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Am I being realistic?
Beys28
Posts: 9 Forumite
Hi,
I'm new to all this so please bare with me...
I, like many others in the country, have landed myself in a nice puddle of money madness. The green eyed monster took over me for a fair few years and credit was pouring in, so of course i took it (as i think any young 20 year old would?)... Obviously not worrying about the consequences...!
I am now 28, and was unfortunate enough to be hit by the credit crunch in Early January last year (lovely new years present), and haven't made any payments to any of my creditors since then. Strangely enough, they hardly ever chase me, but then they are all with Debt Collectors, the odd letter and phone call now and again, i'm beginning to think they've actually given up hope when it comes to me.
I've been fortunate enough to land myself a job after being out of work just over 6 months, and i can hardly believe it myself, but its taken me this long (yes almost 10 months) to sort myself out! I almost lost my car, was facing CCJ's, had a LOT of family dispute and managed to end up homeless for a period of time, needless to say the stress has been a wee bit unbearable.
I am however, now starting to look at my finances with a view to paying something off. The thing is....I was doing a debt management plan before and its made no impact on my debt whatsoever after paying in to it for 2 years, I have too much surplus available to do an IVA (apparently), and i've just got off the phone to a company who've advised that "Full & Final Settlement" is the best option for me, it will cost less and my debt will be gone a lot sooner...
He was extremely helpful, gave me all the info i asked for, and was extremely honest in telling me that for each creditor they manage to get to settle, they take a nice £800 chunk of payment for their services.
Now, my idea, is to do it myself. The only thing is, i don't have a lump sum, i do however have more money coming in at the end of the month than i used to.
The chap i spoke to said that my creditors are likely to jump at the chance because they haven't had anything from me in 18 months, and are probably not expecting me to pay anything ever seeing as its been so long, so will probably be happy to accept F&F in order to close the account. Is this true?
My debts are as follows:
Cabot Financial - £11118
Rockwell - £4088
Capquest - £3179
AIC - £721
I have offered Cabot, Rockwell and Capquest each £400 and advised that i can pay it within 6 weeks of receiving confirmation of their acceptance. AIC I have offered £100, and begrudgingly seeing as the debt stems from bank charges following having my Account cloned and the bank making errors, to which they already paid me £879 of the charges back, they just continued to charge me after they'd given me it! Note to self, DO NOT USE LLOYDS TSB!!!
Am I being realistic here?
I have a feeling that Cabot at least will reject, but to be honest, if the other's accept, I can then offer Cabot more once they are paid.
If anyone's got any advice, has done the same sort of thing, please help
I'm new to all this so please bare with me...
I, like many others in the country, have landed myself in a nice puddle of money madness. The green eyed monster took over me for a fair few years and credit was pouring in, so of course i took it (as i think any young 20 year old would?)... Obviously not worrying about the consequences...!
I am now 28, and was unfortunate enough to be hit by the credit crunch in Early January last year (lovely new years present), and haven't made any payments to any of my creditors since then. Strangely enough, they hardly ever chase me, but then they are all with Debt Collectors, the odd letter and phone call now and again, i'm beginning to think they've actually given up hope when it comes to me.
I've been fortunate enough to land myself a job after being out of work just over 6 months, and i can hardly believe it myself, but its taken me this long (yes almost 10 months) to sort myself out! I almost lost my car, was facing CCJ's, had a LOT of family dispute and managed to end up homeless for a period of time, needless to say the stress has been a wee bit unbearable.
I am however, now starting to look at my finances with a view to paying something off. The thing is....I was doing a debt management plan before and its made no impact on my debt whatsoever after paying in to it for 2 years, I have too much surplus available to do an IVA (apparently), and i've just got off the phone to a company who've advised that "Full & Final Settlement" is the best option for me, it will cost less and my debt will be gone a lot sooner...
He was extremely helpful, gave me all the info i asked for, and was extremely honest in telling me that for each creditor they manage to get to settle, they take a nice £800 chunk of payment for their services.
