DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 9

Quarry wrote: »

Hello all! I'm new to all this and am finding your posts very encouraging - I'm still terrified though. Can anyone give me an idea of how much I would need to be able to offer per month to have Stepchange manage my DMP?
I owe £28000 to 4 credit cards. I was made redundant and have been ill. I'm 59 and want to go back to work but there doesn't seem to be much chance.

Morning and welcome

They can't have what you haven't got. It will depend on your outgoings etc. Fill the form in on the debt remedy tool. It is all anonymous, doesnt take too long. http://www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx It will give you a reference number so that you can go back in and alter or give them your name etc if you do decide to go ahead. For me the anonymous nature of it is what gave me the strength to go ahead. I will always be very grateful for that.

Good luck with it, let us know how you get on.

HHx

Thanks to Hopelessly Hopeful - you obviously give a lot to this forum. My worry is that I am fortunate enough to have equity in my home which could clear the debts. Citizens' Advice tell me it is extremely rare for credit card creditors to make someone bankrupt and the worst that might happen would be an attachment (charging order?) on my house to pay the debt when the house is sold. I would be happy for this latter outcome if it would remove the worry that I might lose my home. I don't expect my home to be sold until I die and I have no children to pass it to.
Can anyone advise on the likelihood of my being made bankrupt or having a charging order made?
I can only pay off a few £s a month at the moment and I cannot handle being in such an uncertain and possibly risky situation.
Thanks. Q.

not sure if i am posting in the right place spent ages looking for a thread but anyway here goes.

I have a property I stupidly bought a ex-council flat for £87k with a NR together mortgage (total £106,000 all in to pay off credit cards) in 2007 in a area I had moved to for work then the market went under, in 2009 I moved home (over 100 miles from where property is) due to new job and decided to rent out in the short term. fast forward to now and I had a few tenants none long term and last one moved out in May last year (rent never covered mortgage payment fully i made up shortfall) and up until september just there had no interest for renting. I maintained mortgage payments of £440 a month just about think im due about £150 which I didn't pay at xmas time, the unsecured already gone into my DMP with cccs or step change as they are now called, Decided to cut my losses and try to sell. Property valued at £54k (i paid £87k 4 years earlier). went on market offers over £48,500 (scotland property) no viewing decided to drop to £42k fixed last thursday 3 viewers next day with 2 offers being emailed over tomorrow. NRAM have been kept informed of all this (although not the offers as they won't be open till tomorrow) and I know they will need to agree the sale due to negative equity blah blah. I am already in rented property so my problem is I don't need nor want this property I owe and I am trying to get rid of it as quickly and by the best means possible, by selling it even if it will leave a £40k+ short fall I have accepted the fact I will deal with it when i arrive I have no assets so bankcruptcy would be feaslible or a trust deed which I would prefer any which way I am not bother all I want is rid of this flat.

If NRAM don't accept the offer of £42k then I will hand back the keys by letter by the end on the week and on their heads be it to deal with it at auction.

I feel I am making the right choice and it feels very good to have even just decided after much effort (and financial hardship, some months we couldn't even afford to by the kids clothes because I am paying so much money out on the property and rent for our current home) to let it go and allow myself to deal with the debt in a way that will help us start a fresh. I don't have any credit rating anyway so 6 years or whatever takes to get back on our feet seems reasonable to me to do our saving and get ourselves in a good financial position again to buy the things we want.

moral of the story for me...never borrow what the companies tell you you can afford :rotfl:

Quarry wrote: »

Thanks to Hopelessly Hopeful - you obviously give a lot to this forum. My worry is that I am fortunate enough to have equity in my home which could clear the debts. Citizens' Advice tell me it is extremely rare for credit card creditors to make someone bankrupt and the worst that might happen would be an attachment (charging order?) on my house to pay the debt when the house is sold. I would be happy for this latter outcome if it would remove the worry that I might lose my home. I don't expect my home to be sold until I die and I have no children to pass it to.
Can anyone advise on the likelihood of my being made bankrupt or having a charging order made?
I can only pay off a few £s a month at the moment and I cannot handle being in such an uncertain and possibly risky situation.
Thanks. Q.

Hi

In the years I have been on here I have never heard of anyone being forced to go bancrupt. Very rarely people get charging orders, but as I said rarely.

I was terrified I'd loose the house which is why I buried my head for sooooo long so can appreciate how you may feel.

It will all work out.

HHx

Hey all, just dropping in with a progress update. I want to say it's good to see so many other newbies here, but 'good' doesn't seem like the right word... I think what I mean is I'm so pleased there are lots of us sorting ourselves out for the future

Nothing has really happened yet, although I think we've done almost everything now, bar sending the first payment. All signed up with SC, letters gone to creditors, token payments made. I have to say, I nearly threw up when OH text me to say all the letters had been sent I know that this is absolutely the right thing to do though, the temptation to just forget it and carry on as we were was HUGE, but I'm proud that we stuck to our guns and got on with it. I keep checking to see which letters have been delivered though, and imagining them being read - I have to stop this, and remember I am just a number on their files (and sadly one of many)!

Had a bit of a panic on Thursday, OH thought all the credit card bills had been paid this month, so went ahead and deleted the direct debits, only for him to check my online banking the next day and see that Barclaycard had tried to take a payment, and it had been returned! All my wages etc are now going into my new account, so my old one was empty. I panicked, and paid the £69 bill for this month - I couldn't bear to think of missing a payment before I'd informed them of our plans. Ridiculous, I know. So we've now been charged £8 by my bank for the returned DD, £12 by Barclaycard for the returned DD, and paid the £69 - almost £100 down, when our credit rating will be decimated regardless! :mad: So mad at myself, but it's done now.

So that's about it I think, first SC payment to go out on 1st April. Amazing to think this has all been sorted without me having to speak to a single person, they make it so easy! We're busy saving every penny between now and then. We also already had a mortgage payment holiday arranged for this month, and before my LBM, this was one of our strategies for getting through another couple of months. Now it'll just be another chunk to add to our savings. I'm SO glad we decided to wait a month to start the DMP - I'm hardly in any position to help anyone else yet, but that's one bit of advice I'd give to those also starting out - take your time, build up some spare cash. It's amazing how much more relaxed I feel knowing it's there if anything should happen.

Now, we sit back and wait for the fallout....