Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Joanna_jinxed

I've sent off for a DMP through Stepchange, so fingers crossed I should have the application this week.

Mat1982

Quick introduction my name is Mat im 34 and ive got myself in what i beleive to be some serious debt and i would like help decideding where to go next

I work in the civil service and im seeking union advice on what potential consequences any action would have my take home pay is £1160pcm

I currently owe in the region 25k

HSBC Loan £17000
HSBC CC £1900
HSBC OD £1350
BarclayCard £4800

the contractual payments on these online total £466 pcm

my other bill such as phone care insurance opticians internet road tax and union membership total £225

im sofa surfing atm between adresses and pay the various people a total of £60pw this includes gas and electric etc this totals £260

So my total just to pay essential bills before food totals £951

this leaves me £209 pcm to feed myself, clothe myself pay for diesel to get to work and pay for other essentials such as toiletries etc

i find myself borrowing more and more on my cards just to keep myself afloat and im seriously considering going bankrupt if it would be a good idea

any help would be appreciated thanks

StepChange_Allen

changeforbetter wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me advice about what to do (or usual practice) about adding ad-hoc payments in a DMP.

I understand that if I had a permanent change of income, then I could change my regular size of monthly payment, but unfortunately any extra cash I have is always temporary (partly being due to short term contract work).

I may like to add to my DMP payments (would love to reduce my debt faster) but not really alter it fundamentally as I can't afford to do that permanently.

Is there usually a way to add to the payments, without altering the basic DMP?

Many thanks for any advice.

Hi there

Thanks for your post.

It sounds like you've got the right idea of how a DMP should work. I can only really speak on behalf of how DMPs work with StepChange as policies could vary to an extent within other organisations.

If you're with us, all you'd need to do would be to give us a call and explain you have some extra money available as a result of extra work, overtime, or whatever it might be, and you can make a payment of whatever you like. When you call to discuss this for the first time, the team can explain how many extra payments a year can be made into the plan, how they can be made and so on.

If you're using another company, I'd recommend giving them a call and asking them how to go about this.

I hope this is helpful, and good luck with the rest of your DMP.

Allen

StepChange_Allen

Joanna_jinxed wrote: »

Hi all

Quick introduction. I got myself in to a lot of debt after graduating from uni and I've now reached crisis point after struggling for the better part of two years. I work full-time, and I own my home with my husband outright (due to a death in his family, he bought it with joint ownership shortly before we married) so no mortgage to worry about. I feel so ashamed that I got myself in this situation - I've been hiding how much trouble I'm in from my husband and it's really taking it's toll on our relationship.

In total, I owe 23,410. . I owe 16,300 in unsecured personal loans, 6,910 in credit card debt and 2000 on my overdraft. I have a hire purchase on my car which costs me £142 a month, but my car is an essential to my job (which involves a bit of travelling between hospital sites). I've not reached a point where I have £250 a month after all my bills are paid and I cannot survive on it any more. I don't want to get in to the payday loan spiral and I need to do something to get my payments in to one affordable lump. I've been looking at my options but I'm honesty baffled by what is best to choose. IVA? Debt Management Plan? Bankruptcy?

Any help and advice would be very gratefully received.

Hi Joanna

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry to hear that your debts have caused you this worry and have had an effect on your relationship. I understand that dealing with debts can be difficult and many people don't know how to get the problem under control as it's not a situation they've been in before.

The good news is that there is free help and support available from a few organisations, ourselves included, and I'm really pleased to see that you've now spoken with us and are going ahead with a DMP.

If there's anything further we can answer on here for you, please let us know.

I wish you all the best with your plan.

Allen

StepChange_Allen

Mat1982 wrote: »

Quick introduction my name is Mat im 34 and ive got myself in what i beleive to be some serious debt and i would like help decideding where to go next

I work in the civil service and im seeking union advice on what potential consequences any action would have my take home pay is £1160pcm

I currently owe in the region 25k

HSBC Loan £17000
HSBC CC £1900
HSBC OD £1350
BarclayCard £4800

the contractual payments on these online total £466 pcm

my other bill such as phone care insurance opticians internet road tax and union membership total £225

im sofa surfing atm between adresses and pay the various people a total of £60pw this includes gas and electric etc this totals £260

So my total just to pay essential bills before food totals £951

this leaves me £209 pcm to feed myself, clothe myself pay for diesel to get to work and pay for other essentials such as toiletries etc

i find myself borrowing more and more on my cards just to keep myself afloat and im seriously considering going bankrupt if it would be a good idea

any help would be appreciated thanks

Hi Mat

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

It's really good that you've worked out your expenses carefully, and I appreciate you posting a summary of them. Seeking help for a debt problem is the first and arguably most important step towards becoming debt free.

