Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

StepChange_Pavan

gael wrote: »

My partner of 3 years has finally allowed me to try and sort out his credit card debt but I have no idea where to start. The most recent letter I can find is dated 8th March 2012 and is from Makenzie hall specialist debt recovery and trace solution provider. They are offering him "Settlement Offers" such as pay 50% by last working day of month and account is clear - is this for real? He owes £2519.73 but he can only afford to pay back £100 per month. What should I do? Do I contact these Debt recovery people and try and negotiate a deal or should we try and borrow the 50% of amount and pay off? We just would not have the money to hand to pay it off either in full or even 50%. I have no idea how long he has owed this for but definately longer than 3 years. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I have no idea how to deal with it but want to get it sorted asap. Thanks in advance

Hi gael and thanks for your post.

The first thing to do is to put together a realistic budget to work out exactly how much he can afford to pay each month.

The settlement offers may seem like a good deal but you would need written confirmation that they won’t chase him for the remaining debt or sell it on to another collection agency before you pay it. If you’re going to borrow the money from elsewhere, you still need to work out how much you can afford to repay and at what rate.

If your boyfriend is happy for us to speak to you on his behalf, we would just need his permission (written or verbal) then we can give you some more detailed advice on his options. You’d need to gather details of his income, expenditure and creditors before you contact us, and then you can either use our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) or call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday, 8am – 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 2pm.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

sofa_bean wrote: »

Hi

We've been on a DMP with CCCS for around 3½ years with about another 3 years to go. All going pretty well - creditors have all frozen interest some time ago and we don't get any hassle from them.

I've just received a cheque for a refund of PPI from Lloyds (one of our creditors) which amounts to about 45% of our total remaining debt.

Just wondering if there would be any risk to the DMP if we were to offer F&F's to our creditors (Lloyds loan and credit card, Santander loan and overdraft and HFC loan). We could go up to 45% of each remaining debt.

Whatever happens, we want to use this money towards our DMP, but we're thinking that rather than just pay off a lump sum split between our creditors now, we might be able to negotiate with them to get rid of at least some of the debts completely.

Would appreciate any thoughts on this.

sofa_bean

Hi sofa_bean and thanks for your post.

As you’re already on a DMP it’s best that you call us to discuss your options. We have a settlement team that can help you if you decide you’d like to settle all of your debts at once.

Kind regards,
Pavan

fastman43

Hi i have had an offer from Aktiv kapital .i have an account with them an old AA loan outstanding balance of £1410.51 .Aktiv Kapital say if i pay £352.62 this will clear my account. sounds like very good discount and i have the letter from them ,but i dont have £352.62 unless i dont pay some of my mortgage. Wopuld it be worth me paying Aktiv and not my mortgage? please advise me if you would on what i should do.

sl1987

Hi in need of some advice.

Me and my partner currently have 6 creditors which we owe £4000 to, two of my creditors I have payment plans with (RBS is for £25 per month and Very is £163 per month) The RBS one is manageable as it is paying off the overdraft I have and the interest and will be paid off by October BUT Very is set too high.
My Very account has been used and paid for for the past two years but last year I missed a payment because of a mix up at the housing benefit office.
I explained this to Very and they said just make my payments as normal I did this until January this year they requested the missing payment.
They set the monthly repayments at £163 per month and would not accept any lower, I could not physical make the first payment but made March payment and sent them a letter asking to reduce the payments to £125 per month which was a little more affordable, they refused and when I rang them the lady was so rude but she offered me a reduced plan at £141 per month but only on the basis that I made a £20 payment there and then I could not do this and I now have received a letter saying they are going to hand my account to a Debt Recovery company if I do not pay the outstanding £163 and this months £163!

I sent Very a letter with our budget on surely they can see that we are stretched by this current plan.
I am a student with two children, I am doing a degree paying university fees and doing some supply work (which then means I owe Housing Benefit and my occasional work does not match the amount I loose out on in housing benefit -Its a mad world that punish you for working!!)
My partner is on a low income and does 60+ hours overtime a month on top of his normal income just to make ends meet. His debts (the other four creditors) are all credit cards of which three have been suspended and one we use, they have accumulated through paying for household bills etc.

