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StepChange_James

789caroline wrote: »

Hi, I hope some one can help.


My husband's work is only paying him £1000 this month when he normally gets above £1500. It is crippling us. We have never missed a bill but I have recently gone part time as it is cheaper on childcare to be at home for two days than to be at work full time. We have tried to get a loan but can't and it may be due to a recent credit purchase for something small. We can't get a re-mortgage. I have received a letter from Tesco saying that I can balance transfer at 0% but I am maxed out on my card. I feel so worried I have never been in this situation before. I have learned so much about budgeting that I didn't know before but it's not going to help me.


This is my first thread. I have three credit cards 1 big one in my name, and two in my husbands they total about £16000. We also have a loan of £12911 (£280 a month), a store card (1390 - 131 per month), car finance (£212 finishes in November but is damaged a little I have GAP insurance).


Please if anyone can help I would be so grateful......I feel sick!

Hello,

Thanks for posting. I'm sorry to hear how badly your money situation is affecting your feelings. I hope that we can make you feel better. These situations are nearly always not as bad as they first seem.

You mentioned that you've been picking up some budgeting skills, which is great as having a budget is really important at times like these.

I'd recommend looking at your figures and trying to work out if you're looking at a short term problem for this month while you're husband's wages are lower than expected or whether it's more of a longer term problem.

If it's just a temporary blip then your budget should tell you how much you're coming up short. Then you could look at contact some of the people you owe money to and agree to pay them less for one month.

Usually they'll want to make arrangements for the bills to be caught up by paying a bit extra in future months but most companies are willing to consider this sort of thing (particularly if the alternative is not paying them anything at all).

Obviously if the problem is more long term then temporary arrangements won't help. You'd be better off getting debt advice, which is where we can help.

You could use our online Debt Remedy advice tool (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) or give our helpline a call and speak to an advisor (http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx). Either way we can help you take stock of your situation and suggest practical solutions.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

Dontjudgeme wrote: »

Dear All

In December 2013, I started making payments towards an outstanding overdraft with LLoyds TSB. They had accepted my monthly offer. The account had been passed to a collector as I had spent almost 3 years disputing the amount.

My latest payment was refunded and, on carrying out my own enquiry as to why, was told that LLoyds TSB had withdrawn my account from that collector. The collector does not know why and did not inform me until I asked them and LLoyds TSB has not contacted me either. It has been 6 weeks since they took this action.

They accepted my offer of payment without a income form.


Can anyone shed any light on why LLoyds has withdrawn my account when everything was in order and why I have not heard from them?

Many thanks for any replies.

Hi there,

This does seem a bit odd when you've set up an agreement with the debt collector but it does happen.

I would expect either the bank or the debt collector should notify you of the debt being moved around, to avoid the situation you had with payments being rejected.

The easiest way to get the bottom of this would probably be to speak to Lloyds and ask them what's going on. It might be that they're taking the debt back themselves or they could be passing it to another agency.

As for why, I really don't know. It could be something to do with the internal policies or it could be just random.

It quite possible that the next people that deal with your account are willing to accept the same offer you'd agreed with the previous collectors. If they want to see income and outgoing information then you can put that together easily using our Debt Remedy tool: You could use our online Debt Remedy advice tool: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp.

I hope this helps.

James

scared-sick

Dear Stepchange,

Can you please tell me if there is now a clause in the IVA protocol which states that the IVA company may make you teke out a secured loan to release equity in your house at the end of year 5 if you cannot get a remortgage?
I am receiving conflicting information and I need to make a decision on if an IVA may be best for me?

thanks.

liz_isabella

Hi,

I'm slowly but surely managing my debt. If I keep going as I am, I should be clear by the time I'm 35 (three years, eep), or sooner if, as I clear debts, I roll those payments into the highest interest ones. I'm trying, anyway!

My biggest question right now is my Argos store card. I have a balance of about £506, and I'm repaying the minimum at the moment, which unfortunately is all I can afford (around £25 a month). But the interest is crippling - at least half of every payment is interest, and it's bugging me a lot.

I gave Argos a call to ask if I could close the card, and start a repayment scheme, and they've told me they can't entertain that notion unless I'm in arrears (ah, irony).

So my question is...should I miss the next payment and talk to Argos, get the card closed, the interest frozen, and enter into a repayment scheme?