In order to be able to give precise and accurate advice we'd need to get a full budget put together with you and consider other information too. We'll definitely be able to help you to find a way of getting the debts under control if you're happy to register with us. One debt solution is bankruptcy, but it's the most drastic step and not everyone struggling with debt needs to go down that route.

You can find details of how to contact us on our website.

I hope this helps and we look forward to speaking with you soon.

Allen

steve811

I hope someone here can help with a problem a friend has. He ran up two big debts in 2001, a loan account and a bank account overdraft which totalled £16000 together. In 2006 Lloyds obtained a charging order against his property after getting a CCJ for that amount and since then it has sat dormant. He (wrongly) thought that after 12 years the debt would be cancelled. He knows now that it is not the case and he has now been told by Lloyds the debt has been passed to a DCA who are chasing him for the money. As the property is jointly owned by him and his partner it is unlikely that the DCA could apply to the court to sell the house, but what can they do? He also feels the debt is unfair as the bank lumped both accounts together and added significant charges to the sum, instead of dealing with both as a separate account. He is really worried that the DCA will apply to the high court for an eviction (can they do that?) and him and his family will lose their home. What advice can I pass on (he does not use the internet).

mistafeesh

I've got about 4.5k of debt and I'm on disability benefits long term (ESA, DLA and housing benefit). I've recently won a battle for the ESA, which totally scrambled my finances for a while, and I will probably have another one on my hands when DLA turns to PIP at some point in my future.

Most of my debt is a loan with the co-op that I took out several years ago, then ended up falling behind on and having to make payment arrangements with them. I'm currently not paying them at all but waiting to make a new arrangement. I owe them about £3k

I also had an nearly £400 overdraft with co-op which was eventually sent to a debt agency but I haven't made an arrangement yet.

I owe council tax about £250 and keep forgetting to make my payments, so that arrangement is currently up the spout. I just pay them whenever I can at the moment!

I also had a loan from the council to pay my deposit, which is also with a debt collection agency. I owe them a touch under £800 and I'm paying 17.50 a fortnight. This one is causing problems for me because I need to move house, and the deposit will, I think, go back to them rather than me! So the debt will be levelled but I still have to come up with a deposit...

My problem isn't that I can't pay my debts but that I am incredibly disorganised and have a lot of trouble concentrating most of the time. Because my money doesn't comein on a monthly basis, I can't rely on direct debits, and it takes too much concentration to work anything else out a lot of the time.

I've wondered about getting a budgeting loan or whatever the equivalent is now from the government to help with some of it but I think they don't cover debts. Can anyone enlighten me?

I really need to get this little pile of debts in hand and would really appreciate suggestions on how to do that without too much concentration! OK, I'll come back to this later as my brain is melting now!

StepChange_Rachael

Hi Steve

Thanks for your post.

I’m sorry to hear of your friend’s situation. In most circumstances once the charging order is on the property the creditor will wait for the sale of the house and for the equity from the sale to pay back the debt.

Quite often charges and court fees will be added especially to begin with. There may be further costs added but with most debts this usually subsides or stops once it’s been passed to a collections agency.

If your friend has concerns about the fees added it might be worth your friend contacting the company and asking for a breakdown of the fees.

It is possible for the creditor to go back to court to set a final charge to force sale of the property but this is very rare.

Even if the creditor went ahead with further action to force sale it would still be the court’s decision and again this is rare that it would go ahead. Particularly if the house is not owned solely by the debtor as it could be argued that it isn’t fair for the other party or family living in the property.

You’ve not mentioned that an instalment order was in place originally for your friend to make regular payments to pay the debt back. If there was an instalment order made on or after 1 October 2012 and a payment hasn’t been missed then the creditor can’t apply for an order of sale.

If it gets to the stage that the creditor applies for an order of sale then your friend could still look to set a payment in place to pay back the debt through the court and defend the order of sale.

