puggie

Hello
I have a very strange post i know but i dont know where to turn and i really need some advice fast..as much as possible..il lay out my situation as best i can

A very close friend of mine (44 year old single mother has two teenage boys) who i have known a very long time confessed to me she is in serious finincial depression and needed to pull togather around 5000 euros to pay of debts that mounted up over the past two years while she suffered cancer (twice) iv been trying to help her meet her deadline this week to find a solution to getting her some aid/loan etc we tried many many places/banks for loans all turned down she works full time but no one will help her even applied for credit cards etc but nothing..im very worried because she seams to be losing her will and her fight to go on because she thinks herself a failure in not being able to do anything in this situation... one of the bills was a 1000 euros for her council/housing tax (or equivolent) and she fears she will lose her home others are gas and electric etc its all piling up and shes scared to even answer her phone last night she scared me very much with talk about suicide saying her kids would be better off without her etc iv tried gathering money myself but im not in a position finantualy atm to help her..tho i wish i could..

My question here is dose anyone know of anything that can help her ..i know in england the citizen advice buearu helps in situations like this with freeezing debts and aranging the into monthly payments but she knows nothing of anything simular in holland so im asking heredose anyone know of anything or any organization that can help her.. as much options as possible please if anyone can spare the time to answer thank you

Rich

if anyone would like to contact me priviatly via e-mail with advice etc my e-mail is <snip>

HurricaneHayles

I don't know if your friend speaks Dutch but I am sure if you or your friend called this organisation someone could point you in the right direction of support if she is feeling suicidal...

SOS Telefonische Hulpdiensten Nederland
http://sensoor.nl/
0900-0767

I have been unable to find anything on debt help however my Dutch is minimal right now but I am sure someone who has some Dutch skills could maybe find something for you.

Good luck.

puggie

thank you il pass it on my friend is dutch and speaks it well...

im really hoping somone can point me in the dorection of something to do with debt help because i fear the situation is growing worse... any comments are much appriciated.

HelenTD

My sister has been in serious trouble with debt in the Netherlands - not her fault, more her bank for not properly communicating with her. I looked into getting help for her, and found that local councils have officers who can help with structuring debt. Here are some links I found, hope there's something useful there:
http://www.nietoptijdbetaald.nl/Engl...nhulp/debt.php
Home page in Dutch is: http://www.nietoptijdbetaald.nl/Nederland/index.html.
het Juridisch Loket http://www.hetjl.nl/hetjl/
Consumentenautoriteit http://www.consumentenautoriteit.nl/Homepage. Two names I found: Marije Hulshof and Dirk Janssen, Netherlands Consumer Authority
Rob Groenemeijer, Chairman at Federation FIDIN, Chairman at Federation FIDIN, Financial Intermediary Services In the Netherlands, Chairman at NBVA, Vereniging van onafhankelijke financiële en assurantieadviseurs – Can’t understand the Dutch for this one, might be useless.
EU Consumer Affairs, http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/rights/fin_serv_en.htm - lots of headings and links
What about the local MP or Euro MP?

puggie

wow very impressed im gonan show her your reply thank you very much for this info just made my day thanks!!!!!

Larkspeed

I agree with HelenTD on this.

We got ourselves in pretty deep also when my wife was fighting cancer we went to the local council and they had two options available.

They could issue a loan to her, use said loan to pay all the debts and then she has a single payment she pays back to council.

OR

A financial officer will take a comprehensive financial status from her and then contact all the people she ows money to on her behalf to make payment arrangements.

They will leave her with what they deem the minimum required to live on so she will have to tighten her belt for a while but once the arrangements are made and providing she does not default then they will stop bugging her.

We went for the second option and it took about 2 years but we got everything caught up.

HelenTD

Just dealing with the bank was a nightmare for her and she's still fighting for her rights. Hard to do when you're struggling to survive and don't really have the money for a solicitor. Her bank wouldn't let her withdraw any money from her account and weren't happy when they realised that her income didn't go into it. Luckily her pay went to another account at a different bank, so she had money to live on (single mum with 4 kids).

ElliottFJ

Another way is to ask the lender if they would accept a lower value to have the debt "Paid-Up", meaning contact with the debtor and asking for a value they would accept in payment for the outstanding amount.

So if your friend owes Euro 10,000, then the debtor may well be happy with a lower value, like Euro 7,000. The downside is a bad credit rating for 6-7 years.

ladyice

Contact the city hall of the city your friend is in and ask for help. She might be helped with something called " schuld sanering". Mind you, this might require handing over all financial stuff to them and being on a weekly allowance.
This seems to be the best option as shark lenders and such charge insane amounts of interests and will only bring here in further debt. Good luck!

ElliottFJ

"schuld sanering" allows an "organisation" to take over your financial affairs (income & expenses) so not a great method...