Son in Debt

wendy10

Please can anyone help. My son who is 27 has got himself into debt to the sum of 15k. He is working and earns roughly £1100 a month.
He has been having advice from the Debt Advisory line and they have told him an IVA is not the right option for him and they have advised him to go onto a Debt Management Plan. He has filled in all the forms etc and he has told me they are going to be taking in the first month a processing fee of £70. After that they will take £27 per month off the £127 he is paying them by D/Debit.
They have also told him that it will take approx 149 months to pay off his debts and he will have paid them £5.555 for their services. Is this normal?
The Debt Advisory Line brochure states that they won the Debt Management Provider of the Year award of the 2008/2009 so my son thinks that they are the right people to help sort out his debt problems. I am very concerned at the amount of money he is paying them for their services. I would also like to know if anyone thinks he would be better with an IVA.
As his mum I am really worried, is this the best option for him? He does not own a house but rents privately and he owns his car outright. His debt is bank loans and credit cards.

If anyone can offer any advice I would be very grateful.
Many thanks.

_Andy_

Hi Wendy

You would get a better response posting this in the 'debt free wannabe' forum. Best of luck.

theoretica

No he should not be paying anyone to do this for him- there are free organisations which will do the same. If he pays 127 a month it will take him over 3 1/2 years to pay the £5500 to this organisation. Does he really want to be in debt for more than 3 years longer?

I suggest you point him to this page of the site:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan

Emmzi

Citizens Advice or Payplan can provide the same service without the skim off the top (IVAs are different and always have fees payable)

There will be a waiting period to see them - you can understand why - but it is well worth it financially.

Good luck (and well done for making him sort it himself!)

xx

fatbelly

Sharks (DAL). Avoid like the plague.

Always use a fee-free provider.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

How much is the car worth, mum?

vaporate

He would be better off going bankrupt than paying for debt advice.

Get him to speak to a debt fee free charity.

wendy10

Thank you all for all your help. His car is worth about £3000.

yorkshire-lad

do not pay for this kind of service.

please tell your son to phone the cccs up as soon as possible
http://www.cccs.co.uk/