Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

hakko

I would be grateful for some advice:

I have a mix of credit card and personal loan debts, totalling:
£44760 (from my reckless 20s, card tarting and 0% transfers etc.)

Cash in account £13,000

Monthly Salary: £2578 after tax
Monthly debt payment: £1050

I want to clear the debts.

I can possibly get £30,000 from family property sale to get a mortgage. I can get £180000 from the bank potentially and pay off the debt, and use the remainder for property purchase. Will a bank be ok with this?

Are there other options? Live in my car for two years and pay it off?

Are there refinance companies where I can get a low rate over 10+ years?

esther72

I have a debt plan with stepchange . Stupidley took out plan with wonga worried to ring up stepchange incase they cancel my plan.

Thanks

StepChange_Pavan

hakko wrote: »

I would be grateful for some advice:

I have a mix of credit card and personal loan debts, totalling:
£44760 (from my reckless 20s, card tarting and 0% transfers etc.)

Cash in account £13,000

Monthly Salary: £2578 after tax
Monthly debt payment: £1050

I want to clear the debts.

I can possibly get £30,000 from family property sale to get a mortgage. I can get £180000 from the bank potentially and pay off the debt, and use the remainder for property purchase. Will a bank be ok with this?

Are there other options? Live in my car for two years and pay it off?

Are there refinance companies where I can get a low rate over 10+ years?

Hi hakko and thanks for your question.

If you have a good credit rating you may be able to borrow the money you need but the repayments would need to be affordable to make sure you don’t end up in a worse situation.

We give advice to people that are struggling to repay their debts but it doesn’t sound as though you are. You could speak with an independent financial advisor about your best options.

I hope this helps,
Pavan

StepChange_Pavan

esther72 wrote: »

I have a debt plan with stepchange . Stupidley took out plan with wonga worried to ring up stepchange incase they cancel my plan.

Thanks

Hi esther72 and thanks for your question.

Try not to worry; the important thing to do is to give us a call to explain what happened. It would be a good time to review your budget too to try and find out why you were struggling and to make sure that it’s realistic and something you can stick to.

Kind regards,
Pavan

joee

StepChange_Rachel wrote: »

Hi there,

Thank you for posting.

I'm very sorry to hear you've been signed off ill and hope you are on the mend soon.

Please don't worry, we give our advice with income shocks like this in mind so we'll do all we can to support you. If you could please give us a ring and we'll talk you through what can be done moving forward.

Best regards

Rachel

Hello Rachel,

Thank you for your kind words, I will give you a ring soon!

Tripleh_3

Hi

I am wondering if anyone can advise me? I am in the process of setting up a DAS with Wilson Andrews. To stop specific creditors from taking legal action my money adviser set me up on the DAS register as an intimation on the day of application. This meant that no debtor could take legal action or arrest my wages. The only problem is that Wilson Andrews spelt my last name on the register wrongly which meant when one of my creditors searched the register they couldn't find me. Once I received all of the paperwork from WA I corrected the spelling of my surname but they didn't bother changing it on the register. So now one of my creditors has arrested my wages and they are not willing to return it. The creditor was fully aware that I was on the register and it was illegal to arrest my wages, my bank cannot do anything because it's a summary warrant that was sent to them via the court. WA have been so unhelpful but I'm now in a situation where I have no money to pay bills, mortgage or get to work until this is sorted out. Can anyone advise me? WA are at fault but won't admit responsibility!

coolcait

Tripleh wrote: »

Hi

I am wondering if anyone can advise me? I am in the process of setting up a DAS with Wilson Andrews. To stop specific creditors from taking legal action my money adviser set me up on the DAS register as an intimation on the day of application. This meant that no debtor could take legal action or arrest my wages. The only problem is that Wilson Andrews spelt my last name on the register wrongly which meant when one of my creditors searched the register they couldn't find me. Once I received all of the paperwork from WA I corrected the spelling of my surname but they didn't bother changing it on the register. So now one of my creditors has arrested my wages and they are not willing to return it. The creditor was fully aware that I was on the register and it was illegal to arrest my wages, my bank cannot do anything because it's a summary warrant that was sent to them via the court. WA have been so unhelpful but I'm now in a situation where I have no money to pay bills, mortgage or get to work until this is sorted out. Can anyone advise me? WA are at fault but won't admit responsibility!

There's a difference between a wages arrestment and a bank arrestment - which is it?

If you are paying WA a fee to act as your money adviser, then they have a responsibility to get the finger out and tackle the creditor. The arrestment is incompetent.

If WA are so useless, why not cut your losses and go to a money adviser in the free sector - CAB or local council money advisers do DAS free of charge. so do StepChange

hopskotching

StepChange_Pavan wrote: »

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you’ve made great headway with your debts already.

