Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Melanie_Fleming

Hi, I am seeking some advise on my possible soon to be difficult financial situation. To give a brief outline my wife and I have stuggled with debt for a number of years and recentley she has had to set up a dmp with yourselfs which starts in 1 week. On the dmp is a joint loan to the sum of £9k. It is in arrears of £1622. Although whats mine is hers ect we had seperate bills with me taking on more of the household bills as her debts increased. I have been paying mine all on time and they are decreasing slowly but with no spare money at the end of the month. I fear when the joint bank loan which is on the dmp it will not be enough and they will be chasing me for the full payment which I fully expect and could have paid when it was taken out but now unaffordable since taking on more bills. We have a default notice served on the loan in writing stating they want the arrears or it will taken further. I'm not sure what to do next but guess as I cannot afford to take in on myself would have to maybe have a dmp set up for myself or change hers to a joint 1. My wife was told that the bank may not chase me up but it is a joint loan. I haven't looked at my credit rating but assume it is rock bottom. Any suggestions what to do next most welcome.
Thanks

dannyboybath

Just wondering why a creditors income & expenditure form is quite in depth , wanting to know everything yet compared to a county court form of income & expenditure it is very basic & much easier to complete.
I have several debts that need addressing due to losing my job and have to fill in I&E forms but finding them hard , then looking up what the worst the creditors could do , came across the County Court forms & was surprised how basic they are.
Can anyone answer the question..... If I fill in the County Court form & send that off , is that acceptable to my creditors , after all it is acceptable to the Court or will I have to fill in their indepth version?
Many thanks

StepChange_Jen

Melanie_Fleming wrote: »

Hi, I am seeking some advise on my possible soon to be difficult financial situation. To give a brief outline my wife and I have stuggled with debt for a number of years and recentley she has had to set up a dmp with yourselfs which starts in 1 week. On the dmp is a joint loan to the sum of £9k. It is in arrears of £1622. Although whats mine is hers ect we had seperate bills with me taking on more of the household bills as her debts increased. I have been paying mine all on time and they are decreasing slowly but with no spare money at the end of the month. I fear when the joint bank loan which is on the dmp it will not be enough and they will be chasing me for the full payment which I fully expect and could have paid when it was taken out but now unaffordable since taking on more bills. We have a default notice served on the loan in writing stating they want the arrears or it will taken further. I'm not sure what to do next but guess as I cannot afford to take in on myself would have to maybe have a dmp set up for myself or change hers to a joint 1. My wife was told that the bank may not chase me up but it is a joint loan. I haven't looked at my credit rating but assume it is rock bottom. Any suggestions what to do next most welcome.
Thanks

Hi there,

Thanks for posting.

As the joint loan is included in the DMP it’s likely your wife will be making reduced payments towards the debt. Due to this, you
may be chased for the outstanding amount of the payments you’d originally agreed to.

If you’re struggling to meet payments towards your debts it might be worth giving our Helpline a call.

Our advisors will be happy to chat through your budget with you and can discuss any debt solutions that may be available to you.

You mentioned starting a joint DMP with your wife, this is something we’d be able to look into for you too.

You can find out how to get in touch with us here: http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx

I hope this has helped,

Jen

StepChange_Jen

dannyboybath wrote: »

Just wondering why a creditors income & expenditure form is quite in depth , wanting to know everything yet compared to a county court form of income & expenditure it is very basic & much easier to complete.
I have several debts that need addressing due to losing my job and have to fill in I&E forms but finding them hard , then looking up what the worst the creditors could do , came across the County Court forms & was surprised how basic they are.
Can anyone answer the question..... If I fill in the County Court form & send that off , is that acceptable to my creditors , after all it is acceptable to the Court or will I have to fill in their indepth version?
Many thanks

Hi there,

Thanks for posting.

A creditor income and expenditure may cover more areas of your budget than a County Court form, making it longer and more detailed.

The more information you can provide to your creditor about your financial situation the better as it means they’ll get a more realistic view of it.

You may find that a creditor income and expenditure form allows you to budget for areas that aren’t included in a County Court form but are things you still spend money on. An example of this could be internet or television packages.

It’s best to send back the creditor’s own form, rather than a County Court form as this is what they’ve requested.

