Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

mum2one

maccabeatle wrote: »

hello..

i have run up a debt of around £2500 with my 'very catalogue online' account.i have never missed a payment in 4 years although i have mainly paid the minimum payment monthly.i am an ex bankrupt about 4/5 years a ago and i vowed never to get in trouble again...but here i am.
i earn a poor wage [£100] a week as a barman.i have 3 kids and a wife.my job is about to be lost at the end of the kids holidays due to the company i work for going bust.
i want to pay 'very' every penny i owe them but the minimum payments alone are working out at about £109 pounds a month..i struggle to meet it but i always have.unfortunately due to an incredibly high interest rares i am getting nowhere with the outstanding amount i owe them.my brother has advised me to 'max the account' and 'screw them over' because i have a total credit accsess on the account of 6/7 k.
however i really dont want to do that after my previous bankruptcy problems which are long behind me with my lesson learned i hope!.
is there any way in which 'very' would accept a freeze on the interest in which i owe them allowing me to concentrate on just paying off my balance at say £80/£100 a month.should i ring them or is there a company out there that could help me..any advice would be welcome as i feel as if i am sinking into a familure scenario.
p.s
i fully accept that the only person responsible here is me and i have allowed myself to get in this situation with my eyes wide open.i am stupid
i know...

thanks in advance.

before you say yes I can afford £80 per month, work out a SOA, (statement of affairs) and if it says yes to £80 then ring them and explain the situation, at the end of the day your showing the fact that ur not burying your head in the sand, your saying help, I'm trying to sort it before gets any worse.
i'm pretty sure they'd rather accept 90% of the money and be aware of the situ than not. x

paulo1paulo

Hi guys, please excuse me as this is my first post...
I'm looking for some advice/help in regards to Full & Final Settlement Offers... Your time will be greatly appreciated and I will post the outcome of my conclusions to support others in a similar situation...

I'm currently in debt to the sum of £14,750.00... I have been with Payplan for the past 3years now... Unfortunately last May I found myself compromised with income due to an injury at work... I have been off work since, which as you can imagine is taking it's toll financially... I have been making reduced payments to Paypal since last July to the sum of £6 per month... They are distributing it accordingly to each of my six creditors (£1 each per month)... I have no idea when i will be able to commence work as my injury is still very much disabling...

Thankfully I am now in a position where i will be in reciept of £5000.00 inheritance money within the next 8weeks (processing)... I have spoke to Payplan about this and they recommend that a settlement will only be successful at 50% (£7,375.00)... Unfortunatley i'm unable to find this amount due to my circumstances...

Should i attempt the negotiations myself in writting with template letters??? Do i inform them of where i have got the funds to settle (is this nessassary) or just request a settlement without explanation??? Has anybody any experience with the creditors below in regards to the percentage they generally settle for??? Also how much would each creditor settle for in my current situation (Percentage/££££)??? I have read throughout this forum that in some cases people have managed to settle their debts between 30-45%, I really hope that this will be the case for myself and i can put my Uncle's inheritance towards a greater cause... I have stated the nature of the debt and it's origin incase this has any baring on the negotiations????

I currently owe:
1)Wescot Credit Services/Arrow Global-£4500.00 (Loan), who are acting on behalf of MBNA banking, of whom placed a default on my credit score in Feb 2011, when the debt was forwarded on to the new creditors...
2)Moorcroft Debt Recovery Ltd-£250 (Overdraft)0, who are acting on behalf of LLoyds TSB , the debt was forwarded in Dec 2010...
3)BLS Collections-£3000 (Credit Card), who are acting on behalf of Lloyds TSB, the debt was forwarded in Dec 2010...
4)Mercers Debt Collections Ltd-£1250 (Credit Card), who are acting on behalf of Barclaycard, the debt was forwarded in Nov 2010...
5)Mercers Debt Collections Ltd-£2750 (Overdraft), who are acting on behalf of Barclaycard, the debt was forwarded in Nov 2010...
6)Opus-£750 (Credit Card), who are acting on behalf of Citi Bank, the debt was forwarded in Dec 2010...

Any advice/help given will be very much appreciated and in return I will recycle all advice given and practised through my own experience, for other's support and help calls... Thank you all sooooo much for your time and effort reading through my situation and for the support i have recieved within this forum, my grattitude is infinate!!!

paulo1paulo

maccabeatle

thanks 'mum2one' for taking time to offer me advice.
x

StepChange_Pavan

Katy_83 wrote: »

I have found myself to be in a little debt, it's only £500 so nothing really major but was around £100 i've also now found myself to be on income support of only around £64 a week. A big drop from what was coming in. I've just paid off a £400 debt and a £180 debt but now I have 3 that also need paying. One of the creditors has said that I can start a payment plan with them after I have finished paying of the debt i'm paying at the minute but the other if demanding £40 a month which on top of everything else i'm having to pay out for I cannot manage. A debt worker at the local CAB told me that as it is not a priority debt i can offer them as little as £1 but they say I have no right to do this and they are still demanding the £40. Where do I stand in regards to how much I can offer them a month?

