Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

sjharrington1

Hi

I don't know where to turn and I am very concerned. I currently have £2000 worth of parking fines that are being managed by Merton Baliffs, they have been knocking over the last few months however I have never come across them as I am always at work when they call. I asked how much they would be willing to accept on a monthly basis to clear the debt and they informed me that it would be £192 a month. I knew when I accepted that there was no way that I could pay this but to keep them off my back for a few weeks I went ahead with it. The payment was due on Friday and I have now defaulted, I am sure they will be knocking again soon. Is there anything I can do - I can afford £50 a month but when I offered it previously they laughed and said there was no way that would be accepted. I have tried to talk to the council but they have said the debt is out of there hands. Any assistance would be gratefully accepted.

Thanks

Former_StepChange_Rachel

xSuziex wrote: »

On the online debt remedy - when you put in a loan debt what do you put? The original amount minus what has been paid? What about interest? I have no way of knowing exactly was is 'outstanding'. I think a DMP is the result whatever i put. The loan is about 7 months old and was 15k with 20% ish interest over 5 years (£381 a month). Thanks

Hi there Suzie, thanks for posting

When you’re inputting debt balances on Debt Remedy, you need to put the most recent balance amount on each debt that’s remaining (or a close approximation).

The best way to get the most accurate balances is to speak to your creditors directly. You can also take a look at your credit file for free on Noddle - https://www.noddle.co.uk

Hope this helps

Kind regards

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Rachel

sjharrington1 wrote: »

Hi

I don't know where to turn and I am very concerned. I currently have £2000 worth of parking fines that are being managed by Merton Baliffs, they have been knocking over the last few months however I have never come across them as I am always at work when they call. I asked how much they would be willing to accept on a monthly basis to clear the debt and they informed me that it would be £192 a month. I knew when I accepted that there was no way that I could pay this but to keep them off my back for a few weeks I went ahead with it. The payment was due on Friday and I have now defaulted, I am sure they will be knocking again soon. Is there anything I can do - I can afford £50 a month but when I offered it previously they laughed and said there was no way that would be accepted. I have tried to talk to the council but they have said the debt is out of there hands. Any assistance would be gratefully accepted.

Thanks

Hi there, thanks for posting.

I’m sorry to hear of the stressful situation you’ve been dealing with. Bailiffs collecting for parking fines can be especially difficult to deal with and can charge more fees for repeated visits to your property.

There are some tips on our website about dealing with bailiffs which I think you’ll find useful:
http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Whatyourcreditorscando/Courtaction/EnglandWalescourtaction/Bailiffs/Dealingwithbailiffs.aspx.

From everything you’ve told us, I really think it would be a good idea for you to give our Helpline a call. We need to structure your budget in a way that puts focus on this bailiff debt. Could you please call us? Our Helpline number (free from landlines and mobiles) is 0800 138 1111 and is open Mon – Fri 8am to 8pm and Sat 8am to 4pm.

I know this must be a worrying situation, but please know we’ll do our best to help and support you.

Kind regards

Rachel

zmblake

Hi there, need some advice please. Current just over £4k in debt, 2 debts with credit cards and other two with catalogues. However am struggling to pay minimum payments and survive the month. Annoyed at myself as was with CSCS a couple of years ago on a debt management plan but paid it all off and had been debt free for 2 years.

But then my husband changed job and dropped £6k in his annual salary, I also dropped £5k but our outgoings then when up! We have defaults on our credit files from 3 years ago and are currently renting until we can hopefully try and get a mortgage maybe next year.

But I'm wondering if to get a loan to pay off my 2 credit cards and catalouges, cut the cards up and close the catalouges. But I'd obviously have to get the loan over 2 years at least if not 3 yrs, is this the right decision or not? I don't want to make my credit score any worse than it already is, so want to do the right thing. I don't want any more Defaults on my file either!

Any advice most appreciated, I earn Just under £16k a year. I can't up my hours as would mean upping childcare and paying for a dog walker so wouldn't bring much more home.

X

b892015

Hi,

I have just checked my credit report and found a county court judgement listed on it from 12 months ago for an address I moved out of 2 years ago. My ex still lives there and I *think* the debt may be his unpaid water bill because that is the only bill that my name wasn't removed from when I moved out because they needed him to verify that I was allowed to me removed from it and I doubt he did.

