Meeting with the bank tomorrow

Ames

As I said, I've been making token payments long term - 3 years. If that's all he can afford, then that's all they can get. And 'long term' is hard to define, surely it will only be until he can get a job? I know in the current climate that might not be soon, but surely it will happen sometime?

And br isn't such a bad thing, I seriously looked into it before realising I couldn't afford the fees. Why not get him to have a look at the br forum on here?

But it's all jumping the gun a bit, wait and see what cccs say. But if you don't like what they say, then try one of the other places, CAB or Payplan. I asked three places and got three different sets of advice (pay more than the minimum/go bankrupt/make token payments) and went with the one I was most comfortable with.

seh567

Thanks Ames, thats good advice. You are right I am jumping the gun as I am sure he will secure a job at some point although he was in the building game (ceiling fixer) and does not have experience in anything else other than warehouse work.

This is all new to me as I have never been in debt (64 now) and all the ways to deal with debt seems rather scary to me!

Another question, when you are doing token payments does the debts get larger due to interest charges being added?

Ames

They can add interest, but mine haven't. I think (someone else will be able to say for sure) that once it's defaulted they're not supposed to add interest.

GeorgeUK

If the account is passed to a DCA, then they shouldn't add interest unless it allows this in the agreement and T&C. If a default is issued, they can still add interest.

There's also a letter on the standard template thread for stating that a signature is not required in connection with a CCA request. If they are unsure that you are the person that owns the debt, then they shouldn't be pursuing you for payment in the first place.

fabforty

My heart really goes out to you, but at the risk of sounding harsh - you need to step back and let your son sort out his problems. I don't know how old he is, but if he is old enough to run up 15k in debt, he is old enough to take responsibility for dealing with them. Give him emotional support by all means, even offer him a hot meal, a few household essentials and use of your washing machine, but stop paying his debts, stop dealing with his creditors, stop sorting out his benefits and if he wants help from the MSE community - tell him to log on and start posting.
As I understand it, you do not have debts yourself, so you should not be losing sleep over money worries. He won't starve and he won't break - in fact he will probably get stronger. I speak from experience, I really do. If you are serious about helping him, you need to stop helping him (you know what I mean). Good luck.

pandapaws

I can see the arguments for both helping, and not helping. How about doing something in the middle, so he doesn't end up in a worse mess, but you're not actually getting him out of it completely. If you were to say that you'd pay £200 a month to him for the purposes of the CCCS that might enable them to put him on a DMP which they couldn't if he has a defecit every month. That way you help him out, but he still has to sort it out himself in the long term. But keep note of exactly how much you're coughing up and tell him it's just a loan that you want paid back in installments once he's back in work. I think that while it's admirable that you'd shell out 5k to try and clear it all, sadly it wouldn't help as he'd probably not learn the lesson. Good luck!

seh567

Hi Pandapaws. That is my thought, I could afford to £200 per month towards a DMP to avoid him getting in a worse mess. I'm not intending to pay off the whole £15k so he will be dealing with it in the long term, although it would be nice if creditors would accept full & final offers totalling £5k but I don't think they are likely to go for it. I know not everyone agrees but I would rather give him money now when he needs it rather than when I pop my clogs when he would get an inheritance anyway. Hopefully he will get a job shortly which will make things easier.

Thanks everyone else for input.

Ames

Thanks George for correcting me!

If it's still with original creditors you've almost no chance of getting full and final settlements, certainly not for a third of the debt.

If you do help him out, make it absolutely clear that it's a one off, the last thing you want is him coming back in a few years needing even more money.