Advice about debt needed....

magical28

Hi

I have stupidly managed to get myslef in a load of credit card debt over the last year and I am now struggling to pay the minimum payments due to losing my job.
I sought advice and decided to write to each of my debtors offering to pay them £50 each per month for 12 months until I get myself back on my feet. I also have a loan which I pay monthly but I decided not to negotiate with them and to just keep paying the required amount.

One of my creditors has written back to me asking for the balance of the loan and whether it is secured against my house? It isn't secured against my house.

Does anyone have any idea why they might be asking me this? I have a feeling they are going to say no to my offer becuse I have equity in my home or ask my why I haven't negotiated to pay less on my my loan each month so I can pay more to them.

Janey51

Hello magical28.

So many of us are in the same position and well done for facing up to things.
Are you sure you can afford what you have offered to pay your creditors and you still have enough to live on?

The only reason I can think you have been asked if there is a loan secured on your house is if the creditor is thinking of asking for a charging order but it wouldn't be worth it if you have no equity for them to get hold of.
Of course..I am probably completely wrong.

Do remember that the only people who can demand info are the Courts.

Unsecured loans are way down the list after priorities like utilities and council tax.

Have you phoned one of the free debt charities like CCCS?

magical28

Hi Janey

Thanks, no I haven't contacted anyone yet, I did some research on the internet and thought what I was doing was the best option.

I don't think they can go down the charge order route on my house as I own it with another person and this debt is my personal debt. I'm hoping not anyway. My house does have a fair but of equity in it but as I said, this is my personal debt and nothing to do with my partner.

I think in hiendsight they might be wondering why I am not asking my loan company if I company if I can pay less also. I suppose I should negotiate with them as well and then go back with another offer to my credit cards.

The thing is, I haven;t missed one min payment yet (i have been late with a few but always paid up).I lost my job so I set up my own business last year and had to borrow personal money to make it work. It's just starting to take off big time and within a couple of months I should be totally back on track (fingers crossed). I'm only asking for a short term solution to it all.

DGJsaver

Why did you tell your credit card creditors about your unsecured loan ?

magical28

DGJsaver wrote: »

Why did you tell your credit card creditors about your unsecured loan ?

I thought honesty was the best policy and I had to put down my monthly outgoings in order to show them what I had left from my earnings to pay to them.

DGJsaver

Fair enough , but if you self managing a dmp then bending the truth might have helped in this case...different if you go via cccs or payplan..

Janey51

magical28...yep...we all think we should be honest lol but DGJsaver is right.
It pays to be a little economical with the truth sometimes.

You seem to be on top of things if everything goes the way you are hoping it does.
Just remember to give as little info away as possible no matter how "helpful" they appear to be. At the end of the day, they are businesses who need to recoup what they can if it looks as if someone will default on a loan/repayment plan.
I'm not knocking them (much) but things can escalate and when you are trying to find a solution you are tempted to give in to the nicest people.

So ..they are not entitled to see your bank statements or wage slips even if they say they are.
As I said, only the Courts are entitled to ask for this,
If you are firm but fair and the worst case scenario was that you ended up in Court, the Court would not be impressed with a creditor that had responded unreasonably to a debtor's attempts to sort things out.

Good luck.