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StepChange_Pavan

Miley88 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm doing this on behalf of my mother-in-law so please bear with me whilst i take you through all the facts!

About 7/8 years ago her husband (my husbands stepd dad) had a business which was going slightly belly up so to help make ends meat they took out credit cards in (in her name) as their outgoings were more than their incomings with 4 children.

About 2 years laters he went bankrupt and they had close to £11000 between 2 credit cards and they'd been told they owed money back to DWP due to an over payment on child tax credits for her 2 children and his 2 children from a previous marriage. The over payment was over £2000.

Fast forward to the november 2011 and she had another credit card in her name which she used to put tyres, tax and mot for his car on it.

March 2012 they split up - he leaves her with all the debt which currently stands at £7400 for the 2 credit cards which is with a debt management agency so interest has been frozen. £700 for child tax credits and £1500 on her current credit card (approx £600 of which was for his car). Her estranged husband hasn't paid any money to her for the debts even though the child tax credits are for his kids as well, the credit cards were used to pay for food, bills ( water, sewage, electrics, gas etc) clothes for all the kids as well as them.

My mother in law is currently 58 and only brings in £900 a month working full time. Shes had to move from a 3 bed semi to a studio flat (luckily costing £350/month in rent) but after shes paid her utilities, food, running costs for car (which she needs due an elderly relative) and paying £50 towards big debt, £10 to child tax and £50 to current credit card shes left with £50 a month with no money going into savings. She doesnt qualify fora debt relief order and unfortunately none of the children can help - weve only just remortgaged prior to this happening to redo windows, another child is in the process of buying her first house, another child owes a lot of money to his dad and the other 2 children cant afford to help.

Is there any way in which some of this debt can be transferred into his name especially as it was for both of them?

Thanks for any advice/help you can give.

Miley88

Hi Miley88 and welcome to the forum.

Mum2one is right that if the debts are in joint names, unfortunately they can chase her for the entire amount if her ex isn’t making any payments. This blogpost goes into a bit more detail about joint debts: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/09/we-got-a-joint-loan-now-weve-split-who-has-to-pay/.

I’d really recommend that your mother-in-law gets some free and impartial advice to see what her options are. She can use our online Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) or call our free helpline (0800 138 1111) and we will look at her situation in more detail.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

nobodystwistingyourarm

CCCS_Pavan wrote: »

Hello, and welcome to the forum

We don’t usually recommend consolidating existing debts if you’re already struggling because it can sometimes make the situation worse in the long term. Here’s some more information on why we say this: (link removed because I'm a newbie! - NTYA)

Also, you might find it difficult to get approved for a loan, particularly if you’ve made late payments in the past.

If you’d like us to look at your situation in a bit more detail to see what your options are you can visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy or call our Helpline on 0800 138 1111 (free including from mobiles). We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 3pm.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

Thanks Pavan. I tried the Debt Remedy tool and it suggested a DMP, and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense (especially as I had an email from Barclaycard informing me that they're increasing the interest rate on my card soon!) Just a couple more questions:

1. I'm about to get married, but my spouse and I will continue to manage our finances separately for the foreseeable future. Will being married have any effect? (When I completed the info on Debt Remedy I put down that I was paying for 50% of rent, bills etc, which is the case.)

2. I have not yet missed a payment because I have managed to scrape enough together each month, but only by using credit cards to supplement my income. Will the fact that I haven't missed a payment preclude me from being accepted for a DMP?

Thanks for this. I'll probably be in touch with CCCS with more detailed questions soon.

roppa2000

My elderly mother has vascular dementia i have NOT got power of attorney but took over her finances about 2 year ago and been paying bills through online banking for her she has £5k of debt through store/credit cards i have been paying them with her pension and allowances but she has now got much worse and been taken into emergency care and looks like she will go into carehome she has no savings and only £600 in bank and all her benifits will pay for care where do i start she has 4 cards owing from a few hundred to couple of thousand

cherrydiva

Gueld wrote: »

Hi

I have around 7.5K in unsecured debts, I am 25 and will be losing my jobseekers allowance due to being out of work for over 6 months. (Can only seem to get unpaid internships with my degree, sigh)

I have been considering using a Trust Deed as I am in Scotland. It would be £165 a month (which my mother can help with).

My question is, what are the disadvantages of this? Are there any other options? Are Trust Deeds worth it? I am cautious as obviously the companies doing this get something out of it so I'm worried they might not tell me everything.

Hi, not sure if this thread is just for CCCS to reply, but just wanted to say that this seems high for a Trust Deed for £7.5k debt. You would be paying out nearly £6k over 3 years, probably £4k of it is IP fees. If you have that much surplus then you might want to look into Debt Arrangement Scheme as it looks like you could clear your debts in full over a slightly longer period with £165/month. http://www.dasscotland.gov.uk/ you can find a free money adviser on there or go to your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau, they will go over all options outlining pros/cons.

tobeincontrol

Hi - I am looking for some input on what I think seems to be a sticky problem but I am just not sure what can be done -

The basics - I started some time back (years) with a Debt Management Plan - for debts totaling £80K - I have been paying £800 per month without fail against these and this is split over 6 different accounts. As of now the outstanding is roughly £48K.

Two of the debts are with one bank who have issued CCJ's and taken a charge against them on my house - but have been happy for me to continue paying via the DMP so have not and will not pursue the charge as long as this continues.

In April next year my in laws will have a lump sum of money that they have said will be given to us as a gift - as yet I am not aware exactly how much but it is likely to be about £10,000.

I would like to try and see if there is any way I can get these depts finally settled at that time but I am unsure what the mechanics are in such a complex case (at least to me it seems that it is).

