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muppetscotland

Hello there. Following a big cut in income due to the travails of the oil industry at the moment, we find we are unable to cover all our outgoings. I've done a budget using one of the online tools (ScottishDebtline ) and have worked out what we can offer creditors. It works out roughly half currently monthly required amounts.

My question is this - is there any point in highlighting to the lenders how much we have already repaid for example credit card initial debt £20k, amount paid to date must be nearer £30k thanks to shocking interest rate? I don't wish to be combative but it seems fair that I point out what good customers weve been to date.

Would that help or hinder things?

With thanks

StepChange_Jen

123montysweets wrote: »

Hi, I received a letter for HMRC27.10.15 stating that myself and my partner (separated in Sept 09) had been overpaid working and child tax credit in 2004 to 2005. I was completely unaware of this before receiving this letter. My ex has also received same letter. He tried to appeal but they said he couldn't.
It has now been handed to debt collection agency.
In the letter they state that they have written before but they haven't. Are they allowed to do this. I am heavily in debt and cannot afford to pay £3201.35 that is the half of the overall overpayment they say they made.
I always filled in tax credit forms with information from payslips and P60.s completely accurately and honestly so have no idea why they overpaid in the first place, if in fact they did.
I still receive tax credit as a single parent for my son who lives at home with me.
Please help. What can I do?

[FONT=&quot]Hi there,

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thanks for posting.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I’m sorry to hear about this situation.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If you don’t agree that you’ve been overpaid tax credits you could get in touch with HMRC and ask them to review their decision.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We have more information about tax credit overpayments and what to do if you want to dispute the decision on our website here:

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Typesofdebt/Taxcreditoverpayments.aspx

If you don’t want to dispute the overpayment and are worried about how you’ll pay it back, this is where we can help. If you get in touch with our Helpline one of our advisors can talk through your options with you. You can find out how to get in touch with us here:

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I hope this helps but if you have any more questions please let us know.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Kind regards,

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jen [/FONT]

StepChange_Jen

muppetscotland wrote: »

Hello there. Following a big cut in income due to the travails of the oil industry at the moment, we find we are unable to cover all our outgoings. I've done a budget using one of the online tools (ScottishDebtline ) and have worked out what we can offer creditors. It works out roughly half currently monthly required amounts.

My question is this - is there any point in highlighting to the lenders how much we have already repaid for example credit card initial debt £20k, amount paid to date must be nearer £30k thanks to shocking interest rate? I don't wish to be combative but it seems fair that I point out what good customers weve been to date.

Would that help or hinder things?

With thanks

Hi there,

Thanks for your message.

If you’re struggling with your finances it might be worth getting in touch with our Helpline for some free debt advice. Our advisors will chat through your situation with you and can let you know about any debt solutions suitable for you.

You can find out how to get in touch with us here:

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

If your creditors have charged you interest on your debts that isn’t in your original agreement, this could be something you
can make a complaint about.

However, if the interest and charges with included in your agreement, it’d be hard to say whether highlighting this to them will make a difference. However if you let them know you’re struggling to meet payments, provide them with a budget to let them know you’re paying what you can towards the debts and aren’t trying to ignore them, they might be able to offer you support.

I hope this helps,

Jen

Not_a_very_savvy_shopper.

15th Jan 16, 4:39 PM
NOT A VERY SAVVY SHOPPER.
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Should I pay a settlement figure?
I recently phoned a loan company I have a debt with to get an idea of the amount I still owed them. They have sent me a letter stating an outstanding balance, a rebate amount and a settlement figure. The settlement figure was considerably lower than the outstanding balance, so I did a Google search to check out exactly what a settlement figure was, and now I'm quite concerned! If I pay the settlement figure,will I get a bad credit rating, even though I have tried to pay the loan off early? Should I try to renegotiate a monthly payment to pay off the full outstanding balance to avoid a bad credit score? I noticed some websites stating that you need to supply all sorts of information to get loan companies to agree to full & final settlements, but I didn't provide any information at all about my current financial circumstances. Is what I've received different to a full & final settlement agreement?! Any advice would be great as I'm very confused!

SitAndBeg

Hello Stepchange I have been in touch with your aftercare team, but unfortunately they could not answer any of my questions. Perhaps a more visible conversation might do the trick, who knows ?. Ok then.Question 1: When I signed up with Stepchange nobody at Citizens Advice Bureau or Stepchange told me Stepchange were backed by the banks.(NOT-A-WORD) Why was that ? Question 2: Why did nobody at CAB or Stepchange tell me that extortionate "admin" fees can be added when the banks pass on your debt to debt collection agencies like Rossendales (Marstons) ? Q3: Why do the employees at Rossendales (Marston) not know who heads their own company. Q4: What form of renumeration does Marston Group give to it's "Advisory Group" .that includes Elizabeth Filkin OBE & Marc Gander who runs "Consumer Action Group"

StepChange_James

Not_a_very_savvy_shopper. wrote: »

15th Jan 16, 4:39 PM
NOT A VERY SAVVY SHOPPER.
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Send private message
Find more posts
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Should I pay a settlement figure?
I recently phoned a loan company I have a debt with to get an idea of the amount I still owed them. They have sent me a letter stating an outstanding balance, a rebate amount and a settlement figure. The settlement figure was considerably lower than the outstanding balance, so I did a Google search to check out exactly what a settlement figure was, and now I'm quite concerned! If I pay the settlement figure,will I get a bad credit rating, even though I have tried to pay the loan off early? Should I try to renegotiate a monthly payment to pay off the full outstanding balance to avoid a bad credit score? I noticed some websites stating that you need to supply all sorts of information to get loan companies to agree to full & final settlements, but I didn't provide any information at all about my current financial circumstances. Is what I've received different to a full & final settlement agreement?! Any advice would be great as I'm very confused!

