Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

Julie67

Morning can I ask a question,

We have taken the decision to start a DMP with Stepchange and although it was a difficult step I feel like we have made the right decision. We are at the stage of sending all the paperwork back to SC with evidence of wages etc as my dh is self employed. I am also today posting token payments to all our creditors.
My question is do you get allocated a particular person to deal with you once you start your DMP. We are due to start at the beginning of March and I needed to ring with some info last week. It took me a good twenty minutes to get through. Is there an easier way.
I am going to start a job soon and will need to contact SC to change or debt repayments. I just wondered how easy its going to be to contact SC every time there is a change to our circumstances.
Thanks Julie

System

supersavershal wrote: »

I filled in the debt remedy with stepchange late thursday evening. They have now emailed me with my management plan. I am happy with the plan even though it has been a very hard step to take and I feel so guilty about it.
I have now realised I have not included a couple of debts for payday loans and have only put the car tax for one car.
Are payday loans allowed to be included? and I also have a debt for tax credit overpayments which I have to pay back, can this be included?
Is it too late to add these now stepchange has emailed my plan? I was quite emotional at the time I filled the remedy in.

Hi and thanks for your post.

Well done on taking the first step. I can see mum2one has also given you some great advice.

Yes, we can amend your plan, just call the number in the pack and we’d be happy to get everything adjusted accordingly. Payday loans can be included.

Good luck with your DMP, we’re here to help should you need more advice.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

nicki342001 wrote: »

Hi.

I would like to ask a stepchange advisor a few questions.

We have been on dmp with them for 1 year now. review due in may. A few things are going to need replacing in our house shortly. boiler is 24 years old and stuggling on but british gas advised us not to use it but obviously we have to. How could we go about replacing it without borrowing further or causing upset with our creditors. They have all been very helpful so far, only a couple charging small percentage of interest. Can we reduce our payment to save for a boiler?

Hi and thanks for your post.

Obviously you need a boiler as this is essential.

I’d recommend that you give us a call so that we can look at the best way to get this resolved. It could be that you may have to make a reduced or token payment to creditors until the boiler is paid for.

We can’t comment on how individual creditors may react to this, but heating and hot water are an essential. Give us a call for more advice.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

supersavershal wrote: »

Another question, sorry!
I work full time but during my holidays I could try to work the odd extra shift. What do I do with the extra money, its not guaranteed and not regular. Do I pay it straight to my DMP or do I save it one side and pay it as a one off lump sum when its a decent amount? OH can also occaisonally get an extra shift.
Also have just got all my forms ready to send with the DD form. My next payday is at the end of the month, will stepchange expect me to start my payment before then because I have more or less paid what I could off all my debts for this month with my last pay on the 30th Jan, and have very little left.

Hello again and thanks for your question.

You should pay any extra surplus income into the DMP, but you must make sure that you’re following the budget and covering all costs including those come around annually such as MOTs etc.

I’d recommend that you send the DD form back, and give us a call to confirm when the first payment will be taken. I’d expect it to be the first of March at the earliest, if this is a problem please contact us.

I hope this helps.

Mat

System

Edintherightdirection wrote: »

Hi everybody,

It's my first time posting here so thanks in advance for providing the forum to do so. Writing this up will be a help in itself.

I'm self employed and have a range of debts:

Barclaycard Credit Card £4500.00 @ 20%
HBOS Credit Card £5500 @ 29%
HBOS overdraft £700

My income fluctuates but is close to 1500 a month. The tricky thing is that I'm paying the minimum on both cards for almost a year now with is around £210 a month and of course it's making no difference. Also because of the HBOS Ultimate reward account I regularly pay anywhere £15 and £23 in overdraft fees every month.

What I can't decide is what to do with this. Should I cut out the overdraft charges first, switch to a First Direct account (which I want to do) and take £700 hit up front or would this be better going on a card?

My initial plan was to pay off the Barclaycard first then hopefully renegotiate a new cc with 23 months interest free so I could transfer the HBOS card and pay the balance in instalments of £240 or so a month to clear it fully. This would be affordable and only a small bit more than what I'm paying at the moment. Of course I don't have a £4500 windfall to start doing this.

My credit rating was ok but not brilliant he last time I checked so I could maybe apply for a consolidated loan for £10,000 which might take 4 years or more if I get it.

The third option would be to clear one of the cards via a loan my wife could take out as she has a better credit rating than I do (we don't have joint accounts). I would pay her the repayment amount directly and then deal with the other card through a balance transfer. This could end up costing more per month but the payments would be fixed and one would be at 0% hopefully and the other at a lower interest rate than I'm currently paying on the cards.

