I can't believe conversation i just had with creditor, why bother repaying???

saverio

perhaps a little strong Edna, but at least in the small print to the forum it does say that the views expressed are our own, and nothing to do with MSE.

creditcardking_2

It seems that there are no incentives these days to pay creditors other than for moral reasons, there are no real consequences so why bother paying.
Instead of increasing your monthly payments would it not be better to save any spare cash under you mattress and try to use this money as a final settlement when you have sufficient, after some time your creditor will be so sick that they may be willing to accept a very small final settlement rather than the possibility of receiving nothing.

System

creditcardking wrote:

would it not be better to save any spare cash under you mattress and try to use this money as a final settlement when you have sufficient

If you really want to "hide" money, it's always safer to hide cash in hand than try and hope a bank a/c won't be traced back to you. But if you wanted to keep so much in cash at home to fund a final settlement, you've always got the security risk of a possible burglary and all that cash being lost.

Even if you successfully built up enough cash to fund a final settlement payment - how would you use that cash to pay the settlement? Yep, you'd have to pay it into your bank! So it would still eventually show on your bank statement as a deposit prior to being paid out to a creditor. The first thing anyone paying close attention to your finances would ask is "where did this money come from?"

Please note I'm not trying to judge here - just trying to point out the pitfalls. I withdraw a regular weekly amount from my bank and any leftover's get put in the kitty - although so far my budget's been fairly accurate so unfortunately my kitty only has a few pounds! I don't think you'd be shot for "forgetting" about a penny jar - but conceal hundreds or thousands from your creditors and you're asking for trouble in my opinion.

Regards
Dave

sparkle84

If you really want to "hide" money, it's always safer to hide cash in hand than try and hope a bank a/c won't be traced back to you. But if you wanted to keep so much in cash at home to fund a final settlement, you've always got the security risk of a possible burglary and all that cash being lost.

Even if you successfully built up enough cash to fund a final settlement payment - how would you use that cash to pay the settlement? Yep, you'd have to pay it into your bank! So it would still eventually show on your bank statement as a deposit prior to being paid out to a creditor. The first thing anyone paying close attention to your finances would ask is "where did this money come from?"

Please note I'm not trying to judge here - just trying to point out the pitfalls. I withdraw a regular weekly amount from my bank and any leftover's get put in the kitty - although so far my budget's been fairly accurate so unfortunately my kitty only has a few pounds! I don't think you'd be shot for "forgetting" about a penny jar - but conceal hundreds or thousands from your creditors and you're asking for trouble in my opinion.

Dave I feel there could be some confusion about who has access to your bank account in your posting, my bank is HSBC (who are also my employer)- I owe money on 5 credit cards none of which are with HSBC because of the data protection act no DCA or any other creditors can access and remove or even find out about money in that bank account (I feel you posting indicates that they could) - there are certain legal requirement for you to disclose any assets or money you have when you are made or make yourself bankrupt but this doesn't apply if you are paying off creditors, it is simply a moral issue - I have decided to pay off all my debt HOWEVER, I also intend to save a considerable amount of money in case of unexpected bills (broken boiler, large gas bill etc etc) before I up my payments to them I also intend to make full and final offers in 3-4 years - also I am not hiding the money I am saving it so I don't get into this position again

mrelephant_2

Sparkle

I have seen your reply on my other thread and it seems we have both got the same idea about paying token offers whilst we save some money for emergancies.

May i ask how long you have been paying token offers for, as i said in my last thread i am hoping to continue this for anything upto a year before changing to a constructive plan such as an IVA.

I am just wonderring how long you have been paying token payments for to give me some idea of time span before i am likely to receive CCJ's.

System

sparkle84 wrote:

Dave I feel there could be some confusion about who has access to your bank account

Hi sparkle

Apologies if my earlier post was vague - I wasn't trying to suggest that any creditor has access to your bank details. I was just trying to point out the possible problems in concealing money should the Official Receiver ever investigate you or if a creditor ever takes you to court and you're before a judge.

Remember that if you've a bank overdraft registered on your credit file, a creditor will have access to the amount you're overdrawn by. If this amount is usually constant and then suddenly jumps up for no reason - when you pay in cash to make a final settlement, anyone regularly checking your credit file could be interested in that.

Regards
Dave

sparkle84

Hi Mrelephant I have only been doing it since October and I would imagine a year or so would be the maximum you would get away with it before a CCJ

Bham-Dave - I know you were only offering constructive advice I just felt it might be misunderstood - the only person you need fear is the OR if you get a CCCJ a Judge may order you to increase your payment but won't touch any savings you have - the same goes for paying off an overdraft other creditors may not like it but nothing they can actually do about it. I read recently that 40% of people in the UK would be unable to pay cash to replace a washing machine if it broke down - the point I am making is we also need some money behind us for emergencies.

I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in July I went back to work early while I was undergoing chemotherapy so I could pay my bills, mortgage etc etc had I some money saved I would not have had to do this - this can put a very different perpective on things. I am paying my creditors £5 a month and until next October that is all I am paying

System

sparkle84 wrote:

if you get a CCCJ a Judge may order you to increase your payment but won't touch any savings you have - the same goes for paying off an overdraft other creditors may not like it but nothing they can actually do about it.

That's very interesting - who told you that? I ask because I'd like to repay my unsecured overdraft before I repay my credit card debts. (Would much rather have a "clean slate" at the bank.) But it's my understanding that an unsecured overdraft is just as important as a credit card debt. Although I do appreciate that you could play dumb and tell your credit card creditors that your income had to paid into the bank and has been "swallowed up" (ie used to repay your overdraft!).

I actually spent ages back in September (the month I first contacted my creditors), clearing the tiny debt on two credit cards of mine so that they were at nil just as I called my other 3 credit cards to say I couldn't pay. (Felt more comfortable sorting out 3 instead of 5 debts). I didn't want them thinking I was treating the 2 tiny debts preferentially. In the end, they never knew about them and were never told!

Regards
Dave

PS - Hope you're feeling better these days.

sparkle84

I feel much better now thanks the worst is over - re the overdraft it is all to do with connections - if you have a overdraft with your bank and also a credit card the credit card can try to claw money out of your bank account - however if you just have an overdraft with that bank you can clear that how and when you wish and your creditors can do nothing about it I am on a DMP with cccs buy my overdraft is not included as I work for HSBC and couldn't let them know about it.

These days we are all worried about Big Brother watching us but the simple fact is unless you are in debt for £100,000+++++++ your creditors will accept a DMP and then forget about it maybe contact you after a year to see if you can up it - DCA can of course be more annoying but the principle is the same. With the amount of people in debt in this country at the moment creditors would not possible for able to check out everyones credit report - it would take far too long - creditors are also very wary of people saying to hell with it I will go bankrupt

Also you must do whatever works for you but remember you are allowed put a bit of money away for a rainy day and with the exception of the OR nobody can touch it unless there is a connection I am putting mine in a basic sainsburys bank account I opened years ago

All the best for the new year