Has eny one had dealings with Money Expert and/or Immediate Financial?

dancingfairy

People on this forum can advise you whether you need to:
a) cut back on certain things - ie paying way over the odds for things
b) if you are paying a ne bon-priority bill - ie Sky when you should be paying your mortgage
c) advise you where to get free help and advice -ie your local CAB/Nationald Debtline/CCCS etc
d) give you opinions on whether a dmp, dro, iva, bankruptcy would be the best thing in your situation - same as a debt charity could do
e) don't charge!
f) provide moral support.

Need I go on? Just please don't go with companies that charge as they will either :
a) provide a service you can get for free or
b) seriously rip you off and prey on you when your vulnerable and scam you out of more money.
df

Chigs362

But if a pay a pound a month it will never get paid off, with intrest it will increase my debt, so that does not seem the way forward,
I cannot cut back there is little left to cut back on,
I will talk to CCC on monday but I think thay may strugle to help and may have no option but to go with a consolodate your debt ppl on TV,
I notised no one offerd me a better solution to paying off my debt then the ppl on tv?

dancingfairy

If you can only afford 1 pound then that's all you can afford. You also ask the companies to freeze interest and charges for you.
Perhaps you need to look into a DRO (a mini form of bankruptcy?) or bankruptcy? The charity organisations will help you go through your options - you don't have to take their advice but it will give you a good idea.
There are no quick fix magic solutions - anyone offering you that is lying. You need to find out what this company is offering
they will either be offering you an IVA (which they will charge fees for) or a dmp ( again which they will charge for) - whatever they recommend may not be in your best interest but may be in the companies best intersts - I don't know this particular company but many companies SELL products which make them money.
And if they are offering a loan - they may reduce your payents but you will be paying them back for a long, long time and getting more debt is not the answer.
You need to get in touch with one of the debt charity places Martin recommends.
df

NorthernLas

Hi James - Any company that advertises on TV, needs to make money to advertise. The people you talk to are friendly because they get a commission when you sign up. This money comes from YOU.

You will pay for this service normally with a sign up fee and a monthly charge (17 - 20%). So if you pay them £200 only £160 will be going to your debt.
The debt free charities suggested (CCCS/NLD/CAP) will do the same but £200 of your money will be going to the debt. They do not have an interest in your money so they can offer you good advice (rather than advice that makes them the most commission)

You are correct, if you do not pay very much to your debt, it will take you a while to pay off. But this is the situation whether you choose a fee paying company or not.
You can check their figures and with what they say you need to pay and the time taken, if the answer you get does not add up to your debt (plus a bit of interest), well they have their sums wrong! They can tell you what you want to hear over the phone as they cannot be held to it!

If you are self-employed, then you may need to separate out your business and personal expenses. Depending on your debt, business debtline (another charity) may be the one for you.

You could put your figures into CCCS on-line debt remedy and see what is suggested: https://debtremedy.cccs.co.uk/start.aspx

FMC123

Chigs362 wrote: »

I notised no one offerd me a better solution to paying off my debt then the ppl on tv?

James, the people you see on TV are businesses who are only out to make a profit; the charities that Dancing Fairy and Geebee have mentioned will provide a better service for free.

The debt management companies you see on TV make their profits by taking a percentage of any repayments you make and keeping the money for themselves. As you rightly say, you want to get rid of your debts as quickly as possible, so you want every penny you pay to be going to your creditors, not kept by third parties as "management fees". Nor do you want to be taking out consolidation loans, which won't actually help you get rid of your debt - you'll just owe it to somebody else.

If you speak to one of the debt charities, they will advise you on the best course of action. They may be able to help you negotiate with your creditors to arrange a repayment plan you can afford, and may be able to get your interest reduced or frozen. They will also be able to advise you on whether any of your credit agreements are invalid, or whether there are any charges you can reclaim.

Please take the good advice offered on this board, and never pay anyone for help that is freely available.

Good luck!

Chigs362

Thank you all for your advice its exactly what I needed to hear, its seems oviouse that the next step for me it to speek to CCCs, so hopefully thay can get past the problem that on the odd month I cannot pay a penny in to a repayment plan and find a way that this does not matter.
Wish me luck
Thanks again J.

barbiedoll

If you owe money to credit cards, at least the debt is unsecured. If you take one of those consolidation loans that are advertised on tv, you will end up with a large debt that will be secured on your property. If you default on that loan, they may be able to take your house from you. Don't even think about using any of these companies, they are all sharks! (and the interest rates are horrific!)

Chigs362

Just called CCCS thay cant speak to me for 2 weeks, so will have to tread water untill then.

MustBeatThis

Please don't go to any company that wants to make money from you. There is free advice you can get, through this Forum, through CCCS etc.

We talked to a company last year (they've now lost their licence) who told us they could wipe our debts. Wanted £495 up front for each card (which we couldn't afford!). It just didn't ring true and sounded really dodgy so we didn't go for it.

I've since been relying on free advice, and am in a much stronger position now.

There is lots of information and some really helpful people around. You will find a solution and you shouldn't have to pay for it!

Good luck.:)

Chigs362

Just spoke to CCCS, thay say give credit cards £1 a month token gesture, and I dont ern enough to live let alone give to other people, so ther advice:
1: open a new bank account so credit cards cant nick me money,
2: Speak to my morgauge company and see if thay will revert it to a intrest only.
3: get a lodger
And call them back when this is all done
Cool lets see what hapends
james