Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Bizibruja

Thank you so much I replied on my other thread sorry to confuse

mooreboy

******hope i in right section*******
hi i have been out of the country for 2 weeks and have received a legal notice from lawton hathaway regarding a debt of 187.02
with more charges due to be placed on if i do not pay in full.

I have tried explaining to them that i can not pay this in full but can offer part payments.

I made a £10 payment before ringing them and a further £20 payment when i put the phone down.

They said that they will only return this money as it is not a full payment.

They do not want my money in part payments but in full what can i do i apparently have 7 days before they start knocking on my door.

Help
regards
shaun moore

Busybee467

Hi....decided that after a good few years of hiding my debt that I should face up to it....need help on best way forward though. Totalled up all my debt and comes to £26,843......was devasted. Some is HP £4775, a loan £9753, then the rest is made up of 4 credit cards.

I'm just working on a budget at the moment....im not sure which is the best way to turn? I live with my parents currently but do pay rent, i have a goal of moving out soon as I don't get on with my parents but at the moment I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. All my wages seem to go on paying the debt...then I work a shift in a local pub to pay for anything I want to do...its so hard.

I have kept this a secret, no one knows - I'm embarassed, people say that I must have loads of money, working and living at home but it is quite the opposite. It is affecting everything I do now....

Any advice please??

StepChange_Pavan

Mikomi75 wrote: »

Hi,

I currently owe MBNA around £12,500, I have been unable to pay them for about 5 months and am about a month away from going into default which would be on my credit rating for 6 years.

This situation has come about due to my outgoings exceeding my incomings and being out of work for a period.

Having spoken to them today they asked me to consider a full and final payment and said I might be surprised as to what they would accept.

Could someone advise me a starting point to begin negotiaons?

And also how badly will this affect my credit rating?

The adviser said it may be better than going into a 5 year DMP as this would stay on my credit report for 11 years in total.

I should point out that I have been with MBNA since 1999 and have paid a hell of a lot of interest in that period.

Also have about £20k of other non secured debts how would these be affected by this full and final payment (they are up to date at present)?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Hi Mikomi75 and thanks for your post.

It’s difficult to say what they might accept; we usually recommend that you spread the money that you have available fairly between each of your creditors.

Entering into a DMP wouldn’t affect your credit rating directly – anything that the creditors mark (such as a late payment, default or CCJ etc) would remain on there for 6 years. It would only affect you for 11 years if you received a CCJ or default after 5 years, but it’s much more likely that this would happen earlier and therefore reduce the number of years you’d be affected.

You’ve mentioned that you’re up to date with all your other creditors so I’m not sure whether you’re struggling as a whole or just to get back up to date with the one creditor.

I’d recommend that you get in touch with us so that we can look at your situation as a whole and recommend the best course of action for you.

To do this you can either use our online advice facility Debt Remedy, or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement which includes information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. All this information is used as a basis to determine the options available to you to deal with your situation.

Once you’ve followed the process through and completed all the required information you will immediately be presented with an advice booklet, which will provide tailored advice for you based on your current circumstances. It will also provide advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

Alternatively if you would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor about your situation, you can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

mbamber01 wrote: »

Hi Pavan

I just wanted to thank you for your reply to my previous post. I have noted in my conditions that I am entitled to cancel giving 30 days notice after the initial 30 days, however nowhere did it indicate that I have no right to cancel should I go into arrears so I have raised a complaint, firstly explaining that I was of the impression that I would only get the loan on the basis I took out the PPI which is why I went for the lowest available cover, but also that it was never explained that there are additional conditions not provided for cancellations in the future.

Thank you again

Michelle

Thanks for the update Michelle.

Good luck with the complaint and hope you get the result you're looking for

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

pollyanna80 wrote: »

Hi Can anyone help me please. I'm in a bit of a bind with my Capital One card. I lost my job due to severe disability and wrote to them to request a reduced monthly payment and explained why. They then sent the matter to the debt collection agency and I wrote to them and said what had happened and enclosed a copy of my letter to capital one to them. I also advised Capital One that I had written to them and said I was concerned that they hadn't written to me.

Since then, my health has got worse and I've only written 1 letter to each of them, but I keep getting letters FROM the dc. No one is acknowledging that I am writing to them and this is going to get worse and worse. Can anyone tell me how I can stop them doing what theyre doing (they have even sent letters to my PARENTS home addressed to me), save my credit rating AND get them to help me please???

