Do I dump spectrum and go it alone?

artic_fox_2

hiya Im very new at this so please bare with me.im married, with two kids under 10,single low wage, council renter and i promise to never get credit again EVER (cept if i buy a house)

we owe about £10,000 to two companies,(£5,000 each) they were black horse and hsbc, but not sure who has the accounts now, (think its howard cohen and co solicitors and dg solicitors) as 2 years ago we involved spectrum.

they advised hike up your expendure list so it shows you cant afford to pay anything, but pay us £18 per month to pay these two companies £1 each,(but also pay us a one off fee of nearly £900 over 3 monthes, cant remember how we managed it) and we will deal with all the demands and letters from the companies and track who is dealing with which debt and save £3,500 over 5 years and then we will make them an offer and they should write the rest of the debt off and you will be debt free.

(at first we had 3 debts but the third was only(ha ha)£750 and they offered to get rid of it for about £400 so we did)

sounded wonderful after 18 months of demands and phone calls and trying to deal with it my self and getting nowhere,i tried to get all 3 companies to stop interest and they said they would, but when i asked after 6 months for a statement, they all showed interest, in one case i was paying £85 per month and they were charging £60 per month in interest, thats when i gave up and went to spectrum.

because i was happy to scrimp and scrap for 5-8 years (to propperly pay the debts off with all interest and charges)but not 20-30years which is what it would have been if we carried on as we were.

now 2 years on we are still paying spectrum £18 per month and £1 per debt per month. its been realy nice as there has been hardly any letters or hassle from the companies. but Im not compleatly happy at deceving them and only paying them £1 per month and would like to know whether its worth getting rid of spectrum and paying them £10 each per month(ie splitting spectrums fee between them) and still offering them £3,500 between them in 2-3 years after ive managed to save up.

I would like to do this but im worried that if i contact them with this idea that they will start to take an interest in me again and start sending letters and demands and start they worry all of again THATS THE CRUNCH!!!

i would realy appreciate any sugestions for advise on this and im already seeing what money savers i can use

we dont have any credit cards or mobile phone contracts(PAYG but less than £5 per month each)

but we do have ntl tv(only 2 packages kids and discovery) and phone(talk 24), thinking of seeing if they will give me a good loyalty offer? going to ring british gas and demand a quartly meter or going else where for gas and electric as on payment meters at mo

this is such an excelent website,i cant believe i only found it because i wanted slow cooker recipies and this was at the top of the list so glad that my dad got me one for xmas. he also pays for my tv licence for my birthday pressent each year.

would love to add at the bottom my motto but dont know how

you cant get a yes if you dont ask

skintasusual

dump spectrum now!

get on to CCCS or payplan and they wil do the same job as spectrum, but for FREE.

you won't regret it!

artic_fox_2

will ring them on monday when kids are at school thanks

keith_lard

CCCS are top!

Well worth a phone call, I have never looked back!

K.

CLAPTON

i would be very cautious about rocking the boat until you are in a position to make a F&F offer. although normally i would be against a company that charges, you seem to be only paying 20 per month in total and your creditors are quiet.

let sleeping dogs lie until you are in a better position.

artic_fox_2

CLAPTON wrote:

i would be very cautious about rocking the boat until you are in a position to make a F&F offer. although normally i would be against a company that charges, you seem to be only paying 20 per month in total and your creditors are quiet.

let sleeping dogs lie until you are in a better position.

but i feel guilty only paying them so little also what does F&F offer mean sorry very new
you cant get a yes if you dont ask

CLAPTON

my apologies; F&F means full and final.
basically after the debt has been outstanding for a few years and especically if you are not paying very much per month, the DCAs (debt collection agencies) will usually accept an offer to pay a one off sum to write the debt off.
often they will take 40% or even less in some cases and this is called a full and final settlement (hence F&F).

artic_fox_2

forgot to mention spectrum will be asking for a managing fee of £29.37 at the end if they are the ones who arrange the F&F offer

skintasusual

I dumped baines and ernst at a bad time, but my creditors were extremely understanding and appeared glad that I had dumped the fee chargers!

I even had a letter the other day, completely unprompted from HFC saying They are freexzing my interest for the life of the balance. (they had said only 6 months with B&E)

artic_fox_2

has anyone else had good experiences of doing this
You can't get a YES if you don't ask?

Donedoingdebt

I too dumped Baines & Ernst around 2001 & started paying my creditors directly by standing order & have had no problems, even though they're mostly debt collection agencies. Rightly or wrongly, I intend to pay my debts off in full so my credit file shows all accounts as satisfied/settled & there's no chance of anyone returning in the future demanding any unpaid amounts. I would certainly feel like dumping Spectrum & spread the charges that you'll save towards paying more off your debt.