Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

StepChange_Pavan

helpme12345 wrote: »

Hi everyone, i was hoping someone could advise me as im pretty worried about things at the moment. Last May/June i decided to face up to my debt problems and try to clear them, my parents offered to let us move in with them for £150 a month to help us out, my partner and i did this and everything has been going fine and making steady payments to cccs for the last year until this month. -- My parents have had to move away so my partner and i are having to move to new accomadation where the rent is £400 a month + we are now going to have to pay council tax etc. which we didnt at my parents. The problem is we cant afford this and the payment for ccccs and im really worried that the threatining letters are going to start again.
Any help or experience on someting like this would be appreciated.

Hi helpme12345 and thanks for your post.

The best thing to do is to give our support team a ring. It sounds as though your budget will change quite a lot so a DMP may not be the best option for you anymore but there could now be a different solution that’s best for you.

Either way we will be able to talk through your options to help you decide on what’s best for you.

Kind regards,
Pavan

southernbelle

I have been on a PayPlan DMP since late last year. All creditors have stopped interest and charges apart from HSBC, with whom I have an overdraft of 1626.89. The repayment each month is £77.17 and interest is £24.97.

I have asked them (via email) to stop the interest but they haven't. I know they don't have to, however is there something else I should be doing to try and persuade them? I have seen talk on other threads of the FOS - what is this and how do I get them involved?

Thanks in advance.

lucylou32

Hi, i'm hoping you might be able to offer me some advice.

About 10 years ago, i brought my flat, which i love to bits.

About 6 years ago i met a guy (isn't that how all sad stories begin lol) he moved in with me, paid ZERO rent or towards any bills because he didn't earn a great deal, we got engaged and i lent him £12,000 for a computer college course and car with the idea he could train to be a PC programmer and earn better money later on. I borrowed the £12,000 on my mortgage (stupid, i know)

2 years ago i found out he was cheating on me and we split up. He agreed to pay me back £4,000 out the outstanding £7,000. I agreed (something is better than nothing) however, he moved in with the new girl and said couldn't afford it.

He moved back in with his parents earlier this year, and so i asked for the money again, he refused. I hired an 'intermediary' who tried to agree payments, he refused. I completed a CCJ form at the cost of £100, he ignored, i'm about to complete an adjustments or earnings order and i receive a letter from him 'Debt Relief Order' does this mean i have no hope of getting my money back? even though he's now living at home and using his works van to and from work, and therefore has Zero expenses?

So far, i've been looking everything up online, because my local CAB only gives advise to those who can turn up at 9.30 in the morning, i can't do that without booking time off 1 month in advance.. and i don't want to wait a month can you advise? please ?
Thanks
Lucy
p.s - i've put my mortgage payments on hold at the moment, if he doesn't start to pay me back, i may start to have problems myself.

