Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Former_StepChange_Rachel

Bizarre wrote: »

Hi, I am seeking some advice. After hiding away from all my debt problems I have finally started to sort them out. My main debt is with Nationwide. I have 2 loans with them, in total around £9'000. I am currently going back & forth with them to sort out a repayment plan. My question is this: I inherited my house from my late mother so I have no mortgage/rent. Can Nationwide or any other debt try to take my house off me?
Thank you in advance for any advice you can give

Hi there,

If these loans are unsecured, then Nationwide have no claim to the property you live in. The only time this changes is if the debts go to county court (this only usually happens if they've previously been to a collection agency and payment arrangements have not been upheld).

The court would write to you and ask you to make a monthly payment on the debts that you could afford, even if that was as small as £1. As long as you replied in a timely manner with an offer of payment, the court would put that into action and you'd just make the agreed payment each month. if you defaulted on the payment the court tell you to pay, Nationwide could go for a charging order where they place the balance on any available equity your property has. They could technically force sale with the charging order but this is very rare. Most creditors use charging orders as an assurance that they will eventually get their money.

From what you've told me, I think it would be a good idea for you to get some free and impartial debt advice. We can have a look at your budget and tell you what your best options are moving forward.

Our anonymous advice tool Debt Remedy can give you a solution in just 20 minutes: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp

Hope this helps

Best regards

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Rachel

allofushere wrote: »

Hi
I'm going to be contacting Payplan today to try to arrange a debt plan.
I have an joint endowment which my daughters father and I left running when we separated 14 years ago. This was agreed between us to be used on maturity to help our daughter with uni costs.
Can anyone make me sell my portion of this to help with my debt?
Her dad would go absolutely crazy if this were the case. :-(

Hi there,

Creditors cannot force you to release your endowment funds in order to pay them so please don't worry. Unsecured debts are only entitled to disposable income.

Payplan should be able to give you some great options in order to get your debts back on track. If however you feel you need a second opinion you can always try our anonymous advice tool Debt Remedy: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp

Hope this helps

Best regards

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Rachel

cottonbud12 wrote: »

Hi, first post here after months of reading articles.

In a nutshell, I have quite large credit card debts (£30K). Due to losing my father and cousin in the same year a few years ago, I suffered from bad anxiety and saw gambling as a way of 'enjoyment'. This became a habit and caused me to be where I am today.

I have 8 credit cards (stupid - I know) and 3 of these are maxed out and one has been put on hold. I struggle to pay the minimum payment each month and usually end up borrowing from one to pay another. Also, the interest accrued means I'm paying peanuts off the balance. I know this is a downward spiral and am now trying to get my feet back on the ground. I am a proud man and want to pay back every penny I owe and get out of this hole.

Recently, I thought I had paid a card bill and when checking my balance, saw that I hadn't. I called the provider (Sainsburys) who said the arrears needed paying (can't afford it) and they could put me on a plan for 6 months paying £100 a month and that this would 'chip away' at the arrears. I can't really afford this and if the arrears are not going to be paid, what is the point in doing this?.

My wife does not know how large my credit card debt is and I would like to keep it this way as I don't want to place undue stress on her or expect her to pay for my troubles.

I am thinking of approaching a DMC or Stepchange in the near future but am facing possible redundancy next year after 13 years in a job. The payout I receive would massively reduce the debt I am in but this would leave an hole in the payout for my month to month living.

Can anyone offer the best advice or route to take?

Hi there

Thank you for posting and welcome to the forum.

I’m terribly sorry to read about the loss of your father and cousin and can only imagine what a stressful situation that was for you. Rest assured that we can help you with the debt you’re dealing with.

These cards you’ve told us about are what we call unsecured non-priority debts. This means that they are only entitled to your disposable income. In order for your creditors to understand what you’re dealing with, they need to see a budget breaking down your expenses and outlining what you can realistically afford right now.

Our Debt Remedy service is an online advice tool that is completely free, anonymous and impartial. It will help you put together a personal action plan and tell you in 20 minutes what your best debt solution is: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp

When it comes to the gambling issues you've spoken of, also know that you can get advice and support from Gamcare regarding this: http://www.gamcare.org.uk/

Hope this helps

Best regards

Rachel

Time2Change_3

Good Afternoon!

I am seeking advice regarding my unsecured debts. I do realise I have a problem and need to act sooner rather than later!

