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lisanoo

Hi there, I sent a PM to the StepChange account as well. It was about the car valuation part of the DRO. Thanks a mil

StepChange_James

lisanoo wrote: »

Hi there, I sent a PM to the StepChange account as well. It was about the car valuation part of the DRO. Thanks a mil

Hi Lisanoo,

I've just replied.

Cheers

James

shebanjoed

Wonder if anyone can advise.

I am separated from my partner who lives in our joint house, he has left his job and plans to be sequestrated - whether he can I have no idea. We have a joint loan with Nationwide and a joint mortgage with Halifax. I managed to get joint mortgage reduced to interest only for 12 months and the house is up for sale. My ex will not be paying any more money into joint account and I cannot afford the full payment of joint loan. I spoke to Nationwide loans and they took a financial statement from me and asked that my ex do one too - so far he has refused. Because he refused Nationwide say they will take the full amount from me - leaving me with nothing.

My problem is that I can pay all my outgoings and debt including the mortgage apart from the whole cost of the loan - surely there is a way round this in the short term?

Malibu09

HI
my daughter took out a loan for £15,000 over fiver years from Nationwide with repayments of £400 a month. A few months ago her partner lost his job, he was out of work for a month before getting a new job but on less money. They are struggling to make ends meet and I suggested they speak to Nationwide and ask if the loan can be extended or if there was any help they could give to reduce the payment. They are not behind with the payments but they do have some late payments on their credit file. Nationwide said the only way to extend the loan was to borrow another £1000 which would wipe out any potential reduction in their outgoings, they also said because of the late payments they would not be able to lend them anymore anyway!
I thought lenders were supposed to help if you contacted them to ask for help. She is now looking at an IVA but I am concerned that this will have a long term effect on their credit rating when they only need a temporary solution until they can get back on track.
Grateful for any advice.

Decked

StepChange_Rachel wrote: »

Hi there Decked

Thank you for posting and welcome to the MoneySavingExpert forum.

If you owe your current bank an unsecured debt, they do have the right to continue taking money out of your bank account. This is called the Right of Offset. This means that they can take a payment regardless of the other bills and expenses you may have such as rent, council tax, food etc. They can do it without warning but most banks will let you know in advance before they exercise this right they have.

The best way to prevent having your money seized by the bank is to get a brand new bank account with a bank you owe no money to. Your current bank will not be able to exercise their Right of offset once you do, so long as your new bank is not connected to them. I’ll give you an example:

Say you bank with Lloyds and have debt with them. You get a basic bank account with Santander and move everything away - Lloyds cannot contact Santander and demand payment. They can only extract money from the account by means of a direct debit or standing order that you authorise.

But, if you move to Halifax, Lloyds have merged with them and can offset your new account - what a waste of your time!

So, my advice is always to check with your new bank that they are definitely NOT connected to anyone you owe money to. please be aware that the bank you owe money to can pass the debts on to a collection agency, but don't worry, this is normal and something we can help you deal with.

You are within your rights to approach your creditors directly and try to negotiate lower payments, but keep in mind that when you act on your own behalf, chances are a lot of your creditors will refuse your offer outright. They will want to ensure that they're treated as fairly as your other creditors.

The best way to make reduced payments on multiple debts that's fair and realistic for everyone is going on a fee-free, impartial Debt Management Plan such as what we may be able to offer you.

In case you're not familiar with us, we a free and confidential debt advice charity. There's a lot of fee-charging DMP companies out there but our plans have no fee included, so you have peace of mind that your payment is going towards your debts and not in our pockets.

I recommend you try Debt Remedy, our online debt advice tool that can give you your best debt solution in just 20 minutes. The link will be in my signature.

If you'd prefer to speak to someone, just call our Helpline (free from landlines and mobiles) and talk to one of our advisors.

Our number is 0800 138 1111. We're open 8:00am to 8:00pm Monday to Friday, and 9:00a.m. and 3:00p.m. on Saturday.

Best wishes,

Rachel

Rachel,
I first posted in November. Thanks to your reply I now have a Debt Management Plan in place.
If others can learn from this I would say the best thing to do is talk to someone or post on here but do not hide from your debts. You don't need to advertise them to all your mates but by ringing someone like Stepchange you can talk to people who are there to help not judge.
I am somewhat annoyed though because I have been in to my bank (Natwest) twice over the last 2 years and they were no help whatsoever, they just wanted to try and sell me more products which I did not qualify for. I also had debt advice from another source over a year ago who did not offer me any solution, Stepchange has hopefully got me right back on track. Most creditors have stopped all interest and charges, I should be able to clear about £8500 a year off my debt and potentially be debt free in about 6 years (that would depend upon the creditors keeping interest at zero) but we will see how things go. I amongst others need to get to grips with your debt, don't hide it or talk it down, if you owe £58k then you owe £58k, not somewhere between £50 and £60. Be honest with yourself and those willing to help. One Company offered to arrange a DMP but they were a little vague on the charges, they would have taken I think the first 2 months payment during which the creditors would get nothing and then it was about 10% of my monthly payment. This is unnecessary, Stepchange is free, oh the other Company did try the scare tactic of "Charities are paid by the credit card companies therefore put the credit card company's interest's before yours". Rachel, thanks for taking time to reply, you and your colleagues may well have turned my life around.Regards Decked

lisanoo

Someone from PayPlan told me today that DROs don't apply to Northern Ireland. Is that true? I didn't think so myself but I'm new to all of this. Anyone know for sure?

