Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

joee

Hello solong,


I don't have any definite answers for you but I remember when I phoned SC about my payment the advisor asked if I need the payment back.


I know it is a really stressful time when you can I would phone SC they are wonderful people who I am sure will be able to help you.


Please let us know how you get on


xx

solong

Thanks Joee, you have eased my mind a little and given me some hope, I can't stop worrying about how I will get through the month. I will give them a call first thing in the morning x let you know x

Former_StepChange_Laura

solong wrote: »

I have got a little behind with my council tax since Christmas and have agreed to pay them £200 per month. I have made a silly error and send them an online payment, forgetting that I had set up a standing order. They have received £400 yesterday. I phoned the bank and asked if possible to stop standing order but they can't do this as it is too late.


I don't expect that the Council will send me my money back.


My DD (£400) for stepchange has already gone from my bank account, shows 2/3/14 on my statement. The creditors get paid around the end of the month.


My question is.....


Will stepchange be able to send me the £400 back and then maybe accept a reduced payment for one month?? I am worried sick.


Thank you in advance.x

Hi solong,

Thanks for your message and I’m sorry to hear about your situation. The best thing to do would be to give us a call and have a chat with one of our advisors about what we may be able to do to help.

The number to call will be on the paperwork you have from us.

Kind regards,

Laura

Stressed101

I need some serious advice.

I am only 22 and have 3k of debt with barcleycard. I opened some post this morning and they have said I need to pay them 350 in the next week or I will have my account closed and need to pay full bill if I can't do this I may go to court. I can not afford to pay this - I have about £100 in my account and it is to last for the next 2 weeks which is going to be touch enough.

I can't borrow the money off my parents or anything because they just don't have it and if they knew I was in this debt I don't know what they'll do. They have already cleared my debt once before. I just spent and spent and spent whilst out of work and suffering depression.

I am self employed and earn a different amount between £700-£1100 a month gross. After paying my tax rent phone bills car needs etc I just don't have enough to pay barcleycard not even the minimum amount.

I don't know what to do I am so stressed I feel like this is taking over my life please can someone give me advice!!!

sourcrates

Stressed101 wrote: »

I need some serious advice.

I am only 22 and have 3k of debt with barcleycard. I opened some post this morning and they have said I need to pay them 350 in the next week or I will have my account closed and need to pay full bill if I can't do this I may go to court. I can not afford to pay this - I have about £100 in my account and it is to last for the next 2 weeks which is going to be touch enough.

I can't borrow the money off my parents or anything because they just don't have it and if they knew I was in this debt I don't know what they'll do. They have already cleared my debt once before. I just spent and spent and spent whilst out of work and suffering depression.

I am self employed and earn a different amount between £700-£1100 a month gross. After paying my tax rent phone bills car needs etc I just don't have enough to pay barcleycard not even the minimum amount.

I don't know what to do I am so stressed I feel like this is taking over my life please can someone give me advice!!!

Hi, Yes, stop panicking for a start, is this your only debt ?

If so, then i suggest you slow down a bit, think things through, nothing will happen if you miss the payment deadline, thats there deadline, not yours.

If you really cant afford what BC are asking you to pay, then you need to write to them and explain your circumstances, clearly, and to the point.
Work out a figure you can afford to pay, and offer them that amount per month, until things improve.

If you miss payments, you will get letters and phone calls, mostly these are automated, so can be ignored.
As long as you keep your creditor informed as to your situation, they should be more than reasonable with you.

If you need any further advise, give Stepchange or National Debtline a call.

