Where do I start?!!

MummyEm

I am trying to help my father who is currently in debt.
He has around 20k of credit card debt as well as arrears to HMRC and a small mortgage.

My questions as only concerning the credit cards at the mo.

My father moved abroad last year to care for his mother who had suffered a stroke. Rental income from a property here was covering his outgoings so there wasn't too much of an issue. He now has no rental income, (with no possibility of a new rental contract) so no income at all to cover debts, bills etc.
He is getting charges added to his cc's everyday so I want to first try to write t the companies asking to stop charges and interest (do they do this?). Is there a template letter that I could use fr this?
I would also like to stop the phne calls and hhave been told that they must be stopped if asked. Can I send them both letters or is this too cheeky?! My mother is getting frequent calls from various cmpanies almost daily even though he no longer lives with her (they are in the process of getting divorced).
He is coming back to the UK next month and will be putting the property up for auction to clear all his debts and have some capital to start afresh. If he can get the cmpanies to stop charges for a few month 3-6 months I guess, this would stop a lot of the worry / phone calls etc.

Thank you in advance for your help

MummyEm

Also have one more question, who do I write to to request a cpy of credit history? Is there more than one agency that I need to check with?

Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure I have covered all areas.

Thank you

Hannah_10

His situation is complicated. I can see you have some idea of what to do with various bits and peices of the issue, like that he will need to see his credit files, but have either of you had someone reliable take this back to square one and look at the situation as a whole? The steps you are putting together most resemble bits and peices of a debt management plan (DMP), who has advised that DMP is the best option for Dad? Without knowing the value of his equity, the precise level of the debt or what his SOA stands at we can't know that it is, there are still a lot of other options and a DMP is not suitable for everyone.

I think you need to stop, roll this back a bit, and start again at the beginning. Your father needs to contact a reputable debt help organisation like the CCCS or National Debtline and have someone go through his figures and situation in detail. This is going to include them needing to know the exact balances and APR rates of his debts and his exact expenditure, like how much his car costs him to maintain if you average it a month, and also what the exact value of his savings/ car/ house/ other properties is, one item at a time. The whole income/ expenditure/ debt form is called a Statement of Affairs (SOA). Whoever he approaches of the reputable companies will want to see one. If, after putting together the most accurate SOA possible, the right thing for him to do really is a DMP then there is a general step by step way of doing it, which will include the sorts of things that you are saying, in a logical progression. There are a lot of sharks offering so called "free impartial debt advice" so he needs to only approach the right people. Thankfully we have a list of them, read this: Debt Problems: What to do & where to get help Most can be contacted from abroad just fine.

The only way that you are going to be able to do this for him is if he gives you a written statement of authorisation to represent him. Whoever either of you approach can advise on how to word this. You are unlikely to be able to do his SOA for him though as you just wont know what he spends on items that detailled, so he will have to be involved quite proactively, even with you representing.