StepChange_James

shebanjoed wrote: »

Wonder if anyone can advise.

I am separated from my partner who lives in our joint house, he has left his job and plans to be sequestrated - whether he can I have no idea. We have a joint loan with Nationwide and a joint mortgage with Halifax. I managed to get joint mortgage reduced to interest only for 12 months and the house is up for sale. My ex will not be paying any more money into joint account and I cannot afford the full payment of joint loan. I spoke to Nationwide loans and they took a financial statement from me and asked that my ex do one too - so far he has refused. Because he refused Nationwide say they will take the full amount from me - leaving me with nothing.

My problem is that I can pay all my outgoings and debt including the mortgage apart from the whole cost of the loan - surely there is a way round this in the short term?

Hi there,

Thanks for posting. You're thinking along the right lines, as household bills and secured debts should come before unsecured loans. Some companies are willing to come to short term arrangements on debts with just a phone call but it seems like Nationwide aren't willing to do this.

I'd suggest getting in touch with us, then we can put together an income and expenditure budget with you and that will be something that you can pass on to them to help show what you can afford. Even though you've given them similar information yourself, it can sometimes helps if you can show you've had advice from a debt charity.

You can do this online using Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) or by giving us a call (http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx).

Hope this helps.

James

StepChange_James

Malibu09 wrote: »

HI
my daughter took out a loan for £15,000 over fiver years from Nationwide with repayments of £400 a month. A few months ago her partner lost his job, he was out of work for a month before getting a new job but on less money. They are struggling to make ends meet and I suggested they speak to Nationwide and ask if the loan can be extended or if there was any help they could give to reduce the payment. They are not behind with the payments but they do have some late payments on their credit file. Nationwide said the only way to extend the loan was to borrow another £1000 which would wipe out any potential reduction in their outgoings, they also said because of the late payments they would not be able to lend them anymore anyway!
I thought lenders were supposed to help if you contacted them to ask for help. She is now looking at an IVA but I am concerned that this will have a long term effect on their credit rating when they only need a temporary solution until they can get back on track.
Grateful for any advice.

Hi Malibu,

IVAs can work out to be a good solutions for some people but you're right when you say they're not a good option to solve a temporary problem.

They're a long term commitment that will usually involve making payments for 5 to 6 years.

I don't know enough about their finances of your daughter and her partner to say what the best option is but I would recommend they get in touch with us and we can give in depth advice.

Even if they're getting advice somewhere else it can be useful to get a second opinion, especially as we're a charity who are free and impartial.

They can do this online using our advice tool Debt Remedy, (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) or by giving us a call (http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx).

Hope this helps.

James

Former_StepChange_Rachel

Decked wrote: »

Rachel,
I first posted in November. Thanks to your reply I now have a Debt Management Plan in place.
If others can learn from this I would say the best thing to do is talk to someone or post on here but do not hide from your debts. You don't need to advertise them to all your mates but by ringing someone like Stepchange you can talk to people who are there to help not judge.
I am somewhat annoyed though because I have been in to my bank (Natwest) twice over the last 2 years and they were no help whatsoever, they just wanted to try and sell me more products which I did not qualify for. I also had debt advice from another source over a year ago who did not offer me any solution, Stepchange has hopefully got me right back on track. Most creditors have stopped all interest and charges, I should be able to clear about £8500 a year off my debt and potentially be debt free in about 6 years (that would depend upon the creditors keeping interest at zero) but we will see how things go. I amongst others need to get to grips with your debt, don't hide it or talk it down, if you owe £58k then you owe £58k, not somewhere between £50 and £60. Be honest with yourself and those willing to help. One Company offered to arrange a DMP but they were a little vague on the charges, they would have taken I think the first 2 months payment during which the creditors would get nothing and then it was about 10% of my monthly payment. This is unnecessary, Stepchange is free, oh the other Company did try the scare tactic of "Charities are paid by the credit card companies therefore put the credit card company's interest's before yours". Rachel, thanks for taking time to reply, you and your colleagues may well have turned my life around.Regards Decked

Hi there Decked,

It’s wonderful to hear that you now have a debt management plan with us. Thank you for your kind words. We’re all very happy to help!

Best Regards,

Rachel

inetfree180

it's been a year and i'm still on credit card rehab.