Debt whilst on income support

merlin68

I am trying to sort out some debts for a friend on IS. Now i'm sure I read somewhere that if on benefits, you only have to pay £7.53 back a week. How would you go about arranging this please. Is this per debt or for all the debts? Thanks.

Pee

I'm sure debtline would be able to help with that.

Is it long term or short term income support? If they owe a lot and it is long term then bankruptcy might be an option.

Ellabelle

Hello,

It has always been my understanding that those on benefits should offer their creditors just £1 per month per creditor as a token payment. Your friend can offer more but really should only do this if they can afford it. As the Debt Free Wannabe mantra goes - "They can't have what you havn't got"!

I would advise that your friend write to each creditor offering them the £1 per month. Everything should be done in writing and copies should be kept of everything that is sent so there is proof of what was said (just in case). It is advisable to also send a list of income and outgoings to the creditor with the offer letter.

There are template letters your friend could use at www.nationaldebtline.co.uk for the creditor letters.

Your friend might also want to consider bankruptcy or a 'Debt Relief Order' which is a kind of bankrupty 'light' for those who owe less that £15000.

Best Wishes.

Ellabelle

Pee wrote: »

I'm sure debtline would be able to help with that.

Is it long term or short term income support? If they owe a lot and it is long term then bankruptcy might be an option.

It is really important that your friend goes to 'National Debt Line'

Not Debt Line (without the 'National' bit).

'National Debt Line' is a fab Free debt advice service.

'Debt Line' is a dodgy company that charges for its services even if they say that their up-front advice is free of charge (after that its not) :mad:

Your friend really should not be conned into paying for debt advice and management services when they can get this for free elsewhere.

Ellabelle

Another brilliant debt advice charity is CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Service) - www.cccs.co.uk
CCCS Freephone: 0800 138 1111

They have helped me hugely and are the most lovely people to talk to on the phone.

:mad:The CCCS also has a dodgy company immitating their name called the CCS (notice only 2 'C's instead of 3). These like 'Debt Line' are also a company that charge huge fees for their services that the real CCCS will give you for free.