Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

madison-nyc

Couple of questions: is there a minumum monthly repayment amount for an IVA? and is it reviewed annually or do the payments stay the same for the 5 years? Last one....... Does and IVA stay on your credit file for life? can you get a mortgage etc.? thank you :0)

donzie

Hi all,

I have contacted your team at step change,and have been emailed my debt management plan to look at and sign. I have noticed in section 2 (list of creditors) that some of my debts have not been added and one is one there twice (under a different name) i was really nervous when i rang and now feel really silly having to change it:o

would i be able to email the changes to you or do i have to have another phone call?

thanks

aimlessdude

Hello StepChange and fellow moneysavers,

I had a Lloyds current a/c in 2005 and then a year later in 2006 got a Lloyds credit card. I had to go to Asia for a year and a half in end of 2008, and I lost my Wallet there. I do not know when I lost it and I informed Lloyds (called from Asia) when I realised it was lost. I came back to UK in 2010 and have been working since. Just recently I had a look at my credit file from noodle.co.uk and found that I have defaults on my credit card £ 2300 (limit of 3000) made in mid-2009 and on my current A/C £3500.

On my current A/C Llyods have issued default in mid-2012.

Is it even possible to have current A/C defaulted ???

From 2009 till Mid 2012 the status of the current account was DT. and now its changed to DF. :eek:

I do not know how to get these removed / resolved, as I am planning to start family, buy a house and therefore I am afriad will be rejected for Mortgage.

Your kind help will be appreciated.

Aimless and currently hopeless

StepChange_James

Tinam1982 wrote: »

I posted on here a little while back, so I'm now in need of a bit of guidence really!

My husband and I have got ourselves in to a bit of an impossible situation, due to him losing his job, being out of work for 5 months and now having a job that pays quite a bit less and is much further away. Anyway it ends up with us having a loan and a credit card in my parents name. The loan is £460 a month and the cc £270. This is starting to really get on top of us. Problem being is that as it's in my parents name we can't really do much about it as I don't want to ruin their credit rating. So after LOTS of worrying and sleepless nights, I have been thinking about a consolidation loan. This would again have to be in their name and we both have awful credit. I have looked into it and it seems we could get a loan for £25000 over 8 years, costing £400 a month. This would make our lives much more comfortable. However, the loan finishes in a little over 2 years, then we would be a whole lot better off and can then really hammer the CC down.

So really what I wonder is is better to work our asses off and tighten our belts for 2 more years, or go ahead with the loan and have a much better standard of living.

Any advice would be great, I feel like I am going to have a breakdown soon with all this, I constantly feel sick and I don't sleep anymore. I have a 4 year old son and I feel like I am missing out on his childhood because I'm so pre-ocupied.

Tina

Hi Tina,

Thanks for posting again. It sounds like a really hard time at the moment.

The decision you're faced with is one that many people in debt face and I don't think there's an easy answer.

Generally speaking we advise against taking out credit in another person's name and also advise caution about consolidating debts as it can lead to more debt for many people.

It may be worth talking to your parents about the situation to see what their thoughts are. Would they prefer you take out a loan in their name or carry on paying the existing credit.

One thing that usually helps in these situations is having a good income and expenditure budget worked out, so you know what you need to support the family and what's left over for debts.

Then your budget should be a useful guide for whether the current payments are affordable and if other solutions are available.

Kind regards

James

Former_StepChange_Rachel

madison-nyc wrote: »

Couple of questions: is there a minumum monthly repayment amount for an IVA? and is it reviewed annually or do the payments stay the same for the 5 years? Last one....... Does and IVA stay on your credit file for life? can you get a mortgage etc.? thank you :0)

Hi Madison-nyc,

It all depends on a person's situation, but as a guide, the minimum amount for an IVA is £150pcm after all living costs are accounted for.

The IVA is reviewed annually and if you find yourself earning more or receiving a lump sum from somewhere (say for instance, an inheritance) then you must make your Insolvency Practitioner aware of it.

The IVA will drop off your credit file six years to the day of your first payment. This is certainly one of the benefits of an IVA versus a DMP, as with a DMP your debts stay on your credit file 6 years after the last payment you make.

It will be harder to get a mortgage while on the IVA, but it should get alot easier once the IVA is finished and clears from your credit file.

Hope this answers your questions,

Kind regards

Rachel

Former_StepChange_Rachel

donzie wrote: »

Hi all,

I have contacted your team at step change,and have been emailed my debt management plan to look at and sign. I have noticed in section 2 (list of creditors) that some of my debts have not been added and one is one there twice (under a different name) i was really nervous when i rang and now feel really silly having to change it:o

would i be able to email the changes to you or do i have to have another phone call?

thanks

Hi there Donzie

If there's a couple of debts missing or there's duplicates, all you need to do is drop a quick email to Advice Plus+ with your ref number in the subject title. (I will PM you the email address or it should be in the pack you were sent after your advice session).

Please make it clear in the email subject title that you have debts you need to add to your budget.

Regards,

Rachel

StepChange_James

aimlessdude wrote: »

Hello StepChange and fellow moneysavers,

I had a Lloyds current a/c in 2005 and then a year later in 2006 got a Lloyds credit card. I had to go to Asia for a year and a half in end of 2008, and I lost my Wallet there. I do not know when I lost it and I informed Lloyds (called from Asia) when I realised it was lost. I came back to UK in 2010 and have been working since. Just recently I had a look at my credit file from noodle.co.uk and found that I have defaults on my credit card £ 2300 (limit of 3000) made in mid-2009 and on my current A/C £3500.

On my current A/C Llyods have issued default in mid-2012.

Is it even possible to have current A/C defaulted ???

From 2009 till Mid 2012 the status of the current account was DT. and now its changed to DF. :eek:

I do not know how to get these removed / resolved, as I am planning to start family, buy a house and therefore I am afriad will be rejected for Mortgage.

Your kind help will be appreciated.

Aimless and currently hopeless

Hello and welcome to the forum.

It is possible to get default notices for current accounts, so there's nothing wrong with the bank doing that. However it sounds like there's a good chance these debts were the result of fraud on your account.

I would recommend getting in touch with Lloyds and trying to get to the bottom of where these balances come from. If the debts are there due to mistakes made by the bank then they should remove incorrect information from your credit file.

If the debts are yours and they've been accurately reported, then there isn't much you can do to take them off your file. Repaying the debts will improve you credit rating as it will show that there aren't any ongoing debts on your file but the old information will stay there if it was accurately reported.

Hope this helps.

James

troddette

Hello,

I'm 26 and finally removing my head from the sand and wanting to take responsiblity for past financial errors. At the moment I am paying back three maxed out credit cards, a giant store account and an overdraft. My debts total £6855.

After paying back what I can afford monthly along with my rent, gas, electricity, council tax etc, I am left with nothing to live on. I tried to solve this by taking out a payday loan which has proved to be a vicious cycle.

I really need to get out of this rut but don't know where to start. Or what to give priority to.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you in advance :-)

StepChange_James

troddette wrote: »

Hello,

I'm 26 and finally removing my head from the sand and wanting to take responsiblity for past financial errors. At the moment I am paying back three maxed out credit cards, a giant store account and an overdraft. My debts total £6855.

After paying back what I can afford monthly along with my rent, gas, electricity, council tax etc, I am left with nothing to live on. I tried to solve this by taking out a payday loan which has proved to be a vicious cycle.

I really need to get out of this rut but don't know where to start. Or what to give priority to.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you in advance :-)

Hi Trodette and welcome to the forum.

It's great news that you've taken the decision to take action on your finances, hopefully we can help you with this.

If you've payday loans then they're likely to be the most pressing thing to sort out. This blog post contains advice and template letters to help you with this: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2012/11/5-payday-loans-advice-articles/.

If you can't afford the payday loan payments then it's important to stop the them from coming out your bank account to avoid being left with no money or incurring bank charges.

Once the immediate issues with payday loans are sorted out then you can start thinking about longer term solutions.

It's hard to say what option would suit you best without knowing more about your finances, but we can help with this.

The first thing to do is visit our online debt advice service Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) to help you find a solution to your debt problem quickly.

Debt Remedy will assist you in completing a financial statement with information on your household, employment, income, expenditure and debts. From this the service will automatically determine your options.

To help you fill in the form, it’s best to gather together information about:
• Your income
• Your expenditure
• The creditors you owe money to

You’ll receive a downloadable advice booklet providing a tailored solution for you based on your current circumstances and advice on ways you may be able to improve your situation.

If you’re not confident with computers or would like to speak to an advisor then you’re welcome to ring our Helpline on 0800 138 1111 (free including from mobiles). We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturdays 9am – 3pm.

If you phone us it may be possible to refer you directly to a debt advisor for immediate advice. Alternatively, we will arrange for an appointment to be booked at a time convenient for you.

You’ve taken the first step to sorting out your money worries and we can support you with free and impartial advice along the way.

All the best

James

freesoon

Hello,

I set up a DMP which started this month. There is an account with a company called Cabot which I thoughtwould be finished in December 2012. I found out today that there is a balance ofabout £300 on it (have been paying £35 per month for the last 10 years on it).

The total outstanding debt on DMP is £25k.

Is it too late to add this £300 account into the plan and is it going tohave an adverse effect on the plan I started this month?

I am extremely worried about this as I have read a couple of horror storiesabout peoples DMP agreements being cancelled or creditors reacting negativelyif another creditor is added on. I feel like a real idiot and should havedoublechecked this before.

Any help would be appreciated