My credit rating is already thoroughly trashed, and honestly I'm not thinking about that for right now, because I want to get debt free, and hopefully just that will fix my rating over the next three years.

I am also already IN a repayment scheme with Lloyds, which has been a lifesaver, quite honestly.

Any advice much appreciated. If the best thing to do is keep paying the minimum until I can afford to pay more than that and get the interest lower, I will. I don't envision being able to clear the whole amount any time soon, if ever. But I want to feel I'm doing something.

Thanks very much.

Former_StepChange_Rachel

scared-sick wrote: »

Dear Stepchange,

Can you please tell me if there is now a clause in the IVA protocol which states that the IVA company may make you teke out a secured loan to release equity in your house at the end of year 5 if you cannot get a remortgage?
I am receiving conflicting information and I need to make a decision on if an IVA may be best for me?

thanks.

Hi there,

Depending on the amount of equity in your home - and the specific T&C's of your IVA proposal - you may have to remortgage your property six months before the end of your IVA.

The level of remortgage is restricted and should not usually take your secured borrowing above 85% of the value of your home. Any money released from this will be paid into the IVA.

Each IVA is different and your insolvency practitioner will talk this over with you if it's something you may have to consider.

Hope this helps,

Best regards

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Rachel

liz_isabella wrote: »

Hi,

I'm slowly but surely managing my debt. If I keep going as I am, I should be clear by the time I'm 35 (three years, eep), or sooner if, as I clear debts, I roll those payments into the highest interest ones. I'm trying, anyway!

My biggest question right now is my Argos store card. I have a balance of about £506, and I'm repaying the minimum at the moment, which unfortunately is all I can afford (around £25 a month). But the interest is crippling - at least half of every payment is interest, and it's bugging me a lot.

I gave Argos a call to ask if I could close the card, and start a repayment scheme, and they've told me they can't entertain that notion unless I'm in arrears (ah, irony).

So my question is...should I miss the next payment and talk to Argos, get the card closed, the interest frozen, and enter into a repayment scheme?

My credit rating is already thoroughly trashed, and honestly I'm not thinking about that for right now, because I want to get debt free, and hopefully just that will fix my rating over the next three years.

I am also already IN a repayment scheme with Lloyds, which has been a lifesaver, quite honestly.

Any advice much appreciated. If the best thing to do is keep paying the minimum until I can afford to pay more than that and get the interest lower, I will. I don't envision being able to clear the whole amount any time soon, if ever. But I want to feel I'm doing something.

Thanks very much.

Hi there, thanks for posting.

It's great that you're doing your best to deal with your debts and communicate with your creditors.

It's possible that Argos would be more open to the idea of freezing interest if they saw a budget from you detailing your income/outgoings, along with what you're offering to them and your other creditors. Often, creditors want to be assured that they're being treated equally to the other companies you may owe money to.

When we look at a person's situation and advise them on what they can afford to pay, it's done in a way that's fair to all concerned. We find that creditors tend to be more cooperative with a person who's come to us for advice, as we do not take preference to any one creditor.

The other thing to keep in mind is that all of your creditors can see your credit file, along with what you're paying every month. If they see any preferential treatment for the other companies you owe money, this may also dissuade them from coming to an arrangement with you.

My advice would be to put together a budget with us. We can have a look at all the debts you're dealing with and advise you on what you can do moving forward. With a bit of luck, this may encourage Argos to meet you halfway (although please be aware, no one can force your creditors to freeze interest when making reduced payments to them. It is always at their discretion).

You can build a budget via our online advice tool Debt Remedy: http://www.stepchange.org/debtremedy.aspx?domain=www.MoneyAware.co.uk

Best of luck,

Rachel

wobblylegs

hi all, new here...after looking for advice this seems the best place

I've earlier completed an assessment for a DMP and it has advised 2 things:

1. A DMP
2. Sell house

Looking at the DMP, the payments per month aren't that much different to what we're paying now. I think this is because our debt is on low / 0% interest cards.

To sum up my financial position:

I owe £13k on credit cards and £3.5k on overdraft. We've never missed a payment on anything.

Credit cards were 0% transfer cards (for 24 months) so the payments are clearing debt. I'm also paying more than the minimum - not much...say £10 - £20.

