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StepChange_James

Debtfree14 wrote: »

Hello,

I have currently got a sum of money to pay off with Triton card services. It was transferred to Triton last week from RBS as I'd fallen behind with my payments.

My partner has offered to take out a credit card at 0%, transfer this debt to his name and I can pay him back.

Does anyone know if you can transfer a Triton account to a credit card? Does it work the same as a credit card?

Thank you in advance for your help

Hi there,

It will depend on the policies of the card company, but transfering a balance from a debt collector's account in someone else's name wouldn't be the usual way a balance transfer is done, so I suspect many credit card companies would be wary of this.

On a slightly different note, I'd generally advise against letting a partner pay off one of your debts with a new debt in their name.

While I'm sure people do this all the time without any problem, I've spoken to many people over the years that have had relationship and money problems off the back of similar arrangements.

If you'd like some help dealing with Triton then I'd recommend giving our Debt Remedy tool a go: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp. It takes about 20 minutes and after taking details about your finances we'll give you an action plan with recommendations on how to sort out any debts you have.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

gemnomnom wrote: »

Hi there,

My BIL actually posted a thread with questions regarding my partner's debt but it seems to be lost in the forum, so I thought I'd post my questions here.

I have actually been on the phone to StepChange and they refused to answer any of these questions as they cannot advise on bailiff avoidance.

However it's worth a shot:

- How do baillifs find out where you live? Is it possible they trace direct debits (he doesn't have any credits and bills aren't in his name) or can find out where you live? These aren't available on credit checks; so what methods are known to be used?
- Are the debts automatically taken back to the court when the bailiffs can't find him? I have read this online and am interested in this happening, as the courts can't enforce bailiff fees.
- He's interested in paying the debt but the fine alone, not the £300 bailiff fees. Do we just ring the court and they tell us over the phone yes/no they'll take it back, or do we have to arrange a hearing so we can argue why they should be taken back?

To make it clear, I don't want to avoid the debt (especially as I am told Magistrate Court Orders for driving offences never go away. Is this correct?) but do not want to pay the extortionate bailiff fees.

Many thanks in advance

Hi there,

Thanks for posting. I'd be inclined to agree with my colleague and say that it's generally a bad idea to try to avoid a bailiff. Having said that I'll if I can help with any of your questions.

I'm not sure on the methods bailiffs use to track people down. I suspect they're not too keen on publicising their methods but I presume they'll look to find people on various different registers such as the electoral roll etc.

I don't think debts automatically transfer back to the courts, my understanding is that a bailiff will send a debt back once they think they can't collect on it.

I'm not sure the courts taking the debt back from the bailiffs would help much, as your partner would still owe the bailiff fees. While it can be frustrating having to pay these fees trying to avoid them is likely to involve incurring more costs.

If your brother wants help working out the best way to pay back this debt then I'd recommend you giving him our number. We can help him work out what he can afford to offer and quite often bailiffs are more co-operative if they can see that a debt advice organisation are involved and the person is looking to get things back on track.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

mylittlepumpkin wrote: »

Hi

Looking for some advice if anyone can help.

Got in a real mess and started a DMP two years ago but since that time our personal circumstances (mine and my Husband's) have changed dramatically. He has been on long term sick (awaiting Tribunal Hearing) and has received his contribution based entitlement to ESA and I closed my business due to no work. I have recently commenced self-employment and this is our sole income. We are struggling to pay the mortgage and everything else.

We had pretty well managed the monthly payment to the DMC until the latter part of last year and have made token payments of £1.00 to creditors for the last three months.

I have read somewhere that DMC's do not check whether these debts are legally enforceable and that you should personally write enclosing a £1.00 postal order etc. to obtain details. Any advice welcome on this. Most of the debts are now with debt collection agencies.

Also two of the creditors are crippling us with interest/charges despite being aware of the situation and it appears that the total payments into the plan are being consumed by this happening.

I feel that we are up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

We have equity in our property of approx. £120K and the debt is approximately £45k.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi there,

Some people challenge creditors to prove their debts are enforceable by requesting copies of original agreements. Most companies do have this information on file, so we'd only recommend doing this if you suspect the debt might not actually be yours.

With the ones that are still adding interest, I guess you'll have already asked them to stop but it may help to write to them again with an up to date income and expenditure budget and offer of a token gesture payment (assuming that's what your budget shows you can afford).

This might help but there's still a chance they'll continue with interest and charges. Sadly there's not a lot you can do about this. In these situations debts will often be passed on to another debt collector after a while and this gives another chance to try and get interest and charges frozen (and it's probably more likely to be accepted).

It's hard to give specific advice about the long term strategy with any certainty but given the amount of equity you've got it's safe to say that bankruptcy, IVAs and similar kind of solutions wouldn't suit your situation.

There are two obvious options to deal with these debts. One would be to maintain small payments until things improve and then start paying them off when you're in a situation where you can afford to give them more. The second would be to sell your property and clear the debts with the proceeds - though this would mean losing your property and having to relocate.

If you'd like more in depth advice I'd recommend getting in touch with us, the contact details can be found in my signature below.

Kind regards

James

gemnomnom

StepChange_James wrote: »

Hi there,

Thanks for posting. I'd be inclined to agree with my colleague and say that it's generally a bad idea to try to avoid a bailiff. Having said that I'll if I can help with any of your questions.

I'm not sure on the methods bailiffs use to track people down. I suspect they're not too keen on publicising their methods but I presume they'll look to find people on various different registers such as the electoral roll etc.

I don't think debts automatically transfer back to the courts, my understanding is that a bailiff will send a debt back once they think they can't collect on it.

