Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

StepChange_James

Gaynzie wrote: »

Hi. First post and if I'm in the wrong place I'm very sorry...
Won't bore you with my story, but ive been paying off debts for several years. I have got this down to £5880. I owe one back and 2 credit cards.
I've just inherited £3000.
I'm unsure what to do....my home needs new bathrooms, carpets, kids bed rooms doing etc....or do I contact my creditors to try to arrange full and final settlements?
Just after advice from others and, while I'm self employed and certainly not well paid, do I improve my home or clear my debts?
Thank you

Hi Gaynzie,

Welcome to the forum. It's a tricky question to answer without knowing your full details but hopefully I can give you a few ideas to consider.

Whether to use inheritance to clear debts or deal with home repairs will depend on which is the highest priority to you.

If your creditors are willing to agree to full and final settlements then there could be some money saved by paying the debts off now. If the work needed on your home can wait then the money you're currently using to service these debts could be saved for home repairs, and work done as and when you can afford it.

If the home repairs are more urgent then you may not be able to use the money for debt payments. If you're currently able to manage regular payments on the debts then that's not a massive issue but if you're struggling to keep up with them it may be better to use some money for the most essential work on the house and then the rest to help manage the debts.

These are just possibilities, I wouldn't want to make a suggestion without knowing all the details of your situation. One of our debt advisors can give you full, in-depth debt advice for free if you like. Here's our contact details: https://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx or you could use our online Debt Remedy tool: https://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

melky wrote: »

I really need advise back in 2008 I took a loan with welcome finance for 2000 pound .In 2009 I got into trouble paying this back so I went to a debt company and a plan was put in place so I paid 100 pound until 2014 when I got a letter to say they would be paying 1500 off to welcome this sent alarm bells ringing as I paid about 6000 to them over 5 and half years and that was all they were paying.so I refused to pay any more.i have just received a letter from another company p and r group saying I have to pay 2575 pound to clear it .I am not paying anymore off to this company I have kept all my statement as proof.can you please advise where I stand as I'm worried sick I'm a single mum struggling to meet ends meet as it is and now I have this after struggling to pay last time for 6 years

Cheers Mel :mad:

Hi Mel,

If I've understood your message it sounds like you paid another company to deal with this debt but they only gave a small amount of the money you paid them to actually pay the debt. Was the payment meant to be a final payment to clear the debt? If you've got letters to prove this then you should show them to the company asking you for money now.

It may be worth going back to the company you paid to manage your debts and try to work out what happened with the money you sent them.

Alternatively you could ask for a full statement of the account from the debt collectors that is currently asking you for money. They should be able to tell you more about how they've worked out you owe this amount to them.

Once you know more about whether you should have to repay this debt you can then work out your options. If they confirm you don't have to repay it then that'll be good news. If it works out that you do still owe money then I'd suggest giving us a call and we'll give you advice about how to deal with the debt.

Here's our contact details: https://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

Jen1882 wrote: »

Hi all...
So this evening I used the MSE eligibility calculator for the best 0% balance transfer card I could find. It came up with 90% likely success with Virgin Money no fee Mastercard.

Feeling quite confident as I have maintained a healthy credit file for the last 4 years and have a good score, I went ahead and applied citing the £3,650 score I wanted to transfer and... was declined

Now, I am really upset and worried as I feel like I will be declined if I attempt to apply for another credit card but desperately need to transfer my balance to a card where I can shift it in 18-24 months.

I immediately contacted Virgin Money by phone and the nice operator couldn't see any notes against the application and confirmed that I'd get an email confirming the decision but not telling me much more. I have therefore written a letter to the Wigstone branch asking if they could please tell me why I was rejected (I know, I know, they probably won't but need to try at least).

My question is (sorry it took so long to get here), do you think I should bother to apply for another card immediately (I hear MBNA is likely to accept although higher fees) or take out a loan with my current bank (will they even give it to me now?? ) and pay off the credit card instead? Is this riskier?

Hi Jen,

You may have heard this before, but it's often thought that making several credit applications close together can be seen as a negative when lenders look at your credit file (applications are logged as searches on your file).

