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emmafielding

NEED ADVISE PLEASE ASAP
l have had a Barclaycard since 1997. well l have had several, not too much owed but have always, always paid. l have worked my socks off since the day l left school. In 2005 l got very ill, 2yrs later still ill unable to work l found out that my now ex hubby had run up debts of 63,000 pretending he was going to work but not (self employed tree surgeon) hmmm. Obviously that is why he is and ex!
Anyway pulled up my socks, accessed my situation and set about paying off my 5 credit cards. Which l managed to do accept one Barclaycard!! would not allow me a settlement figure because l had missed a payment this was last year.
l am now 50, disabled so unable to work, wont claim anything but l do get full support from my daughter & £305 DLA. l have a £2200 PPI payment come in from Barclaycard!! my dept to them was £4300 last year! l pay them £50 per month to which they take the payment and add interest on top of an extra £50 per month so dept now standing at £5,344.86p.
l need help to advise me how much or what is the least l can offer them as full and final payment?
can l offer them the £2200 they have paid me??
l really do only get my 305 dla payment per month to live on, my daughter is a saint. please advise thank you.

Family_finance

Pavan, thank you for your advice. I have two ideas and would appreciate your thoughts on which one is best.

Credit card debt advice appreciated
I would really appreciate some advice on how to manage my current debt.

M&S loan = £8000 at 8%
Barclaycard = £6800 runs out in Oct
Tesco = £4700 runs out in Aug
Lloyds = £1500 runs out in July



1. Apply for a Nationwide credit card (been advised application doesn't impact on credit score). If accepted transfer lloyds and tesco balance on to these. Then apply for another card in 5 months time, just before Barclays runs out.

2. Transfer lloyds debt into Barclay card this would mean my Barclay card is used £8300 out of £1000 available credit. This would give me 5 months before needing to apply for any cards/loans and in this time I could pay off £2000 in debt between my existing loan and cards.

I suppose what I am ideally trying to do is transfer my credit card debts onto other 0% deals, and hopefully avoid paying any interest.

Using tool on site showed I have an 80% chance of being accepted with some cards (although font know what their credit limit is).
Does a joint application of both mine and my partners wage boost chances, total household income before tax £ 50,000 as opposed to my sole income of £29,000.

Thanks in advance for your help.

scared-sick

Hi,
Can i please get some advice.

I am in a dmp for 26 years.
On a recent review it was said that an iva may be a more suitable option.
I talked through it with an advisor and agreed the iva did seem more sensible.
I now have my draft iva and on going through it an example of the equity has made me question whether i may have been too hasty.

Basically a 26 year dmp is unrealistic.
I could not for see any major changes in my life to increase my income and reduce my dmp term.
Now based on figures, in 5 years time after paying into my mortgage, even if house prices do not increase from now, i will have 25000 equity in my home.
With this i could sell up, buy a cheaper house, have a deposit and enough left over to make full and finals.

Obviously this means selling my house which i dont want to do but the point is, its an option i didnt think i had.

Bearing this in mind, an iva compared to a 26 year dmp seems like an obvious choice but now what about an iva compare to the selling option?

What would the advice be now?

I know house prices can go down etc but i just want advice based on this scenario please.

Former_StepChange_Rachel

emmafielding wrote: »

NEED ADVISE PLEASE ASAP
l have had a Barclaycard since 1997. well l have had several, not too much owed but have always, always paid. l have worked my socks off since the day l left school. In 2005 l got very ill, 2yrs later still ill unable to work l found out that my now ex hubby had run up debts of 63,000 pretending he was going to work but not (self employed tree surgeon) hmmm. Obviously that is why he is and ex!
Anyway pulled up my socks, accessed my situation and set about paying off my 5 credit cards. Which l managed to do accept one Barclaycard!! would not allow me a settlement figure because l had missed a payment this was last year.
l am now 50, disabled so unable to work, wont claim anything but l do get full support from my daughter & £305 DLA. l have a £2200 PPI payment come in from Barclaycard!! my dept to them was £4300 last year! l pay them £50 per month to which they take the payment and add interest on top of an extra £50 per month so dept now standing at £5,344.86p.
l need help to advise me how much or what is the least l can offer them as full and final payment?
can l offer them the £2200 they have paid me??
l really do only get my 305 dla payment per month to live on, my daughter is a saint. please advise thank you.

Hi there,

Thank you for posting.

You’re well within your rights to offer them the £2200 PPI payment you received. I would put your offer in writing, and should they agree to it, make sure they in turn confirm their acceptance of the figure in writing. If the figure is only confirmed over the phone, it’s hard to prove that a settlement amount has been agreed on after the fact.

If you find that Barclaycard still don’t agree to the settlement amount, you may want to consider looking at your budget and showing them what you can afford to offer as a reduced payment each month. We can help you with this. We’re a debt advice charity and we can have a look at your budget and see what you can realistically afford on this debt. Many creditors will do their best to help once they see that you’re seeking free debt advice.

You can put a budget together via our online advice tool Debt Remedy: http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp

Please be aware that we will want to double-check that you’re claiming all of the benefits you’re entitled to at the moment. If you would like to check for yourself, we do have a benefits checker online: http://www.stepchange.org/Howwecanhelpyou/Benefitscheck.aspx

Best regards

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Rachel

Family_finance wrote: »

Pavan, thank you for your advice. I have two ideas and would appreciate your thoughts on which one is best.