At this stage your friend could look to contact the agency collecting for the debt and offer an affordable payment to start paying the debt back.

Once the debt has been repaid your friend can apply to the court to have the charge removed.

If your friend would like some further advice regarding debts they can contact us at StepChange Debt Charity.

Thanks
Rachael

steve811 wrote: »

I hope someone here can help with a problem a friend has. He ran up two big debts in 2001, a loan account and a bank account overdraft which totalled £16000 together. In 2006 Lloyds obtained a charging order against his property after getting a CCJ for that amount and since then it has sat dormant. He (wrongly) thought that after 12 years the debt would be cancelled. He knows now that it is not the case and he has now been told by Lloyds the debt has been passed to a DCA who are chasing him for the money. As the property is jointly owned by him and his partner it is unlikely that the DCA could apply to the court to sell the house, but what can they do? He also feels the debt is unfair as the bank lumped both accounts together and added significant charges to the sum, instead of dealing with both as a separate account. He is really worried that the DCA will apply to the high court for an eviction (can they do that?) and him and his family will lose their home. What advice can I pass on (he does not use the internet).

StepChange_Rachael

Hi

Thanks for getting in contact.

I can see that there's a lot going on for you at the moment. Trying to organise multiple debts and make affordable regular payments to different creditors can be difficult on your own. Especially as you’ve mentioned your payments aren’t monthly.

It’s also important to prioritise your creditors. For example if you need to move house and owing money to the council is stopping you then this is a priority. Also debts like council tax are also as the council has more powers of collection to enforce the debt.

Debts such as personal loans are less priority as they don’t have the same rights of collection.

It’s important the creditors are treated fairly based on your individual situation and what is affordable for you.

If your struggling on your own with the debts I’d suggest seeking some help to get back on track and work out the best way forward to deal with these debts in a manageable way. I think this would be particularly useful if you struggle with concentration.

I wouldn't suggest borrowing further as this often leads to further financial difficulty rather than solving the debt problem.

At StepChange Debt Charity we can support you to find the best way forward to deal with the debts.

You can find our contact details here.

Thanks
Rachael

mistafeesh wrote: »

I've got about 4.5k of debt and I'm on disability benefits long term (ESA, DLA and housing benefit). I've recently won a battle for the ESA, which totally scrambled my finances for a while, and I will probably have another one on my hands when DLA turns to PIP at some point in my future.

Most of my debt is a loan with the co-op that I took out several years ago, then ended up falling behind on and having to make payment arrangements with them. I'm currently not paying them at all but waiting to make a new arrangement. I owe them about £3k

I also had an nearly £400 overdraft with co-op which was eventually sent to a debt agency but I haven't made an arrangement yet.

I owe council tax about £250 and keep forgetting to make my payments, so that arrangement is currently up the spout. I just pay them whenever I can at the moment!

I also had a loan from the council to pay my deposit, which is also with a debt collection agency. I owe them a touch under £800 and I'm paying 17.50 a fortnight. This one is causing problems for me because I need to move house, and the deposit will, I think, go back to them rather than me! So the debt will be levelled but I still have to come up with a deposit...

My problem isn't that I can't pay my debts but that I am incredibly disorganised and have a lot of trouble concentrating most of the time. Because my money doesn't comein on a monthly basis, I can't rely on direct debits, and it takes too much concentration to work anything else out a lot of the time.

I've wondered about getting a budgeting loan or whatever the equivalent is now from the government to help with some of it but I think they don't cover debts. Can anyone enlighten me?

I really need to get this little pile of debts in hand and would really appreciate suggestions on how to do that without too much concentration! OK, I'll come back to this later as my brain is melting now!

roobalboobal

I need some advice regarding 1st credit! Please help!

We're currently trying to sort out my partners debts as looking into buying a house and found unpaid debts on his credit file....that's a whole other story. Basically my partner has started to receive letters from 1st credit regarding a Halifax account, the account in question states it was settled in 2014 on his credit report. 1st credit are now trying to get £600 odd out of us and have put themselves on his credit report stating he defaulted in 2013 even tho he'd never even heard of them until 2 weeks ago. How do we deal with this? They sent a letter saying he'd missed the first payment of his agreed payment plan when there was no such thing set up! HELP!!!