Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

monkey14_2

I need some help! Over the years I have racked up some considerable credit card debt I have 4 credit cards and a total of about 28000 of debt. On 3 of these cards I am paying about 20% APR. I have a barclaycard with low APR (about 5%) which I actually feel I am making a dent in the debt (although only have about 3500 on this card.)
I don't have much credit left on any of these cards so would find it hard to shuffle the debt around. Although I am able to meet the repayments which is about £600 a month, I am only paying back interest and not any of the debt. I really want to tackle this problem head on and get to a place where I can start paying back the debt however long it will take. I can possibly afford to pay slightly more back - maybe another £200 on top of £600.
What can I do to reduce the interest charges and so start paying back the debt so there is actually light at the end of the tunnel as at the moment I feel I will just be paying this forever but never pay any of it off?
Would greatly appreciate any advice
Thank you!

StepChange_Pavan

clareb2010 wrote: »

We sent all our relevant paperwork back to CCCS last week and have not heard anything. I think we have given you our old number as well. Can i follow the progress online and when should we expect to hear from you??

Hi Clareb2010 and thanks for your message.

I’d recommend that you give us a call to check on the progress and update us with your number too. If there is any paperwork missing or we need more information form you, we might have tried to call you.

Each DMP varies in the time that it takes to set up, depending on the number of creditors etc, but we always try and get it set up as quickly as possible. You can only follow the progress of your DMP online once it is up and running,

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

monkey14 wrote: »

I need some help! Over the years I have racked up some considerable credit card debt I have 4 credit cards and a total of about 28000 of debt. On 3 of these cards I am paying about 20% APR. I have a barclaycard with low APR (about 5%) which I actually feel I am making a dent in the debt (although only have about 3500 on this card.)
I don't have much credit left on any of these cards so would find it hard to shuffle the debt around. Although I am able to meet the repayments which is about £600 a month, I am only paying back interest and not any of the debt. I really want to tackle this problem head on and get to a place where I can start paying back the debt however long it will take. I can possibly afford to pay slightly more back - maybe another £200 on top of £600.
What can I do to reduce the interest charges and so start paying back the debt so there is actually light at the end of the tunnel as at the moment I feel I will just be paying this forever but never pay any of it off?
Would greatly appreciate any advice
Thank you!

Hi Monkey14 and thank you for your message.

First of all, I would recommend that you draw up a budget showing your income and priority expenditure to ensure that you don’t jeopardise your priorities in order to get debt free quicker.

You could also consider ways of maximising your income to help pay off more towards your debts. For example could you get a second part time job or sell a few things on ebay? Look at sensible ways to cut back your expenditure too, such as shopping around for good deals on your outgoings.

In order to reduce the amount of interest you are paying you could transfer the higher interest debts to lower or 0% interest credit card. Remember that there is usually a transfer fee and often these deals have a limited offer period. Try to repay the balance within this time period, as the interest can rocket once this ends. It’s also important that you cut up the cards to remove any temptation of using them as this could make your situation worse. Another downside is that the availability of these deals can depend on your credit rating.

For more information on balance transfers and for the best deals, read through Martin’s article here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

HelpToBeDebtFree

Hi, my wife and I are currently on a debt management plan with the CCCS. Most of our creditors have stopped adding interest or reduced the interest down to a low level, but for some reason Lloyds are charging a huge interest rate on my wife's credit card. This means that the repayments don't even cover the interest each month!

I have spoken to Lloyds on the phone and they have been useless, promising to call back or 'look into it' etc. Do you have a template letter and the address to send it to for Lloyds credit cards?

Many thanks for all of your help.

CCCS_Sue

HelpToBeDebtFree wrote: »

Hi, my wife and I are currently on a debt management plan with the CCCS. Most of our creditors have stopped adding interest or reduced the interest down to a low level, but for some reason Lloyds are charging a huge interest rate on my wife's credit card. This means that the repayments don't even cover the interest each month!

I have spoken to Lloyds on the phone and they have been useless, promising to call back or 'look into it' etc. Do you have a template letter and the address to send it to for Lloyds credit cards?

Many thanks for all of your help.

