Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

StepChange_James

marzom wrote: »

Hi ,

Here is my question, I started on a DMP in June 2012 and now have £57,000 left (started at £58,000 but NatWest added another £700 in charges before selling the debt on!). My debt free date is 2023.

One of my relatives may be able to lend me £22,000, but I would need to start paying them back straight away (the same amount as my current DMP payment). £22,000 equates to 38.5% of my current debt.

Is it feasible for all my creditors to accept this percentage as a full and final settlement ?

Thanks

Hello,

It's hard to precise on these sorts of things as the percentage a full and final offer gets accepted at varies depending on the stage the debt had got to, the company you are dealing with and your own financial situation.

I've spoken to people who've settled their debts with a lump sum less than 38.5% but also spoken to people who've not managed with much more than that.

Generally speaking I think you would be doing very well to get your creditors to accept that kind of an offer, but there are such a lot of factors involved. I'd suggest giving us a call and explaining the situation and we can talk you through how best to proceed.

Hope this helps.

James

mattyspurs

Wondered if you can help. I had an account with CCCS but unfortuanlty i lost my job (again) in July. In order to help with my debt i cancelled alot of stuff, mainly phone lines, internet access etc.. I then found out that CCCS cancelled my recovery plan as i did not have the money in my account for 3months to be able to pay it off. I had no way of contacting them as i had no access to a phone or the net until now. Would they still be able to help me out as the debts are rising up and im strugglig to cope. IIve been messed around with jobseekers. Im now on hardship allowance and that as been stopped for 4weeks as im sanctioned for not turing up to an interview that i was never told about!!

StepChange_James

mattyspurs wrote: »

Wondered if you can help. I had an account with CCCS but unfortuanlty i lost my job (again) in July. In order to help with my debt i cancelled alot of stuff, mainly phone lines, internet access etc.. I then found out that CCCS cancelled my recovery plan as i did not have the money in my account for 3months to be able to pay it off. I had no way of contacting them as i had no access to a phone or the net until now. Would they still be able to help me out as the debts are rising up and im strugglig to cope. IIve been messed around with jobseekers. Im now on hardship allowance and that as been stopped for 4weeks as im sanctioned for not turing up to an interview that i was never told about!!

Hi Matty,

We can still help, I'd suggest giving us a call and we can update your information and give you fresh advice. Just gather up details of your income and outgoings and get in touch.

The only thing I'd add is that a debt management plan might not be your best option if you're on a low income and need everything that's coming in to cover living costs.

Whatever option suits you best we'll be able to support and advise you on how best to proceed.

All the best.

James

diddlepops

Could you please give me some brief advice.

My husband has a great job circa £55k salary, car, phone, fuel card etc. However, the company is in dire straits at the mo - the boss has taken to his bed and my husband is trying to keep things afloat. They may end up in Administration and salary will dry up probably mid-Jan.

What do we do about our mortgage/debts please? We have 2 mortgages on our property for around £230k and the home is probably worth £200k. We also have aroudn £20k unsecured debt.

Where do we start please? I earn £800 a month - won't even cover our £2,400 outgoings?

Any help would be appreciated.

StepChange_James

diddlepops wrote: »

Could you please give me some brief advice.

My husband has a great job circa £55k salary, car, phone, fuel card etc. However, the company is in dire straits at the mo - the boss has taken to his bed and my husband is trying to keep things afloat. They may end up in Administration and salary will dry up probably mid-Jan.

What do we do about our mortgage/debts please? We have 2 mortgages on our property for around £230k and the home is probably worth £200k. We also have aroudn £20k unsecured debt.

Where do we start please? I earn £800 a month - won't even cover our £2,400 outgoings?

Any help would be appreciated.

Hello,

Thanks for posting. It sounds like a stressful time at the moment. You're doing the right thing to look at your options now though, as that should make it easier to plan your finances out.

It sounds like it's quite likely there'll come a time next year when there isn't enough money to cover all the expenses from your income. When this happens it is important to priorities your costs, which usually means cutting down on non-essential living costs and reducing payments to non-priority debts.

We can give you advice on how to do this, the first thing to do is visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) to help you find a solution to your debt problem quickly.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement with information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. From this the service will automatically determine your options.

To help you fill in the form, it’s best to gather together information about:
• Your income
• Your expenditure
• The creditors you owe money to

You’ll receive a downloadable advice booklet providing a tailored solution for you based on your current circumstances and advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

If you’re not confident with computers or would like to speak to an advisor then you’re welcome to ring our Helpline on 0800 138 1111 (free including from mobiles). We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 3pm.

If you phone us it may be possible to refer you directly to a counsellor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for you.

Even if things seem fairly manageable now, it's worth getting advice at this stage. Then you can adjust your figures whenever things change.

Hope this helps.

