Made a complete mess of it now I need advice

thefridgemaster

Hi There guys I realy hope someone can put my mind at ease.. Long story short I have a few debts that are out of control I owe £2000 to Littlewoods, £600 to Very, £1000 to capital one, £1000 to Jacamo, £600 to Studio, while in a deep depresion I have fell behind in my repayments I burried my head in the sand and stopped talking to the companys 5 months ago I am now trying to rebuild my life but dont know where to start while these are not the highest debts I am now on benefits while trying to find work the companys are phoning everyday I am stressed with it all and now looking at a DMP but the thing is taking time could be afew weeks before they even start working on it for me in the mean time I am hearing storys from friends who are saying that the companys could freeze my bank account I am worried sick as I am heading to dublin on tuesday for a couple of job interviews this means I need to stay in a hotel for a few days the hotel take payment from my bank I am worried I get out there and find my account frozen and no money to pay for food or my hotel I this something that could happen or would I get warnings that I am being taken to court befor they freeze my account what are the warning signs that a company is going to do this ?

FireWyrm

Freeze your account? Where d yu think you're living? East Germany.

1) they are creditors, and although you owe them money, they don't own you. Before anything can be done, court orders need to be obtained etc. You should be working diligently on a plan of action though.

2) don't dally with the DMP plan... You need to get something in play soon, but a few more weeks is unlikely to make much difference.

3) take is slowly and calmly. They will try to bully you, know your rights. You can find them time and again on this board, read previous posts.

4) post an SOA and we will try to offer useful advice on what you can cut and how to restructure you life so you are making positive steps forward.

Time_to_face_the_music

thefridgemaster wrote: »

I am stressed with it all and now looking at a DMP but the thing is taking time could be afew weeks before they even start working on it for me

Hi fridgemaster :hello:

Well done on starting to get this sorted out :T

Who are you going for the DMP with? It concerned me a little when I read it could be a few weeks before they even start working on it for me. You need to go with a non-fee charging organisation like CCCS or Payplan to ensure every penny you pay goes towards your debts. Neither of these companies take a few weeks to get working on it for you, so if you are currently looking at a fee paying DMP, now is your chance to drop it and give CCCS or Payplan a call

fermi

The companies you listed cannot do anything to your bank account, and court action would be a loooooong way off at the moment, and may never happen anyway.

Immediate concern for a bank account when looking at a DMP, token payments etc is to make sure that you don't have your account with any bank that you owe debts to. If you do, then there is a risk they may be able to set off the debt against funds in your current account.

Or if you owe something like a payday loan company, and you have given them your card details. They will often try to whip all the funds out of your account if they can.

Short of the above, your account will be safe and creditors cannot touch it. No matter what you owe.

Naf

Good on you for facing this head on.
It's clear from your post that you're very worked up: punctuation helps the reader more than it does the writer.
The advice above is excellent, I would add a step to the very beginning, however:
Don't Panic!

Yes, you do need to do a few things with some urgency: work out your own SOA (post it up here for some advice if you need/want); then when you know how much you have to offer, either start writing to the companies yourself, or get professional DMP help. Don't get stressed at letters from them, I've been receiving letters from some of mine for >4 years, despite making payments. Probably most importantly, though, is to actually start making agreed payments as soon as possible! Even token payments while you work out your DMP will look good.