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Former_StepChange_Richard

Skykyo wrote: »

I have £8000 owed all on 0% cards or overdrafts

2k overdraft 0% ends July 17 on 1k
2300 card £45pm Feb 17
2800 card 30pm 0% July 19
1166 card £30pm 0% sept 17

What priority should I pay these off? I have £50 a week to live on after all bills so have some scope to pay extra although I do pay £6-£18 badminton fees a week. How much do people actually live on should I cut back more and overpay? I used to live £15 a week but found I never could go out or do anything and got quite down.

Hi there

Thanks for your message.

I'm glad to hear that you're in a position to pay all of your bills. If you have money spare then paying this towards your crediotrs will help to bring your debts down quicker. You need to consider your situaiton carefully though to be sure that you don't overstretch yourself.

Your quesiton about how much people live on is a difficult one to answer becasue each household will vary so much to the next. The important thing to work out is how much do you need to live on? This will be a key consideration for you, especially over the next 12 months as some of the credit cards and the overdraft you have will no longer be on 0% interest. This will likely mean your bills will go up and you will have less spare money to live on.

It might help to build a budget to see how much money you have available now and how much you will have when the cards and overdraft change. You can use our Debt Remedy tool to do this. It's free and you can add all your living expenses and debts to see what you will have spare.

In terms of prioritising your debts, you need to think carefully about how your situation is going to change. If you're always going to be in a position where you can guarentee that you can pay all of your bills, it would make sense use your money where the interest rates will change first as these debts will become more expensive, the quickest.

If you're ever in a situaiton where you could struggle to pay your bills, the way you pay you creditors back is something that could affect you in the future. Should you ever need to ask your crediotrs to accept reduced payments, your creditors will look to see if they have been treated fairly by recieving a fair share of the money you have had available. Therefore the safest way to pay your debts back is to share the money you have at all times across all crediors.

I hope this helps.
Richard

sparkeee

Hi,
I was self employed up until 2014, with an overdraft facility of 7500.00
Barclays then changed it to an e-payment. hitting me with higher interest which at the time I couldn't keep up with. I talked to a business manager who agreed that it would be better to close the account and hand to recoveries, which apparently he did.. Recoveries never got in touch with me, no more demand letters, just monthly statements showing the interest going up. I was hoping it was a clerical error, and of course the debt would dissapear. (oh! to dream). It has increased now to 11,500.00 Still no demands or threats.. they have my address. I am now in France, I am not sure which way to go with it ???? If i contact them am I suddenly opening pandoras box.. If I ignore it ..will it go away !!!????
Any advice taken .

Thankyou

Jack19922

Hi, I've had a loan of 10k with nationwide since Jan 2015 it's on a rate of 3.4% (I wanted 4K at the time but as that would be at 10.5% I thought I'd be silly (looking back in hindsight I feel very different and should of gone elsewhere) I've been completely unable to pay for most of this year and towards the end of the last year. It's been a nightmare. I know it's obviously my fault. I've always been terrible with money, and haven't told anyone. but over the last couple of days I've been looking though everything. My ex girlfriend has told me she's pregnant (we've been seperated a while and happened after, she's a reasonably lady and older- what I mean is she's not just saying that lol in an argument) really need advice so here's my situation.

I also have a 5,000 overdraft on nationwide. Two Years ago I worked for Betfred as a cashier and I found out about risk free match betting so I took the overdraft after seeing if they would accept it- I made about 1000 risk free at the time, and just left the overdraft sitting there. Anyway, long story short I've got about 800 in there now so minus 4200. Haven't bet since last year September. Probably alot of that has gone to overdraft fees, but I had spent alot of it earlier this year whilst our flat had months left on the contract, didn't want to not pay the agents and was using the overdraft

I've been ignoring nationwide and I was living at a different flat to where they were being delivered, and the odd time I did answer I said I would sort it even though I couldn't.

I called nationwide this morning and I was put through to a debt lady without me even saying anything after putting through my account security things, and I started to explain that I would try to make this months payment, but she cut me off to say they would accept 5.1 thousand of the 7.9 thousand I owe

I didn't really know what to say, I've not heard of that before. After reading online some people are paying it and then have to pay the rest after, and some people seem to be ok, am I right in assuming I need a final letter from them saying they won't pursue?

I can't pay the 5.1k. In a few weeks I've got no idea where I'm going to live and I need to try and sort out work, but that'll be 1.3 a month max. I'm thinking about offering

400 I can get back from my dad (he owes me 700 but I won't get it all)

300or 200 can get back from my mum,(same but owes 500)

I am hoping I can ask my nan for fifteen hundred of the 3k her and my granddad will leave me.. Feel terrible

And the 800 in the overdraft

That's 3000.. I'm thinking the only way i can make up the gap is to try and take a loan for two years or more on 1,500? I can't see any other way but I know that'll leave me on 0 with the overdraft and they will be unable to take the fees each month so will probably phone me

Jack19922

I live in Croydon but will have to move otherwise I'll be paying most of my wages towards a room anyway. I'm living at my nans pretty much as the flats contract has almost ran out and moved most of my things last week. Very unsure what to do

Jack19922

Oh and also overdraft isn't with nationwide it's with another bank, don't know why I put nationwide.