Now, my idea, is to do it myself. The only thing is, i don't have a lump sum, i do however have more money coming in at the end of the month than i used to.
The chap i spoke to said that my creditors are likely to jump at the chance because they haven't had anything from me in 18 months, and are probably not expecting me to pay anything ever seeing as its been so long, so will probably be happy to accept F&F in order to close the account. Is this true?
My debts are as follows:
Cabot Financial - £11118
Rockwell - £4088
Capquest - £3179
AIC - £721
I have offered Cabot, Rockwell and Capquest each £400 and advised that i can pay it within 6 weeks of receiving confirmation of their acceptance. AIC I have offered £100, and begrudgingly seeing as the debt stems from bank charges following having my Account cloned and the bank making errors, to which they already paid me £879 of the charges back, they just continued to charge me after they'd given me it! Note to self, DO NOT USE LLOYDS TSB!!!
Am I being realistic here?
I have a feeling that Cabot at least will reject, but to be honest, if the other's accept, I can then offer Cabot more once they are paid.
If anyone's got any advice, has done the same sort of thing, please help
0
Comments
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I cn't really advise you what to do on your finances as I'm relatively new myself.
However, DO NOT pay anyone to mange your payment plan. Talk to one of the debt charities, they can also administer payments to creditors at no cost.0 -
Thanks for the quick reply.
I'm of the same opinion when it comes to paying someone to adminsitor my monies to creditors, but find it usefull to get all their info lol...cheeky really but you don't get something for nothing these days!
I've used CCCS and Payplan for debt management, however i don't know of any charities that would be able to help with F&F settlements.
Any idea's?0 -
Sorry, I don't have any ideas.
Someone more knowledgeable will bbe along later. They're probably still in bed after watching the election results.0 -
Thank you anyway
Hopefully someone will be able to guide the way, I hate money worries, it sucks! lol0 -
It's a start which is the single most important thing at the moment.
Have you done an SOA to fully understand the bigger picture and ensure you are cutting back everywhere possible. It'll be a long hard haul .. but you've started which is great. And as you begin to get things under control, you'll feel better and better. Best of luck.0 -
well for Full and Finals you need to be able to make the lump sum payment you are offering, are you actually able to pay all yoru creditors the amount offered within 6 weeks if they all accept?
well here is a ROUGH guide on what companies have been known to accept,
please remember some people get lower amounts other have to pay much more than this,
these things depend on so many variables including what side of the bed the person in the company got out off
anyways rough guide is below
Debt still with original creditor NO default = 90% or more
Debt with original creditor but with a default = 75% or more
Debt with 'in house' debt collectors of the original creditor = 60% or more
Debt with external debt collector however still property of original credit = 40% or more
Debt owned(purchased) by external debt collectors = 25% or moreDrop a brand challenge
on a £100 shop you might on average get 70 items save
10p per product = £7 a week ~ £28 a month
20p per product = £14 a week ~ £56 a month
30p per product = £21 a week ~ £84 a month (or in other words one weeks shoping at the new price)0 -
Hi Tus, thanks for your reply,
I have done pretty much everything i can think of in ways to cut back, I was on a debt management plan prior to losing my job, so i've done several income and expenditure's. I also keep a notepad in my drawer at work with everything written down that i spend and all of my monthly outgoings, and what expenditure i will incur when i get paid such as birthday's, petrol etc. I've learnt the hard way, but i budget everywhere lol.
Gonzo127, I can indeed afford to pay the lump sums to the creditors if they accept, there's no way i'd offer a F&F if i wasn't able to find the cash.0 -
As others say, don't pay a company to do a DMP.
As for AIC, if it stems from a bank mismanaging your account, you should dispute it, and only agree to pay what you owe. Personally, I would be writing to say that the amount is disputed and just leave it hang there for a while to sort everything else out first.Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE ForumTeam0 -
Its not a DMP i want to do, its full and final settlement.
I think i may contact the financial ombudsman service about the one with AIC. They helped me out last time, maybe they can again?0
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