However, it's getting to the point where we're relying more and more on the credit card. For example, the exhaust has gone on the car....I think it'll be about £200 to repair - we have no savings so will be another credit card purchase.

It's starting to really worry me and I can't see a sensible way out.

If I go down the DMP route, it will damage my credit rating (we're looking to move in a year or 2 so need a good score for a mortgage renawal). It also seems that the payments on the DMP are actually not a great saving for our position.

I don't want to sell the house! That would crucify me and my wife (the kids are too young to care)

Can anyone offer advice?

liz_isabella

Thanks very much for your help, Stepchange_Rachel. That's given me a good approach to tackle.

StepChange_Private_Messages

wobblylegs wrote: »

hi all, new here...after looking for advice this seems the best place

I've earlier completed an assessment for a DMP and it has advised 2 things:

1. A DMP
2. Sell house

Looking at the DMP, the payments per month aren't that much different to what we're paying now. I think this is because our debt is on low / 0% interest cards.

To sum up my financial position:

I owe £13k on credit cards and £3.5k on overdraft. We've never missed a payment on anything.

Credit cards were 0% transfer cards (for 24 months) so the payments are clearing debt. I'm also paying more than the minimum - not much...say £10 - £20.

However, it's getting to the point where we're relying more and more on the credit card. For example, the exhaust has gone on the car....I think it'll be about £200 to repair - we have no savings so will be another credit card purchase.

It's starting to really worry me and I can't see a sensible way out.

If I go down the DMP route, it will damage my credit rating (we're looking to move in a year or 2 so need a good score for a mortgage renawal). It also seems that the payments on the DMP are actually not a great saving for our position.

I don't want to sell the house! That would crucify me and my wife (the kids are too young to care)

Can anyone offer advice?

Hello,

It sounds like you've used our Debt Remedy tool, which is great at running through the available options. The good thing is that it's only suggesting options, so you're perfectly welcome to ignore the suggestion of selling your property.

Based on what you've said the two remaining options are to start a DMP or to carry on with the debts as they are.

If your budget shows that you can actually manage the payments on your debts and bring the balances down then it may be better to avoid the DMP and maintain your credit rating.

However, if your finding it too hard to keep up with payments then a DMP can be a way to get a realistic payment going to your debts and potentially make inroads into the balances (depending on whether your creditors freeze interest and charges).

I think it would be worthwhile to have a really careful look at your budget and see how you think it will stand up over the next few years. If there's scope to make some reductions and save some money then the extra you could put towards debts could mean a DMP isn't needed.

Alternatively, if everything is set very low and will be a struggle to stick to over a period of years then it may be worth being a bit more realistic with the amounts you budget and this would lead to less being available for debts and a DMP being the more likely route.

You can probably see that I'm avoiding giving a straight answer here. It's hard to be conrete in my advice without seeing all your information. If you'd like to talk it through I'd suggest giving us a call (if you used our Debt Remedy tool there's a number in the advice booklet to call).

Cheers

James

magoogy

i try my best to help people out when they come to me for advise - this one has me stumped - what can i advise her to do please?

hi hun help required! do you remember back in Nov/dec when the baliff arrived well long story but to cut it short i fuct him off got intouch wtih the company and was fortunate enough to make an arrangement to pay £10 a week which i started doing on the 27th of Nov.. apart from the 9th of jan i havent missed a payment and have paid £70 so far.. anyways today i havve come home to a bailiffs letter saying the full amount outstanding of £206 is now sue to pay and you have 7 days to pay it otherwise we will take goods.. i rang the company and they said i havent stuck to agreement.. i was like i pay £10 a week and missed one and explianed why and the guy said well we are not recieving the payments on time i said but i pay them every friday via post office like i was adivsed oh well we dont get paymetn till 5 days later so they are late.. i then said thats not my prob he said you will have to pay debit card and start friday. i said how much is left he said 206 quid i said how come it was 110 and i thought i just had 40 left he said well you ahve got charges now.. i flipped he said arrangement canceld baliffs coming and put phone down.. what do i do now .. stressed.xx all this for a 30 quid fine that i appealed and heard nowt from.

it was a fine for driving in a bus lane and she said the bailliffs are called phoenix

anyone help please? she is unemployed and a single mother

thanks