What should I do? Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers

Hi and thanks for your message.

We don’t really recommend taking out further lending as this often makes the situation worse. We also wouldn’t recommend your wife takes out a loan for you unless she can afford the full repayment should anything happen to your income.

If you are struggling with these debts, the first step is to put together an accurate income and expenditure budget and we can help you with this.

I’d recommend that you try our online debt advice tool Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) to help you find a solution to your 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 free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturday 9am until 3.00pm.

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

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Mat

Edintherightdirection

Cheers for the advice Mat,

Will use the online debt advice tool and will give the helpline a call if needs be.

Thanks again

Owen

robbomega

Help!!!

I am tried of struggling every month and can't see an end to it. I really want to plan for a debt free future.

My husband and I both work full time, rely on family to look after our daughter as we cant afford nursery. Anyway my parents helped us a few years back by taking out a very very big loan so we could secure our debts. We didn't tell them about everything as we were so ashamed of the amount, we are currently paying them £500 a mth in a additional we are in arrears on our mortgage, utilities bills credit cards and dmp we are thinking the only way to get "debt free" is to take out a consolidation loans. For about 6k to achieve a single monthly payments £300 would be an affordable amount over 3 yrs want this as short possible. My parents loans has to run it's course it's just too big for us to resecure on. Any suggestions of where or whom would lend to us no ccj but poor credit due to dmp and missed ulitiy and mortgage oayments.thanks in advance.

System

Julie67 wrote: »

Morning can I ask a question,

We have taken the decision to start a DMP with Stepchange and although it was a difficult step I feel like we have made the right decision. We are at the stage of sending all the paperwork back to SC with evidence of wages etc as my dh is self employed. I am also today posting token payments to all our creditors.
My question is do you get allocated a particular person to deal with you once you start your DMP. We are due to start at the beginning of March and I needed to ring with some info last week. It took me a good twenty minutes to get through. Is there an easier way.
I am going to start a job soon and will need to contact SC to change or debt repayments. I just wondered how easy its going to be to contact SC every time there is a change to our circumstances.
Thanks Julie

Hi Julie and thanks for your comment.

Sorry to hear about this, we don’t usually have call waiting times of anything like this length. Although we are experiencing high demand on our services at the moment.

Once your DMP is set up you’ll be given a direct number to call the department that deals with on-going DMPs. You should find you can get through very quickly (The number will be in your DMP pack).

You won’t be given one person as such, but everyone you speak to will have access to your DMP details and changes can be made quickly and easily.

If you have any issues getting in touch once the DMP is up and running please get back to us.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

System

robbomega wrote: »

Help!!!

I am tried of struggling every month and can't see an end to it. I really want to plan for a debt free future.

My husband and I both work full time, rely on family to look after our daughter as we cant afford nursery. Anyway my parents helped us a few years back by taking out a very very big loan so we could secure our debts. We didn't tell them about everything as we were so ashamed of the amount, we are currently paying them £500 a mth in a additional we are in arrears on our mortgage, utilities bills credit cards and dmp we are thinking the only way to get "debt free" is to take out a consolidation loans. For about 6k to achieve a single monthly payments £300 would be an affordable amount over 3 yrs want this as short possible. My parents loans has to run it's course it's just too big for us to resecure on. Any suggestions of where or whom would lend to us no ccj but poor credit due to dmp and missed ulitiy and mortgage oayments.thanks in advance.

Hi and thanks for your message.

It sounds like you would benefit from some free and impartial advice.

Who is your DMP with and do you pay a fee for this? It’s worth noting that our DMPs are free and all the money you pay in goes towards reducing your debt.

We wouldn’t normally recommend taking out any sort of consolidation loan as this often makes your situation worse (borrowing more money over a longer period). Due to your credit rating you may find access to credit products like consolidation loans is restricted.

Your mortgage arrears and utility bills are priority payments and these must be covered before anything else. Having arrears on these bills suggests your DMP budget isn’t working and your whole financial situation needs looking at again.

There could be various solutions to your situation you haven’t yet considered, the most important thing is to include details of all money owed and have an accurate and realistic budget.

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 free Helpline on 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturday 9am until 3.00pm.

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

If you need more advice please get back to me.

Kind regards,

Mat

Imagnu_2

if a person goes into a dmp or DAS will that affect their position as a trustee for a charity?