Obviously I received no paperwork about anything to do with a county court judgement because I don't live there and if he did he never mentioned it to me.

How do I find out what a County Court Judgment is for specifically and if it is for the water bill like I suspect how do I get it removed from my credit report since I obviously don't live there, contacted them to remove my name but they needed his verification.

Former_StepChange_Laura

b892015 wrote: »

Hi,

I have just checked my credit report and found a county court judgement listed on it from 12 months ago for an address I moved out of 2 years ago. My ex still lives there and I *think* the debt may be his unpaid water bill because that is the only bill that my name wasn't removed from when I moved out because they needed him to verify that I was allowed to me removed from it and I doubt he did.

Obviously I received no paperwork about anything to do with a county court judgement because I don't live there and if he did he never mentioned it to me.

How do I find out what a County Court Judgment is for specifically and if it is for the water bill like I suspect how do I get it removed from my credit report since I obviously don't live there, contacted them to remove my name but they needed his verification.

Hi there,

Thanks for your message and welcome to the forum.

The first thing I’d suggest you do is contact the court that issued the CCJ to ask for information about what debt it relates to. There should be a reference number listed alongside the CCJ on your credit report, so if you give them this number it should help them to find the details.

Usually until an account is transferred into just one person’s name, both people named on an account would continue to be liable for any debts associated with it. However I appreciate that this might be frustrating, especially since you took steps to remove your name from the account.

We aren’t able to help you to dispute the CCJ, but if you don’t believe you should pay it then you could apply for the judgment to be ‘set aside’. If a judgment is set aside then its effect is cancelled and creditors are back to the position they were in before judgment was obtained. This means that a new hearing date would be set and you would have another opportunity to give your side of the story.

To apply for the judgment to be set aside, you’d need to fill in an N244 form. There’s space in section three for you to write briefly about why you’re disputing the judgment, and in section 10 you can give a more detailed explanation of why you believe the judgment should be set aside. It’s probably worth mentioning that not receiving the court papers isn’t always a good enough reason to set aside the judgment, as the court is allowed to send the papers to your last known address.

There’s no time limit to apply for the judgment to be set aside, but they might look at how promptly you made the application. I should also emphasise that there’s a fee to apply for the judgment to be set aside, but just because you apply doesn’t necessarily mean it will be set aside. The application and the payment are essentially for a judge to review your situation again and decide whether or not to give you a another hearing.

Alternatively, if you discover that the CCJ is for the unpaid water bill, you could call the company and explain the situation to them. It could depend on your water company’s policy about removing people from joint accounts, but it might be worth exploring whether or not your name should’ve been removed from their system when you first asked, or whether there was an error in removing your name from their system.

I’d suggest that you take steps to deal with this sooner rather than later, because if a CCJ is left unpaid your creditor can take other steps to recover the debts, including sending bailiffs or applying for an attachment of earnings, so that payments are taken directly from your salary. Also, as water bill debts aren’t regulated in the same ways as consumer debts like loans or credit cards, your creditors could even look to escalate their claim to the High Court to recover the money.

If it turns out you will need to pay the CCJ and you’re worried about the impact it could have on your finances, I’d suggest you get in touch with us. We’ll be able to have a chat with you in more depth about your financial situation, put together a budget, and recommend an affordable amount that you can offer to pay towards the CCJ. Should this be the case, you can find our contact details here: http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Laura

Former_StepChange_Laura

zmblake wrote: »

Hi there, need some advice please. Current just over £4k in debt, 2 debts with credit cards and other two with catalogues. However am struggling to pay minimum payments and survive the month. Annoyed at myself as was with CSCS a couple of years ago on a debt management plan but paid it all off and had been debt free for 2 years.

But then my husband changed job and dropped £6k in his annual salary, I also dropped £5k but our outgoings then when up! We have defaults on our credit files from 3 years ago and are currently renting until we can hopefully try and get a mortgage maybe next year.

But I'm wondering if to get a loan to pay off my 2 credit cards and catalouges, cut the cards up and close the catalouges. But I'd obviously have to get the loan over 2 years at least if not 3 yrs, is this the right decision or not? I don't want to make my credit score any worse than it already is, so want to do the right thing. I don't want any more Defaults on my file either!