From what you’ve mentioned your council tax is your main priority. So if you can, stick to the arrangement you’ve made.

The rest of your unsecured creditors will continue to threaten further action to try and get you to make higher repayments. I’d recommend that you put together a budget to show them that you’re already paying them as much as you can afford and you will be able to pay more once your council tax debt is repaid. Have a read about what your creditors can and can’t do for more detailed information:
If you’d like some more detailed advice or help with putting together a budget you can use our online debt advice service Debt Remedy or call our Helpline on 0800 138 1111 (free including from mobiles). We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturdays 8am – 4pm.

I hope this helps,
Pavan

Hello,

Many thanks for your reply the other day Pavan. I wonder if I could update my situation and get some more advice.

Payday came, and payments were made - just. This will definitely be the hardest month, but I've wiped out my payday loan which was crippling me so rather proud of that (and embarrassed about dealing with such a company in the first place).

I still have my council tax debt. There was a mixup over payment dates, and my case was referred immediately to a bailiff. The company now refuse to deal with me - this seems crazy to me, considering the money is sat in my account and ready to go.

I have spoken with the bailiff and he seems reasonable enough at this stage. I explained that I thought there had been an administrative error in the case being referred onwards to him. We agreed to continue the payment plan as it was. However, a payment that was due on the 28th was not made because he is an absolute nightmare to get hold of by phone. And suddenly, also on the 28th, a 'NOTICE PRIOR TO REMOVAL OF GOODS' dropped through my door, informing me bailiffs would be "working at the property" in the next seven days.

This situation has gone very suddenly in an unneccessary direction, and instead of clawing myself one step closer to credit, it feels like everything has just got even more messed up.

I am now in the bizarre situation of having £500 in my account to give towards the debt - the council won't deal with me to take the payment, their third party collectors won't either, and the bailiff doesn't pick up his phone or always tells me to call back later.

IwtbDebtfree

bettyruth wrote: »

Well done for almost clearing your debt! I am right at the begining...still unsure about taking out a d.m.p...but realistically no other choice, my debts about 21.000.
can I ask, how has the dmp been for yourself, I am so scared that I will be getting lots of hassell and threats from my creditors... something I am just managing to avoid by making min payments now...
thank you, and well done once again,

Sorry missed your reply, however I suspect you were responding to me

The DMP was painful to start with, and working to a budget a real challenge after years of spending on credit without to many concerns....

So my first observations would be;
1. DMP needs you to change your lifestyle accordingly, focus on the essential costs, Mortgage, secured loans, bills and eating....
2. Your creditors will go quiet to you once they see the DMP is performing to expectations, BUT make sure you are honest on you budget review, otherwise once a year they will start to challenge you again.
3. Birthdays and Christmas, unfortunately are not viewed as essential.... so try your best to budget for them, but you may need to set some expectations with children etc..... Christmas in particular saw us moving from spending hundreds across our large family to getting the family to agree to a 'secret santa' arrangement, were we buy for 1 member of the family (Adults) a gift up to £30.... that helped massively and meant there was some money for the kids.....
4. Stay in contact with your creditors, whilst stepchange manage payments, they can only do so if you have clear and accurate updates coming in from the creditors..... plus it means that you know of issues before they hit you....

Have to say that my issues are not gone as yet, my credit history is now a problem, as any future finance will be impacted by 1 default that hit me at the start of the DMP, but after December it will be six years and I beleive this will be removed from my credit report.

Good luck....

Former_StepChange_Rachel

Tripleh wrote: »

Hi

I am wondering if anyone can advise me? I am in the process of setting up a DAS with Wilson Andrews. To stop specific creditors from taking legal action my money adviser set me up on the DAS register as an intimation on the day of application. This meant that no debtor could take legal action or arrest my wages. The only problem is that Wilson Andrews spelt my last name on the register wrongly which meant when one of my creditors searched the register they couldn't find me. Once I received all of the paperwork from WA I corrected the spelling of my surname but they didn't bother changing it on the register. So now one of my creditors has arrested my wages and they are not willing to return it. The creditor was fully aware that I was on the register and it was illegal to arrest my wages, my bank cannot do anything because it's a summary warrant that was sent to them via the court. WA have been so unhelpful but I'm now in a situation where I have no money to pay bills, mortgage or get to work until this is sorted out. Can anyone advise me? WA are at fault but won't admit responsibility!

Hi there Tripleh,

Thanks for posting and sorry to hear you've had some difficulties regarding your DAS application.

I would continue to insist that Wilson Andrews resolve this matter for you and get those details amended. If they don't take more proactive action soon, then it would be a good idea to lodge a complain with Accountant in Bankruptcy here: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-the-insolvency-service

Hope this helps

Best regards

Rachel