Hi Katy_83 and welcome to the forum.

The advisor you saw at your local CAB was right in saying that you can offer £1 per month if that’s all you can afford.

I’d recommend that you put together a budget to support your offer of payment. This way they can see why you can’t afford to pay them any more.

If you’d like some help with this or you’d like us to look at your situation in more detail to see what you options are, you can visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) to help you find a solution to your debt problem quickly.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement with information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. From this the service will automatically determine your options.

You’ll receive a downloadable advice booklet providing a tailored solution for you based on your current circumstances and advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

If you’re not confident with computers or would like to speak to an advisor then you’re welcome to ring our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

If you phone us it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for you.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

binksieboy wrote: »

Hi there,

Over the past year I have been struggling to make ends meet due to my partner losing his job. Eventually I resorted to using Capital Finance One for a payday loan. (£500)

Unfortunately at the time this was due I was admitted to hospital for emergency surgery which resulted in me being off sick for 6 weeks recovering. During that time my employer put me on half salary meaning I couldn't pay anything to CFO.

I've been in contact several times and asked them to freeze any interest/charges whilst I got sorted out, which was firmly declined.

This morning I received an email from CFO's DCA (daniels Silverman) stating that if I did not make full payment of £1300 within 7 days I would be made bankrupt!!!!!

Working out the charges it appears I've been charged £25 per day as I've not been able to pay.

Had they not charged me the extortionate "fines" (their word not mine) I would not have crossed the threshold for bankruptcy.

Any advice as to how to deal with these people would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Hi binksieboy and thanks for your post.

Firstly it’s unlikely that they’ll make you bankrupt, because they would have to pay the fees and unless you have assets worth a lot of money, they wouldn’t get anything anyway.

I’d recommend that you put together budget showing your income and expenditure. You can send a copy of this to them to show how much you can realistically afford and you shouldn’t agree to pay them anything more.

In light of your situation, I would also consider complaining to CFO regarding the fines. Although you haven’t stuck to the agreement, they may take your circumstances into consideration and reduce the charges. There’s no guarantee but it’s worth trying.

If you need any further advice, please give us a call on our free helpline – 0800 138 1111.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

LucretiaUK wrote: »

Hi all,
I've been on this forum before enquiring about loans and was totally unable to get a decent loan from my bank, building soc or even the sharks, due to a poor credit rating, caused by the ex defaulting on a joint loan just after I left him. Credit Expert has dissociated him from me but it seems I need to go through all those hoops again with every credit rating company!? I've been harangued by loan companies, PPI reclaim companies and consolidation companies ever since I made enquiries back in January.
I had a long chat with one called Knightsbridge Financial, based in Manchester. They offered to reduce my credit card payments from £230 a month to £150, taking £35 for themselves and freezing the interest. I have read a few scattered reviews, none of them good, about this company. At the rate they suggest, I should be able to pay my card off in 5 years, that's IF the interest is frozen, which isn't guaranteed.
I looked at the CCCS Debt wizard thing which seemed to think I have more money than I do, even when I told it all my current and annual expenses. All of the items on the checklist are in place or have been tried and failed (changed fuel company a few times, each time the bills got bigger despite promises to reduce them), apart from moving house (no credit means no mortgage) and changing bank (very loathe to do this, first direct have been very good to me). It suggested I just pay more to the credit card whereas there are options (it seems) to pay less by some agreement with the credit card company. Can I arrange this myself? Do I need a lawyer (more expense)? Why are there testimonials from people using CCCS to pay off their debts when I can't get this?
Basically, how can I reduce my credit card payments and freeze the interest? And if I can't, would using Knightsbride be a fair option? :mad:

P.S. Please read the whole thing here before responding; I know what these forums can be like, often just cherry-picking the thing that can be answered with stock information. Thanks.

Hi LucretiaUK and thanks for your post.

You’re right that you’d need to check your credit file with each of the three credit reference agencies – Experian, Equifax and Call Credit.

With regards to your credit card, it’s difficult to give you detailed advice without looking at your budget. There must be a reason why Debt Remedy is showing that you have more money available than you think.

As you’ve already completed your figures online, I’d recommend that you contact our web support team as they’ll be able to access all your information. You can chat with them online and their contact details will also be in your advice booklet. Alternatively you can send me your web reference number in a private message and I ask them to contact you.

You can offer your creditors reduced payments, as long as you have a budget that supports it. You don’t need a lawyer as we can provide this service free of charge but you can make payments yourself if you prefer.

We wouldn’t recommend going to a fee charger as this money can be used to reduce your debt at a quicker rate. More importantly, no one can guarantee whether your creditors will reduce or stop interest and charges as a DMP is an informal agreement and there is no legal obligation for them to do this.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

Dawn1970 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm new here and as you can tell by the time of this post, the situation I'm in is giving me sleepless nights...

In 1994/1995 me and my ex partner took out at the time what I thought was a joint loan, but now after speaking to a DCA, it could be that I was a Guarantor only.