My questions -

1) If I offer a F&F should I account for the outstanding balance only or could I argue that I have already settled 35/40% of the original balances whilst on the plan - effectively saying I will pay 50% of the original pre DMP outstanding balance therefore leaving me 10/15% of the original total to pay as F&F - so if the original was £10,000, I have already settled £3,500 via the DMP there the F&F offer would be an additional £1,500 - giving a total F&F of 50% - - Is this feasible or am I just dreaming. If this is possible then I can really see a way to use the family money next year to clear this lot once and for all.

2) If I am dreaming on point 1 - is there any account taken of the monies I have already paid or will any F&F negotiation just start from scratch on the existing Outstanding balance?


3) with regard to the two debts that are set up as charges against my house - given that the bank (in both cases these are now with Shakespeare) has a pretty definite chance of seeing all their money if I ever sold the house would they even entertain the idea of a F&F settlement.

I hope this all makes some sense and I look forward to some thoughts.

TBIC

insurancedays

heyy... please can you explain futher, i am also suffering to this problem of debt.

StepChange_Pavan

nobodystwistingyourarm wrote: »

Thanks Pavan. I tried the Debt Remedy tool and it suggested a DMP, and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense (especially as I had an email from Barclaycard informing me that they're increasing the interest rate on my card soon!) Just a couple more questions:

1. I'm about to get married, but my spouse and I will continue to manage our finances separately for the foreseeable future. Will being married have any effect? (When I completed the info on Debt Remedy I put down that I was paying for 50% of rent, bills etc, which is the case.)

2. I have not yet missed a payment because I have managed to scrape enough together each month, but only by using credit cards to supplement my income. Will the fact that I haven't missed a payment preclude me from being accepted for a DMP?

Thanks for this. I'll probably be in touch with CCCS with more detailed questions soon.

Hi again,

Being married won’t affect your DMP as long as the budget remains the same like you mention. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t missed a payment yet – it just shows that you’ve taken control of the situation a little sooner.

If you have more detailed questions, it’s best to get in touch with your reference number so they can access your information.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

roppa2000 wrote: »

My elderly mother has vascular dementia i have NOT got power of attorney but took over her finances about 2 year ago and been paying bills through online banking for her she has £5k of debt through store/credit cards i have been paying them with her pension and allowances but she has now got much worse and been taken into emergency care and looks like she will go into carehome she has no savings and only £600 in bank and all her benifits will pay for care where do i start she has 4 cards owing from a few hundred to couple of thousand

Hi roppa2000 and thanks for your question.

I’m sorry to hear about your mum; hopefully you’ll be pleased to know that you’ve come to the right place for advice.

Although you don’t have power of attorney, you’re in a good position to seek help on her behalf if you know the details of her situation.

We would just need written or verbal authority from your mum to be able to give detailed advice. Once we have this you can use our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu)or call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111 (free including from mobiles and we’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 3pm).

The basics we will need to know is her income, expenditure and details of her creditors (how much she owes and who to). Once we know more, we can go through all the solutions that are available with you.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

tobeincontrol wrote: »

Hi - I am looking for some input on what I think seems to be a sticky problem but I am just not sure what can be done -

The basics - I started some time back (years) with a Debt Management Plan - for debts totaling £80K - I have been paying £800 per month without fail against these and this is split over 6 different accounts. As of now the outstanding is roughly £48K.

Two of the debts are with one bank who have issued CCJ's and taken a charge against them on my house - but have been happy for me to continue paying via the DMP so have not and will not pursue the charge as long as this continues.

In April next year my in laws will have a lump sum of money that they have said will be given to us as a gift - as yet I am not aware exactly how much but it is likely to be about £10,000.

I would like to try and see if there is any way I can get these depts finally settled at that time but I am unsure what the mechanics are in such a complex case (at least to me it seems that it is).

My questions -

1) If I offer a F&F should I account for the outstanding balance only or could I argue that I have already settled 35/40% of the original balances whilst on the plan - effectively saying I will pay 50% of the original pre DMP outstanding balance therefore leaving me 10/15% of the original total to pay as F&F - so if the original was £10,000, I have already settled £3,500 via the DMP there the F&F offer would be an additional £1,500 - giving a total F&F of 50% - - Is this feasible or am I just dreaming. If this is possible then I can really see a way to use the family money next year to clear this lot once and for all.

2) If I am dreaming on point 1 - is there any account taken of the monies I have already paid or will any F&F negotiation just start from scratch on the existing Outstanding balance?


3) with regard to the two debts that are set up as charges against my house - given that the bank (in both cases these are now with Shakespeare) has a pretty definite chance of seeing all their money if I ever sold the house would they even entertain the idea of a F&F settlement.

I hope this all makes some sense and I look forward to some thoughts.

TBIC

Hi TBIC and welcome to the forum.

You don’t mention whether your DMP is with us, but if it is you can give us a call and we can give you a lot more detailed advice on making full and final settlements.

There’s never any guarantee that any of your creditors will agree to accepting settlement figures but it is worth a try. Explaining your situation and the amounts you have already repaid may help to get offers accepted but I can’t say for certain.

With the debts that are secured against the property; it’s still worth offering them a settlement but as you say the likelihood of them accepting will probably be less considering they know they have the security of getting the money back through the house.

I hope this helps, but like I mentioned, please give us a call if you’d like any clarification or have any more questions.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

insurancedays wrote: »

heyy... please can you explain futher, i am also suffering to this problem of debt.

Hi there,

If you can give us more details about your situation we will do our best to help and advise you.

Kind regards,
Pavan