Debit Fixers and their Settlement plan seems too good to be true?!

Hannah_10

Boogie if the CCCS thought a DMP was a good idea then go with it, but don't pay for that. Here look >> http://www.payplan.com/

boogiebear79

Hi everyone.

Thanks soooooooooooo much for the advise. I'm gonna get onto one of the free ones today and start sorting out this god damn mess we've gotten ourselves into. Just one more question. We have possibly sold our house (however certain that is at the mo!) and have about 45k of our own money left. We were trying to save at least some of that to use to build on and save for another house in about 2 years. I don't suppose their is any easy way of this ie with the settlement thing is there or is it just a case of pay up and get yourself out of the situation as soon as we can. We are proberly going to out of pocket again if we pay the lot of cause we've got to pay a 7k early redemption charge to our mortgage company. It feels like they've got you by the balls at every turn!
Look forward to hearing any of your opinions. Thanks guys x

Hannah_10

"I'm gonna get onto one of the free ones today"

Careful now. Many say they are free (many have been punished for it by the OFT too) but the only properly free ones are CCCS and Payplan. Actaully there might be more, see the article on problem debt and where to et help on the main site in case Martin knows one I don't. But anyway, Payplan or the CCCS are truly free. Practically everyone else is lying and will, sooner or later, lose thier licences for it.

Yes, you can offer creditors reduced settlements and if you're in a position to it's a really good solution actually. Look on the National Debtline website for thier template letter and use that. Martin strongly recommends using savings to clear debts because debts cost far more than savings earn and debts can have unhappy consequences.

dancingfairy

Hi BoogieBear - great news about the house - fingers crossed for you.
Obviously you've got to pay the settlement fee - no point in adding to your debts now is there

Then I would keep what you need to set up a new home - I presume you are going in to rental - so you will need the deposit, agency fees, removal van costs, etc etc.

Depending on your job situation -obviously if out of work you will need to keep more back for living costs etc. When you see what's leftover then you can sensibly work out a plan to deal with the debts - depending on how long you've had the debts for, whether they are still with the original creditor and what your situation is will affect the success of offers or not - obviously if you were on benefits and unlikely to work again the creditors would be more likely to accept your offers, if you are working and able to pay something they will probably want a higher settlement etc - but at this stage it's all negotiation , negotiation. negotiation.

Personally I would not keep a large chunk of money back for a house in 2 years time - your creditors aren't going to be too impressed if you go to them to set up a payment plan only to discover you have money in the bank are they? If they accept a settlement offer than great keep what's left over.

The quicker you can get rid of the debts the better and then you can start saving for this new house of yours - the amount of interest you are going to be paying on the debts will probably be rather high so take any opportunity you can to get rid of them and start afresh - with your own money

I hope this helps a bit - plenty of decisions to be made at the moment and a good opportuity to negotiate , negotiatie, negotiate.
Best of Luck
df

saltnvinegar

Hi Boogiebear

Great news on the house! Personally I wouldn't want any debt round my neck at all!

Pay your debts off (35k), pay the redemption charge (£7k), you are still £3k flush give or take a little so either use that as deposit for renting/moving, or, if you are debt free go away with hubby for a weekend and enjoy yourself and relax. Just don't use a credit card or get back into debt again!!!

You've then learned your lesson (harsh though it is) but you can draw a line in the sand and move forward with your life debt free.

In a couple of years, with no debt to service you should be able to save a good amount of money for another house.

Hannah_10

saltnvinegar wrote: »

Pay your debts off (35k), pay the redemption charge (£7k), you are still £3k flush give or take a little

I agree, except to say that even if you save yourself 10% of £35k you've more than doubled your bank balance so I would still want to make reduced settlements.