Hi pollyanna80 and thanks for your post.

Have you sent them a copy of your income and expenditure with your letter to back up the situation that you’re in?

Although you may not receive a response to your letters, you should continue to send them the reduced payments that you can afford. Having said this, they should NOT be sending letters to your parents’ house when they have correct details for you. This is against the Debt collection practices from The Office of Fair Trading. You could consider making them aware of their mal practice and report them to the OFT.

With regards to your credit rating; unfortunately this will be affected if you are unable to maintain the minimum payments.

If you’d like some more detailed advice on the options that are available to you, you can either use our online advice facility Debt Remedy, or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement which includes information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. All this information is used as a basis to determine the options available to you to deal with your situation.

Once you’ve followed the process through and completed all the required information you will immediately be presented with an advice booklet, which will provide tailored advice for you based on your current circumstances. It will also provide advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

Alternatively if you would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor about your situation, you can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

Bizibruja wrote: »

Lost both parents in last 10 months from terrible diseases, my mum killed herself as she had Motor Neurone and 3 days after she died my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died less than 6 months later. This started in August 2010. I lost my job in Jan 2011 due to being off sick with anxiety and bereavment. when my mum was diagnosed she wanted to take us all the america to see the kids have an amazing time before her illness got so bad. Prior to this we were coping. I have never been great with money but we were in the black and going on family holidays to europe and in general everything was fine. I got a credit card from my bank to go as my mum underestimated the cost of everything. From then on it went downhill. £3000 overdrawn £3000 plus on one card more than £1500 on my husbands who was furious. I shopped online like a fool mum and dad gave me carte blanche to use thier money as i think they thought it would help so I bought stuff for the kids the house me and when ever some parel turned up it would give me an escape. Now I have told my husband it is a mess just not how much of a mess. He is great and although mega annoyed agrees at least we can put it right now, the only thing is I really dont have a clue, its easy to say ok, YOU be in charge to him but I dont think thats the whole answer either please can soeome help as we are both 42 have 3 kids under 15 and I cant go on this way. Most days I think about an easy way out and its only cos I love them all I know that would be selfish. I also have to deal with the Motor Neurone being familial and there being a 50/50 chance i will develop it

Hi Bizibruja and thank you for your post.

I’m sorry to hear about your situation – it sounds as though you’ve been through a really tough time recently.

You’ve already received some really helpful advice from others on here and the most important thing is that you’re facing up to your debt and you’ve managed to tell your husband about it.

At this stage, I’d recommend that you sit down with him and get together all the information you need to put together a budget – so everything that you have coming into the household, including child benefit etc and everything that you pay out for including bills, food, entertainment etc.

Also gather information about how much you owe and who you owe to. Once you’ve got all this together you can either use our online advice facility Debt Remedy, or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor.

Debt Remedy will compile all the information we need and use it as a basis to determine the options available to you to deal with your situation.

Once you’ve followed the process through you will immediately be presented with an advice booklet, which will provide tailored advice for you based on your current circumstances. It will also provide advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

Alternatively if you would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor about your situation, you can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

You’ve certainly come to the right place for help and support; I hope you manage to pull through this difficult period

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

craigeh123 wrote: »

im in a bit of a predicament and dont quite know how to sort it . When myself and my wife were both working we had loans and credit cards and overdrafts all of which we could comfortably pay . My wife was made redundant while pregnant (2.5 years ago now) and was paid her maternity leave and then jobseekers for 6 months before they stopped it . We were managing while she still recieved the job seekers but once that stopped things became a struggle. I went out and took a second job delivering pizzas two nights a week which i do after spending the rest of the day at my main job as a mechanic .

Things havent got any better despite me working all the hours i physically can and im earning more than when we had our son , and now my wife is expecting our second child rather than being excited im worried how the hell i can get more money into the house hold .

My biggest concern is trying to do anything to make things easier because of our mortgage i dont want to rock the boat with my mortgage company . We owe around 20 thousand in unsecured debt , the biggest issue is my lloyds overdraft of 2500 on which im paying nearly £50 in account charges and interest per month , i have had the interest stopped on my tesco credit card who were great and really helpfull reducing my 100+ a month payment to 56 on a balance that is now down from 4500 to 4000 . If i could stop the interest on my lloyds account it would nearly pay the tesco card . I owe lloyds 9000 on a loan , and we have an overdraft with the same bank our mortgage is Supllied by . My wife also has a credit card which i believe has 3000 odd on .