I hope this has helped,

Jen

DontThinkTwice

Hi there,

I have Stirling Park chasing me for an 8 year old council tax debt, which isn't even valid as I was a student at the time, I'm jumping through hoops trying to get what they will acceptors proof.

My question is this, I now live in England. Do they have any authority here to arrest my wages or cone to my home? I'm due a baby in five weeks and am so stressed

Former_StepChange_Rachel

DontThinkTwice wrote: »

Hi there,

I have Stirling Park chasing me for an 8 year old council tax debt, which isn't even valid as I was a student at the time, I'm jumping through hoops trying to get what they will acceptors proof.

My question is this, I now live in England. Do they have any authority here to arrest my wages or cone to my home? I'm due a baby in five weeks and am so stressed

Hi there, thanks for getting in touch.

I’m very sorry to hear for the stressful situation you’ve been dealing with. If this council tax debt is from a Scottish council, they will need to pursue the debt via an English magistrates court in order to enforce it against you.

Sherriff officers can only collect on Scottish debts when the person lives within Scotland. Wage arrestment is a possibility but again, this would need to be enforced through the English courts. Should the sheriffs secure a decree, they can transfer it across border and then apply for an attachment of earnings which is the English equivalent to a wage arrestment.

As the debt is over 6 years old, and may not be valid as you were a student at the time, it may be a good idea to contact the local authority who issued the council tax bill with any evidence you can provide to prove you aren’t liable for this particular time period. Ask them to withdraw the sheriff officer’s instruction while the case is being looked into.

If you feel that your complaint isn’t dealt with properly by the local authority, you can then escalate to the Scottish Services Ombudsman who can investigate it further.

Hope this helps,

Kind regards

Rachel

CashSaver_2

I have a number of credit card balances that have relatively high interest rates. I make the minimum payments on time each month but the amount of interest means that I am not really reducing the balance. I can't afford to pay more at the moment. Is it worth ask the credit card companies to either lower or freeze the interest on the basis that I continue to make the same level of payment each month. I have had some of these cards for a number of years and I'm sure I've paid the cc company enough interest by now. I don't have a good enough credit score to apply successfully for a new interest free balance transfer card.

Thanks

Mazcabs

Hi


Just wondered if you could answer a few questions for me. My husband decided to leave me and my two children. He has since moved into a flat which he shares with a friend. However all his post still comes to the house. He has always been somewhat lax when controlling his money and before he left had a loan outstanding. Since then I have found out that he has built up £18K of debt on credit cards and the loan and some of it hasn't been paid leading to default notices. He is paying me a maintenance for the children and I cover all the bills associated with the house (mortgage is still in joint names)


I am led to believe that he has contacted and completed forms for you and is waiting to hear back from you. How long does this take to organise? Also once an agreement has been made what would happen if he didn't pay, could bailiffs come to my house for money?

mum2one

A question that came up in conversation tonight, if someone is on benefits, child tax credit, cb, esa, dla - what can or can not be used when working out the money for creditors - in soa x

StepChange_Jen

CashSaver wrote: »

I have a number of credit card balances that have relatively high interest rates. I make the minimum payments on time each month but the amount of interest means that I am not really reducing the balance. I can't afford to pay more at the moment. Is it worth ask the credit card companies to either lower or freeze the interest on the basis that I continue to make the same level of payment each month. I have had some of these cards for a number of years and I'm sure I've paid the cc company enough interest by now. I don't have a good enough credit score to apply successfully for a new interest free balance transfer card.

Thanks

Hi there,

Thanks for posting.

Unfortunately your creditors are within their rights to add charges to a debt if they’re stated up front in the terms and conditions that you sign when you agree to take out the credit.

You can always request that they stop the interest rates however there’s no guarantee that they’ll agree to do this.

If you’re struggling with payments to your debts, it might be worth getting some free debt advice.

As a charity, this is something we offer and we’d be more than happy to help.

We have an online debt advice tool called Debt Remedy that you might find useful. You can find it here:

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx

If you enter information about your income and debts into Debt Remedy it’ll be able to let you know any debt solutions that may be suited to your situation. It’ll also let you know what your next steps should be to help you deal with your finances.

I hope this helps,

Jen