Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Pickle29 · 30 December 2013 at 10:22PM

thank you - did anyone else feel really nervous when committing to a DMP?

Definitely! But it's the best thing we did! It has been awful recently but my friends and family say I'm looking and sounding so much better ( some know about the DMP and some don't). At least over Christmas we haven't increased our debt- just drastically cut back everywhere. I can't say it's been easy because it's not, but I am definitely in a better place now than I was before!

Good luck and go with it, you will be glad you did!

mum2one · 30 December 2013 at 10:24PM

bix1966 wrote: »

thank you - did anyone else feel really nervous when committing to a DMP?

it took me a month to set up the plan - felt nervous, even a couple of months into it, I had so many what ifs.. but its the best thing I ever did. x

System · 31 December 2013 at 11:13AM

lovefromcharlie wrote: »

Hi,

I've unintentionally racked up around 7.5K in debt across various credit cards and an overdraft. I know it doesn't seem like much, but as I don't earn very much it seems very daunting.

I am meeting my monthly repayments (just!) but am often finding that I am having to respend on these credit cards in order to see me through to the end of the month.

I have a poor credit rating (did the free Experian trial to find out) and as such can't get any new cards or any decent interest rates on personal loans. However, I am lucky in that I have 0% interest on two of these credit card debts, but obviously this is not forever and I've worked out I won't be able to clear these fully before the period is up.

I'd really appreciate some advice on the best way for me to clear this debt, should I take out a personal loan to consolidate the repayments? Is there any way I can work around this? What should be my approach to paying off this debt? Pay the biggest debt first or the ones that I can more easily afford to (but they may also be interest free?)?

Here's a breakdown of my debt:
£2051 0%APR until nov 2014 (credit card)
£2900 19.32% APR (credit card)
£1418.92 0% APR until march 2015 (credit card)
£268 23.2% APR (credit card)
£1500 16.5%APR (overdraft)

I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can offer to help me tackle this debt. I'd love to be making serious headway at chipping away at this over 2014.

Thanks!

Hi and thanks for your post.

It sounds like you would benefit from some free and impartial advice.

The first step is to put together an accurate income and expenditure budget first. We can help you with this.

Our online tool Debt Remedy will help you put together a budget and depending on your circumstances might suggest different debt solutions that may be suitable to you.

Consolidation loans can sometimes make your situation worse. Before looking at one of these loans you should make sure you can afford it. As taking out a consolidation loan often makes your debts bigger and repayable over a longer period.

If you did look at consolidation loans you must cut up and cancel the credit cards after they’re paid off. The temptation to spend on freshly cleared credit cards after taking out a consolidation loan often leads to immediate trouble.

If Debt Remedy feels you can handle your current level of debt and just want to pay it off as quickly as possible I’d recommend looking at paying the highest APR first. But, you should also take into consideration what APRs the 0% cards revert to when the interest free period ends.

There’s lots of good advice on these forums about paying debt as quickly as you can.

You can find Debt Remedy below. It takes about 20 minutes to complete.

http://www.stepchange.org/debtremedy.aspx?hp=400

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

jmgeofiz · 31 December 2013 at 11:18AM

Morning all

Sitting by the phone waiting for a call back from Stepchange. Feel utterly miserable having spent 4 years trying to sort out the financial mess resulting from my husband's sudden death. Spent most of Crimbo in tears, can not start 2014 without tackling it all.....are Stepchange helpful?

thanks
j

Florida15 · 31 December 2013 at 11:49AM

Hi, quite new to all this as well but stepchange have been great, you wont regret talking to them, wish you all the best, big hug xx

mum2one · 31 December 2013 at 10:57PM

I buried my head in the sand for too long and stepchange were amazing, I've been with them for about 15 months and it was the best thing I ever did with my debts xx

paul.rowling · 1 January 2014 at 1:23PM

Hi,

I have a CCJ registered against me issued by the Inland Revenue. I've only just found out that they issued the CCJ against me as I have only recently come across the paperwork. It was issued approximately 4 years ago, I think they issued it as I was moving out of my business premises and so I received the paperwork as I was moving and its been buried in a box since. I'd appreciate it if someone could confirm if its possible to vary the CCJ with an N245 form even though the CCJ was originally issued over 4 years ago as I'm unsure if there is a time limit on these things?

Any help would be kindly received.

Many Thanks

Paul

GSDog · 1 January 2014 at 9:19PM

Hi,

I'm 24 years old and have become concerned at the amount of debt that I have recently accumulated.

I'm a part-time student and I work 4 days a week. I am also a homeowner (I inherited a property a few years ago) and have a joint mortgage with my brother. I pay around £500 a month on the house mortgage and bills, the rest goes on travel, food and drink.

In the last couple of months I have gone from being debt-free to currently having the following debt;

Student Account: £1,250 @ 0% (overdraft is £1,700)
Santander Credit Card: £1,100 @ 18.9%.

I have never been in debt before so I am finding this very stressful. I got the credit card just 6 weeks ago because my car insurance was due and I couldn't afford it. I chose not to pay monthly because it added about £350 a year onto the costs.

I have recently cut all unnecessary expenditure. I haven't bought anything for a long time, have cancelled my mobile phone contract along with any subscriptions, etc. However, I seem to keep being hit by huge bills recently - broken down boiler, car insurance, tax, etc.

I obviously want to clear my credit card debt first and foremost but I am not sure how to do this.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Chris.

helencal80 · 1 January 2014 at 9:46PM

I have around £16,000 of unsecured debt. I am just compiling a list of all creditors and amounts etc before looking into a DMP.

I am a university student, first year, so receive student finance three times a year. How will this affect the DMP? Will I need to pay all of my student finance towards the debts? Obviously I have books, travel etc to pay for as well.

Many thanks.

StepChange_James · 2 January 2014 at 11:39AM

jmgeofiz wrote: »

Morning all

Sitting by the phone waiting for a call back from Stepchange. Feel utterly miserable having spent 4 years trying to sort out the financial mess resulting from my husband's sudden death. Spent most of Crimbo in tears, can not start 2014 without tackling it all.....are Stepchange helpful?

thanks
j

Hi J,

Thanks for posting. I work for StepChange, so I'm bound to be a bit biased, but I think we're pretty good. I'm hoping by the time you read this you'll have spoken to one of my colleagues and are starting to get help from us.

It sounds like things have been tough for you recently but I hope we'll be able to help you start to move forward with your finances. We can't guarantee it'll be easy but we'll try to help you as much as we can with free and impartial advice and a supportive approach.

You can read what some of our clients have said about us here: http://www.stepchange.org/changinglives.aspx or you can check out our reviews here: http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews182278.html

Kind regards

James

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