James

greenwoodlad

Could you give some advice on my situation :

I am married with 3 children, we are in our 40s - we have a 5 bed house worth £280k with an outstanding mortgage of 222k - we have unsecured debts of approx 21k with 4 creditors.(loan, next card, overdraft , credit card)
We have been struggling for the last couple of years with rising costs and our loss of valuable overtime - i have a good job and now part time jobs too to try and bring in as much cash as possible - i am sometimes working 60 + hours a week and being in approx £2000-2200 a month - my wife has a part time job bringing in £750 a month - we have £180 a month child benefit - we have cut everything back to minimum - but i stupidly got a credit card this year to "help"- but somehow it is now at £4600 balance . We are always at overdraft limit and i am now some:(times doing small cash jobs to buy food - we have had to sell our car at a loss and now have a cheap £750 runabout. we have sold things we dont need or use on e bay... Basically we are not meeting ends meet - we looked at a DMP but then i decided to sell the car which has helped in the short term - our utility bills & debts come to about £2500 a month excluding food, housekeeping & fuel etc
I have suggested to my wife selling our dream home of 5 years - paying off the debts and then renting somewhere and getting totally debt free - my wife doesnt want to let our house go or move - we live in a village - the kids have friends and are settled in schools - i dont think we could buy again - we would be left with about 30k deposit and we would probably get a mortgage of about 150k . For £180k we could by a small 3 bed house back in the city where we really dont want to move back to, similar to the one we had 15 years ago - we have 3 teenagers now - we are just lost at what to do - i don't know how we will get through Christmas even - we have not defaulted on any payments yet but we are forfeiting daily essentials to prevent this - our salaries go in and we are hardly ever out of overdraft

Tinam1982

Hi.

I am in a big mess really and I really don't think there is anything I can do about it.

A little over 2 years, my parents took out a loan on my and my husbands behalf to consolidate some debts for us. It is in their name. Everything was fantastic for about 3 months as the monthly repayment was a lot less and we were very happy. Then my husband lost his job. He found another but the salary is much less. Then we made a massive mistake and borrowed my mums credit card. We thought it was the only way to make ends meet at the time and within a 18 months had run up £12000 on it!! Now we are drowning in it all. It's a struggle to get through the month and I cannot sleep because I am so worried. The problem is the debt is in my parents name so there is nothing I can do about it. My parents were trying to help us but it was the worse thing we could have done.

My and my husbands credit ratings are terrible. Is there anything at all we can do??

Tina.

dozy-debtor

hello,

I am currently owe my bank approx £9k split up from a loan and 2 overdrafts. 3 years ago I defaulted due to my work situation and it was passed from a bank to a DCA. I have been paying £1 a month to the DCA as a token payment.

I downloaded my credit file from Equifax, Credit Expert and Noddle. The loan is nowhere to be seen and this makes up the majority of the outstanding debt.

I requested my CCA from the DCA who passed me back to the bank. The bank still own the debt.
Following my request to the bank for my CCA's using my DCA reference number (I no longer have any details of the bank accounts ) they advise that I need to provide them with the sort code and account number.

Can this be right? Surely they should have details of the debts they have passed on to a DCA to chase me for?

Im really confused as what I need to next - are they just fobbing me off because I am trying to deal with this myself?

any advice would be greatly appreciated

Frida

Hi,

I was hoping someone could advise me on how to proceed with this issue.I owed the DWP a debt due to an overpayment of benefits which occurred around 17 years ago and the last time this debt was serviced or acknowledged was 1998-99, at this point I contacted DWP and they claimed that the debt was no longer on their system and therefore I did not owe them money. Upon hearing this I assumed that I no longer owed money and the fact that I did not hear from them for another 13 years indicated I was correct in my assumption.


However, after 13 years they have recently contacted me saying that I still owed them this money. Upon receiving their letter I replied stating that I did not acknowledge this debt and that I believed it was now statute barred as 5 years have passed. The DWP wrote back claiming that this debt would not be extinguished until after 20 years and that the "Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973" did not prevent them from instructing any of their private sector partners to pursue repayment on their behalf.

Therefore, I was wondering if someone could advise me how I should reply to their recent letter. Any help would be greatly appreciated on this matter.

mum2one

Frida wrote: »

Hi,

I was hoping someone could advise me on how to proceed with this issue.I owed the DWP a debt due to an overpayment of benefits which occurred around 17 years ago and the last time this debt was serviced or acknowledged was 1998-99, at this point I contacted DWP and they claimed that the debt was no longer on their system and therefore I did not owe them money. Upon hearing this I assumed that I no longer owed money and the fact that I did not hear from them for another 13 years indicated I was correct in my assumption.


However, after 13 years they have recently contacted me saying that I still owed them this money. Upon receiving their letter I replied stating that I did not acknowledge this debt and that I believed it was now statute barred as 5 years have passed. The DWP wrote back claiming that this debt would not be extinguished until after 20 years and that the "Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973" did not prevent them from instructing any of their private sector partners to pursue repayment on their behalf.

Therefore, I was wondering if someone could advise me how I should reply to their recent letter. Any help would be greatly appreciated on this matter.

From memory money owed to DWP is recoverable, and not appliable under the 6 yr rule.
I would write and ask for more details of the overpayment, sates occured and how much,
I'm guessing that once this comes - your best option would be to arrange a repayment scheme with them.