negotiating final settlements

td

Hi,

I am meeting with my nephew and his girlfriend on wednesday as they are beginning to get themselves into trouble. I don't know the full extent of it but what I know so far is this:

they owe about £600 to orange for a contract they couldn't afford to keep and this keeps increasing because they can't pay it and keep ignoring it.

they have a loan with provident so far up to date.

they have abother loan with another company so far up to date

council tax in arrears by a considerable amount - they have been in touch and are paying what they can

rent in arrears (I presume this is my priority withthem)

Credit card bills quickly increasing and not being paid

In arrears with virgin for telephone etc

On a meter for utlilities and are struggling to get money to pay for tokens

They promised to ring CCCs tomorrow but I wondered if I could begin to help them first.

My question is :

The Orange bill they seem to be ignoring and hoping it will go away - I know this is not going to happen. I am willing to help them out here if they can bring this down to a full and final settlement figure that I can pay for them - how likely is it that Orange will do this and how do I go about this - what kind of things would I say to them? The chancea are that if Orange don't they're not going to get anything as they are just getting deeper and deeper into debt - I just want to know what kind of questions to ask.

I am very aware that although I can help them financially they have to learn to manage their finances because I can't keep bailing them out - however I am aware that I'm kind of forcing the issue with them a bit as at the minute the debt is manageable but it is heading to not being.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated - they have a few folk willin gto chip in to help them out but only if they start to take steps to help themselves..

Like I say I do intend to encourage them to be in touch with CCCS but I am aware there are lots of people out there with similar probs and wondered what I could do in the interim.

td

fatbelly

The priorities are

1. rent

2. council tax

3. everything else

You can only do f& fs once an agreement has defaulted. Orange will soon do this and then pass the debt to a third party. So forget it for now and concentrate on establishing a balanced budget which pays for the essentials, negotiate settlements with the priority creditors and offer £1 per month to the non-priorities.

CCCS will take on the non-priorities if they can afford a minimum of £5 per creditor per month.

It's great that you want to help them financially but I'd say hold on for a moment. There are clearly spending issues that need to be addressed and if they can do that, and sustain it, then you might want to reward them in six or 12 months time.

However, if the landlord is threatening court action or the council about to appoint bailiffs....

td

Hi,

I helped them out a little bit with the rent, got them to get in touch with Orange about arranging monthly payments, same with cap one, they have arranged payment with Council for council tax. They didn't quite tell me the whole truth on our first meeting but keep adding little bits on. I've said I can't help them much if they're not honest with me and I don't know the full extent but we'll see.

They haven't exactly learnt good financial management from their folks as I've had the same thing with his mum for years, in and out of money trouble.

I think for my own sanity I have to teach him as much about money managing and leave a lot of the rest up to him as it ocupies my mind so much worrying about whether they do what I suggest or if anything else is gonna crop up. I've decided to just advise and then leave it.

thanks for your help

td

10past6

It's true what FB says, if you achieve nothing else, at least get them to understand the priority of debts.