Token payments or bankruptcy?

pluto12

Hi
I have spoken to CCCs today and the information that I have given them, they recommend bankruptcy, I only have £42 a month to pay 13 creditors, in total I owe £65K.
I do not want to go down that root, so they have said that I can do token payments, how long can this last? I am with payplan at the moment and I have been for 1year, I pay £155 a month, but I find that I am struggling to pay this, and the fact that my debt will not be cleared until 2045, and also the fact that I am still paying interest on sum of my debts, I just can not see an end to it.
But I really do not want to go bankrupt.
The debt is in myself and my partners name, and he is of the same opinion, we owe the money we will pay it back.
Can anyone tell me if they are using Token payments, and if so how long have you been doing it, and is it just a short term thing or can you be on it for years.
Thank you

WASHER

I would seriously look at going bankrupt, its not as scary as you think. Why don't you post on the bankruptcy board, they would be able to offer you advice and support.

£42 per month on 65K debt, you have very little chance of repaying this debt to be quite honest. The creditors will keep phoning/sending letters etc, do you really want that for an awful long time?

Please look into bankruptcy, there is nothing to be a shamed of.

WASHER.x.

lisawood78

Hi. I am really sorry, I don't have any answers for you but hope someone comes along soon who does.

Good luck

Deep_In_Debt

The creditors will only usually tolerate token payments for a while and then they start having tantrums, lumping on interest and charges, getting nasty and they like debts to be cleared in shortest time frame possible.

What is preventing you from going BR?

pluto12

Hi
The fact that we owe the money, and our name will be entered in the local newspapers, going to court.
The thought of going through this is making me feel sick, but so is the thought of paying this off for 30 years.
I would rather go down the token payment root, but I do not want to be hassled by my creditors again.
I think that I will still stay with payplan and just struggle to find the £155 a month, at least until I feel stronger to tackle this problem.
Thank you for all your help.

Tixy

Hi Pluto

There is a regular poster on here who I think has been making token payments for a quite a long while and will be doing for a long while (if I remember correctly) and I think she also claims DLA so has some things in common with you and your husband.

I'll see if I can get her to give you some advice/ or tell you her experiences as its probably the most similar to yours that I know of.

From what you have posted you are going to be struggling to carry on at the levels Payplan has set so maybe the token payments would be a better way forward. You could set this in place while you consider bankruptcy and perhaps read up on all it entails.

fermi

Personal bankruptcies are not routinely advertised in the local paper any more. The rules changed in April.

Court sounds scary, but the vast vast majority of people who go wonder afterwards what they were worried about. The court staff are nearly always friendly and helpful.

The worst thing is the vending machine coffee.:rolleyes:

Remember that MSE has the Bankruptcy & Living With It board, so you can talk to many many people who have been through that there.

pluto12

Thank you for your kind words.

WASHER

Pluto, find out more about bankruptcy before making your final decision and continuing with Payplan, you are struggling to find the money each month, I have read your various threads over the past week, honestly as fermi said its not always in the papers, you have nothing to be ashamed of...nothing.

Please just think carefully....is there any point struggling for the next 30 years? I know you have the intention of repaying your debts and I admire you for that, but not everyone can, sometimes one can fall on bad times, and one has to consider things one initially wouldn't have wanted to think of.

pluto12

I am going to look into it, but if you have to appear in court, my other half will not do it. I have told him that it may not appear in the newspaper, but he nor I will want to go to court.
I think that I will just have to struggle for now, and review it in a few months, the ideal situation would be if I could send token payments, but I am sure that would just open a big can of worms with the creditors hassleing me.
Thank you all for your support, makes me feel not alone.
Thank you
Pluto 12

Ames

I'm the poster Tixy mentioned, she pm'd me this thread. I made token payments for a couple of years, as with any agreement they were awkward at first, trying to get me to pay more, but then they settled down and all was fine. I didn't hear anything from them after that, maybe the odd phonecall to ask if my circumstances had changed. The debts kept getting passed on through different DCA's, who at first were pushing for more but then settled down after a letter or two.

But, my debts were far, far smaller than yours. CAB advised me to go bankrupt, National debt line said it was too drastic for such small debts. The only reason CAB advised bankruptcy was to avoid hassle from creditors, but as NDL explained, they're not allowed to hassle you. Also, if you have a lot of creditors, then sending POs every month is going nto get expensive - it'll be £1.50 for each one, then postage on top.

I really think you need to look at bankruptcy. From what I know of it, 'going to court' is just going into a room with a judge and signing a piece of paper. Theres no jury, or panel of magistrates, no lawyers and grilling questions. In fact, it was probably a harsher process to take out the debts in the first place!