So you could apply for another card but the recent application could make you look less desirable to the next lender (I had a similar situation when I was a teenager and asked three different girls out in a day - I looked a bit desperate and got rejected by all three).

Whether a loan will work out better than a balance transfer card will depend on a lot of factors. The most obvious is the overall cost of the credit. A 0% credit card can seem like a good deal, but if you dont' clear the debt during the 0% period there's a risk of having to pay a lot more back in the future.

A loan has the benefit of have a structured repayment time built in to it but the length of time they can be taken out over can mean a seemingly low annual interest rate can add up over time.

Using loans to repay credit cards is risky in our experience because we speak to a lot of people that take out a loan to repay a credit card, run the credit card back up and then have twice the debt shortly after taking out the loan.

Before deciding what to do, I'd suggest giving our Debt Remedy tool a go. Here's the link: https://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx. It'll help you build a budget and will tell you what you've got available to pay towards debts after you've covered your essential costs. That should help you to work out what you can afford.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

andrew_bott wrote: »

Hi,

I am new to this but hoping I can get some advice. Basically I took out a Natwest Loan in April 2007 and had a very similar experience to the person who started this thread. I lost my job and simply couldn't afford to pay initially. It then turned out that Natwest had lost my credit agreement and stated they couldn't enforce the debt in 2009.

At present my Credit File shows a £4621 debt but they have not defaulted me. Instead it shows 6 months late payments for the last 6 years - if that makes sense.

My question is this:

> Will these drop off my file one day or is that defaults only?
> What is the best thing to do to remove the whole account?
> I am getting letters every 6 months from Natwest just providing a statement but no threats, etc as they are unable to.

This is affecting my rating so just want some advice if possible.

Thanks,
Andrew

Hi Andrew,

It looks like Rachel replied to this message via PM yesterday, so you should have a message in your inbox.

Kind regards

James

mascotty

Hi guys,
heres another one..........
I was diagnosed with cancer 4 years ago, had the operations and had the chemotherapy, I was off work for 2 weeks from the operation and again 2 weeks off when I had the chemo, a few people did state I went back to early, but I coped, only problem was and still is, although I got 1 month ssp, I have landed up in a bit of debt, how I do not know, is there anywhere than I can claim, although it was no ones fault, I am still being hammered by halifax BS for interest charged since then, even though I explained the circumstances, I need to get out of debt, they do not seem to listen to me, any suggestions or anywhere I can go to. PM me if you want to and thanks for any advice in advance
Mark

haki_master

I had a UK paypal account in my name all legit for some stupid security reasons and after all documents provided paypal decided to shut it down indefinitely. I wasn't checking my account for long time as it was to be closed and some days ago i noticed there negative balance from a couple of chargebacks. Then after some time i get a call from paypal i was busy so didnt give out any information and told them to call me again. I searched this number and it is from paypal department that resolved negative balance. They kept calling for a few days but i didnt answer them, nothing really much to say to these crooks that shut down my account for no good reason and now that some buyers made chargebacks they want me to cover negative balance in an indefinitely limited account. My question is since the address of that account is a real one but i moved i dont live there anymore can the collection agency find my current address? Will my bank give out my real address? Should i just go and change my address in the bank and then close that bank account linked with that paypal account? After how much time does paypal give this to the collection agency in UK? I will be out of the country in 4 months so wondering if i can skip this encounter with the collection agency or not? I am not a UK citizen, also if the collection agency finds me whats the best way to tackle this issue, deny everything associated with the account or make a re-payment settlement and stall as much possible as i leave in 4 months? All advice much appreciated

Angharadz

mascotty wrote: »

