Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

StepChange_Pavan

alcee12 wrote: »

thanks for that mat but why are so many debt agencies contacting me about the same debt and can i find out how much the £3300 debt sold for because original owner of debt close credit management offered to me a one off payment of £1550 but in immediate payment i didnt have it

Hi alcee12 and thanks for your question.

There should only be one agency collecting from you at any one time, but it can be passed from company to another many times. If you’re not sure who you owe the money to, you could get a copy of your credit reference files to find out.

Unfortunately, there’s no way of finding out how much the debt was sold for – That would definitely help when making reduced offers of payments!

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

LovelyLiv wrote: »

Thanks for this. I just did Call Credit and it's 578.

So, I have 3 credit scores with numbers of 406, 578 and 939. Only one of these companies has picked up the default. This seems to be a massive issue if some credit scorers don't see information as important as this.
So, if I pick HSBC which I understand use Experian (939) I'm more likely to get a mortgage, is this correct? I don't want any searches on me on my record that have no chance of being accepted.
Thanks again

Hi again,

If HSBC only use Experian, then your chances of getting a mortgage could be higher. Remember that other factors can go against you such as the number of searches for credit over the past 12 months.

You could speak to the credit reference agencies and your lenders to see what you can be doing to increase your chances of being approved.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

demi60 wrote: »

Hi Mat and Parvan,

I am in debt after having gone through a Family Law case where my absent ex husband, absent for virtually the whole of our child's life returned in late 2006 wanting permanent custody of our child who was 9 years old at the time.
My ex wasn't working and claimed full legal aid, I worked fulltime and wasn't entitled to any legal aid whatsoever. In the early part of the case I self represented but my ex made allegation after allegation against me so I ended up employing a solicitor and during the case used five barristers. I threw everything I earned into this case for the whole two years it was ongoing I neglected to pay for some things such as council tax, I was paying a small flexi-loan to Cahoot now Santander which I had nearly paid off so I contacted Cahoot to explain why I was unable to pay, I provided proof of the Family Law case I was going through but to no avail I now owe £6,075. I even stopped paying my NHS Pension so I could release that money.
In 2009 I became ill from stress, my ex who had been violent all our 18months of marriage had damaged the windows to my house and kept following me to my work and our child to school. The Police couldn't act until he did something to either me or our 11 year old so I made arrangements regarding my council house and went to live with my relatives abroad which turned out to be for five months. I n 2010 I returned to the UK as my child was unhappy living abroad, I soon got another job, it was good pay and I resumed paying my debts, I had fallen behind with my some of my council rent and council tax as the person I left my house to simply stopped paying the rent & council tax so that was my priority and I am now am uptodate with them.

Recently I got my credit report and discovered other debts of £408 - I thought I had paid this off and do not have the paperwork relating to this matter plus there is a CCJ at Northampton Court which I do not know what that relates to but was for £309, the judgement date being in May 2008. I have not received any paperwork regarding this debt and was in court virtually every month up until August 2008, my Family Law case was concluded in December 2008.

In total my debt is worth £6876 but don't know where to start and need guidance with approaching Santander as they have been passed to debt agencies.

As for my ex husband, he supposed to pay £2.50 per week for our child but CSA have had trouble claiming money from his state benefits, and he hasn't paid a penny since April this year. CSA recently informed me that he is in work and trying to trace him.

Regards,

Demi

Hi Demi and thanks for your post.

It certainly sounds as though you’ve been through a tough time. You’ve done the right thing by getting back up to date with your priorities.

With regards to the CCJ, you could contact your local county court to arrange a payment. I’d recommend that you put together a realistic budget to work out how much you can afford to repay each month.

With the other debt, your credit file should tell you who the debt is owed to and they may also provide an address. You can contact them at that address and ask for information about where the debt has come from. You may find the Information Commissioner’s Office website useful: http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/personal_information.aspx.

Again, with the Santander debt, your file should show who the debt is with now.

Once you know exactly how much you owe and who to, you can contact us for some more detailed advice on your options.

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.

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.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

jackieneedshelp wrote: »

I have a DMP in force with CCCS and to be honest I just forget about it and let the payments come out. I have just had a letter for the annual review and am now panicing because I have realised that in the past year there are a few things I have should have told them about like my husband has gone back to work but our outgoing have gone up by about £400 due to one thing and another. We can still afford to pay the amount and probably a bit more but am panicing about the review as I have not been in touch before. will this affect us keeping our plan in force.

Hi there and thanks for your post.

This shouldn’t be a problem but I’d recommend that you call us soon to go over the changes.