callyh26

Hi, Sorry for the long message :-/ But i need some advice?? I finally decided to tackle my debt last month after ignoring it since about 2006 and its built up since then. For years all debt letters etc have been stuck in drawers or the bin. But after meeting my partner and having a daughter together, we now have a son on the way and i also have a daughter from a previous relationship i decided i cant ignore it any more. I had a little debt up to about 2006 maybe a couple of thousand since then i split from my eldest child's father and slightly went off the rails. I did work till the beginning of 2009 but in this off rails period i wasnt paying any household bills only rent! I then left work and ended up taking more credit around the time all pay day loans came about (even though i wasnt working i managed to obtain over £1500 in loans ). My partner and myself cannot at the minute afford to live together (for a number of reasons) which i hate and hence why i decided to sit down and take stock of things. I was rather shocked when i started gathering up letters and today the total debt ive added up is £14,802! I was in the naive mind set of a figure around £6000. These debts varies between credit cards, overdraft, and utilities!! The highest amount is a £2500 overdraft and range down to a £70 electric bill. I haven't paid anything on many of these accounts since 2007/08 ish but how would i find exact dates of when anything was paid? As they are all with DCA's rather than the original creditor! Although when trying to get up to date letters from the DCA's for my DRO paperwork seems as soon as ive mentioned a DRO they have passed it back to original creditor! Considering these debts have been chased by more or less the same company the whole time i find it odd after emailing about DRO and hearing nothing when i rang them at least 4 so far have now said we dont have it now its gone back to original creditor! I understand i can write to each creditor and ask for a full statement etc from when the account was opened etc but is there a fee ? As the amount of different debts/creditors is about 33 separate accounts. I went to the CAB and was told the best way forward was probably a DRO, as i only have benefits to rely on and once household and general monthly bills i have nothing spare so even offering token payments of £1 per month isn't really an option as there are so many different debts. How do you think it would go if i wrote to each creditor basically saying i cannot pay the debt in full, my circumstances are unlikely to change and ask for them to write it off? (Long shot i know) Even if they agreed to reduce the figures it would be something? I want to plan for my future and although my credit ratings bad now i fear what a DRO will do? Do my circumstances have to stay exactly the same for a period of time during and after the DRO? As i almost have all the paper work i need to send to CCCS so it could possibly be sorted say by the beginning of July. I know from the point its awarded my circumstances have to stay the same for a year? But do they have to its ended a year on? Say for example the DRO was granted on the 1st July this year nothing changed for the next year but then in September next year we have discussed marriage so say we married 2 months after the year was up on the DRO could they revoke it? Or say i went back to work? I know i do want to return to work i am sick of living on benefits and want to work again but dont want a DRO if im then stuck at home for 2 years. I would in theory love to pay them all off asap! Once an accounts in default once 6 years has gone from the default day is the debt written off? Or does it simply dissapear from your credit file yet the creditor can still chase you for it? Many of the debts have defaulted but i simply dont want to sit for a year or what ever for the default to be 6 years old to then be chased for it anyway! Basically i just want some peace i hate being harassed via phone and letters for all this debt! But i cant bury my head any longer? So basically should i go for DRO? Or should i get the debts in order from smallest to largest try get full and final settlement reductions and try scrimp and save and get rid of them if i can without a DRO? How serious is it compared to say bankcrupsy? As since i applied for my credit report another debt has been added to my file that wasn't there a week or so ago so i am aware im very close to the £15,000 DRO limit anyway Thanks for reading my waffling!! Any advice/help greatly appreciated!

Ss3kjp

I have applied for a dmp with cccs, they are currently sending me paperwork to sign. Our debts are 31000 in Credit cards overdrafts and loan. I'm still not 100% sure it is the best option because of the following:

We are currently only paying a small amount of interest on 1 of our outstanding credit cards, and our overdrafts, all the rest are 0%.
Our credit rating is not that bad as we usually make all of our minimum payments.
If we take on dmp companies may start charging us interest that currently don't. This is a worry as one of our batclaycards is 9000 currently on 0% we don't want to have to pay interest on that. Is it therefore silly to take a dmp and make our credit rating worse when we are meeting our minimum payments?

Also one of our loans that we have met all of our payments on for 5yrs is ending in august, so it seems silly to default on this when it's not actually necessary to.

Additionally my husband is an actuary, and is concerned this may affect his promotion chances.

I am currently on smp in my cccs budget, in sept I will have no salary for 3 months, then I will go back to work and be on more money. Should we wait and do dmp after I go back to work?

THE REASON WE WANT THE DMP is to help us budget, so we know an end date to our debt, because my husband is struggling to get a new 0% to transfer one card as he has so much debt in his name, and to start paying off our overdrafts which we have just ignored since we left university and have lived within.

Is their a better option than taking a dmp? Should we keep paying minimum payments and try to negotiate intest on our overdrafts. So we don't get bad credit rating.

I'm really concerned about the amount of ppl who cccs hasn't managed to freeze interest for. We will be worse off if that is the case for us.

Please advise me, I'm happy to give more info.

ellen69

Please can you help with the following

Business account has an overdraft of £40,000 give or take a few pennies
Our dilema is ceasing to trade and what will the bank do?
We are proposing to put money in to reduce the balance via wages, as the business is only maintaining the overdraft and not reducing it.
Will they call it in and make us bankrupt? We have no sellable assets and live in rented accomandation.

We have since negotiated via CAB all our personal credit card debt so have had a little respite with the stress.

