Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

proudmumof1

Need a bit of advice if possible. To update you all I am at the early stages of managing the DMP process myself, writing all letters, fielding calls, etc and all the fun that goes with that!

Everyone I have spoken to so far has been reasonable bordering on flexible, bearing in mind i am not using a DMP company and trying to resolve the issues myself.

One of the credit cards we owe on is barclaycard and today I received 2 letters from them. From different offices.
The first letter from leicester offices stating we have to contact them by 5th feb with the contact name of our debt advisor ( guess that would be me then!?) and in the meantime they have suspended fee's / interest.
The second letter ( from Northampton office) stating that they are happy to accept our £1 per month offer and they will suspend interest / charges but collections action will continue and they want us to contact them before the 4th Feb.

All a bit confusing really. We genuinely cant afford much more than the £1 per month so who do we reply to and how do we avoid the collections action?

Any advice welcome

PM x

mark2004uk

I was in the 4th year of an IVA and I split from partner and moved house, I informed my IVA people about this and I asked to skip one payment.

They did nothing at all to contact me at my mew address, and when I made a payment to my IVA it was sent back saying account not found.

Today I had a letter from one of the creditors that was in my IVA, so it looks like they failed my IVA without contacting me.

What happens to all the cash I have paid into the IVA ?

Can I just go for a Debt Relief order now instead?

I know they cost £90 and you can do them yourself. I literally am now at the end and I can't take no more at all.

I am so mad that i paid IVA for like 4 years and where is the cash?

ineedcash

Well here goes, I have owed money on credit cards and loans for years and never seem to be able to reduce them. It has now this month got to the point where I have not got enough money to make all the dd payments and I have a letter today from one credit card company saying I have incured a charge for going over my limit. I dont know what to to next, I will have no cash to buy food for my family this month. I need help to get my finances back in order. i have debts of around £30,000 and dont see any way out, any help would be most welcome :mad:

Loobysaver

I have had a debt collector knock on my door twice this week looking for my boyfriend. I have ignored the door but it is pretty obvious there is someone home as lights are on etc. (he left his card)

My boyfriend is not on the electoral roll at my address yet and the only reason the debt collector has called here is because he was hassling my boyfriends ex where she lives and she gave him our address. There is no other trail so show he lives here, i.e no credit card, no recent credit etc.

I would appreciate some advice
1. debt is over 6 years old
2. debt collector only has my partners ex word he lives here

HOWEVER, To put a spanner in the works I think my partners ex has admitted to the debt and has agreed to pay £10 per month towards it even though it is only in my partners name. This was before the 6 years were up so does this affect things?

We don't know what to do. Do we continue ignoring or do we need to start sending letters to the creditor?

Any advice would be great. Thanks.

muners

Hello, I previously posted this:

Hello, I have noticed on my Equifax credit report today that Mackenzie Hall have carried out a table 1 search on me back in july and put down "outstanding Debt" I sent a statute of limitation letter to them at the start of august when i received a letter from them with just a reference number on it (unfortunately not recorded delivery). Today a received another letter from them with the details of the alleged debt (£3003.41 to HFC bank although willing to settle for £2252.56 within five days)

I paid this loan off in 2002 when my father left me some money in his will (much to the annoyance of my solicitor dealing with my divorce at the time) however I have no receipt for this. I have a letter from my bank stating even they do not keep recoreds going back that far.

I have written another Statute of Limitation letter this afternoon and will send it recorded delivery this time. I am wondering what my options are and any plan of action i can take including getting the table 1 search removed???


Since I sent this letter (nearly two months ago) I have heard nothing, had no reply no phone call etc. Yet the table 1 search remains on my credit report..... I am moving home in a couple of weeks what should I do??

StepChange_Pavan

DFW2012 wrote: »

Hi,

I have gone through my debt issues with CCCS and had a call booked today to speak to an advisor regarding a possible IVA, I have been given the option of that or a DMP, but when the advisor called I didn’t realize that they then make another appointment for an IVA advisor to call you back to discuss. Anyway, the first appointment I
can have is Monday 23rd January.

I just wondered if you could answer a couple of questions until then please?


From reading the information that was originally sent it contained details about IVA’s and a DMP:

The IVA would just be in my name

Why would an IVA affect my job?
What happens to my credit file at the end of 5 years?


I have been trying to open a new bank account and they did ask if I had any IVA etc. and I said no as technically I don’t – is that ok?


Will an IVA affect my husband in anyway?