I'm not sure the courts taking the debt back from the bailiffs would help much, as your partner would still owe the bailiff fees. While it can be frustrating having to pay these fees trying to avoid them is likely to involve incurring more costs.

If your brother wants help working out the best way to pay back this debt then I'd recommend you giving him our number. We can help him work out what he can afford to offer and quite often bailiffs are more co-operative if they can see that a debt advice organisation are involved and the person is looking to get things back on track.

Kind regards

James

How, if at all, will we be made aware that they have sent a debt back to the court?

I'm not sure why you are advising we would still owe bailiff fees as it seems clear on pages: http://www.dealingwithbailiffs.co.uk/court-fines-bailiffs-fees.htm and http://www.dealingwithbailiffs.co.uk/Bailiffs-Fees-Court-Fines_Distress-Warrants.htm that bailiff fees are not legally enforceable once the debt is paid with the court...

He is my boyfriend, not my brother. We don't want to co-operate with the bailiffs. Would your organisation be able to help with a payment plan to the courts directly? Thanks

Debtfree14

StepChange_James wrote: »

Hi there,

It will depend on the policies of the card company, but transfering a balance from a debt collector's account in someone else's name wouldn't be the usual way a balance transfer is done, so I suspect many credit card companies would be wary of this.

On a slightly different note, I'd generally advise against letting a partner pay off one of your debts with a new debt in their name.

While I'm sure people do this all the time without any problem, I've spoken to many people over the years that have had relationship and money problems off the back of similar arrangements.

If you'd like some help dealing with Triton then I'd recommend giving our Debt Remedy tool a go
. It takes about 20 minutes and after taking details about your finances we'll give you an action plan with recommendations on how to sort out any debts you have.

Kind regards

James

Hi James,

Thanks for your help above. Luckily, Nationwide were ok about transferring it over - as far as they were concerned it was still in the same form as a credit card. This was an ex-RBS credit card - it may be different for other lenders.

Thank you for your advice, we have set up a formal contract, a standing order, all of which should be paid off in 13 months.

Will hopefully have my credit rating back on track for mortgage applications next year!

Thank you again for all of your advice.

System

gemnomnom wrote: »

How, if at all, will we be made aware that they have sent a debt back to the court?

I'm not sure why you are advising we would still owe bailiff fees as it seems clear on pages: http://www.dealingwithbailiffs.co.uk/court-fines-bailiffs-fees.htm and http://www.dealingwithbailiffs.co.uk/Bailiffs-Fees-Court-Fines_Distress-Warrants.htm that bailiff fees are not legally enforceable once the debt is paid with the court...

He is my boyfriend, not my brother. We don't want to co-operate with the bailiffs. Would your organisation be able to help with a payment plan to the courts directly? Thanks

Hi and thanks for getting back to us.

If your partner received a magistrates’ court financial penalty for a motoring offence, the court will have issued a distress warrant if he didn’t pay it. The distress warrant instructs bailiffs to attend the property to remove goods.

Once a distress warrant has been issued, you can only make payments to the bailiff. The court themselves won’t accept payments or make an agreement to pay by instalments at this stage.

In some cases, the bailiff will return the distress warrant to the court. This might happen where:

• The bailiff finds someone is vulnerable, for example they have a serious illness or disability
• There aren’t enough goods in the property to cover the amount owed
• The bailiff can’t gain entry to the property after several attempts

If the warrant is returned to the court, the financial penalty is still owed but the bailiff’s fees will be removed.

However, the court has a range of other options to enforce the financial penalty after the warrant has been returned. These include taking money directly from wages or benefits, clamping your partner’s vehicle, increasing the fine by 50% or imprisonment.

You’d be made aware if the warrant is returned from the bailiff because the court would send a summons to your partner ordering him to attend a further court hearing to decide the next steps that will be taken to collect the financial penalty. The court may see ignoring a bailiff as evidence of ‘wilful refusal’ to pay the debt, and they’ll take this into account when deciding what to do next.

The above applies only to financial penalties issued by magistrates’ courts. If the bailiffs are acting on the instructions of any other court, different rules apply.

Let me know if you need any more advice.

Kind regards,

Mat

Disduprop

My DMP with SC is due for annual review. Can I complete this online or is it necessary for me to discuss with an advisor? There has been very little change to my circumstances over the last year.
Thanks

StepChange_James

Disduprop wrote: »

My DMP with SC is due for annual review. Can I complete this online or is it necessary for me to discuss with an advisor? There has been very little change to my circumstances over the last year.
Thanks

Hello,

Absolutely. We recently launched a new service that lets you go through the whole process online. It's part of the online DMP part of our website, which you can access here: http://www.stepchange.org/Online_DMP.aspx.

Cheers

James

LittleAoife

hi there, i have just split with my husband.
I have some debts that have been aquired during our relationship that i need to sort out, all in my married name/ maiden name but not joint.
we have no joint accounts now as all closed. what is the best way to start on this, to phone/email you guys??

789caroline

Hi

I am new to forums. I am trying to prevent myself from ever getting into debt crisis. I have read about problem debt and debt crisis and I just want to arrange my money in the best way possible.

I have problem debts but I am able to pay them but have no money to ourselves. We have three credit cards totalling just under 16,000. We have a loan that has got 12,911 left on it. I don't know whether to consolidate. I looked into re-mortgaging but don't have enough unless I get my house valued. I'd like to pay one payment but don't want to be fleeced!

Can anyone advise what is the best way for me to organise this debt?

I would really appreciate any help. Feeling quite confused. We are not very savvy with money.

xx