Hope you can help, Ellen

System

southernbelle wrote: »

I have been on a PayPlan DMP since late last year. All creditors have stopped interest and charges apart from HSBC, with whom I have an overdraft of 1626.89. The repayment each month is £77.17 and interest is £24.97.

I have asked them (via email) to stop the interest but they haven't. I know they don't have to, however is there something else I should be doing to try and persuade them? I have seen talk on other threads of the FOS - what is this and how do I get them involved?

Thanks in advance.

Hi and thanks for your message.

I think the other threads could be referring to making a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

As you say the creditors are under no obligation to stop interest and charges but I’d recommend that if you do ask them to do this that you send the request into HSBC in writing and by recorded delivery. In the letter you should clearly state that you are making your best efforts to repay with the help of PayPlan. Asking for a response in writing would also be good.

You could also mention in the letter that other creditors had agreed to your payment plan and had suspended interest and charges. If you feel that HSBC are acting unfairly you could consider a complaint.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

cluelesskerry

Hi,
i had a bailiff round yesterday who gave me a bailiff removal notice with a liability order and warrant of execution letter, he stated that i need to pay £500 of the balance on thursday, (tomorrow) before i can agree repayments with them, i rang him today and told him i just cannot get that amount and i have tried everything to get it, he point blank refused to help me out i pointed out to him how does he expect me to get £500 in 2 days when i dont even get that a month on jobseekers altogether! i also told him that i have nothing of value to take (which i dont) and he said that will be for him to decide, i also pointed out that just about everything i own is on hire purchase , my bed kids beds kids drawers my drawers the tv (i have proof of this) he told me he will still take items of value even though they are on hire purchase i didnt think they were allowed to do this?, i rang the council and asiked if there is anything they could and they said no not now it is with the bailiffs.

i dont know what else to do i am on jobseekers at the minute as my partner was laid off at christmas i have no savings and no credit card to pay them what right do i have? and what right do they have?

can i please ask for an urgent reply as they are coming in the morning


o and total balance is £1986 it is for council tax arreas

System

lucylou32 wrote: »

Hi, i'm hoping you might be able to offer me some advice.

About 10 years ago, i brought my flat, which i love to bits.

About 6 years ago i met a guy (isn't that how all sad stories begin lol) he moved in with me, paid ZERO rent or towards any bills because he didn't earn a great deal, we got engaged and i lent him £12,000 for a computer college course and car with the idea he could train to be a PC programmer and earn better money later on. I borrowed the £12,000 on my mortgage (stupid, i know)

2 years ago i found out he was cheating on me and we split up. He agreed to pay me back £4,000 out the outstanding £7,000. I agreed (something is better than nothing) however, he moved in with the new girl and said couldn't afford it.

He moved back in with his parents earlier this year, and so i asked for the money again, he refused. I hired an 'intermediary' who tried to agree payments, he refused. I completed a CCJ form at the cost of £100, he ignored, i'm about to complete an adjustments or earnings order and i receive a letter from him 'Debt Relief Order' does this mean i have no hope of getting my money back? even though he's now living at home and using his works van to and from work, and therefore has Zero expenses?

So far, i've been looking everything up online, because my local CAB only gives advise to those who can turn up at 9.30 in the morning, i can't do that without booking time off 1 month in advance.. and i don't want to wait a month can you advise? please ?
Thanks
Lucy
p.s - i've put my mortgage payments on hold at the moment, if he doesn't start to pay me back, i may start to have problems myself.

Hi Lucy and thanks for your message.

If you ex has secured a debt relief order (DRO) it will be listed in the insolvency service database. You can search by name here –
http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/

If DRO has been granted it would be worth contacting to the Official Receiver involved to verify if your ex has included any personal debts owed to you. You should check the amounts listed if they are included. You’d need to speak to the OR dealing with the case if you dispute any amounts or if the debts are not included.

If this is causing you to have financial problems I would recommend that you call our free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturday 9am until 3.00pm.