I am worried that these debts are having a damaging affect on our credit rating. And we don't want to go down the route of an IVA. Can you suggest anything?
Our monthly income is £1,954
Our monthly outgoings are £1,930
sl1987

Ruscik12

Hi need a quick advice.

I have lost my job at the end of February. Currently looking for one and waiting for benefits reply.
From experience I had 3 years ago when I was in the same situation just had some savings it will take me about 5 - 6 months to find a job, well I hope. If I do not get my benefits I am done if I do I will still not be able to pay my bank/CC monthly.
If not job situation I would be paying that all as normal but would probably move my NatWest loan to other bank if possible as APR I got is not that good.
More I think about more I am convinced now is time to finish the debt game or drastically reduce it.

Was planning to contact CCCS but I am not a British citizen. I live in UK, London for 8 years now and this is my second unemployment in that time mainly as I get bored out of my head when I am off work for to long so can not even take longer holiday (workaholic in a making possibly).

Will CCCS be able to help me?

As said I am EU citizen, Polish. Lived in UK 8 years and except parents/sisters no ties in Poland as planning to stay here.
I have a Barclaycard CC with about 1.7k over and unsecured bank loan with Natwest. It was 17k taken for 7 years and I paid over 1 year of it now at 307 a month.
Currently I am ok on all of them and will pay everything this month (April). However if no benefits then May I will be short a bit and rest I start taking more debt on.

wanna_be_debt_free_2

Hi there
Over the past 6 years my husband and I have fell into the 'easy money' trap and racked up alot of debt. We went into a debt managemnt plan 4 years ago with DFM but havent seen any real improvements. I have now been made redundant and struggling to make ends meet. I am a mother of 4 beautiful children ranging from 3 - 13 and I have started my own business as the cost of childcare out weighed getting another full time job. We have cut back on everything we can, cant remember the last time we got to take the children away and I am so tired of saying 'no I can't afford it' to the children. We arent living we are existing and it has got on top of me so much I am on anti-depressants, the joke is I sometimes even cant afford the prescriptions. My husband are I are willing to work as hard as we can to get ourselves back on our feet but I just dont know whereto start and the more frustrated I get the more depressed I get. If anyone has any pointers on where to start it would be most appreciated:(

StepChange_Pavan

fastman43 wrote: »

Hi i have had an offer from Aktiv kapital .i have an account with them an old AA loan outstanding balance of £1410.51 .Aktiv Kapital say if i pay £352.62 this will clear my account. sounds like very good discount and i have the letter from them ,but i dont have £352.62 unless i dont pay some of my mortgage. Wopuld it be worth me paying Aktiv and not my mortgage? please advise me if you would on what i should do.

Hi fastman43 and welcome to the forum.

I definitely wouldn’t recommend not paying your mortgage as you could put your house at risk if you’re unable to bring your payments back up to date.

Even if you pay the amount they’ve specified, there’s no guarantee that they won’t sell the remaining debt on to a collection agency. You would need written confirmation that they wouldn’t do this and that the debt would be fully satisfied before you made any payments.

If you’d like some more detailed advice on your options and what to, you can call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday, 8am – 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 2pm.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

sl1987 wrote: »

Hi in need of some advice.

Me and my partner currently have 6 creditors which we owe £4000 to, two of my creditors I have payment plans with (RBS is for £25 per month and Very is £163 per month) The RBS one is manageable as it is paying off the overdraft I have and the interest and will be paid off by October BUT Very is set too high.
My Very account has been used and paid for for the past two years but last year I missed a payment because of a mix up at the housing benefit office.
I explained this to Very and they said just make my payments as normal I did this until January this year they requested the missing payment.
They set the monthly repayments at £163 per month and would not accept any lower, I could not physical make the first payment but made March payment and sent them a letter asking to reduce the payments to £125 per month which was a little more affordable, they refused and when I rang them the lady was so rude but she offered me a reduced plan at £141 per month but only on the basis that I made a £20 payment there and then I could not do this and I now have received a letter saying they are going to hand my account to a Debt Recovery company if I do not pay the outstanding £163 and this months £163!

