Help! Debt Advice.

Cliff71

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if any of you could help me out by confirming something.

I am currently in my second period of long unemployment in the last 3 years, as a result I have had problems paying off a few of my debts. I have managed to pay off about £2000 I owed on credit cards through brief periods of employment, but still owe £500 odd on a mobile phone bill & £7000 on a loan, both of which I am being chased hard for & receiving many threatening letters for. I have offered both companies £10 each a month towards the debt with a view to upping that if/when I get back in to work, but their reply has been that it is unacceptable & they want payment in full.

I have been advised that may best course of action would be to tell them both to take me to court for the money. That as i have made what the court would consider a reasonable offer, apparently as I am on the dole a court would consider £1 reasonable, & I can document my offers, that the courts would force them to accept this & the would be liable for costs, due to me having made an offer in the 1st place.

The outcome being that they would accept my offer without going to court to avoid the extra costs.

Is this the case?

Thank you for any help.

Cliff

HappyMJ

You need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of going to court. They will (well they have to) accept your offer of £1 per month as you are on benefits and benefit money is used for living today not for the costs of living in the past. A debt charity would probably be your best bet for correct advice. They may advise something completely different.

Will you get a job soon? 3 years is a long time on the job market for anyone. Have you thought about retraining? What about self-employment?

Cliff71

I was back in work for 6 months at the end of last year but got made redundant again in january, so have been unemployed since then. Up until then I was paying them something but have been arguing back & forth since then trying to get them to accept a minimum payment.

I'm doing evening classes now to retrain & have ongoing weekly work experience lined up in a couple of weeks in the field I wish to move into, so hopefully job prospects aren't too bad, but in the current climate I feel it is better to be pessimistic rather than optimistic.

Can you recommend any good debt charities?