Former_StepChange_Richard

sparkeee wrote: »

Hi,
I was self employed up until 2014, with an overdraft facility of 7500.00
Barclays then changed it to an e-payment. hitting me with higher interest which at the time I couldn't keep up with. I talked to a business manager who agreed that it would be better to close the account and hand to recoveries, which apparently he did.. Recoveries never got in touch with me, no more demand letters, just monthly statements showing the interest going up. I was hoping it was a clerical error, and of course the debt would dissapear. (oh! to dream). It has increased now to 11,500.00 Still no demands or threats.. they have my address. I am now in France, I am not sure which way to go with it ???? If i contact them am I suddenly opening pandoras box.. If I ignore it ..will it go away !!!????
Any advice taken .

Thankyou

Hi there

Thanks for getting in touch. We can certainly help you with this.

I'm going to have to make some assumptions here to offer some advice so please let me know if any of this is incorrect. I'm assuming the business you were running has ceased trading and that you are now personally liable for the debt.

Unfortunately the debt will not dissappear so the important thing here is to get an understanding of what has happened. First point of call would be to contact your bank and discuss the situation. It may be an error from their side and the account should have been closed. It could also have been a misunderstanding about what was going to happen to the account when you spoke with the manager. Either way, you need to establish what is owed.

Once you know how much is owed, you'll need to work out a way to pay it back. If you can afford to do this, you should be able to arrange something with the bank to pay it off. If you're going to struggle to pay this, our service can help.

You can call our Helpline and speak with an advisor about the situation further. They will help you to build a budget first to see what is happening with your finances. Once this is complete the advisor will run through the options you have for dealing with this and any other debts.

I hope this helps.

Take care
Richard

sparkeee

Hi Richard ,
Thankyou for the advice, I suppose it is inevitable. I will contact them and get back to you .

Cheers

Former_StepChange_Richard

Jack19922 wrote: »

Hi, I've had a loan of 10k with nationwide since Jan 2015 it's on a rate of 3.4% (I wanted 4K at the time but as that would be at 10.5% I thought I'd be silly (looking back in hindsight I feel very different and should of gone elsewhere) I've been completely unable to pay for most of this year and towards the end of the last year. It's been a nightmare. I know it's obviously my fault. I've always been terrible with money, and haven't told anyone. but over the last couple of days I've been looking though everything. My ex girlfriend has told me she's pregnant (we've been seperated a while and happened after, she's a reasonably lady and older- what I mean is she's not just saying that lol in an argument) really need advice so here's my situation.

I also have a 5,000 overdraft on nationwide. Two Years ago I worked for Betfred as a cashier and I found out about risk free match betting so I took the overdraft after seeing if they would accept it- I made about 1000 risk free at the time, and just left the overdraft sitting there. Anyway, long story short I've got about 800 in there now so minus 4200. Haven't bet since last year September. Probably alot of that has gone to overdraft fees, but I had spent alot of it earlier this year whilst our flat had months left on the contract, didn't want to not pay the agents and was using the overdraft

I've been ignoring nationwide and I was living at a different flat to where they were being delivered, and the odd time I did answer I said I would sort it even though I couldn't.

I called nationwide this morning and I was put through to a debt lady without me even saying anything after putting through my account security things, and I started to explain that I would try to make this months payment, but she cut me off to say they would accept 5.1 thousand of the 7.9 thousand I owe

I didn't really know what to say, I've not heard of that before. After reading online some people are paying it and then have to pay the rest after, and some people seem to be ok, am I right in assuming I need a final letter from them saying they won't pursue?

I can't pay the 5.1k. In a few weeks I've got no idea where I'm going to live and I need to try and sort out work, but that'll be 1.3 a month max. I'm thinking about offering

400 I can get back from my dad (he owes me 700 but I won't get it all)

300or 200 can get back from my mum,(same but owes 500)

I am hoping I can ask my nan for fifteen hundred of the 3k her and my granddad will leave me.. Feel terrible

And the 800 in the overdraft

That's 3000.. I'm thinking the only way i can make up the gap is to try and take a loan for two years or more on 1,500? I can't see any other way but I know that'll leave me on 0 with the overdraft and they will be unable to take the fees each month so will probably phone me

Hi there

I'm glad you have got in touch. It sounds like you've got a lot on your plate at the moment and I can understand the difficulty you're having in working out your next move. You've come to the right place though and we can help you with this.

You're right to quesiton the offer that Nationwide have made especially if you haven't been given anything in writing to confirm the offer they have made. If you're thinking of taking them up on this you need to get confirmation in writing that this is a full and final settlement. If you just agree to this over the phone there's a chance that they could then ask you for the rest of the money at a later date.

Taking them up on this offer may not be the right course of action for you though, especially if it will involve borrowing more money. This can create a hard cycle to break so it's always best to explore other options first.

We can help you to look at all the options you have for dealing with your debts. Try using our Debt Remedy tool on our website. It's a free, self-help tool where you can first build a budget to show what is happening with your money. Once this is complete the website is going to show you the best options to help with your debt.

Once you have started using the Debt Remedy tool, if your creditors phone you, you can tell them you are seeking advice from StepChange Debt Charity and hopefully this should buy you some time to get some advice from us.

I hope this helps.
Richard

Peeping

Today I received a claim form from Northampton court for an outstanding debt of 2.5k.

I have quite a number of debts, around £17,000 and had meant to set up a DRO with Stepchange but hadn't got around to it.....head in sand etc

What can I do now? Would a DRO work to stop the CCJ?

I have 14 days to respond.

Mark_Brassington

Hi sorry to go off topic but I have been on a debt management plan since 2009 with credit card debt and was wondering if I had a case to try to reclaim my bank charges from my bank. I have totalled them up and they come to £2.7k - yes honestly. Mostly a fixed charge of £30 each month for an overdraft.

Thanks

Mark