My debts (loan, overdraft & credit cards) total approx. £33,200. I am currently privately renting my home and have no assets. I have a car on HP/Conditional sale which I pay £280 per month, with approx. 4 years remaining on the agreement. I do need my car for work getting about.

I have recently married but all my debt is in my name, which has increased over several years, due to the cost of paying for all my university & teacher training and setting up my household (before I married my partner), combined with a 3 year pay freeze and increase in pension contributions, and losing over £4000 in extra pay due to having to relinquish extra duties due to illness (recently diagnosed with diabetes) I have tried SC debt remedy which confirms that I am not able to meet my monthly repayments any more, having £390 for repayments. The remedy advises an IVA but I don’t want to jeopardise any future promotions once my illness is controlled. The SC remedy calculates a DMP would take approx. 7 years to complete. I have studied in great depth the differences and a DMP is strongly preferred by us.

My partner does work full time, although his income is a lot less than mine. He contributes exactly half of all the household bills and has very little spare income after his commitments.

So to summarize, I have a few questions regarding my situation..

1. If I enter a DMP, will I be able to keep my reliable car I need for work?
2. Is £280 a reasonable amount to pay for a HP car, which is essential for work?
3. As all the debt is in my name, would my partner be involved in any way with contributing to a DMP/IVA?
4. There MAY be a chance of promotion in the future, would I pay any increased income into the DMP/IVA straight away (I would like to of course!)?
5. One of my creditors is Wesleyan Bank Teachers, a personal loan tailored to helping teachers with financial costs of setting up in the profession (NOT a student loan). This is my largest creditor with an outstanding balance of approx. £15200. Would they be reluctant to freezing interest / agreeing to a repayment plan / agreeing to an IVA, in your experience?
6. My other creditors are 2 RBS overdrafts (from old student accounts), and 5 credit cards which I have opened within the last 10 years of university/training/employment. Are creditors generally more ‘understanding’ with long term debts?

Many thanks for your advice, which I have been reading intently during the last few months!!

StepChange_Private_Messages

Time2Change wrote: »

Good Afternoon!

I am seeking advice regarding my unsecured debts. I do realise I have a problem and need to act sooner rather than later!

My debts (loan, overdraft & credit cards) total approx. £33,200. I am currently privately renting my home and have no assets. I have a car on HP/Conditional sale which I pay £280 per month, with approx. 4 years remaining on the agreement. I do need my car for work getting about.

I have recently married but all my debt is in my name, which has increased over several years, due to the cost of paying for all my university & teacher training and setting up my household (before I married my partner), combined with a 3 year pay freeze and increase in pension contributions, and losing over £4000 in extra pay due to having to relinquish extra duties due to illness (recently diagnosed with diabetes) I have tried SC debt remedy which confirms that I am not able to meet my monthly repayments any more, having £390 for repayments. The remedy advises an IVA but I don’t want to jeopardise any future promotions once my illness is controlled. The SC remedy calculates a DMP would take approx. 7 years to complete. I have studied in great depth the differences and a DMP is strongly preferred by us.

My partner does work full time, although his income is a lot less than mine. He contributes exactly half of all the household bills and has very little spare income after his commitments.

So to summarize, I have a few questions regarding my situation..

1. If I enter a DMP, will I be able to keep my reliable car I need for work?
2. Is £280 a reasonable amount to pay for a HP car, which is essential for work?
3. As all the debt is in my name, would my partner be involved in any way with contributing to a DMP/IVA?
4. There MAY be a chance of promotion in the future, would I pay any increased income into the DMP/IVA straight away (I would like to of course!)?
5. One of my creditors is Wesleyan Bank Teachers, a personal loan tailored to helping teachers with financial costs of setting up in the profession (NOT a student loan). This is my largest creditor with an outstanding balance of approx. £15200. Would they be reluctant to freezing interest / agreeing to a repayment plan / agreeing to an IVA, in your experience?
6. My other creditors are 2 RBS overdrafts (from old student accounts), and 5 credit cards which I have opened within the last 10 years of university/training/employment. Are creditors generally more ‘understanding’ with long term debts?

Many thanks for your advice, which I have been reading intently during the last few months!!

Hi Time2Change,

Welcome to the forum. I’m glad you went through Debt Remedy and were able to get some sound debt advice. To answer your questions:

1. A HP agreement would need to be paid to keep the car so it is a priority payment. It would be about showing your creditors that in other areas of your budget you are doing all you can to cut back non-priority outgoings.

