Paying off husbands debts

its_smee

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one but I just want to double check, my husband is currently in a DMP, which has resulted in my mortgage application being declined. After doing a bit of ringing round we've managed to get a figure for paying off all his debts and its not astronomical, £4.5k all owed to debt collection agencies.

Now here's the maths, to ensure I'm in a better position next year when I decide to go for a mortgage we've decided to pay off this plus my car loan asap using what I had as a deposit, then quickly working to save this deposit again. To ensure maximum time between settling and re-applying for a mortgage we want to pay this asap. Using the deposit we are still around 2k short for the full amount we owe, but it wouldn't take long for us to save this maybe 6 months. Can this be paid on my 0% credit card? (to the debt collection agency) I forgot to ask yesterday . I'm assuming not, which leads into my second question, I have an offer of 0% for 6 months on cash transfers into my account (3% fee), do you think it would be wise to transfer this into my account and pay back over 6 months, or save for 6 months and pay off the DMP then?

Thanks!

Primavera_2

Hello there, I'm pretty sure that you can pay the balance off using a 0% card. My partner did this for me a number of years ago with a 0% Halifax credit card to a debt collection agency. I'm not sure if things have changed since.

its_smee

That's good to know Primavera as clearing this DMP would be a weight off, as its hung over us since we met, hubby has done really well to get this far, paying off over £30,000 of it since 2007 so we are definitely on the home straight!

zzzLazyDaisy

Well done to both of you for turning your financial situation around.

But do be aware that even after the debts are all paid off, the marks on his credit file won't disappear overnight, so this may affect you for sometime into the future.

Also, when paying off debts, do try to agree a full and final settlement for a lesser sum, as this will leave more money free to pay off other debts, and may result in you having to put less against your credit card, which can only be a good thing.

Tixy

Hi

You mention his DMP affected your mortgage application. Are you financially associated? do you have any joint bank account or joint debts? (assuming you do mean the mortgage is just in your name)?

If its not a joint mortgage then providing you close joint accounts you can financially disassociate on your credit files which would mean his credit file could not affect or factor in the mortgage application.

In terms of the settlements - if you are doing these yourself do you know to get written confirmation first from the debt collectors/creditors to ensure its in full & final settlement before you pay? This is essential.

its_smee

Tixy wrote: »

Hi

You mention his DMP affected your mortgage application. Are you financially associated? do you have any joint bank account or joint debts? (assuming you do mean the mortgage is just in your name)? Yes we have a joint account, I wish we didn't now as we'd only opened it to pay in cheques in our joint names we'd been gifted when we got married! But we then started to use it for things like utilities bills as it was easier than you pay this and I pay that (I now realise this is what has probably blacklisted me too)

If its not a joint mortgage then providing you close joint accounts you can financially disassociate on your credit files which would mean his credit file could not affect or factor in the mortgage application.

In terms of the settlements - if you are doing these yourself do you know to get written confirmation first from the debt collectors/creditors to ensure its in full & final settlement before you pay? This is essential Yes we are getting written full and final settlement figures from the creditors (between 60-85% of original debts).

Thanks for your assistance everyone, maybe time to think about getting rid of our joint account. Luckily husband does not have any defaults - he was self managing/drowning and spoke to the CCCS just at the right time, so now that the DMP is to be settled time to start building the credit rating back up.