I have no issue paying the companys i owe i borrowed the money i expect to pay it back its just such a struggle im struggling to put the diesel in my car to get to work which is ridiculous . I earn ok around 1500 a month take home + a bonus which is ussually at least £100 but sometimes this doesnt happen . I also earn around £150 from my second job but but id like to stop it as i have to use my car for it and its really bumping my mileage ,up its also meaning im leaving home at 7 in the morning for my first job and not getting home until 10.30 at night twice a week and regularly not eating etc because of it .
Im also awaiting a heart op next month meaning ill lose my bonus fro anytime im off so i want to get this sorted as i cant carry on like this . All i seem to do is work and apart from my house im not really seeing the bennefits .

Ive sold all the stuff i no longer need or use . Im sure if my debts were restructured i could cope better . I also read i may be able to claim tax back on my second job because i use my own car but i dont know how to do it . Ive been doing the second job for around 2 years and have clocked up at least 15 thousand miles in mileage from delivering pizzas so is it true i can claim back 40p per mile ???

sorry for the long post i just want money to be less of a worry so i can start enjoying life again .

Hi craigeh123 and welcome to the forum.

It certainly sounds as though you’re taking the right steps to better your situation, although your health and enjoying time with your family is just as important; if not more.

With regards to the tax issue, I’d recommend that you contact TaxAid and they should be able to help you.

It’s difficult for me to give you advice on your options without knowing more about the details of your income and expenditure. You’re right that you need to priorities the mortgage payments and you may find it easier to open up a basic bank account away from your debts. You can pay your income into this new account and set up all your direct debits from there too. This way you can pay towards your overdraft like any other debt and it removes the risk of them taking all your income for themselves.

I’d recommend that you get in touch with us so that we can look at your situation as a whole and recommend the best steps forward. To do this you can either use our online advice facility Debt Remedy, or ring our free Helpline to book a telephone appointment with a counsellor.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement which includes information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. All this information is used as a basis to determine the options available to you to deal with your situation.

Once you’ve followed the process through and completed all the required information you will immediately be presented with an advice booklet, which will provide tailored advice for you based on your current circumstances. It will also provide advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

Alternatively if you would prefer to talk to a debt counsellor about your situation, you can book a telephone based appointment by calling our helpline free on 0800 138 1111. Lines are open Monday to Friday 08:00-20:00.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

Vicky496 wrote: »

Hi,

I have two credit cards one with £5494.95 (out of £5500) and one with £1490.78 (out of £2700). I have tried previously to get a new card or a personal loan to pay these off and get a better rate (the first is 22.9%APR and the second one is 32.55% - I'm sure they were much nicer to start with ).

I was turned down so I used the free trial on credit expert and it showed that the only reason was that I was using all my available credit (at the time I was maxed on the second card as well).

I figured I should just carry on trying to pay off the one with the worst rate first, but I'm not sure at what point it's worth trying again to consolidate and get a better rate?

Do I have to halve my debt before I can get a new card? Or is there an alternative I haven't tried?

Hi Vicky496 and thanks for your post.

It’s difficult to say when you might get accepted for a card at a lower interest rate, as creditors can vary in their decision making.

This article on how to improve your credit rating may help: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

ESHam wrote: »

Between my wife and I we owe £30k in credit cards,
£12k @ £298 a month in a personal loan with 3.5 years to go
£3.5k @ £167 a month in a car loan with 1.5 years to go
We were going to cash in endowment worth about £17.5k and pay off most of credit cards tho this would save us £400 per month. But to get monthly outgoing down the most I thought paying off the 2 loans would be more. Mortgage is due for renewal and we owe £117k against value of £155k. Problem with that is my salary is a basic and commission structure so limited for what to do there. Any thoughts on what to do would be appreciated. Thanks E

Hi ESHam and welcome to the forum.

From what you’ve said, I’d recommend that you check if there would be any early repayment penalties on your loans before you make your decision.

With regards to your mortgage renewal you could contact Compass Mortgages for advice on your options.

Kind regards,
Pavan