Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

outofmydepth

Hi - I am not sure If I have done this right!!

after many years of struggling on my own as a single parent bringing up 2 young daughters, now they are grown up and starting to fly the nest have decided it is time to confront my debt. I live in a shared ownership house, therefore cannot remortgage (i do have equity) and have around £25k of debt - my salary is £24K - I am considering a dMP but also maybe selling and going into rented accomodation, although I do not want to leave my home of 12 years. I have worked it out and I would have around £100 each month spare towards a DMP - can you tell me if I would likely to be accepted or would they tell me I need to do an IVA? Hope you can help

mum2one

outofmydepth wrote: »

Hi - I am not sure If I have done this right!!

after many years of struggling on my own as a single parent bringing up 2 young daughters, now they are grown up and starting to fly the nest have decided it is time to confront my debt. I live in a shared ownership house, therefore cannot remortgage (i do have equity) and have around £25k of debt - my salary is £24K - I am considering a dMP but also maybe selling and going into rented accomodation, although I do not want to leave my home of 12 years. I have worked it out and I would have around £100 each month spare towards a DMP - can you tell me if I would likely to be accepted or would they tell me I need to do an IVA? Hope you can help

Youve taken the 1st and hardest step, have you done the online debt remedy tool, as that goes through your budget and at the end gives you an idea of what is recommended for you, dmp, iva - theres links in the stepchange advisors post.

xx

StepChange_James

outofmydepth wrote: »

Hi - I am not sure If I have done this right!!

after many years of struggling on my own as a single parent bringing up 2 young daughters, now they are grown up and starting to fly the nest have decided it is time to confront my debt. I live in a shared ownership house, therefore cannot remortgage (i do have equity) and have around £25k of debt - my salary is £24K - I am considering a dMP but also maybe selling and going into rented accomodation, although I do not want to leave my home of 12 years. I have worked it out and I would have around £100 each month spare towards a DMP - can you tell me if I would likely to be accepted or would they tell me I need to do an IVA? Hope you can help

Hello,

Thanks for getting in touch. I'd agree with Mum2one, taking the first step and getting help is usually the toughest thing to do.

It's hard to give good advice about which debt solution would suit you without knowing more about your finances. As mentioned above, our Debt Remedy tool can take you through our full debt advice process. Here's the link: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp.

Having said all that, £100 a month towards £25,000 of debt would mean it would take a very long time to pay them all back via a DMP. An IVA has a fixed timescale which is usually five to six years but these will only work if your creditors agree to the amount they're offered, so that could be tricky.

If your situation was likely to improve in the future and your available money to pay debts was going to go up then a DMP might be a good option. If you're finances aren't likely to improve and an IVA would represent the best return to your creditors then that may be an option.

You'll no doubt have noticed that most of the things I'm saying here have may, might or could attached to them. That's because every situation is different and it's important to get advice tailored to your specific circumstances. If you go through Debt Remedy then you'll get much more concrete advice.

Kind regards

James

cazzamado

Hi Stepchange,

I am in the process of looking in to my options to help me get out of my current debt situation. I owe £15000 in unsecured debts and I have approached a company called National Debt Assistance. Are these guys a charity like yourshelves? they offer free advice but after reading some other threads I am concerned that these people will end up charging me a fortune and recommend the wrong solution.

Many thanks

StepChange_James

cazzamado wrote: »

Hi Stepchange,

I am in the process of looking in to my options to help me get out of my current debt situation. I owe £15000 in unsecured debts and I have approached a company called National Debt Assistance. Are these guys a charity like yourshelves? they offer free advice but after reading some other threads I am concerned that these people will end up charging me a fortune and recommend the wrong solution.

Many thanks

Hi Cazzamodo,

I think you're right to be cautious when looking to get debt advice. I've googled National Debt Assistance and they don't look to be a charity.

The MSE approved places to get debt advice are listed here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help.

You can get free online advice from us by using our Debt Remedy tool here: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp or by giving us a call http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx.

If you're looking to get advice from elsewhere I'd recommend you stick to those listed by Martin Lewis in the article above.

Kind regards

James

cazzamado

Thank you James,

I will be giving Stepchange a call this afternoon :-)

kimmy393

Hi please can you help. My bf has been on the dole for around 4 years , and he is struggling to keep control of his debts. One of his debts in particular is his Barclays cc . He owes £1500 to them but the interest is 27.9%. All he can afford to payoff is the min . So he is getting nowhere with the debt .. his nearly £40 each month is all interest. He is so down about it. And I myself a student am not in a situation to financially help him . Is there anything he can do to get a his debt frozen or a % taken off it cause he been on jsa for so long. I am so worried about him.

Former_StepChange_Rachel

kimmy393 wrote: »

Hi please can you help. My bf has been on the dole for around 4 years , and he is struggling to keep control of his debts. One of his debts in particular is his Barclays cc . He owes £1500 to them but the interest is 27.9%. All he can afford to payoff is the min . So he is getting nowhere with the debt .. his nearly £40 each month is all interest. He is so down about it. And I myself a student am not in a situation to financially help him . Is there anything he can do to get a his debt frozen or a % taken off it cause he been on jsa for so long. I am so worried about him.

Hi there

It definitely sounds like your boyfriend would benefit from some free and impartial debt advice from us.

With him being on JSA, it goes without saying that he’s limited on what he can afford to pay to his debts at the moment. It’s therefore important that he puts together budget to show to his creditors so they can understand what his living costs are. His living costs such as food, clothing, household bills and transport expenses will always be a higher priority versus things such as loans, credit cards, overdrafts etc.

Once his creditors understand what he’s dealing with, they’re much more likely to accept smaller payments and make things easier until your boyfriend finds himself in a better position financially. They may even reduce or freeze interest if they know he’s getting free and impartial debt advice.

I suggest he takes a look at our anonymous advice tool Debt Remedy that can provide a solution in just 20 minutes – http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp

Please reassure your boyfriend that we'll do all we can to help.

Best regards

Rachel

Lightning1

Hi I hope you can give me some advice.

I have approx £14k credit card debt with 2 providers I pay the minimum payment to each which comes to around a total of £250 per month I also have a loan which I pay back £250 per month.

I have just had a baby & am on statutory maternity pay of £136 per month and I am struggling to afford to pay the debt & live off my money.

I am in Scotland, my sister had a debt management plan done through citizens advice and I wondered if you would recommend it for me and advise how to go about it and the pros and cons? I am married but my husband has debt too although not as much as me.

We are council tenants and at some point in the future if we are ever debt free would like to look into buying our house so Im worried if I do a debt management plan my credit would be affected & I wouldnt get a mortgage.

Thanks

Helpme75

I am in a mess financially follwoing my marriage break up over 5 years ago, myself and my XH were in debt, hardly any equity in the house and I left the marriage with nothing but debt in my name only, anyway I have managed to keep going on by having a second job but ill health and family problems mean I can no longer work in the evenings or weekends, so I am doing only my day job.
I earn a good wage 25k but I am in about 30k worth of debt accross 7 credit cards and can no longer manage my payments without robbing Peter to pay Paul. I live in rented accomodation and have no savings, I own my own car worth about 3k but need this for work as I do not live on a bus route, I want to pay my debts but I cannot afford the minimum payments which are about £700 a month! I am so stupid and scared I will be taken to court.
I have read about DMP's, is this the way forward or do I owe too much?
I would be very grateful of any advice you can offer me. Thankyou