Credit card debt advice appreciated
I would really appreciate some advice on how to manage my current debt.

M&S loan = £8000 at 8%
Barclaycard = £6800 runs out in Oct
Tesco = £4700 runs out in Aug
Lloyds = £1500 runs out in July



1. Apply for a Nationwide credit card (been advised application doesn't impact on credit score). If accepted transfer lloyds and tesco balance on to these. Then apply for another card in 5 months time, just before Barclays runs out.

2. Transfer lloyds debt into Barclay card this would mean my Barclay card is used £8300 out of £1000 available credit. This would give me 5 months before needing to apply for any cards/loans and in this time I could pay off £2000 in debt between my existing loan and cards.

I suppose what I am ideally trying to do is transfer my credit card debts onto other 0% deals, and hopefully avoid paying any interest.

Using tool on site showed I have an 80% chance of being accepted with some cards (although font know what their credit limit is).
Does a joint application of both mine and my partners wage boost chances, total household income before tax £ 50,000 as opposed to my sole income of £29,000.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi there,

We ourselves wouldn't usually recommend taking out further credit to pay the debt you have at the moment as this can often prolong the problem. As for the question you asked regarding the tool you used, a credit reference agency such as Experian would be in a better position to advise you on this.

Just to reiterate the advice Pavan gave you, I really think it would be a good idea to seek free debt advice from us and see how you're best dealing with the balances you have right now.

Best regards

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Rachel

scared-sick wrote: »

Hi,
Can i please get some advice.

I am in a dmp for 26 years.
On a recent review it was said that an iva may be a more suitable option.
I talked through it with an advisor and agreed the iva did seem more sensible.
I now have my draft iva and on going through it an example of the equity has made me question whether i may have been too hasty.

Basically a 26 year dmp is unrealistic.
I could not for see any major changes in my life to increase my income and reduce my dmp term.
Now based on figures, in 5 years time after paying into my mortgage, even if house prices do not increase from now, i will have 25000 equity in my home.
With this i could sell up, buy a cheaper house, have a deposit and enough left over to make full and finals.

Obviously this means selling my house which i dont want to do but the point is, its an option i didnt think i had.

Bearing this in mind, an iva compared to a 26 year dmp seems like an obvious choice but now what about an iva compare to the selling option?

What would the advice be now?

I know house prices can go down etc but i just want advice based on this scenario please.

Hi there, thanks for getting in touch.

if your IVA is being processed by an Insolvency Practitioner other than StepChange Debt Charity, you will need to talk your options over with them. IVA's are legally binding, and only your insolvency practitioner or the Insolvency Service can advise you while the IVA is active. You can contact the Insolvency Service here: http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency

If you are on an IVA with us, please get in touch by phone as we will then be able to advise you on your options moving forward.

Best regards

Rachel

DanFish

Hi,

I recently went through the Debt Remedy stuff on the website and got my application pack through today.
I am struggling to get the reference numbers from the creditors as some of these are from a few years ago im not really sure where to start with this.
I also struggle on the phone with creditors i freeze with panic and sometimes cant physically speak and have to put the phone down.
I've got a few references numbers available if i sent the ones that i do have would you initially start making payments to the ones that i had references for or do you wait until i have the references for every account?

Thanks

mum2one

DanFish wrote: »

Hi,

I recently went through the Debt Remedy stuff on the website and got my application pack through today.
I am struggling to get the reference numbers from the creditors as some of these are from a few years ago im not really sure where to start with this.
I also struggle on the phone with creditors i freeze with panic and sometimes cant physically speak and have to put the phone down.
I've got a few references numbers available if i sent the ones that i do have would you initially start making payments to the ones that i had references for or do you wait until i have the references for every account?

Thanks

Theres 2 ways I would suggest

1st - Could you get someone to phone for you and you just take the call for the authorisation and security checks,

2nd - write to them, but make sure its by recorded delievery (you have proof of postage and recieved.

x

StepChange_Private_Messages

DanFish wrote: »

Hi,

I recently went through the Debt Remedy stuff on the website and got my application pack through today.
I am struggling to get the reference numbers from the creditors as some of these are from a few years ago im not really sure where to start with this.
I also struggle on the phone with creditors i freeze with panic and sometimes cant physically speak and have to put the phone down.
I've got a few references numbers available if i sent the ones that i do have would you initially start making payments to the ones that i had references for or do you wait until i have the references for every account?

Thanks

Hi,

Thanks to Mum2One for the good advice. As suggested you could get someone else to call for you and simply give authority.

But please don't be scared to call them yourself. I know it can be intimidating to call creditors but they cannot make you pay more than you can afford. They have no other power over you. We're going to help you pay them off as quickly as possible. But if it is too much for you, get someone to help you with the call or request the references by email or letter.

I don't know much about your situation, so I'd advise against telling your creditors about any debt solution you've been recommended. Just ask for the reference numbers.

You mention there are creditors from a few years ago - for these you can get an updated copy of your credit file for free from Noddle. Then you'll know who to contact.

If you would like to speak to us about things, feel free to call in with the reference number in your pack.

Take care,
Jess

Augustus_Haynes

how often do the Step Changes PMs get answered? sent a really long one yesterday looking for some answers to a query.

Thanks