I want to be debt free ....

sussexking

Wonder if anyone can help.. I'm new to MSE and never posted on here before, so any advice would be great.

I've been in Debt Management since 2004, I did it through an IFA and now pay small amounts of money each money to my 6 or 7 creditors (all credit cards or loans).

I originally owed about £65k, but this is down to under £45k now...

I want to know whether i've got a right to ask for the debt to be written off now that it's been over 6 years since I started paying amounts to them or whether because i'm paying amounts, the debt won't be written off and so will have to continue until payment has been fully made.

Also on a number of my loans I had PPI... can i claim back the PPI now to reduce my outstanding debt with them, or is this going to open a can of worms as they've been good with me paying small amounts each month..

Any advice would be grateful.

Cheers

yorkshire-lad

If you had not paid anything towards the debt then they would have become statute barred, but since you have been paying monthly payments then you have accepted the debt is yours. So they would not write it off if you asked.

I don't see why you couldn't start a claim for ppi but if anything was successful it would just be knocked off your total balance due.
Sure someone will clarify that last bit:).

dancingfairy

You might want to try and offer some full and final settlements? It depends on whether it is with the original creditor or has been passed on/sold on, how much you are paying compared to the minimum, what your prospects are for paying it off - ie at retirment age, disabled, on benefits etc how much to offer.
I hope that by now you have managed to get interest and charges stopped? Are you now dealing with your creditors directly?
df

peainapod

Full and final settlements are a good idea like dancingfairy said, I did this with debt I had a couple of years back. I brought it all the way down to something like £800 and they took around £250 and a thank you and goodbye. I know the amounts are less than your but if it worked for you then you would save quite a bit ! Of course this depends on if you have the money to do this. I didn't and borrowed off my mother and then paid her back the £250 in installments, so she got her money back and I just lost £650 debt
Hope it all works out for you good luck

Oneday77

Hi and welcome.
You've been in the DMP for 7 years now and have cleared off roughly £3k a year.
Is the IFA taking a cut of your payments? If so switch to Payplan or CCCS, you could even go into a self management DMP.
Your creditors would be quite warm to those ideas as they get more of the money.

As for your original question they won't just write the debts off but some F&F offers may work as metioned above.

sussexking

Many thanks for all your comments.

With respect to final and full settlements. One of my creditors (Robinson Way - which is now Horwich Farrelly) called and offered me to pay half of what I did owe (£5.9k), so paying £2.8k over 12 months... so i've been paying about £240 to them for the last 9 months and so with 3 months to go would have wiped £5.9k of my debt in 1 year.... Maybe I should approach another creditor direct once this once all paid off and see if they'll do the same!!... As DF says, most of my creditors have resold the debt onto other parties such as Metropolitan Collection Services, Moorcroft, Direct Legal Collections etc... although Horwich Farrelly offered to wipe half the debt, don't know whether these will!!!

and yes i'm not paying any interest or charges to these companies!!

I'm not doing any of this via IFA now - i've done all of this myself and kept my nose clean and ensured i've paid what i promised and on time... i have the odd letter now and then from one of them wanting to review, but then hear nothing else.... Not had a phone call from anyone in nearly a year (which is nice!!)

So should I write to them asking whether my original loan/credit card had PPI on it (which I think most did) and ask them to reduce my debt accordingly demanding that this is paid back... then go back to them and ask for a final settlement figure and ask for it to be reduced considerably.... what's a realistic amount... 50% ?? 75% ??

Many thanks again for all your help!!!

Oneday77

SK, well done on the payment with HF, I do hope you got teh agreement as a F&F in writing though. May be worth asking for proof of that if you don't, always cover your back.

As for F&Fs to the rest, offer no more than 40%, if they say no then rattle the PPI sword. Post them a nappy and then try again

sussexking

yes oneday77 - i've got a letter confirming that yep!! and also my credit report says that i only owe £900 or so pounds on that one... happy days!!! - cheers for that!!!