Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

MrsBunny

hi there,

quick question really - I am currently on a DMP with stepchange and everything is going fine, our budget is good and our repayments are manageable.

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and looking at our budget for when I go on Mat leave. There is no way we will be able to afford our DMP payment (£480) as our income will be cut by about £800, infact I don't think we will be able to afford to pay anything to our creditors. What happens in this situation? Now as this is our first child, I have no idea what benefits we will be entitled too, if any.

Can you advise what happens in this situation?

MrsBunny

StepChange_Private_Messages

MrsBunny wrote: »

hi there,

quick question really - I am currently on a DMP with stepchange and everything is going fine, our budget is good and our repayments are manageable.

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and looking at our budget for when I go on Mat leave. There is no way we will be able to afford our DMP payment (£480) as our income will be cut by about £800, infact I don't think we will be able to afford to pay anything to our creditors. What happens in this situation? Now as this is our first child, I have no idea what benefits we will be entitled too, if any.

Can you advise what happens in this situation?

MrsBunny

Hi,

The thing with a DMP is that the payments are reliant on how much disposable income you have. People’s situations can change over time. We would need to look at your situation again based on your new income and see what solution is best going forward.

We may recommend that you pay whatever you can towards your debts, however small, until you’re in a stronger financial position. With an updated budget and advice you will be able to prove your situation to your creditors.

We have welfare benefits team that would be able to check your entitlement for support. As soon as you know what your maternity leave income will be contact us and we’ll go from there.

Thanks,
Jess

kmac84

Hi

I had been in DMP with Stepchange for about a year. I lost my job about 3 months ago and instead of doing the sensible thing and contacting Stepchange to discuss this, I just went in to my typical 'worse case scenario, negative thoughts, just ignore it and hope for the best' state of mind. Which is obv never going to work..

I have now missed 3 payments and had a letter from Stepchange to say the DMP is cancelled.

I have also just heard that I have my job back ( the company I work for went through a tough patch in the summer and there was no work. But they have new contracts now).

Should I try to contract Stepchange to discuss, or will having a failed DMP mean that they will not be able to help?

This is constantly on my mind and I feel so stupid of getting into such a mess when things were going so well.

System

xxlozxx wrote: »

I have recently had my 12 month review with Stepchange and have managed to cut down my bills to enable me to pay a bit more each month off my debt. I have a cc debt with Barclays which I have been paying through Stepchange for the past 12 months and they have been informed that my payments to them will be increased by an extra £16 per month. Great I get a letter today saying they are now going to start charging me interest on the balance which is going to wipe out the extra that I am paying and add a bit more each month to the debt. Well thank you Barclays nice to know you are supportive in my efforts to reduce the debt :mad:

Hi there,

I noticed this and wanted to give some advice. We can never guarantee that creditors will freeze interest or charges and sadly sometimes a creditor can start charging interest again, as in this case.

What you could do is complain directly to Barclays saying that you are taking every possible step to reduce your debt by increasing the payment and could they reconsider charging you interest.

Send them a copy of your updated budget. Send the letter recorded delivery so you have proof they have received it. Sadly they can still continue to charge interest. You are doing the very best thing by increasing the payment and doing all you can. Try not to be discouraged by this.

I hope this is of help.

Thanks,
Jess

System

Uncle_Fester24 wrote: »

Hi All, I'm new to the site and wonder if any one can help. I have a default on my CRA file which is six years old on the 4th Oct 13 and will drop off my file, I've had no contact from the creditor since the default notice was issued on the 4th Oct 07. Arrow Global bought the debt in 2011, i ignored the first couple of letters and heard nothing since until i got a letter from Restons Solicitors two weeks ago. I sent a statute barred letter and they wrote back quoting BMW Financial v Hart. Only a vieled threat of court action, if they issue a claim after 4th Oct 13 is it to late ?

Hi and welcome to the forum.

It looks like after the 4th of October will be too late for court action. However, they can continue to chase the debt if they wish (they just can’t enforce it through court action).
If they do continue to chase the debt you can make a complaint.

It looks like in the case they quote the finance company argued when the limitation period started. In most cases I’d believe this to be when the default was issued.

If they do decide to take any court action I’d recommend that you get in touch with us for some advice.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

kmac84 wrote: »

Hi

I had been in DMP with Stepchange for about a year. I lost my job about 3 months ago and instead of doing the sensible thing and contacting Stepchange to discuss this, I just went in to my typical 'worse case scenario, negative thoughts, just ignore it and hope for the best' state of mind. Which is obv never going to work..

I have now missed 3 payments and had a letter from Stepchange to say the DMP is cancelled.

