Starting University in September and have £7000 of debt.

custardy

binaryuniverse wrote: »

If I start uni in September then I'll move there, if I don't then I'd be staying here for another year.

I certainly don't intend to try and wriggle out of my debts as I've never been about that. I was wondering if there would have been some sort of way I could have come to an agreement with the lenders to pay off later.

Barclaycard are probably the worst of the lenders. They keep passing my debt on to Mercers but then decide to take it back with Mercers claiming they have no record of me so I'm never sure where I stand with them.

Cheers for the advice, I'm taking it all on board. I'm just trying to work out what's best for me right now.

you are talking about 3-4 years without making any worthwhile payment
no lender is going to entertain that. they will just fire it ont debt collectors

binaryuniverse

Feel free to stop me if I'm wrong here, but surely with it in the hands of debt collectors I'd be in a better place to enter an agreement to just pay off the remainder of the debt free from charges/interest?

custardy

binaryuniverse wrote: »

Feel free to stop me if I'm wrong here, but surely with it in the hands of debt collectors I'd be in a better place to enter an agreement to just pay off the remainder of the debt free from charges/interest?

thats your plan? and how much higher will the debt be by then with charges added as the time ticks by?
sorry but if thats your thinking then theres no hope.
you seem to think you will rock up to Brighton,get a job that fits around studying,pays enough to live off and covers all your debts
you are unlikely to clear £000's while studying.so you will spend your whole time at uni dealing with debt collectors

I was looking ot go to uni this year but im notw thinking of delaying a year so the job market might recover a bit. my current employer may offer PT work for me but its not guaranteed

Wilma33

binaryuniverse wrote: »

If I start uni in September then I'll move there, if I don't then I'd be staying here for another year.

By why? If there are so few job prospects where you live and so many in Brighton (I doubt that there are btw) then why not move to Brighton and year early and clear your debts before you start studying?

Going to uni with lots of debt that you can't afford is a recipe for disaster.

RecoveringAlcoholic

Living in Brighton can be very expensive.

Heyman_2

binaryuniverse wrote: »

If I start uni in September then I'll move there, if I don't then I'd be staying here for another year.

I certainly don't intend to try and wriggle out of my debts as I've never been about that. I was wondering if there would have been some sort of way I could have come to an agreement with the lenders to pay off later.

Barclaycard are probably the worst of the lenders. They keep passing my debt on to Mercers but then decide to take it back with Mercers claiming they have no record of me so I'm never sure where I stand with them.

Cheers for the advice, I'm taking it all on board. I'm just trying to work out what's best for me right now.

No problem.

Just a quick mention about Mercers - I believe they're Barclaycard's in-house debt collectors which is probably why it keeps getting bounced back and forth.

I don't want to sound like a parent but you do need to be very careful here - once you're into the realms of debt collectors it's a different ball game, you will be dealing with some very shady organisations. I think it's very risk to plan ahead that you'll let them take on your debt and then deal with them in 4 years time. They could apply for a CCJ against you in the meantime for example, and given your change of address you might not see the papers, they go to court and win due to your absence and then you've really got problems.

Hence why I was saying about the paper trail - if you're planning to do this, you will have to be very very careful and very organised.

I don't think anyone here would choose to be in that situation. There are success stories here but I would imagine that the reality of dealing with debt collectors on a long-term basis isn't much fun at all, even with all the advice/support/letter templates etc on here.

Anyway, it's up to you - I hope you make the right choice for you.

dancingfairy

There is a letter you can send to the creditors asking them to contact you in writing only - hopefully someone can post the link for you. You can propose a payment plan and ask them to stop interest and charges but they don't have to - all you can do is ask.
They may or they may not - most do eventually - if your credit rating is shot anyway then that's not going to be of concern but even in a dmp/token payments then your creditors can take you to court. A court is then likely to isse a CCJ against you which although you can ask to pay in installments still means you will end up with a CCJ-unless you can suddenly find some money to pay it off within 28 days I think it is.
Whether you go to uni is not for me to say but you do need to think about how you will finance yourself while there.
Best of Luck
df

birkee

Couldn't believe this post!
Pay your debts at £1 per week. That means s*d off I'm not paying you.
I can feel a life of grief coming on.

Delree

I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I suspect you are wanting to go to uni for the lifestyle of being a uni student on campus, if a degree is your aim then why not try the open university and do your degree by correspondence?
The dream student lifestyle is probably beyond you with these debts, and in any case with the new fees coming in it's only going to increase your debt whilst not being able to access any credit whilst you study making things tougher for you than your peers.
There is more than one way to skin a cat and as a mature student you can get your degree without having to study full time enabling you to work and pay your debts off.

sisbod

birkee wrote: »

Couldn't believe this post!
Pay your debts at £1 per week. That means s*d off I'm not paying you.
I can feel a life of grief coming on.

I am in a bit of a different situation but I can genuinely say that creditors would prefer a £1 a month payment than you ignoring them - remember that every payment just continues the time span of the 6 year rule!!!
I personally have got a similar agreement with my creditors and although they dont like it much they accept that blood out of a stone is not possible and that at least I am trying!
I admit that I am perhaps less than happy about increasing my payments too much as there is a common consensus that if you increase one you should increase them all and that is not possible so I have just let them ride at that whilst I try to pay off one in its entirity every now and then!