Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Mrs_G

Me and My new husband have been together for over 10years. 7 years ago, we had our daughter - we were 17 and 18.

Ever since, we have both worked - full time, paying for our daughter to go into a creche (with our own money) not claiming any benefits from the government, paying all our taxes and finally renting a house privately of which we pay all the rent ourselves. (My mum was kind and let us live with her for the first few years)

However, over the years this has caused us to get into debt, needing a new car so my partner could get to work - then it breaking down so needing another new car (both bought on finance) Loans for Christmas's and expenses etc. Everything just went wrong for us, we could only get 2nd hand cars and our first car was written off by a deer which we'd saved for. The next car our cambelt went!!! The cost to fix was more than we paid for the car!!!

Now, we are paying a total of £810.00 a month in Loans and credit cards, and we're already up to £2,000.00 into our overdraft. So much for trying to do everything independantly.

So anyway, it's now got to the point where we can't afford to pay all of the above and live. I'm not saying I don't want to pay anything, but when we've finally been able to pay our debts off we want to buy a house etc.

What is a Debt Management Plan? Is this an option for us, where we can pay less monthly but still clear our debts in full and for it not to affect our credit rating in the long run? The bank wont change our loan as we're maxed for credit as we don't have any assets. We can't take out better rate credit cards, as we've been declined - again as we've maxed out our credit.

I just need to know what I can do to ensure my creditors get paid, but that we are still able to live aswell - not have to try and spend £25 a week on food shopping etc when we work all hours under the sun

Has anyone go any advice for us please, who was in the same situation and could help us get out of this hole?

Walaboobah

Yours, sounds like a similar situation to the one we are in Mrs G, I suggest you fill in CCCS debt remedy tool, it will advise you what your best options are

https://debtremedy.cccs.co.uk/start.aspx?hp=400

StepChange_Pavan

Hi everyone,

The MoneyAware team are out of the office until Monday, 24th September so we’re very sorry for any delays in responding to your queries.

If you need immediate advice you can use our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.cccs.co.uk/ref/drcu) and there’s also lots of useful advice on our blog: http://moneyaware.co.uk/

See you again on Monday

melakabarbie

I have had a student bank account with Halifax with a £2750 interest free overdraft for years now. they recently wrote to me saying that as i am no longer a student now they are changing my account to a normal one and will charge me daily for my overdraft. Is it worth getting a loan to cover the amount and paying that back monthly?? I am up to my limit and therefore these charges would no doubt take me over the limit every month.

Mrs_G

Walaboobah wrote: »

Yours, sounds like a similar situation to the one we are in Mrs G, I suggest you fill in CCCS debt remedy tool, it will advise you what your best options are




Thanks Walaboobah - all advice is much appreciated. :j

Hopefully we'll come through the other side some day!!! :T

x

mum2one

melakabarbie wrote: »

I have had a student bank account with Halifax with a £2750 interest free overdraft for years now. they recently wrote to me saying that as i am no longer a student now they are changing my account to a normal one and will charge me daily for my overdraft. Is it worth getting a loan to cover the amount and paying that back monthly?? I am up to my limit and therefore these charges would no doubt take me over the limit every month.

The charges are due to change in Nov, currently if your on an approved overdraft the charges are
OD £2500 or less £1.00 per day
OD £2501 + £2.00 per day

But from Nov there changing the level to £2000, instead of £2501+ and if you go above your od limit its £5 per day.

I know you said your upto the limit, but can you find out whether they are letting you keep your OD limit at £2750, maybe consider a statment of affairs to see if money can be saved,

Have you got any other debts x

Kipper84

Hi,

I have been in a DMP for the past 2 months, and so far it seems to be going well. Of my 3 creditors, the 2 where I have the largest amount of debt have got sent me letters to say they have accepted the repayment terms. I have had one which is still sending me letters though and has now sent the amount to collectors, my most recent letter was a demand to pay the full £1,141. I have contacted the DMP company I am with and they have said that I will continue receiving letters until an arrangement has been made, but in the meantime to just forward them on when I get them.

I'm concerned that this creditor hasn't accept the terms of the arrangement, and if this is the case, should I be calling them up to agree a repayment plan or do I leave this to the DMP company?

This is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety as I'm really worried about what might happen next. Could someone please advise what the best course of action for me to take is as I really don't know what to do about it.

mum2one

Kipper84 wrote: »

Hi,

I have been in a DMP for the past 2 months, and so far it seems to be going well. Of my 3 creditors, the 2 where I have the largest amount of debt have got sent me letters to say they have accepted the repayment terms. I have had one which is still sending me letters though and has now sent the amount to collectors, my most recent letter was a demand to pay the full £1,141. I have contacted the DMP company I am with and they have said that I will continue receiving letters until an arrangement has been made, but in the meantime to just forward them on when I get them.

I'm concerned that this creditor hasn't accept the terms of the arrangement, and if this is the case, should I be calling them up to agree a repayment plan or do I leave this to the DMP company?

This is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety as I'm really worried about what might happen next. Could someone please advise what the best course of action for me to take is as I really don't know what to do about it.

Are you with CCCS ar another company?

Basically with a dmp its always an offer to pay and an agreement in not set instone, its only if the creditor wants to accept the offer of lower payment, it takes a few months to settle, as your creditors will be recieving money from the company and not you.

You did the right thing contacting your dmp company, basically your creditor isn't happy with the money there getting they basically want more money (don't we all) but remember you did a budget plan with your company and that is what you can afford, whether they like it or not thats the state of play.

As the old saying goes they can't get blood out of a stone, - any letters then send them to the DMP comany your dealing with,

If this is only a if - they may phone you, if they do be polite and firmly say that your debt is being dealt with by x company and that you will not discuss the debt further.

The other thing is never call the creditor even if the letter days call within 7 days or we will do x,y,z, - they really haven't got a leg to stand on, - just think of them as the big bad wolf from the 3 piggies, - i'll blow your house down, who won the little piggies!!

I know its hard not to worry, and it easy for someone to say don't worry, just keep paying your money to the company, if you are with a fee paying company, consider contacting CCCS and see if they could help.

Please take care xx

sam959

CCCS are great i used to work with them closely when i worked for the bank. I would recommended them or payplan who deal with people with over £8,000 in debt and more than 3 creditors!

benekli

Hello forum, I am asking for some help and advice regarding my debt problem.The long and the short is that I owe 7,000.00 on a loan ( 22 months left to go) and a grand total of 27,000.00 on credit cards.For the last two years I have managed to keep up my repayments however I am now struggling ( every month is more difficult than the last )


Thank you for any help with this matter