Hi guys,
heres another one..........
I was diagnosed with cancer 4 years ago, had the operations and had the chemotherapy, I was off work for 2 weeks from the operation and again 2 weeks off when I had the chemo, a few people did state I went back to early, but I coped, only problem was and still is, although I got 1 month ssp, I have landed up in a bit of debt, how I do not know, is there anywhere than I can claim, although it was no ones fault, I am still being hammered by halifax BS for interest charged since then, even though I explained the circumstances, I need to get out of debt, they do not seem to listen to me, any suggestions or anywhere I can go to. PM me if you want to and thanks for any advice in advance
Mark

one avenue to explore would be your local MacMillan.When I first went through treatment in 2012, my consultant specifically mentioned talking to MacMillan if I had money worries. When I went to a 'moving forward' group it was also on the agenda - sadly I missed that bit as I had to go for more surgery, but I believe they offer grants of money towards getting debt free, and maybe access to an advisor? I don't know if they would talk to Halifax for you, they'd certainly be harder than an individual to "ignore"!!
You could check online for an idea of if they could help in your situation?
Good luck, and congratulations on making it through:beer:

little_tortilla

Hi

My old landlord emailed me a letter he opened in my name - He said he thought it was junk and opened it. The letter is from 22 Jan 2016 and it basically stated that an old outstanding balance for electric had not been paid on an flat I lived in between 2011 to 2012 - this is now being recovered from debt collection company.

It didnt say the supplier or any other details but I emailed my ex, who i was living with and recalled that in previous emails, that on a final call to them in 2012, EDF were going to send me a letter to my new address, setting up a monthly direct debit to pay off the £200 outstanding balance.
They had my new address and phone number, and basically I forgot to chase it up but I didnt get any correspondance from them about this bill. No letters at all and we lived at the 'new' address for 2 years.

Now its 4 years and also 4 flatshares later. They dont have my new address. Just a very old address and I wouldn't have even read the letter if my old landlord hadn't even opened it. (which Im sure is illegal anyway). He just wants me to contact them to say I dont live there, which I'm sure he could do to be fair.

I'm wondering what the legal standpoint is on this, and as its been so ridiculously long, and no previous contact has been made, do I need to pay this off?

I don't think its affected any credit rating in terms of the fact that I haven't had any problems getting a credit card and i don't really plan on buying a house for at least 2-5 years so I don't know what the long term implications are of this?

Any help would be appreciated as I've never had this issue before.

rixy74

Hi i have just received 2 massive bills for mobile phones and i have called the company's to see if i can get them reduced a little but no help from the company's

1 id mobile i took out a 30 day rolling contract for a internet dongal my daughter seems to have gone over the data allowance and when i looked at the bank statement they had charged me £585.00.:mad:

2 EE my wife had a phone with a 1000 mins but because we were moving and didnt have a home phone she was using her mobile and went over so i have a bill for £500 from them.

i understand we used the data/mins but i called both company's to see if they could help but no help from anybody, do you have any advise to maybe recover a little money from id or reduce the bill from EE
thanks

StepChange_Jen

mascotty wrote: »

Hi guys,
heres another one..........
I was diagnosed with cancer 4 years ago, had the operations and had the chemotherapy, I was off work for 2 weeks from the operation and again 2 weeks off when I had the chemo, a few people did state I went back to early, but I coped, only problem was and still is, although I got 1 month ssp, I have landed up in a bit of debt, how I do not know, is there anywhere than I can claim, although it was no ones fault, I am still being hammered by halifax BS for interest charged since then, even though I explained the circumstances, I need to get out of debt, they do not seem to listen to me, any suggestions or anywhere I can go to. PM me if you want to and thanks for any advice in advance
Mark

Hi Mark,


Thanks for posting.


I’m sorry to hear of your cancer diagnosis and the difficulties you’ve had while undergoing operations and chemotherapy. I’m glad you reached out to us however because I believe we can help you with the debt problems you’ve mentioned.


When it comes to interest and charges being added to a debt, this is one of the actions your creditors can take if the amounts they’re charging are included in your original agreement. If you believe you’ve been charged interest rates that weren’t in your original agreement with your bank, or that you’ve been treated unfairly, then you might be able to make a formal complaint.


You can find out more about this here:


http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Whatyourcreditorscando/Makingacomplaint.aspx


If you’d like some advice about dealing with the debt, this is where we can help.

As a charity, we offer free debt advice and a range of debt solutions. If you’d like to give our Helpline a call, one of our advisors will be happy to talk through your situation with you. They’ll discuss your budget, debts and income and will use this information to recommend a debt solution suited to your situation.


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


I hope this has helped,


Jen