Hi Helptobedebtfree

As you are on a DMP, I would recommend that you call our client support team who will look into this for you. They may send the letter for you if necessary.

Regards
Sue

shootingstarXX

My husband and I are on a joint DMP and pay £206 a month, unfortuntly my car has broke and needs fixing which is going to cost around £600. I have done everything possible to raise this money but we are still short. Im back to work next week and need to car to travel to work. Would it be possible to defer our payment for a month or pay later (we pay cccs on 1st of each month but my hb gets paid on the 10th) What would be the implications of doing this?

CCCS_Sue

shootingstarXX wrote: »

My husband and I are on a joint DMP and pay £206 a month, unfortuntly my car has broke and needs fixing which is going to cost around £600. I have done everything possible to raise this money but we are still short. Im back to work next week and need to car to travel to work. Would it be possible to defer our payment for a month or pay later (we pay cccs on 1st of each month but my hb gets paid on the 10th) What would be the implications of doing this?

Hi shootingstarxx and thank you for your message

If your car is essential for getting to work, you may be able to defer your payments to your plan until it is fixed.
You need to contact our client support team and they will be able to give you further advice regarding this.

Regards
Sue

purpleparrotuk

Hello

We have a phone appointment with a debt company next week.

Hubbys unsecured creditors come to a total of £38,000

Mine come to a total of £4,000 plus a hire purchase for a car which £2000 is remaining.

We also have a joint secured loan with approx £55,000 remaining and the mortgae with £120,000 remaining.

My question is I was under the impression that we could both apply for a joint IVA together since the total unsecured debts are approx £42,000. But this morning I have read that you actually apply individuall so obviously they would not approve me since I don't owe enough.

I know they don't incude the mortgage and the the secured loan in the IVA payments but since these are both joint debts do they still count towards the total?

Will hubby have to apply for an IVA on his own and I have DMP or can we still go joint IVA because of the secured loans?

Unhappy_01

Over the past 18 months I have got myself deeper and deeper into debt with payday loan companies. It's now at the point where I cannot and do not want to borrow from any others but the monthly payments I am making to these companies each month, approx £860 plus my rent, general living expenses and bills I am in a minus figure in terms of my monthly finances. I have managed to keep my head above water with regards to rent & bills but am now starting to struggle with these and need to take action before I fall into arrears on my priority payments.

The £860 figure is only covering the interest of the loans and I am unable to make even a small dent into the capital payments, in total I owe these companies £5000 and am becoming more and more depressed each month and cannot see a way out of the problem.

In terms of my other monthly spending I am down to a bare minimum which covers rent, bills, food, transport costs and other household items and am in no way leaving beyond my means. These debts mounted up due to my previously living beyond my means and is something I have been forced to remedy due to having no spare cash whatsoever.

Due to my circumstances I cannot enter into an IVA and am unsure if a DMP would take into account payday loan companies. I have looked at a couple of websites of companies offering this service but cannot find a clear answer to this.

I have just completed the CCCS Debt Remedy online form and will call them on Tuesday to discuss my situation.

Has anyone else fallen into the payday loan trap who could offer advice how I can get out to it ?? I am hoping an DMP will help but as I say I am unsure if these cover debts to payday loan companies.

Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT : I should add that i could reasonably afford to pay £350-£400 per month towards the debt which unfortuantly only half of what I am currently paying in "interest" payments alone :-(

Cartman69

I have sent a private message aswell.. with contact details etc..

I have done threads and i now have my cashminder account with co op and cancelled bank debit card

I owe around £1500 to payday loans.

I was supposed to pay few them off yesterday but couldn't even afford to pay one of them..

As today stands..i owe around (approx)-

£530 to wonga
£200 to Payday UK
£330 to Gothia (payred or whatever they're called)
£350 to Tooth Fairy Finance

That's an estimate, and they're building up as we speak.. i tried to speak to one of them yesterday on live chat to put them on hold and they said they wouldn't unless i entered a DMP .. i tried payplan but they said minimum is £8000

i don't want this to get out of control.. i really think i need a DMP so i can just pay something off monthly or whatever needs be so that i can just get rid of these payday companies for good.

p.s i tried a loan to solve the debt.. but i was conned by yes loans and down a further £70 please get back asap..