Help With Rent Arrears

Fire_Fox

Post again on the Debt-free Wannabe board. Your mum should be prioritising her rent, council tax and food, and making token £1 payments to her creditors. There are template letters on the DFW board to help make this arrangement official with the bank.

asharon

no advice beyond that given, but best wishes for you all.

swstudent

Pepzofio wrote: »

If you've kept up with the loan repayments to this point then the bank will more than likely either (a) refuse to help by reducing payments/offering a payment holiday or (b) offer you more credit. Rent, Council Tax and Utility arrears are all priority debts - bank loans are NOT.

If you can't afford to pay everyone then STOP PAYING THE BANK LOANS until your rent arrears are cleared, as if you are evicted for rent arrears then you are unlikely to be rehoused by the council (or get through referencing checks for another private rent). You will also be in a better position to bid on council properties if LL decides to serve a S21 anyway, thinking that you are 'risky' tenants.

By all means inform the bank that you're having problems, but be aware that if the loans are with the same bank as your current account, then they can just help themselves to funds to pay off any loan arrears. Your mum might want to consider opening a basic bank account elsewhere and getting all income paid into that one so that she has control over who is being paid what.

Have just been on the phone to the bank and managed to knock off £50 off bank loan per month, better than nothing! They said they may be able to do more in terms of holiday repayments or something along those lines and are going to ring back. Mums partner is going to ring later to see what he can do. Banks loans are with Lloyds TSB and come straight out of bank accounts monthly. Put some money away for rent this week and last but have bank loans, electric bill, water, council tax and credit card to pay throughout the next week - those bills love to fly in at the same time don't they!

swstudent

Oh and thanks for the advice!

Have thought about posting on the debt free so will try to asap.

Fire_Fox

Glad you are going to post on DFW - they are really supportive and really knowledgeable.

£50 a month is not going to be enough to stop your parents being taken to court and possibly evicted - seriously stop paying these loans, just make token payments with a letter informing the creditors of the change in circumstances. Payment holidays will just increase the debt and is not solving the long-term problem. Your parents may need to go onto a Debt Management Plan (use CCCS or Payplan as they are free) which means interest will stop and payments will be manageable.

swstudent

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Glad you are going to post on DFW - they are really supportive and really knowledgeable.

£50 a month is not going to be enough to stop your parents being taken to court and possibly evicted - seriously stop paying these loans, just make token payments with a letter informing the creditors of the change in circumstances. Payment holidays will just increase the debt and is not solving the long-term problem. Your parents may need to go onto a Debt Management Plan (use CCCS or Payplan as they are free) which means interest will stop and payments will be manageable.

The bank aren't being particularly helpful so going to cancel loan payments. If my mum and her partner both cancel their direct debits for 2 months each that is the rent arrears gone and other bills. Going to ring either CCCS or Payplan tomorrow and get in touch with CAB - thank you so much for your help!

I'll let everyone know how we get on! Will also post DFW when I get the chance!

barnaby-bear

swstudent wrote: »

The bank aren't being particularly helpful so going to cancel loan payments. If my mum and her partner both cancel their direct debits for 2 months each that is the rent arrears gone and other bills. Going to ring either CCCS or Payplan tomorrow and get in touch with CAB - thank you so much for your help!

I'll let everyone know how we get on! Will also post DFW when I get the chance!

The advice is not to completely cancel to offer the £1 token payment is to show intent to pay and demonstrate you know you owe the money but can't afford it rather than won't pay because you're buying shoes... i.e. you are paying what you can for now with the intention of honouring the debt at a later date - this puts you in a better light rather than la-la-what-debt-land

property.advert

The OP has to prioritise. Get the rent sorted out, pay utilities and taxes and if you can only pay £1 a week to the loans then so be it. Write to them, stop direct debits and get a basic account sorted out where you don't owe anyone for incoming monies.