Do you think I have a chance re; store cards

[youshouldnthavetoask]

I got my first store card when I was 18, at university and earning £6 per hour, working 12 hours a week.
Over the years, my bad impulse control, youth and low income meant that I wracked up so much interest. Littlewoods just kept giving me more and more credit. At one point my minimum payment was £500! My mum had to bail me out more than once.
Now I'm older and slowly becoming better with money (although impulse control is still poor) I feel slightly annoyed that these companies were able to lend me so much and that no one ever questioned my eligibility.
I've seen companies which offer to look at these store cards in terms of offering you credit limits you weren't eligible for but I wondered if anyone had any personal experience of getting compensation.
I am not saying that I wasn't too blame but to be fair I was just an 18 year old, living on my own in an unfurnished house. I had never been offered 1000 of free credit before. I feel they should have asked more questions as a lender.

You may as well apply, OP, as that's what you wanted us to tell you to do. Then if you get the compensation you can come back and say I told you so.

Why is it always someone else's fault? Does no-one ever take personal responsibility for their own bad decisions?

Companies should have to lend responsibly and that means not lending more than is affordable

There's nothing wrong with this in principle, but look what happens if they try; the cries of "unfair" and "discrimination" are immediate, and I don't imagine it would have been any different if OP herself had been refused

Even on MN people are encouraged to lie about their finances to get what they want - usually with MPs' salaries, Amazon and "the rich" thrown in - except that those advising such a course aren't the ones left to pick up the pieces

Did you claim the PPI? I know the deadline's passed and it's not the subject of the thread but you could've got a fair bit back

Come on, op isn’t asking if she deserves to be awarded compensation. Read her updates and employ some empathy and tact?

Clearly she’s struggling to keep her head above water financially after leaving an abusive relationship and is grabbing at straws in an attempt to survive.

Entitled? No, feeling so desperate that she’s trawling websites wondering how the fuck she can get a few extra quid to pay the electricity bill.

I'm sympathetic to you and you're brave to post here as generally MN is more conservative so most are going to tell you to be responsible. 18 year olds though often don't act responsibly as their brains aren't fully developed so I'm glad they've tightened things up.

@youshouldnthavetoask AIBU on Mumsnet is not the best place to ask these things. You've found the Martin Lewis website, go on the forums there, where you will get a much more measured and knowledgeable response.

Companies can't do this any more. So they draw people into online gambling instead. Vultures.

OP I am sorry you have had a tough time with money and, it sounds, with life generally. I am sorry that this continues to make things difficult for you.

But you spent that money. The card issuer is perhaps immoral, but they have not dont anything illegal. I can understand things are tough, but blaiming others for your mistakes or expecting them to fix them for you will not help.

People do receive compensation when a company are declared guilty of irresponsible lending;
lending money without obtaining sufficient detail on the borrowers income and expenditure makes any credit company susceptible to a claim.

No harm in getting a free online assessment from one of the numerous No win, no fee solicitors that specialise in this.

There is a rule of claiming no less than 6 years after the loan. That can be extended a further 3 years if the borrower was unaware they could sue.

Its further complicated by your mum clearing your debt. That could be regarded as you having access to sufficient funds.

Worth a try. You’ll get a quick decision online as to whether you have grounds to proceed.

Op left the father of her child due to violent abuse. I’d say it’s entirely similar.

I'm really surprised by all of the posters here who are cool with irresponsible lending. Lenders have responsibilities and that includes not giving shitloads of money to people that don't earn enough to pay it back. It's far easier to kick people like the OP though, of course she shouldn't have taken out all of the debt but it is clear that the OP was vulnerable and lenders do have a responsibility to protect their vulnerable clients and not take advantage of that and scalp them.

When I worked at M&S, about 15 years ago, we were heavily pressurised by management to push the store card to every customer. I think it was nearly 30% APR.

I want to have no part in other people going into debt, so I just didn't mentioned it at all to any customers (there was a leaflet at the front of the tills that they could pick up if they wanted to).
Possibly why I wasn't kept on after Christmas 😂

Seriously??? You were just greedy and now you want more. Just stop.

Yeah it's that black and white isn't it? I'm not in the UK but where I live developer's etc are getting millions of euro in debt written off. I'm sure it is the same there. The rich getting debt written off and moving to their next venture where they will no doubt be lent millions all over again and no one says anything. Then you have the little guys like the OP who are just trying to live and we love shitting on them, looking down on them and berating them. It's gross. Things like this don't happen on a vacuum, vulnerable people like the OP were preyed upon by lenders. Maybe you were smart enough or whatever you want to think of yourself to resist but lenders knew some vulnerable people like the OP wouldn't be able to and actively set about about targeting them.

I used Martin Lewis's advice and did a claim on mine. I got PPI back and all the interest and charges as the cards were deemed to be unaffordable to me after it was investigated. However, they can only go back six years - I don't know how old you are now but you're referring to being 18 as if it was a long time ago!

Mumsnet is the wrong place to ask about things like this. I've seen many posts like this and the responses are always the same! Ignore the judgey comments on here and just check the Martin Lewis website to see if it sounds like you'd be eligible, and if you are, send some letters off. There's nothing to lose.

She did earn enough to pay it back, though. Her earning when she was 18 were £500-600. She then said over the years etc.

So when her Littlewoods minimum payment was £500, she earned enough to pay it.

Then her mom bailed her out and she did the same thing again.

Hi @youshouldnthavetoask youve probably gone, but I totally agree with you. When I started uni in 2000 we were thrown credit cards, no one had an income, we were told to put our student loan down as income and round it up, insane!

its my problem to sort out, but I really hope it still doesn’t happen today.

I see the point you’re making. I just don’t agree with it.

”Bad choices” aren’t made in a vacuum, everyone is a product of their upbringing, their socio economic situation.
You could say a heroin addict has made bad choices. That doesn’t mean they should be shamed or unsupported.
Should they shut up moaning because they deserve that life?

id argue that fleeing an abusive relationship is a great choice which has unfortunately left op in financial difficulties; struggling to afford childcare over the holidays in order to hold down a full time job, and living in a council property.

“You shouldn’t have had children” is unhelpful. Few women plan to be single parents.

I could say the same about my bank. I would go out drinking aged 18 and if I needed more money I'd ring the bank clearly drunk to increase my overdraft and they'd agree. I'd then end up getting a loan to consolidate it and start again. I'm now 42 nearly and still renting. Maybe I could blame my ex best friend as she was the one who told me about it

They didn't force you to spend it. That was your decision.

You didn't make repayments on time. Your decision.

You got into debt. Your decision.

Be thankful that your Mum bailed you out (on what sounds like more than one occasion).

And yet you want someone else to pay you compensation for it now? Even if you succeed, would you give any back to your Mum or are you just after a quick buck?

I'd suggest that your attitude to finances is still screwed.

"You should never have given me an account with such a large credit limit. When I applied in 2005, you should have checked my credit record and you would have seen I had recently missed payments to a credit card and had taken several payday loans.

You should not have increased my overdraft limit in about 2014."

For goodness sake, OP. Give your head a wobble. They did not force you to take on a store card, run up debts and take up the offer of extended CC limits. You were 18 - an ADULT. You made poor choices. There is no one else to blame. As someone up the thread said, you've probably maintained these poor spending habits and want to place the blame on anybody but you.