It mentioned a joint debt and that creditors will expect the other person to make up the difference - we do have a joint loan but it has been included in full on my statement of affairs


Also mentioned was equity by remortgaging 6 months prior to the end of the IVA - I don't really understand what that means.



Thank you for any advice you can give

Hi DFW2012 and thanks for your post.

An IVA would only affect your job if it was stated as part of the terms of your employment. It only usually affects people that work within the financial industry – accountants for example. If it was recommended as an option, it’s unlikely that it will affect you but you can confirm this with your advisor at your next appointment or check the terms of your employment contract.

Everything that’s on your credit file will remain there for 6 years – so after 5 years there should be another year before anything starts dropping off. It’s fine to say that you don’t have an IVA as you haven’t signed up to anything yet.

If you have a joint debt, this will affect your husband as he will become solely liable for the remainder of the debt.

With regards to the mortgage, you will be asked to release your share at a reduced valuation. If you’re unable to release the equity, you may have to continue paying into the IVA for another 12 months. If however there is no equity, or less than £5000, you won’t be asked to remortgage.

I hope that’s answered your questions, but you will have the opportunity to go through everything in much more detail when you have your appointment.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

dlongmore wrote: »

Hello,

I hope someone can give me some advice.
I have 2 ccj's on my credit report dating back to late 2008. I am now able to pay both of these off, except a company which is dealing with one of them can not find it on their system. Is there anything I can do to rectify this?

Thanks
Dave

Hi Dave and thanks for your post.

They may have sold the debt on to a different company. You could contact the courts as they may have more up to date records or they should be able to advise you what to do.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

proudmumof1 wrote: »

Need a bit of advice if possible. To update you all I am at the early stages of managing the DMP process myself, writing all letters, fielding calls, etc and all the fun that goes with that!

Everyone I have spoken to so far has been reasonable bordering on flexible, bearing in mind i am not using a DMP company and trying to resolve the issues myself.

One of the credit cards we owe on is barclaycard and today I received 2 letters from them. From different offices.
The first letter from leicester offices stating we have to contact them by 5th feb with the contact name of our debt advisor ( guess that would be me then!?) and in the meantime they have suspended fee's / interest.
The second letter ( from Northampton office) stating that they are happy to accept our £1 per month offer and they will suspend interest / charges but collections action will continue and they want us to contact them before the 4th Feb.

All a bit confusing really. We genuinely cant afford much more than the £1 per month so who do we reply to and how do we avoid the collections action?

Any advice welcome

PM x

Hi PM and thanks for your post.

It looks as though you’ve already had some useful advice and you’re posting the letters today.

The only way you can avoid court action is to keep them updated of your situation and continue to pay whatever you can afford. They can of course sell the debt on or apply for a CCJ but you will have done as much as you can to avoid this.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

mark2004uk wrote: »

I was in the 4th year of an IVA and I split from partner and moved house, I informed my IVA people about this and I asked to skip one payment.

They did nothing at all to contact me at my mew address, and when I made a payment to my IVA it was sent back saying account not found.

Today I had a letter from one of the creditors that was in my IVA, so it looks like they failed my IVA without contacting me.

What happens to all the cash I have paid into the IVA ?

Can I just go for a Debt Relief order now instead?

I know they cost £90 and you can do them yourself. I literally am now at the end and I can't take no more at all.

I am so mad that i paid IVA for like 4 years and where is the cash?

Hi mark2004uk and thanks for your post.

If they failed your IVA they should have sent you correspondence through the post advising you of this. I’d recommend that you contact your IVA provider for confirmation of what has happened – there may be ways of continuing on the IVA but because it’s a legally binding solution it depends on what was written into the terms and they would need to check this.

If your IVA has failed you can contact us and we can look at your situation in more detail to see what options are available to you.

If you feel that you weren’t advised properly by your IVA company you could also consider putting in a complaint. This leaflet explains how to do this in more detail: http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/bispartners/insolvency/docs/publication-pdfs/ipcomplaint.pdf

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

ineedcash wrote: »

Well here goes, I have owed money on credit cards and loans for years and never seem to be able to reduce them. It has now this month got to the point where I have not got enough money to make all the dd payments and I have a letter today from one credit card company saying I have incured a charge for going over my limit. I dont know what to to next, I will have no cash to buy food for my family this month. I need help to get my finances back in order. i have debts of around £30,000 and dont see any way out, any help would be most welcome :mad:

Hi ineedcash and thanks for your post.

The most important thing is that you have enough money for you and your family to live off. I’d recommend that you get in touch so that we can look at your situation in more detail and advise you 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.

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’d prefer to speak to an advisor then you can 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