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

Mat

System

callyh26 wrote: »

Hi, Sorry for the long message :-/ But i need some advice?? I finally decided to tackle my debt last month after ignoring it since about 2006 and its built up since then. For years all debt letters etc have been stuck in drawers or the bin. But after meeting my partner and having a daughter together, we now have a son on the way and i also have a daughter from a previous relationship i decided i cant ignore it any more. I had a little debt up to about 2006 maybe a couple of thousand since then i split from my eldest child's father and slightly went off the rails. I did work till the beginning of 2009 but in this off rails period i wasnt paying any household bills only rent! I then left work and ended up taking more credit around the time all pay day loans came about (even though i wasnt working i managed to obtain over £1500 in loans ). My partner and myself cannot at the minute afford to live together (for a number of reasons) which i hate and hence why i decided to sit down and take stock of things. I was rather shocked when i started gathering up letters and today the total debt ive added up is £14,802! I was in the naive mind set of a figure around £6000. These debts varies between credit cards, overdraft, and utilities!! The highest amount is a £2500 overdraft and range down to a £70 electric bill. I haven't paid anything on many of these accounts since 2007/08 ish but how would i find exact dates of when anything was paid? As they are all with DCA's rather than the original creditor! Although when trying to get up to date letters from the DCA's for my DRO paperwork seems as soon as ive mentioned a DRO they have passed it back to original creditor! Considering these debts have been chased by more or less the same company the whole time i find it odd after emailing about DRO and hearing nothing when i rang them at least 4 so far have now said we dont have it now its gone back to original creditor! I understand i can write to each creditor and ask for a full statement etc from when the account was opened etc but is there a fee ? As the amount of different debts/creditors is about 33 separate accounts. I went to the CAB and was told the best way forward was probably a DRO, as i only have benefits to rely on and once household and general monthly bills i have nothing spare so even offering token payments of £1 per month isn't really an option as there are so many different debts. How do you think it would go if i wrote to each creditor basically saying i cannot pay the debt in full, my circumstances are unlikely to change and ask for them to write it off? (Long shot i know) Even if they agreed to reduce the figures it would be something? I want to plan for my future and although my credit ratings bad now i fear what a DRO will do? Do my circumstances have to stay exactly the same for a period of time during and after the DRO? As i almost have all the paper work i need to send to CCCS so it could possibly be sorted say by the beginning of July. I know from the point its awarded my circumstances have to stay the same for a year? But do they have to its ended a year on? Say for example the DRO was granted on the 1st July this year nothing changed for the next year but then in September next year we have discussed marriage so say we married 2 months after the year was up on the DRO could they revoke it? Or say i went back to work? I know i do want to return to work i am sick of living on benefits and want to work again but dont want a DRO if im then stuck at home for 2 years. I would in theory love to pay them all off asap! Once an accounts in default once 6 years has gone from the default day is the debt written off? Or does it simply dissapear from your credit file yet the creditor can still chase you for it? Many of the debts have defaulted but i simply dont want to sit for a year or what ever for the default to be 6 years old to then be chased for it anyway! Basically i just want some peace i hate being harassed via phone and letters for all this debt! But i cant bury my head any longer? So basically should i go for DRO? Or should i get the debts in order from smallest to largest try get full and final settlement reductions and try scrimp and save and get rid of them if i can without a DRO? How serious is it compared to say bankcrupsy? As since i applied for my credit report another debt has been added to my file that wasn't there a week or so ago so i am aware im very close to the £15,000 DRO limit anyway Thanks for reading my waffling!! Any advice/help greatly appreciated!

Hi and thanks for your message.

A debt relief order (DRO) is a cheaper form of bankruptcy for people with a low income and no assets. As you said, to apply for a DRO you would need to owe less than £15,000. It is a form of insolvency and will be listed on your credit file for six years.

In the DRO your debts would be frozen for a period of 12 months, if after 12 months your situation hasn’t changed the debt is written off. After the 12 months the Official Receiver dealing with the case will have no further interest in your affairs.

We have a dedicated DRO team, I’d recommend that you get in touch with us as soon as you can so that we can look at your case. In regards paperwork it could be a case that some of what you already have may be sufficient. The quicker you speak to us and send the paperwork in the better.

Creditors are unlikely to write off any debt otherwise, but it’s also important that we help you put together a balanced budget to make sure you can cover all your essential costs going forward.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat