Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

coops678

Hi Jen,

Thanks for this and for the info.

To follow on from my post... I am in a position to clear £2000 of my £4800 as of now. With full and final I could potentially end up with less than £2800 to pay back after this however my original post comes from an anxiety that I could be shooting myself in the foot making f&f settlements instead of taking a few extra months to pay off my debts in full.

One final thing that I wondered about is if it's possible to settle the final amount of each debt after full and final settlements have been made i.e. a year from now I wish to clear the last couple hundred or so that wasn't originally settled?

Many thanks again.

Christine.

StepChange_James

coops678 wrote: »

Hi Jen,

Thanks for this and for the info.

To follow on from my post... I am in a position to clear £2000 of my £4800 as of now. With full and final I could potentially end up with less than £2800 to pay back after this however my original post comes from an anxiety that I could be shooting myself in the foot making f&f settlements instead of taking a few extra months to pay off my debts in full.

One final thing that I wondered about is if it's possible to settle the final amount of each debt after full and final settlements have been made i.e. a year from now I wish to clear the last couple hundred or so that wasn't originally settled?

Many thanks again.

Christine.

Hi Christine,

Our website has a little bit about full and final settlements and your credit file:

If the creditor marks your credit file as ‘settled in full’ this shouldn’t affect your credit rating. If a creditor marks it ‘partial settlement’ it shows other lenders that the debt was cleared for less than what was outstanding. This will appear on your credit file for 6 years and might make it harder for you to take out credit.

The full page his here: http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Debtsolutions/Settlementoffers.aspx.

I'm not sure this will really set your mind at ease, because it's very hard to know what impact full and final settlements could have on future credit applications.

If you're on a DMP then I'd guess you've already got defaults on your file and recently history of reduced payments to debts. So additional information about full and final settlements might not make things all that much worse.

Each lender interprets information from credit files in their own way and lending decisions take in a lot more information than just your credit file.

For example, someone with a massive deposit and a fairly poor credit history might be a better mortgage lending prospect to a bank than someone with very little money to put down on a house but a sparkling credit file.

The real question is whether the saving you could potentially make from full and finals is worth it when weighed up next to the potential impact on your credit file. I suppose that's really a personal choice, but hopefully these answers might give you a bit more information.

Kind regards

James

ScaredandLost

I am in serious, serious, trouble. I have unsecured debts running currently at just over £50000 which I have been unable to deal with and have pretty much been ignoring for about a year now, so I know its about to all come crashing down on my head. I have experienced a very large drop in income and am currently self employed. I own my own home but it is currently uninhabitable because I was getting it renovated to let out but the builders have abandoned it unfinished and I am staying with my boyfriend. I am in a very fraught personal position also as my boyfriend is emotionally and verbally abusive both of which have recently been escalating due to his pressure of work. He doesn't know the extent of my debts and I cant tell him as I fear that would escalate the abuse to way out of control. I have looked into the possibility of an IVA and a DMP but I don't know what to do for the best. I currently earn under £15,000 a year and am working to improve that and at taking a second job, though my boyfriend is making that very difficult as I also do work for him so have very little time left in my day. I am at the lowest I have ever been and feel so stupid for getting myself into this hopeless situation. Please help I am feeling very scared and lost and have nowhere to go.

coops678

Thanks James, and is it possible to settle the final amount of a full and final agreement e.g. the final few hundred at a later date after a full and final settlement had been made?

Many thanks.

kika

Please dont despair. Things may look grim at the moment but they can get better. You should call stepchange the charity for impartial advice on debt. As for your partner is there no one else you can stay with? Is your place totally inhabitable? You need someone who can support you you shouldn't have to put up with abuse. Can you get to your local CAB for help leaving him. You've made the first step by posting on here.

rachie332

Hi

I'm scared and lost I owe approx £16k in loans and credit cards.. I have been making payments (just) thankfully my husband had a good wage. However, we are now separating and my income will reduce dramatically..I just don't know what to to....could I contact the companies and offer them so much a month.? If I did would they have to accept it?

I'm so scared and alone, my husband has told me that he will not bail me out as he's got to find his own place to live now

kika

please contact a charity (who won't charge you) such as stepchange for advice as this may not be simple. Companies do not have to accept lower payments if you just ring them up, you may need DMP but call stepchange to find out. By the way if you're married you both share the debts so again call them for advice.

rachie332

Kiki

The cards and loans are in my name, he's willing to pay the mortgage so the boys have a home....but he needs to buy a house himself

merrydance

Hi Have large credit card debts of about £50,000 plus outstanding mortgage of £17,000. House is worth about £250/260,000. Would you advise down-sizing or equity release? Hear so many horror stories about equity release, but went on the step-change website and this is what we were advised to do. Didn't realise my husband had racked up so much debt grrrrr

Former_StepChange_Rory

ScaredandLost wrote: »

I am in serious, serious, trouble. I have unsecured debts running currently at just over £50000 which I have been unable to deal with and have pretty much been ignoring for about a year now, so I know its about to all come crashing down on my head. I have experienced a very large drop in income and am currently self employed. I own my own home but it is currently uninhabitable because I was getting it renovated to let out but the builders have abandoned it unfinished and I am staying with my boyfriend. I am in a very fraught personal position also as my boyfriend is emotionally and verbally abusive both of which have recently been escalating due to his pressure of work. He doesn't know the extent of my debts and I cant tell him as I fear that would escalate the abuse to way out of control. I have looked into the possibility of an IVA and a DMP but I don't know what to do for the best. I currently earn under £15,000 a year and am working to improve that and at taking a second job, though my boyfriend is making that very difficult as I also do work for him so have very little time left in my day. I am at the lowest I have ever been and feel so stupid for getting myself into this hopeless situation. Please help I am feeling very scared and lost and have nowhere to go.

Hi there,

Thanks for posting.

It sounds like you’re in a very difficult situation at the moment for a number of reasons, and we’re here to help you deal with the debts you have that you’re struggling with.

It might seem like you’re in an impossible situation, but there’s lots of advice and solutions we can discuss with you depending on your situation. Don’t feel stupid for being in debt, it doesn’t matter what has caused your debts, nobody is going to judge you and we’re just here to help.

I’d recommend speaking to one of our Helpline advisors who can take some details about your situation, look at your debts and then get you speaking to one of our expert debt advisors. All of our advice is free, confidential and impartial.

You can visit our website for more information at https://www.stepchange.org or call 0800 138 1111 to speak to us. We’re here 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and Saturday 8am to 4pm.

If you’d prefer to get help online rather than talk to us, you can use our debt remedy tool at https://www.stepchange.org/debtremedy. This offers the same expert advice you’d get by speaking to us, and if you need any help at all you can chat to us or call us.

I hope this helps, please get in touch if you’d like us to help you.

Rory