Any advice most appreciated, I earn Just under £16k a year. I can't up my hours as would mean upping childcare and paying for a dog walker so wouldn't bring much more home.

X

Hi there,

Thanks for your message. You mention you’re thinking about taking out a loan to pay off your debt, but we don’t normally advise people to consolidate debt in this way. We’ve written a blogpost about the pros and cons of debt consolidation which you might find useful to have a read through: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2013/01/to-debt-consolidate-or-not-to-debt-consolidate/

I understand that the fact that you want to get a mortgage in the near future might be at the front of your mind, but generally it’s better to deal with your debts before looking at ways to build your credit rating up.

I’d suggest you get in touch with us for some free and impartial debt advice. You can speak to an advisor in more depth about your situation, and they can recommend the best way for you to deal with your debt. Some debt solutions do have an impact on your credit rating, so they’ll be able to have a chat with you about any implications of the debt solutions we recommend for you and answer any questions you might have about your credit file.

You can find out how to contact us here: http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Laura

pmc0919

Hi I am new to the forum, so I am sorry if there is info already available for this question.

My Girlfriend is over her overdraft limit by about £1,000 and so she gets charged quite a bit in fees every month. I have read up about the balance transfer cards and thought she could get one of them to clear the overdraft and not have to pay the fees every month. At the moment she pays the fee but cant get out of the overdraft.

She has told me that she thinks she can't use one of the balance transfer cards to clear an overdraft on her current bank account. Is this correct?

If it is correct, is there anyway she can try and pay off the overdraft without having to face a fee each month?

Kind Regards
Paul

StepChange_James

pmc0919 wrote: »

Hi I am new to the forum, so I am sorry if there is info already available for this question.

My Girlfriend is over her overdraft limit by about £1,000 and so she gets charged quite a bit in fees every month. I have read up about the balance transfer cards and thought she could get one of them to clear the overdraft and not have to pay the fees every month. At the moment she pays the fee but cant get out of the overdraft.

She has told me that she thinks she can't use one of the balance transfer cards to clear an overdraft on her current bank account. Is this correct?

If it is correct, is there anyway she can try and pay off the overdraft without having to face a fee each month?

Kind Regards
Paul

Hi Paul,

There's an article on the main MSE site which covers using credit cards to pay cash into bank account here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cut-loan-overdraft-costs. It's not quite the same as a conventional credit card balance transfer though.

From reading the article I'd suggest this approach be avoided unless your girlfriend is very confident with what she's doing. It strikes me as a strategy that could easily end up costing more rather than saving money.

Being stuck in an overdraft and constantly incurring fees isn't a good situation to be in though, so it's right to try and find a way to stop this cycle.

I'd suggest your girlfriend talk to her bank. It may be that they're willing to suspend some of the charges if she comes to an agreement to bring down the overdraft in affordable amounts every month.

If she hasn't already then it might be worth her looking at opening up a new bank account (with a different bank) with no overdraft for her income to be paid into. This has the benefit of keeping the money she needs for living costs away from the overdrawn account and also can help to treat the overdraft more like a debt that needs repaying, rather than a balance that swings up and down with every payment in or out.

We can also help your girlfriend to plan a budget to try and and get back on top of her finances. It may be that having a budget to follow and a regular payment to go to the bank account is enough to deal with this debt. If not we can go into detail about other available debt solutions.

She can go through our full debt advice process using our online advice tool, Debt Remedy: http://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx or by giving our Helpline a call: http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx. Either way it's free of charge and our advice is completely impartial.

Kind regards

James

Minifig44

Hi,

I have a debt that has a default date of 31/08/2009 which I had been steadily paying for about three years until just recently. The default always shows as DF on my credit report up until I ceased payment with them. I had moved so gave the DCA my new address and discussed the changes in my financial circumstances. They agreed to put a hold on the account for 30 days so I could have a little breathing space, they made correspondence with me detailing the updated address and the hold on the account.

Since then (April 2015) I have made no further contact or payments and they too have not contacted me in this time. My credit report is still showing the 'D' on the account but as of April it now displays '--'
My questions are:

Is there any reason they have made no contact with me? And will the default disappear from my credit report on the 31st of this month?

Many thanks for any advice offered.
Kind Regards,
Ellen