I have also just heard that I have my job back ( the company I work for went through a tough patch in the summer and there was no work. But they have new contracts now).

Should I try to contract Stepchange to discuss, or will having a failed DMP mean that they will not be able to help?

This is constantly on my mind and I feel so stupid of getting into such a mess when things were going so well.

Hi there,

It can be a natural response to ignore things and hope they go away.

There are other organisations that can offer free, impartial advice like Payplan – please don’t be tempted to pay for debt help or continue to ignore your debts.

The best thing to do would be to use our online debt advice tool Debt Remedy to see what the best solution is for you going forward.

In the meantime you should contact your creditors and send a payment of as much as you think you can afford. Don’t let them encourage you to pay more than you can afford. Explain that you were temporarily out of work and you are seeking debt advice.

I hope this helps,

Thanks,
Jess

amandab25

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help.

I divorced my husband 9 years ago and my mum took a loan out of £15k for me with Egg which I paid for approx. 2 years. I ran into some problems and contacted Egg and asked for a repayment plan to which they accepted £20 per mth (till 2010). This worked great but I had some health problems and lost my job and couldn't pay this anymore, my mum was not aware of my problems.
I moved house and if im honest, forgot all about it until my mum received a letter from Arrow Global asking for the balance of £12k.

I have asked for a copy of the credit agreement and this has been received, but after looking at it its in my mums name and date of birth but my address, signed my myself and also the money was put into my account and paid out of my account. Mum was fully aware of me taking out the loan as she was the one who made the phone call to them. I was wondering what I can do about this? Is there a possibly I could get the change of ownership? I have full intentions of starting to pay the debt off slowly but surely but I don't want my Mum worrying about this. Kind Regards Amanda x

Former_StepChange_Rachel

amandab25 wrote: »

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help.

I divorced my husband 9 years ago and my mum took a loan out of £15k for me with Egg which I paid for approx. 2 years. I ran into some problems and contacted Egg and asked for a repayment plan to which they accepted £20 per mth (till 2010). This worked great but I had some health problems and lost my job and couldn't pay this anymore, my mum was not aware of my problems.
I moved house and if im honest, forgot all about it until my mum received a letter from Arrow Global asking for the balance of £12k.

I have asked for a copy of the credit agreement and this has been received, but after looking at it its in my mums name and date of birth but my address, signed my myself and also the money was put into my account and paid out of my account. Mum was fully aware of me taking out the loan as she was the one who made the phone call to them. I was wondering what I can do about this? Is there a possibly I could get the change of ownership? I have full intentions of starting to pay the debt off slowly but surely but I don't want my Mum worrying about this. Kind Regards Amanda x

Hi Amanda

I've sent your reply in a private message, let me know if you have any further questions.

Best regards

Rachel

warchild75

Hi there, My problem seems trivial compared to most but here goes, I have around 5.5k on a virgin credit card and it is at 26.9% which is crazy, I have tried the eligibility checker on this site and im only applicable for 2 cards at 0%, One of which is a virgin card so only one then really, I got turned down though when I tried, should my next step be to speak to lloyds who I bank with and have done for 20 years to see if they can help!

RedRobbo

Dear All,

I have over the past couple of years been handling my debts and have now got down from £15k to 0 but I have recently found through a credit report review an outstanding debt of £3,185.12. Originally this was with Egg and the account has been dormant since December 2007. Recently I have received demands from Marling Financial services for the total amount or else, which I responded with a letter requesting a CCA on 1st September 2013. Marlin responded within days saying that they will find the agreement and send this on.

On the 19th of September I received a letter from Marlin stating that "enclosed is a copy of the document from the original creditor for your reference". this document is a 2 page spreadsheet with personal details, address, Bank details and employment. the Headed Letter goes "we are still awaiting a copy of the Agreement and statement of account and will forward to you upon receipt".

2 days later I receive a 2nd letter from Marlin titled Statement of Account and reads.
Following is a statement of your account covering 05/02/13 to 08/08/13 opening and closing Balance of £3185.12.
If you do no pay off the full amount outstanding, we will allocate your payment to the outstanding Balance in a specific order, which is set out in the next paragraph of this statement. The way in which payments are allocated can make a significant difference to the amount of interested you will pay until the balance is cleared completely.
Payments of less than the full amount will be allocated in the following order:1 to pay any amounts of interest applied to you account, 2 to pay any costs and charges applied to your account, and 3 to pay the principal sum owed. no interested is currently payable on the amount outstanding.

then the document goes on about if you have a problem with your agreement you can resolve this with Marlin then the FOS.

So I have requested a CCA and not received on so what do I do now can you help?

Thanks in advance
Charles