Fudgey10

Hi I have found out a county court judgement has been made against me, without any prior notice, solicitors sent all the paperwork to the wrong address....
Please help...I have paid £150 to get the judgement set aside, still waiting for the district judge to set this aside, it has stopped me trading, having a co against me, I'm self employed and rely heavily on trade accounts, I was settling the debt with monthly instalments, but they sent it to court, how can they blacklist me, with no knowledge? I'm devastated, this is causing my business a huge detriment, the solicitors acting for the company, have not replied to my request to recompense the the court set aside fee of £150...I'm getting no where fast

sourcrates

Fudgey10 wrote: »

Hi I have found out a county court judgement has been made against me, without any prior notice, solicitors sent all the paperwork to the wrong address....
Please help...I have paid £150 to get the judgement set aside, still waiting for the district judge to set this aside, it has stopped me trading, having a co against me, I'm self employed and rely heavily on trade accounts, I was settling the debt with monthly instalments, but they sent it to court, how can they blacklist me, with no knowledge? I'm devastated, this is causing my business a huge detriment, the solicitors acting for the company, have not replied to my request to recompense the the court set aside fee of £150...I'm getting no where fast

Give National Debtline a call, for a faster responce.

Former_StepChange_Rachel

wigglers wrote: »

Hi i have now got a plan to get out of debt and finally start saving for a mortgage i work full time and my fiancee part time and although we have two kids as long as we start paying back £400 a month towards debts (which is managable) then we will have every debt paid off in june 2016..

We would like to save for a mortagage and im wondering if after i have finished paying back the credit cards is it best to cancel them fully.. what effect would this have on applying for a mortagage ina few years?

thanx for your help matt

Hi there Matt, thank you for getting in touch.

We would recommend that you no longer rely on credit for living expenses, and once your credit cards are paid off that you stop using them. Mortgage providers have their own criteria when considering applications, so it’s difficult to say what the likelihood of getting a mortgage within a certain timeframe would be. The wisest thing to do would be to ‘clean up’ your credit file as much as you can over time. We’ve written a blogpost that explains how you can do this. It was written with debt management plan clients in mind but has information that many people may find useful: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2013/10/how-to-improve-your-credit-rating-after-a-dmp/

MoneySavingExpert also has a guide on how to boost your chances of getting a mortgage: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/boost-mortgage-chances

Kind regards

Rachel

dr_love

Hi
I have had debts from 4 years ago due to illness and redundancy. In reality its approx £48K of a combination of loan/card/overdraft debt. All the parties concerned have frozen interest and I've being paying a token £1 per month to each.
Its possible I could be getting a new job later this year...back to my pre- debt salary levels and wondered what best course of action to take. My family have advised they could lend me some money to try to settle with the companies concerned and pay them back over time as I believe they will settle for a lesser figure, one has already mentioned 30% of the outstanding balance ?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

I have a mortgage of approx 235K and a secured loan of approx 45K, house value approx 350K

marksa91

I'm new to this as I have buried my head in the sand for years, and only recently have I faced my debts head on, so now I'm hoping to get a little advice. Although my debt's didn't add up to tonnes (around £4000, in a mix of credit cards, loans/pay day loans, behind on bills etc), being on a low income it was crippling. I ended up having to move back home as I couldn't keep up with payments. I was very lucky as last year I inherited £2500 which cleared more than half of my debt, however I ended up slightly adding to it again due to my car breaking down only 2 weeks after paying my credit card!
I have now borrowed a further £1000 from a family member, and I've been approved for a 0% interest balance transfer card with a limit of £400 - perfect for clearing my credit card debt which is only £300. I have worked out by this time next year I will have paid back my family member and the barclaycard and will be debt free.
I did the soul destroying but correct thing to do and checked my credit rating - 1 out of 5. I have no CCJs, but one default (which will be settled at the end of this month) and quite a few missed payments over the past few years. I know these things stay on my credit file for a fair few years, but does this mean my credit rating won't improve at all until the full 7 years? I am not expecting my credit score to be magically fixed as soon as I have paid back my creditors, however it would be nice to at least see an 'average' rating within 3 years of managing my finances effectively?
I'd love to hear from people, especially anyone who has turned their score from a very poor to a good. I'm in a long term relationship and we would love to get a mortage in around 5 years time, would this be possible if from this day forward I'm well behaved with my money? lol
Thanks in advance