I sent Very a letter with our budget on surely they can see that we are stretched by this current plan.
I am a student with two children, I am doing a degree paying university fees and doing some supply work (which then means I owe Housing Benefit and my occasional work does not match the amount I loose out on in housing benefit -Its a mad world that punish you for working!!)
My partner is on a low income and does 60+ hours overtime a month on top of his normal income just to make ends meet. His debts (the other four creditors) are all credit cards of which three have been suspended and one we use, they have accumulated through paying for household bills etc.

I am worried that these debts are having a damaging affect on our credit rating. And we don't want to go down the route of an IVA. Can you suggest anything?
Our monthly income is £1,954
Our monthly outgoings are £1,930
sl1987

Hi sl1987 and thanks for your post.

It’s likely that you will have already affected your credit rating but this shouldn’t matter so much as you’re probably not looking for further credit at the moment.

If Very do pass the debt on to a collection agency, this may not be such a bad thing as they may stop or at least reduce the interest and charges.

It’s best to work out a household budget and spilt the surplus fairly between each of your creditors. Although they might ask you for extra payments, you can’t pay them money that you haven’t got.

If you’d like us to look at your situation in more detail and advise you on the solutions that are available to you, 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.

You’ve taken the first step to sorting out your money worries and we can support you with free and impartial advice along the way.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

Ruscik12 wrote: »

Hi need a quick advice.

I have lost my job at the end of February. Currently looking for one and waiting for benefits reply.
From experience I had 3 years ago when I was in the same situation just had some savings it will take me about 5 - 6 months to find a job, well I hope. If I do not get my benefits I am done if I do I will still not be able to pay my bank/CC monthly.
If not job situation I would be paying that all as normal but would probably move my NatWest loan to other bank if possible as APR I got is not that good.
More I think about more I am convinced now is time to finish the debt game or drastically reduce it.

Was planning to contact CCCS but I am not a British citizen. I live in UK, London for 8 years now and this is my second unemployment in that time mainly as I get bored out of my head when I am off work for to long so can not even take longer holiday (workaholic in a making possibly).

Will CCCS be able to help me?

As said I am EU citizen, Polish. Lived in UK 8 years and except parents/sisters no ties in Poland as planning to stay here.
I have a Barclaycard CC with about 1.7k over and unsecured bank loan with Natwest. It was 17k taken for 7 years and I paid over 1 year of it now at 307 a month.
Currently I am ok on all of them and will pay everything this month (April). However if no benefits then May I will be short a bit and rest I start taking more debt on.

Hi Ruscik12 and welcome to the forum.

We can advise you on your options, but obviously these may change once you know whether you are entitled to any benefits or not.

I’d recommend that you give us a call so that we can talk through your situation. It might be that we give you some general advice and then once you know how much you will be getting in benefits you can update us with your circumstances and we can give you some more specific advice.

You can call us free on 0800 138 1111 and we’re open Monday to Friday, 8am – 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 2pm.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

wanna_be_debt_free wrote: »

Hi there
Over the past 6 years my husband and I have fell into the 'easy money' trap and racked up alot of debt. We went into a debt managemnt plan 4 years ago with DFM but havent seen any real improvements. I have now been made redundant and struggling to make ends meet. I am a mother of 4 beautiful children ranging from 3 - 13 and I have started my own business as the cost of childcare out weighed getting another full time job. We have cut back on everything we can, cant remember the last time we got to take the children away and I am so tired of saying 'no I can't afford it' to the children. We arent living we are existing and it has got on top of me so much I am on anti-depressants, the joke is I sometimes even cant afford the prescriptions. My husband are I are willing to work as hard as we can to get ourselves back on our feet but I just dont know whereto start and the more frustrated I get the more depressed I get. If anyone has any pointers on where to start it would be most appreciated:(

Hi wanna be debt free and welcome to the forum


You’ve done the right thing by contacting us – we can help you find the solution to help you get debt free.

The first thing to do is 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.

You’ve taken the first step to sorting out your money worries and we can support you with free and impartial advice along the way.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan