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BadDebt2000

Hi there, i'm after some advice on my debt. I have currently around £20,000 of debt spread across 5 credit cards, some were used to switch other expensive debts to with interest free periods etc., however these are all now up and they are all now charging interest and I don't have the option of any more balance transfers to alleviate this. I'm not behind with my payments and I i'm not in arrears with anything, however I am paying around £600 per month just in minimum payments and consequently hardly making a dent in the debt, I can't really afford to pay any more than that, and I can't save any money when paying this amount each month just to service a debt and not really pay any of it off. My credit score is pretty good, however i'm self employed and not a homeowner so getting a loan to consolidate this debt is proving very difficult. I don't really want to do anything that will hamper my credit score like an IVA, is there anything else I can do? Is there a way of consolidating this into one amount / loan with a lower interest rate than what the credit cards are charging? I can clearly afford it as I said I've never missed a payment on anything and I could pay it off in 5 years with a decent loan, but it'd probably take 5 times that if I just keep paying the minimum amount!
Many Thanks for any advice!

Former_StepChange_Richard

Glitterygoods wrote: »

Hi. I am trying to sort out my debts. I have buried my head in the sand and not paid anything off of my debts which are now an embarrassing £8000. I am currently on IS after having my baby 10 months ago. I am looking at going back to work at the end of the year as due to being a single mum (not my choice) and the benefit cap I will not be able to afford my rent and to stay at home with my son. So a DRO is not an option.
The question I have is I have been offered is and I know it sounds really cheeky but a few of my debts have offered 40/50% off and the option of paying by instalments (I guess because they haven't had any money and will be over the 6 years next year) but could I offer them say 60/70% off and pay by instalments? One of them should hopefully be wiped as it was a pay day loan that was unaffordable and although I have paid back a lot more than I borrowed they have offered to wipe it from £816 to £120. (I have a complaint they are dealing with at the moment and have asked for it to be wiped) I have been looking at a DMP but surely I would end up paying more as the money I have been offered off won't be included in that, nor the nearly £700 off of the PDL one. Also as they will all become SB in the next 2 years will it 'reset' the timer by sending them a letter? Sorry for the long message. Thank you for your time.

Hi there

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

Without being able to see a full budget showing your income, expenses and debts, its impossible for me to say which would be the best option for you. We can help you to build a budget and then we'll be able to say for certain what will be the best solution for your debts. You can start by using our free Debt Remedy tool or you can contact us by phone if you prefer.

I think the last question you ask is about declaring a debt as statute barred. It's hard to say for certain on this as it would depend on what you are writing in your letter and what type of debt we are talking about. If there is anything in your letter that acknowledges the debt, then it will reset the time period, generally speaking. You can read more about this on our website to find out if your debt will be affected.

I hope this has been helpful.

Take care
Richard

Former_StepChange_Richard

BadDebt2000 wrote: »

Hi there, i'm after some advice on my debt. I have currently around £20,000 of debt spread across 5 credit cards, some were used to switch other expensive debts to with interest free periods etc., however these are all now up and they are all now charging interest and I don't have the option of any more balance transfers to alleviate this. I'm not behind with my payments and I i'm not in arrears with anything, however I am paying around £600 per month just in minimum payments and consequently hardly making a dent in the debt, I can't really afford to pay any more than that, and I can't save any money when paying this amount each month just to service a debt and not really pay any of it off. My credit score is pretty good, however i'm self employed and not a homeowner so getting a loan to consolidate this debt is proving very difficult. I don't really want to do anything that will hamper my credit score like an IVA, is there anything else I can do? Is there a way of consolidating this into one amount / loan with a lower interest rate than what the credit cards are charging? I can clearly afford it as I said I've never missed a payment on anything and I could pay it off in 5 years with a decent loan, but it'd probably take 5 times that if I just keep paying the minimum amount!
Many Thanks for any advice!

Hi there

Thanks for your message and welcome to our forum.

If you've already applied for a loan and have been rejected, there's not a lot of other options to look at that won't affect your credit rating.

Whilst you're in a position where you're able to pay your contractual payments each month, you'll likely find that your creditors are unable to offer any extra help. From their point of view, you're able to pay at the agreed rate they lent you the money and as you have not missed any payments, you're not in need of any extra help.

I'm not implying that if you stopped making your payments that this would change, but simply that from their point of view, you're not experiencing any difficulty.

Any other options that will help you consolidate your payments will likely affect your credit rating. You've already mentioned an IVA and you may have heard of something called a Debt Management Plan which, is something that you can use to make one affordable monthly payment to your debts. However, if you can pay your creditors what they're asking you may not benefit from either of these. There's other solutions available too and you can read about these on our website.

The only way we'll be able to give you more specific advice is if you make a budget with us so we can see what is most suitable for you. You'll be under no obligation to take our advice and we'll only say what we think is best. If you'd like, you can use our Debt Remedy tool on our website to do this.

I hope this has been of some help. Let us know if there's anything else we can do.

Many thanks,
Richard.

Indebtandstruggling

Hi

Hope you can point me in right direction please.

I have a pub tied to a brewery on a lease with 5 years left.

Our sales have dropped quite a lot in 9 months that our profit has gone from 26k to 8k it has left me with no cash flow at all and now at the stage I have no money to buy beer to stay open.

I don't really have anyone chasing me for money the now but I owe Paye 750 and instead of prepaying my vat at 300 per week I have not paid anything for 4 weeks.

Met with brewRy today and it looks like we will have to hand keys back but as its in their interest to keep the pub open they are looking at a 12 week plan to keep trading as long as we can and hand keys back

By the time this happens I reckon I will owe HMRC vat 4K, Paye 1500, eon 1k, rates 500, unsecured bank loan 9k, redundancy payments and holiday pay 2k,

This then leaves me and my partner with no job or income and homeless as we live onsite

This has a knock on effect to our personal debt of around 8k on credit cards which paid for pub debt for sky tv and vat arrears.



What should I be doing as I have no idea what to do

Cheers

StepChange_Allen

Indebtandstruggling wrote: »

Hi

Hope you can point me in right direction please.

I have a pub tied to a brewery on a lease with 5 years left.

Our sales have dropped quite a lot in 9 months that our profit has gone from 26k to 8k it has left me with no cash flow at all and now at the stage I have no money to buy beer to stay open.

I don't really have anyone chasing me for money the now but I owe Paye 750 and instead of prepaying my vat at 300 per week I have not paid anything for 4 weeks.

Met with brewRy today and it looks like we will have to hand keys back but as its in their interest to keep the pub open they are looking at a 12 week plan to keep trading as long as we can and hand keys back

By the time this happens I reckon I will owe HMRC vat 4K, Paye 1500, eon 1k, rates 500, unsecured bank loan 9k, redundancy payments and holiday pay 2k,

This then leaves me and my partner with no job or income and homeless as we live onsite

This has a knock on effect to our personal debt of around 8k on credit cards which paid for pub debt for sky tv and vat arrears.

What should I be doing as I have no idea what to do

Cheers

Hi there

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting.

I'm sorry to hear of the struggles your business has been going through, and that you may have to hand the keys back to the brewery.

It seems that there are two issues here, the business problems and debt, and then the personal debt. It's important to get the business situation resolved one way or another before it being possible to give accurate advice on your personal debts and finances.

I'd recommend speaking with Business Debtline first to discuss the situation with the business, and see what they suggest to do. Like us, they're also a charity but specialise in business debts. Once they've advised you and things are hopefully a bit clearer, we will be able to give you some advice on your personal debts if you'd like us to.

To give any accurate, long-term advice, we'll need to understand what your personal income, spending and debts are and when and how these may change. This will hopefully be clearer once you've chatted to Business Debtline.

You're welcome to register for us whenever you're ready though, this way we can at least give some temporary interim advice as to how to deal with your personal creditors at the moment. You can find our contact details here.

I hope this makes sense and that we are able to help you soon.

Allen

caitlinrholmes

I often shop for clothes online, and have always used my Barclays connect debit card to do so. This account has always had money in it, and I have never used credit. I've never had a credit card, a shopping card, used a catalogue, etc. A letter was sent to me by a debt collecting agency a few month ago saying that I owed £43 to fashion retailer H&M.
As I knew that there was no possible way that I could owe H&M money, I rang up the debt collectors to dispute the issue. I was on the phone for 15 mins, yet the person on the other end was extremely unhelpful. I was told that I must know why I owe this money, and that they were unable to tell my why I owe it. They also said that a letter would soon be sent revising what the phone call had been about.
A letter arrived several months later, but it simply stated that now I owed the baliffs £53.99 and that action would be taken against me. I'm only a teenager and have never had to deal with anything like this. I rung up the agency again, to be told that I needed to report this as fraud, as someone had bought items from a catalogue and used my name. I did so and rung up the agency again to confirm that I'd done this, only to be told that actually this was just speculation and hadn't happened.
I was then told that H&M dispatch items before taking payment, which I refuse to believe that any respectable company would do. I had returned this item of clothing as I didn't like it, and received money on a gift card as the company no longer give cash back. Apparently I had done this before H&M took the money from my account, meaning that I owe them this money.
However, do I have a case for not paying this debt as I did not know that H&M don't take the money out of your account immediately? Surely it is not my fault that by the time they decided to get round to it, I had already returned the item and received money back (which I did not know that I wasn't entitled to)? They then continued to pursue me for months with threatening letters, yet always refused to tell me why I owe this money. This meant that the amount I owed steadily increased. The money that I now owe is a lot of money for a teenager, and I feel like I've been very unfairly treated. Do I have a case? Any replies would be greatly appreciated !

Gemblue

Can anyone help? I'm so close to being debt free and having my finances back in order after a long 8 years... to find that a default has been registered against me for £90. It's a very old debt that I believe defaulted and theb discharged/dropped off a year ago. I believe that a second default has been added for the same debt but as the account is so old I have no record through my credit file of the original default date!!! I've spoken with the company who claim they now legally owe it and they seem clueless. They claim they bought the account in 2007 but the credit report shows it opened in 2012 with default of 2016.... please help, I was so close to getting myself ready to apply for a mortgage!!!!

BradleyM1991

After been on a DMP with stepchange for 2 and half years.

I can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel with only 6 more payments to make and i'll be debt free by the end of 2016 !

Ready to start 2017 all fresh and debt free !

Stepchange have been amazing and supportive through this difficult path !

StepChange_Rachael

Hi

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting.

I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a difficult time and I can see how it must be a difficult and frustrating situation for you.

It sounds like since H&M made the payment back to you on a gift card it would mean that the amount was still owed to them from the account you originally paid from. However, it’s my understanding that if you buy something online and return it within the returns policy time frame a refund will be made to the original payment method.

If it was within the time frame and they didn’t return this to the account you made the purchase from then I’d suggest discussing this with H&M.

If the refund was issued as a gift card because it was returned out of the returns policy time frame and a gift card was issued as a good will gesture by H&M then this is a different matter.

From what I can tell H&M are collecting as the refund was paid to the gift card which meant there is an outstanding payment on your H&M account.

This means they’d have a legitimate reason to chase for the debt.

I’d check the payment policy which you should be able to access on their website as it should state in there the time frame when money is debited for a purchase.

You do have a right to any personal information a company holds for you so if you request a breakdown of the payment and any fees in writing then they should send this to you.

If you feel you do still want to make a formal dispute against H&M then I’d suggest following their formal complaints procedure that will be on their website.

You’ve mentioned bailiffs are collecting the debt. They would only collect for this type of debt if the creditor has taken the debt through to a county court judgement and you’ve not replied to the paperwork within the time frame given or missed a payment set by court.

Sometimes paperwork sent by creditors or collections agencies can sound like it’s already gone to court when it hasn’t yet. To be able to advise you further I’d need more information of the situation.

If you would like further advice regarding this debt then I’d suggest contacting StepChange debt charity for free and impartial advice. If the debt has gone to a county court judgement then it’s important we discuss this with you.

You can find the contact details for StepChange debt charity here.

Thanks
Rachael

caitlinrholmes wrote: »

I often shop for clothes online, and have always used my Barclays connect debit card to do so. This account has always had money in it, and I have never used credit. I've never had a credit card, a shopping card, used a catalogue, etc. A letter was sent to me by a debt collecting agency a few month ago saying that I owed £43 to fashion retailer H&M.
As I knew that there was no possible way that I could owe H&M money, I rang up the debt collectors to dispute the issue. I was on the phone for 15 mins, yet the person on the other end was extremely unhelpful. I was told that I must know why I owe this money, and that they were unable to tell my why I owe it. They also said that a letter would soon be sent revising what the phone call had been about.
A letter arrived several months later, but it simply stated that now I owed the baliffs £53.99 and that action would be taken against me. I'm only a teenager and have never had to deal with anything like this. I rung up the agency again, to be told that I needed to report this as fraud, as someone had bought items from a catalogue and used my name. I did so and rung up the agency again to confirm that I'd done this, only to be told that actually this was just speculation and hadn't happened.
I was then told that H&M dispatch items before taking payment, which I refuse to believe that any respectable company would do. I had returned this item of clothing as I didn't like it, and received money on a gift card as the company no longer give cash back. Apparently I had done this before H&M took the money from my account, meaning that I owe them this money.
However, do I have a case for not paying this debt as I did not know that H&M don't take the money out of your account immediately? Surely it is not my fault that by the time they decided to get round to it, I had already returned the item and received money back (which I did not know that I wasn't entitled to)? They then continued to pursue me for months with threatening letters, yet always refused to tell me why I owe this money. This meant that the amount I owed steadily increased. The money that I now owe is a lot of money for a teenager, and I feel like I've been very unfairly treated. Do I have a case? Any replies would be greatly appreciated !

Former_StepChange_Matthew

Can anyone help? I'm so close to being debt free and having my finances back in order after a long 8 years... to find that a default has been registered against me for £90. It's a very old debt that I believe defaulted and theb discharged/dropped off a year ago. I believe that a second default has been added for the same debt but as the account is so old I have no record through my credit file of the original default date!!! I've spoken with the company who claim they now legally owe it and they seem clueless. They claim they bought the account in 2007 but the credit report shows it opened in 2012 with default of 2016.... please help, I was so close to getting myself ready to apply for a mortgage!!!!

Hi there,

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the forum.

I can imagine your worry about this, particularly as you're looking to apply for a mortgage.
Anything that goes onto your credit file will stay there for 6 years, after which they are no longer visible.

If you feel that this should no longer be on your credit file, I recommend that you put in a complaint to the collection agency. The collection agency will have 8 weeks to resolve your complaint or provide you with their final response. If you're not happy with this, you can escalate this to the financial ombudsman who can investigate this on your behalf. If they rule in your favour, they can make the creditor remove any negative marks on your credit file that should not have been put on there.

You can find details of this here.

I hope this helps
Matthew