Hello,

Thanks for posting.

I think the easiest thing to do would be to contact the loan company again and ask them how paying the settlement amount would affect your credit file.

From what you've said it may not be exactly the same as a typical full and final settlement, which involves some debt being written off in exchange for the balance being paid in full. The offer you've received sounds more like they're refunding interest to reduce the balance, which might not involve debt being written off and therefore may not be reported on your credit file as partially settled.

If your creditor confirms that they would update your credit file to say the debt was partially settled it will be a case of deciding if the money you'll save from settling the debt is worth the potential damage to your credit file.

It's hard to say how much a partial settlement would affect your ability to get credit in the future. Some lenders may see it as a sign of financial difficulty and others may see it as being less important. If you've already got a negative information on there it might not make much of a difference.

Kind regards

James

Jojo_fry

StepChange_Rory wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks for posting.

From what you’ve mentioned it sounds like debt consolidation isn’t an option available to help your friend deal with their debts. In many cases, consolidating debts isn’t always the best option, especially if your friend is resorting to using credit to pay for living costs.

This doesn’t mean that there’s no way out of this situation as there are many different debt solutions available that don’t involve taking out any further credit, and can help your friend deal with their debts and work towards becoming debt free.

It’s common for debt repayments to be so expensive that they are the main reason for spiralling debt. If the repayments are so high that further credit is to cover shortfalls in other areas, is one of the main danger signs of a debt problem.

I’d recommend that your friends get some expert debt advice from us. You could start by using our anonymous Debt Remedy tool at www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy and enter details about income, debts, living costs and situation and we’ll recommend the best way for your friend to deal with their debts.

Your friend could also call us, or you can call with their permission but we’ll need to talk to them first if that’s possible. You can find out more by visiting www.stepchange.org/Contactus.

I hope this helps,

Rory

Hi there Rory,

Thanks very much, we have applied to Step Change, having used the tool on your site though it doesn't look as though you'll be able to help him bring his debt payments down to a sustainable level

I'm sure you will be able to advise him further in more detail but are there any general suggestions you could make in the meantime?

Thanks,

Jo

StepChange_James

SitAndBeg wrote: »

Hello Stepchange I have been in touch with your aftercare team, but unfortunately they could not answer any of my questions. Perhaps a more visible conversation might do the trick, who knows ?. Ok then.Question 1: When I signed up with Stepchange nobody at Citizens Advice Bureau or Stepchange told me Stepchange were backed by the banks.(NOT-A-WORD) Why was that ? Question 2: Why did nobody at CAB or Stepchange tell me that extortionate "admin" fees can be added when the banks pass on your debt to debt collection agencies like Rossendales (Marstons) ? Q3: Why do the employees at Rossendales (Marston) not know who heads their own company. Q4: What form of renumeration does Marston Group give to it's "Advisory Group" .that includes Elizabeth Filkin OBE & Marc Gander who runs "Consumer Action Group"

Hi SitAndBeg,

Thanks for your post. I'll try my best to answer the questions where I can.

1. We're open about how we're funded. It's on our website here: http://www.stepchange.org/Aboutus/Ourapproach.aspx. It’s something our advisors might talk about where relevant but probably won’t discuss in every conversation they have with clients. And while we’re funded by voluntary donations from various organisations, our advice remains completely impartial and independent.

2. I can't comment on the CAB but I know that our advisors discuss the debt collection process with our clients when talking about setting up a debt management plan (DMP). I doubt we'd go into specific charges from individual companies but we'll talk about the potential for further charges being added to a debt when on a DMP.

3. & 4. I'm afraid I can't comment on subjects relating to other organisations. You might be able to get a response by contacting Rossendales directly.

I hope this response goes some way to giving you the answers you were looking for.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

Jojo_fry wrote: »

Hi there Rory,

Thanks very much, we have applied to Step Change, having used the tool on your site though it doesn't look as though you'll be able to help him bring his debt payments down to a sustainable level

I'm sure you will be able to advise him further in more detail but are there any general suggestions you could make in the meantime?

Thanks,

Jo

Hi Jo,

Rory isn't in today but hopefully I can help.

Debt Remedy should be able to help work out an affordable amount of money to put towards debts after covering essential costs. You mention that it's not suggeting a sustainable amount, so that makes me think the budget is either missing something or is set too low somewhere.

Without seeing the budget I can't say which areas but I'd suggest looking at the more variable monthly costs to check there's enough money allocated, such as travel and food expenses.

If Debt Remedy isn't allowing you to put in the figure you want then I'd suggest using live chat or giving us a call to talk it over. Our advisors can talk you through everything and can override the system where appropriate.

Kind regards

James

SitAndBeg

(1) James can't quite find where it says "Stepchange are financed by banks". I can see where it says "Stepchange is backed by "contributions from creditors" "creditors = banks ? is that correct ? A large portion of your income comes from the banking sector. What % is that, if you don't mind me asking.