Should I ring my cardand loan companies?

tobyd10

Hi,
For reasons of ill health and lack of judgement I have amassed a large debt that even though I have got back to earning some money its just not enough.
On a good month I earn enough to cover my bills/outgoings and my debt minimum payments but coming off a mortgage holiday has tipped the balance. I have got to the point where I can't keep robbing Peter to pay Paul and my hope of returning to the wage level I was pre illness has been crushed by the credit crunch.
I have been trying to ring a few of the debt councilling agencies as mentioned on this site but they are constantly engaged.
Should I ring the card companies and tell them the situation and ask them if I can pay less a month?
I have a long running loan with egg - should I ring and ask for a reduction there?
Should I contact my mortgage company and ask if they will give me another payment holiday (already had 12months holiday finishing last month)?
Any good advice would help as I owe about £40k now.
thanks

RAS

Hi

please do not ring anyone other than the debt charities listed here
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help


You can do the CCCs Debt Remedy on-line and then they have the details to hand when you get through. We know it is very hard to get to them, but keep trying.

If all else fails, there are template letters here you can send advising the companies that you are taking advice from a debt charity.

Phoning often leads to a whole load of bullying and so on, so we suggest you avoid it.

tobyd10

I've just managed to make a phone appt with a specialist at CCCS who deals with self employed people. As they are busy so it is in the middle of May however.
I can manage until then but should I send any letters out to the credit/loan companies before then to let them know whats happening?

dozy-debtor

keep trying national debtline, and the Ciizens Advice Bearue as they are all there to help, with debtline i rang for 3 days non stop to get through,

as a last resort go onto the national debtline website and foloow the instructions, you could do the budget on there and use one of the template letters to send to all your creditors, i found that really useful and it works out how much you have left to split between each creditor.

I also contacted my local council and they assisnged me an advisor who I have seen a couple of times now and he has been just as helpful

Good Luck

tobyd10

Thanks for that advice.

tobyd10

Anyone else have a view? All input is greatly appreciated.Thanks

tobyd10

All input is greatly appreciated.Thanks

Gemmzie

If you're using one form of credit to pay for another then perhaps sending token payments of a £1 (postal order) and a letter explaining that you are contacting CCCS for advice would be best.
Then if you have anything left over at the end of the month, keep it as an emergency fund (useful when you're self employed).

Could you do a SOA here? http://makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html is a good template.
Do you have any debts secured on your property or council tax or water/gas/electric?

tobyd10

Thanks for the advice - I am up to date with all payments with no secured loans except a mortgage but these payments have been maintained with a rising debt level.
I am going to send letters now I have a ref number from CCCS - should I ask to suspend my payments immediately?
Can anyone point me to any template letters as I have lost the link to the one's I found last week.?
Thanks

Gemmzie

There's a template around somewhere which says you're getting advise, pop that ref number on it and send the £1 postal orders. Don't ask, just tell them!

Hopefully someone will post the template as I can't find it at the moment!

tobyd10

Gemmzie wrote: »

There's a template around somewhere which says you're getting advise, pop that ref number on it and send the £1 postal orders. Don't ask, just tell them!

Hopefully someone will post the template as I can't find it at the moment!

I have direct debits paying the minimum on credit cards what should I do about them?
Thanks vvv much