2. Again there is no set amount that is considered ‘reasonable’ or not – it is a priority commitment that you have that’s it’s unlikely you can reduce.
3. It is best that you include your partner’s income on the budget so that a creditor can see how you plan to cover household costs but the responsibility to pay your debts are yours and your partner is not expected to pay them.

4. A DMP can be changed with any change in circumstance as can an IVA – you would be expected to pay slightly more if you had a promotion but any increases in outgoings/living costs are considered first.

5. The Wesleyan Bank Teachers would have to follow the same collection process as any other creditor – they can only make you repay it in installments you can afford. So in short they would have no way to make you increase your payment (in a DMP or IVA) if that’s all you can manage. They’re under no obligation to freeze interest but creditors do.

6. If you've been making consistent payments – even if they are reduced – creditors are generally more willing to accept a payment plan as you've shown you can keep up with one.

I hope this helps but if you have any other questions please get in touch. We’re happy to discuss whether an IVA or DMP is right for you.

Thanks,
Jess

emilianozapata

Hello

I've been strapped with about 3000 worth of debt for years, one bank overdraft which they suddenly slapped a 30 pound a month charge on (then tried unsucessfully to change to 5 pounds a day charges) and another 1600 historic credit card debt hanging out from a marriage breakup.
the latter just stopped me getting a decent job.

my credit rating is now 888 which is ranked good, where would be the best place to get a consolidation loan to pay all this off?

Thank you.

StepChange_James

emilianozapata wrote: »

Hello

I've been strapped with about 3000 worth of debt for years, one bank overdraft which they suddenly slapped a 30 pound a month charge on (then tried unsucessfully to change to 5 pounds a day charges) and another 1600 historic credit card debt hanging out from a marriage breakup.
the latter just stopped me getting a decent job.

my credit rating is now 888 which is ranked good, where would be the best place to get a consolidation loan to pay all this off?

Thank you.

Hi Emiliano

Thanks for posting. We're probably not the best people to ask about consolidation loans. My experience has been that lots of people who take them out end up worse off in the end.

This is either because they can't afford the new loan and start using running up their old debts again or because the loan is stretched over a very long period and ends up with much higher total interest to pay (even if the annual interest rate is lower).

Martin Lewis says this about debt consolidation: Consolidating is never an aim in its own right. In fact, it's often a disaster waiting to happen. If you've a lot of small loans or credit cards with debts on, the primary aim should be to pay them off as quickly as you can at the lowest possible rate.

I'd agree with what he's saying here. If you'd still like to look at loans to cover these debts then I'd suggest starting by having a look at this page: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cheap-personal-loans.

Alternatively, if you'd like to get some free and impartial advice about how to move forward then I'd suggest using our online advice tool, Detb Remedy - http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp.

It's completely free, only takes about 20 minutes and will help you plan out a thorough monthly budget. We'll then give you a personal action plan with recommendations on how best to move forward.

I'd still recommend going through debt remedy even if you're going to consolidate your debt, as the budget process will be really useful for working out what kind of loan payments you can realistically afford.

I hope this helps.

James

baggyann

hi, I'm in a DMP and I'm currently on maternity leave. I've just been given notice of displacement and will be receiving my pay-out sometime next year. I am hoping as it wont be enough to clear my issues, and my dmp payments are low, i can give the money to my husband to put him in a debt free position and so that his income will be able to support us both. His credit is clean and I've never wanted his name to be dragged into my mess. I would then be looking into an IVA for me, is that something that's wise now?

allofushere

Hi

I have spoken to Payplan recently about the possibility of starting a DMP with them.

I have an endowment which matures in 2017 which has been kept on by my ex and me for our daughter.
Payplan have told me if I have not paid all my debt by 2017, the creditors will take my share of the endowment.

My question is, will they take it all regardless, or will I start my plan with a set amount and as that reduces, so will the amount they can take from my share of the endowment? I'm thinking that if I work really hard to get as much off this plan as possible then they will only take the balance remaining? Or am I being a bit naive?

System

baggyann wrote: »

hi, I'm in a DMP and I'm currently on maternity leave. I've just been given notice of displacement and will be receiving my pay-out sometime next year. I am hoping as it wont be enough to clear my issues, and my dmp payments are low, i can give the money to my husband to put him in a debt free position and so that his income will be able to support us both. His credit is clean and I've never wanted his name to be dragged into my mess. I would then be looking into an IVA for me, is that something that's wise now?

Hi and thanks for your post.

If you’re in a DMP with us I’d recommend that you call us to discuss the situation. We can also discuss whether an IVA is suitable for you.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat