB account this year and have quite a nice balance in that.(they didn’t mention my debt account, think details were wiped as years had past?)
The debt started out by me going like £17 over drawn and they done the usual excess charges, so refused to pay the criminals.
If this debt is more than 6 years old it’s classed as spent.
Watch out for the Provident’s loan agents knocking on ya door, they’ve been buying up aged debt left right & centre and offering loans to pay off the debt.
Waco:
If this debt is more than 6 years old it’s classed as spent.
No, that is not true. The 6 year limit only applies if there has been no contact from the creditor during that time, and you have not acknowledged that you owe the money. If they have been writing to you (even intermittently) in an effort to reach some arrangement to repay, or you have acknowledged the debt but then failed to keep up the payments then no such limit applies.
Roymondo:
Waco:
If this debt is more than 6 years old it’s classed as spent.No, that is not true. The 6 year limit only applies if there has been no contact from the creditor during that time, and you have not acknowledged that you owe the money. If they have been writing to you (even intermittently) in an effort to reach some arrangement to repay, or you have acknowledged the debt but then failed to keep up the payments then no such limit applies.
I thought it was you either contacting them, paying or admitting you owe the money. I didn’t think statements and letters from them mattered.
In any case after that much time they’ll have already done their worst in terms of credit history and would have gone to court if they were going to, I would think.
It’s only debt if you choose to acknowledge it & let it run your life , I’ve owed thousands to the likes of Barclays , Halifax , credit cards,store cards, unpaid phone bills for years , since the age of 18 , 33 now & never had a huge problem getting credit, had 2 cars on finance, had credit cards since , loans , over draft , places have done credit checks & nothing said , I’ve been refused sometimes.
In the early days I used to get threating letters that debt collectors will visit etc , final demands , ability to gain credit will be affected, I used to let it worry me & get me down , then I decided to just sod it , I didn’t have the money so I couldn’t pay , just began to ignore letters , a funny thing happens after a while , you start to get very poorly written letters from all sorts of so called debt collection agencies , if you Google them you tend to realise that they are all part of the same firm & the letters just go in a circle through the different names they use , truth is the only time a debt can be enforced is when its an unpaid fine or council tax arrears issued through the court , nobody will ever come to your door to remove goods or collect money because you owe the bank a few grand , its a lot of work for them to pursue you through the court so they sell it to these debt agencies who try to scare you into paying with threats , just ignore it , ok it won’t go away but don’t let it get you down …
After 6 years they statute barred & can not be pursued …
P.s . I’ve been approved for a mortgage recently too…
Own Account Driver:
Roymondo:
Waco:
If this debt is more than 6 years old it’s classed as spent.No, that is not true. The 6 year limit only applies if there has been no contact from the creditor during that time, and you have not acknowledged that you owe the money. If they have been writing to you (even intermittently) in an effort to reach some arrangement to repay, or you have acknowledged the debt but then failed to keep up the payments then no such limit applies.
I thought it was you either contacting them, paying or admitting you owe the money. I didn’t think statements and letters from them mattered.
In any case after that much time they’ll have already done their worst in terms of credit history and would have gone to court if they were going to, I would think.
It depends on quite a few factors. Have a look at the Limitations Act 1980. A routine account statement won’t normally affect things, but other forms of correspondence offering or inviting installment payments of the outstanding debt might do. My point was really that “If the debt is more than 6 years old it is classed as spent” is an over-simplification. I can see that my “no such limit applies” is also over-stating things - there is still a 6 year limit (for most types of consumer debt - but not mortgages - they have a 12 year limit) but the 6 years gets reset whenever you (or another party to the debt) makes a payment or if you acknowledge the debt in writing.
I’ve got absolutely no debt apart from borrowing £15,000 towards the cost of my truck, which cost £25,000. I’m about half-way through the finance deal so I’m well in equity but even so the finance agreement one of the few things in my life I don’t like, I had a solid working-class upbringing where debt was looked on as being something to avoid at all costs, I remember my Mum and Dad being sick with panic in the 1960s because they bought a piece of lino on H.P. and I guess I’ve just inherited their values! 
been debt free for 4 years now and dont intend getting into debt again
Harry Monk:
I’ve got absolutely no debt apart from borrowing £15,000 towards the cost of my truck, which cost £25,000. I’m about half-way through the finance deal so I’m well in equity but even so the finance agreement one of the few things in my life I don’t like, I had a solid working-class upbringing where debt was looked on as being something to avoid at all costs, I remember my Mum and Dad being sick with panic in the 1960s because they bought a piece of lino on H.P. and I guess I’ve just inherited their values!
There is a massive difference between good debt & bad debt Harry & your £15k sounds like a good debt.
What do you have in place if you trash that truck due to your own fault & can’t work for 6 months due to injuries?
Chas:
What do you have in place if you trash that truck due to your own fault & can’t work for 6 months due to injuries?
Well, I do prepare for “worst-case scenarios” like the engine blowing up but if it was worse than that then I just don’t know.
I suppose that in the case in point I would sell the truck for scrap and buy a wheelchair. 
Harry Monk:
I’ve got absolutely no debt apart from borrowing £15,000
Mike-C:
Tipper Tom:
Chas you were no more a captain of industry than I am Marilyn [zb] Munroe.I’m actually inclined to believe everything he’s said. I also think he has be waiting to unload that too. The only bit i’m struggling with is its direct relevance to lorry drivers. Lorry owners already have to have a financial check and standing, but drivers? Its not like they’re being asked to stand the fuel costs for a week or something. I sense Chas seen an opportunity to slip in his knowledge of things financial, no bad thing.
Actually just caught up with this topic. I’m inclined to believe most of what Chas has said too. If its not true its a well constructed story. But, I think constantly referring to himself as a ‘Captain of Industry’ is over egging the pudding a bit. Along with taking the credit for everyone having a PC. Thats a bit of a daft one.
green456:
Harry Monk:
I’ve got absolutely no debt apart from borrowing £15,000
Having outstanding finance of £9,000 on a truck worth around £18,000 isn’t, strictly speaking, “debt”
Exacy no different than having a house with equity on mortgage