Anyway in 1999, we split up and he left me with the £1700 balance, to which I paid off all but £500 of it as I felt that he should pay his share. The original DCA then sold the debt to another DCA without any knowledge of mine and they in turn have sold it to yet another DCA. I called them a couple of days ago and have managed to get them to suspend the account for 28 days whilst I send of for copies of the original CCA to decide whether I'm a Guarantor or named jointly.

I phoned my ex today and he has said basically that it's tough luck and he's not paying anything towards it now. He said that he is on a low income, yet I do not work and have just Tax Credits and Child Benefit (which pays for my children's dinners at school every day). Things then got nasty with my ex and I said that I'd forward all his details including phone numbers as he was a much responsible for the debt as I am. My new partner is refusing to pay the debt off as it is not his

What I want to know, is now that I have passed on all his details to the DCA, will they chase him as much as they seem to be chasing me at the moment? Also, he is in work and owns his own house, so therefore should I pass this information on as well? I understand that worst case scenario I could end up paying off all of it, yet I really have no income as such, just money going into my account that I use for shopping every week.

Sorry if this is rambling and disjointed, but I'm all over the place at the moment, many thanks in advance for any advice given.

Dawn :beer:

Hi Dawn and welcome to the forum


Unfortunately whether the loan was in joint names or whether you were a guarantor doesn’t make much of a difference in your case – they can still chase you for the whole amount if your ex refuses to pay.

If you’ve passed his information on, hopefully they will chase him for the debt too. However they can continue to ask you for the remaining amount as well.

I’d recommend that you put together an income and expenditure to show the DCA what you can afford. Even if this is as little as £1 per month.

It’s difficult to give you detailed advice without knowing more about your circumstances and if there are other debts that you’re struggling with too.

I’d recommend that you get in touch with us so that we call look at your situation properly and explore all of the options that are available to you. You can ring our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

rubyjam wrote: »

Hi it's me again

I've just started a DMP with CCCS and my first payment is due out on 1st August. Today, I received a letter from Mint. It says ...

"I have received a letter regarding your account. The letter was not signed and as a result I am unable to undertake the action requested. Please sign the letter in the space provided and return it to the address at the top of this letter or, if convenient, telephone to request that we carry out your instructions."

It contradicts itself and doesn't even say which letter they are referring to. I don't know if it is refering to one CCCS have sent to them or one of the letters I have sent.

I have been typing my signature on letters as I didn't think I was supposed to hand sign them.

What should I do. I don't wan't to ring them. Would it be ok to sign this letter?

Hi rubyjam,

It seems very strange that they didn’t just include the letter and ask you to sign at the bottom?

As it’s not clear what letter they’re referring to I wouldn’t recommend that you sign and return; especially if you didn’t ask them to action anything.

If you’d prefer not to call them just write back and ask them to clarify what you are signing for. Your DMP will start in August anyway and if you’ve signed your agreement with us, we can deal with them from now on.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

wigglers wrote: »

Hi guys sorry im a bit of a newbie here and need some advice me and my gf have a baby due on christmas day so i realy need to sort my finances out, previously we have racked up some debt there is £3000 on a barclaycard at 17.9 ish % there is £2000 on a 0% virgin card we just taken out after trasfering 1470 to it from the barclaycard (the balance was £4700!)
i do have a quite good relationship with my bank i have a maxed out 0% hsbc credit card again transfered because of the baclaycard. And i have a £600 overdraft which i use to pay as much as i can off the card a month, and the minimum payments on the rest,
They have pre-aproved a £1200 overdraft at 18.6% my question is would it be better to just up my overdraft and pay the barclaycard off in three months or how much would the added charge be for the overdraft?? please someone help asap thanx Matt

Hi Matt and thanks for your post.

I’d recommend that you repay the debts with the highest interest rates first. If you do have the option of switching some of the debt to a 0% interest credit card, this could be a good option, provided that you don’t continue to use any of your available credit.

This article may give you some more information: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/pay-off-debts.

If you’d like us to look at your situation in more detail you can visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) to help you find a solution to your debt problem quickly.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement with information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. From this the service will automatically determine your options.

To help you fill in the form, it’s best to gather together information about:
• Your income
• Your expenditure
• The creditors you owe money to

You’ll receive a downloadable advice booklet providing a tailored solution for you based on your current circumstances and advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

head_above_water wrote: »

could i ask an adviser what can i do about a caravan i purchased 2 years ago on a8 year finance plan. The loan is more than the caravan value. due to a change in circumstances i cannot afford the payments any more. I cannot sell it privately as there is a deficit of around£1500 . if i default on the payments i guess they will sell it for even less and i will still be stuck with a debt. Any ideas will be appreciated. Thank you

Hi head above water and thank you for your post.

Is the loan secured on the caravan? If so, you would need to check the terms and conditions of the loan agreement to see what happens if you can’t maintain the payments. It’s likely that they’ll take the caravan and you’ll be liable for the shortfall.

However this shortfall will no longer be a priority debt and you will be able to repay it at a rate that you can afford.

If it’s an unsecured loan, you can sell the caravan, and again repay the debt at a rate that you can afford.

If you’d like to discuss your situation in more detail, you can call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan