Negotiating Repayments

claireac

My dh and I have some debts that we're trying to clear, but two of our creditors are demanding payments higher than we can afford! I don't want to agree to something that we can't afford, I would rather agree to a smaller amount and then pay more if we can.

My dh is a roofer, and while he's ok at the moment, he had some time off when we got married and then for an operation which is catching up with us financially.

Is there anything we can do??

Tixy

Hi Claire

Well definatley don't agree to more than you can afford. Have you prepared an income & expenditure account and sent this to the creditors to show it is all you can afford? (If yes have you checked that this doesn't include luxuries that they are disallowing in working out what they think you can afford?)

Are you treating all your creditors the same? I.e working out what you can afford to pay in total for unsecured debts and then splitting this based on the outstanding balance?

What have they said/suggested they will do if you don't agree to pay more?

claireac

No I haven't prepared an income & expenditure account. I will do this tonight. It's quite difficult as dh's earnings are so up and down! If you took how much he's earnt this month, then we're broke, but last month was good.............

I've been threatened with the "next step" of the process, told this is the last phone call before "legal action". Things like that. Only one company has been prepared to negotiate a payment we can afford which is a bit disappointing as well as worrying!

Tixy

Hi Claire

Do the income & expenditure - this is a good calculator to use http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html as it will make sure you don't forget things. Probably best to use an average months income for OH. Make sure you put the income after business expenses, tax & NI so its his net earnings you are using as your starting point.

When you have done this you can see how far away you are from being able to meet you repayments and then can consider what option to take. You could also post the results on here for ideas on what to do next and where you can make any savings (just choose format for MSE at the bottom). If you are showing a considerable shortfall each month then you may want to consider getting free professional debt advice from one of the people - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

If you have to go down the route of a debt management plan (an informal agreement with creditors to pay less than the minimum), many creditors react better if one of the charity organisations are involved.

Hope this helps.

claireac

Thanks for your advice Tixy. Will have a good sort out over the weekend.