You may find this article about how to prepare for your review useful: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/08/how-to-prepare-for-a-dmp-review/

Kind regards
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

thepayingoutneverstops wrote: »

if you could help in anyway that would be fab.....our situation is back in 2009 my husband lost his job and i was a full time mummy so with nothing coming in we struggling with repayments we did everything right from the beginning and our 2 credit card companys were very helpful mbna and natwest...they both put us on small fixed amounts and stopped adding the interested...although my husband is now back in work we are still trying to clear other debts we used to live on (overdraft) and still can not afford to up the payments on these cards...we have thank god just won a ppi claim and although not a great amount are hoping we can finally get rid of these bad debts..my Q is as we have been on a fixed payment for 2 years would these companys accept a lower amount than the balance to enable us to payment them off in full mbna is £1600 and natwest is at £700
thank you

Hi there and thanks for your post.

There’s no guarantee that they will accept a reduced payment but it’s worth a try.

If you’d like some help with this you can call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

michelle45 wrote: »

Help dont know what to do.
I was feeling so much better until I received my mail this morning and I am now feeling so stressed and upset. I had recently set up a DMP with CCS, they wanted a payment in August but I didnt stop all my payments out of my bank in time so didnt have enough money to pay the first payment. I emailed them to ask if they would start the DMP in September when my first payment by direct debit would come out of my bank.
I now have a letter saying my DMP has been cancelled because they havent received my first payment, however, the payment for September has been paid.
Its saturday so I cant ring them and they are only open when I am at work so cannot ring from work so have to do this via email. Just as I thought everything was being sorted.

Hi michelle45 and thanks for your post.

Don’t panic; if you can send me your client reference number in a private message I will get someone to look into this for you.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

simmocraig wrote: »

Hi, just noticed this forum here on MSE, love the work you do to help others and thanking you in advance.

Anyway, my question is:
About 5 years ago I lived in a house share and paid rent (rent + bills) to another housemate who dealth with all the bills which were in her name. All housemates were under the impression all bills were dealth with before we ended our tenancy. However, about 8 months later I had a bill from the water company and the bill was in my name. It has turned out that the bill had been transfered into my name. The bills is approx £250. I explained at the time that as far as I knew all bills were being paid in the house share and more importantly why is the debt in my name now. They didnt care why or how it was transfered but said its in your name so pay it.

The debt wasnt paid and now 4 years later a company called Tocatto are chasing me again. I have explained the previous account wasnt in my name and how and why am I being chased again - they didnt care even when I offered details of the person from the house share that they should cancel. Strangely, they offered continued discounts on the debt if paid now. 10%, then 25% then 50% etc.

Personally I am very angry that debts can be transfered to another person, why wasnt the original named person on the account being harassed about it - did she transfer it to me and how. Can I have you thoughts please on if they can transfer this debt to me and do I actually owe it?

hope this is enough information, best wishes

Hi simmocraig and thanks for your post.

It’s difficult to say why or how the debt was transferred without knowing the details so I’d recommend that you follow the Ofwat’s complaints procedure: http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/consumerissues/complaints/householdcons. It could be that you were named on the bill too or you signed an agreement that you can’t remember.

It’s likely that the water company sold the debt on to the collection agency for a reduced amount which is why they’re willing to accept lower payments.

If you wanted to get rid of the debt once and for all, you could consider offering a low payment as a settlement figure provided that you receive written confirmation the rest of the debt is written off (and won’t be sold on to another company).

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

michelle45_2

Thanks Pavan.

I have had a an email from CCS stating they hadnt received my first email but my case is still open and they have received my Septembers payment, so the first payment should be paid in September.

However, Ive just received a phone call from Mercers (Barclaycard debt) at work demanding payment otherwise they will have to take further action.

I stated I couldnt speak and put the phone down - cos I can be bullied into anything, which is why i much prefer emails/letters. I have emailed them with a copy of an email from CCS saying not to pay a token payment this month because they will be making my first payment on 25th. Do you think this was the right thing to do.

Michelle

sickasachip13

Hi Michelle45

Pavan will give you more detail etc but I just wanted to say that these phone calls are pretty much par for the course for the first couple of months of the DMP. We had several, and received letters saying that creditors wouldn't accept the amount etc, we just kept CCCS updated (phone and email) and it all settled down fairly quickly (and everyone actually did accept the payments).

Best of luck.

michelle45_2

Cheers sickasachip (nice name by the way) nice to hear from somebody who has been through it and can tell me how things will go.

Im just convincing myself that its teething problems and looking forward to 6 months time when, hopefully, everything has settled down.

2 months ago I was in a right state had to take time off work as I was that ill (constantly crying), but I must have hardend up as now I think "take me to court" theyll only get what Ive offered through CCS. and its not as if ive run away from these debts I want to pay. Just get a bit nervous over phone calls though - got to get over that