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ohdddear wrote: »

Hello
I've been making payments to my cc's but nothing left over and been struggling so decided to contact the companies. It was late so contacted one but didn't get through to right dept but who I spoke to was saying as I've been making the minimum payments and haven't missed then they generally won't help me. Is that right? I was hoping for a lower rate or a small reduction in the payments.
I've done a soa and not much else I can cut back on.
I went on the step change website and did something online which suggested cutting back. Help x

Hello,

The C/C company may not offer help straight away as you've been making the payments but that doesn't mean you have to struggle on.

C/C’s are an unsecured debt – basically that means they are a non-priority and you should be paying them from the money you have spare once you’ve paid rent, bills, food and all living costs. If you don’t have any money spare that suggests the payments are too high and you can’t afford them in full at this time.

It can be really difficult to cut back on spending in your budget. The Debt Free Wannabe forum offers some brilliant advice on cutting back.

If you have the web reference number from our Debt Remedy you did on our website you can ring our Web Support team in confidence and they can discuss your budget with you. The number is on the Debt Remedy.

If you’ve cut back on all you can we can suggest a payment more in line with what you can afford. From your budget your C/C company will be able to see you’re paying all you can and they will be more willing to accept a lower payment from you until you’re in a better position.

Just because the C/C company did not offer to help really does not mean there is no help available. You do just need to pay what you can manage – give the web support team a ring, if you've lost your web reference call our Helpline on 0800 138 1111 to speak to a debt advisor in complete confidence.

Hope this helps,

Jess

skintandscared_2

Hi there. I have a confession to make and wanted to check what my current situation would be likely to be! I entered a DMP with StepChange (CCCS) back in October 2008. I have never missed a payment and have never taken out any additional credit, or had an overdraft, since that date. My circumstances have barely changed since that date either - there is perhaps a little more income, offset by increases in utility bills.

The thing is, I haven't done an assessment or update in probably about 3 years now and I've reached the point where I'm too terrified to call in case all my creditors have now resumed interest charges and it turns out I've barely paid a thing off (although I've now paid somewhere in the region of £20k towards debts of about £45k).

Can someone please reassure me that despite not doing a reassessment for so long my plan will still be going strong and I really am still paying things off? I might then pluck up the courage to call....

Thanks.

mum2one

skintandscared wrote: »

Hi there. I have a confession to make and wanted to check what my current situation would be likely to be! I entered a DMP with StepChange (CCCS) back in October 2008. I have never missed a payment and have never taken out any additional credit, or had an overdraft, since that date. My circumstances have barely changed since that date either - there is perhaps a little more income, offset by increases in utility bills.

The thing is, I haven't done an assessment or update in probably about 3 years now and I've reached the point where I'm too terrified to call in case all my creditors have now resumed interest charges and it turns out I've barely paid a thing off (although I've now paid somewhere in the region of £20k towards debts of about £45k).

Can someone please reassure me that despite not doing a reassessment for so long my plan will still be going strong and I really am still paying things off? I might then pluck up the courage to call....

Thanks.

I can see where you coming from, but look at the positive if there anything wrong or the creditiors weren't happy with the money there getting you'd know!
Give them a ring, there really friendly, i was panicing the other day at the thought of ringing, yet the advisor was amazing, he put me at ease and I was made to feel like I was talking to a friend xx

StepChange_James

skintandscared wrote: »

Hi there. I have a confession to make and wanted to check what my current situation would be likely to be! I entered a DMP with StepChange (CCCS) back in October 2008. I have never missed a payment and have never taken out any additional credit, or had an overdraft, since that date. My circumstances have barely changed since that date either - there is perhaps a little more income, offset by increases in utility bills.

The thing is, I haven't done an assessment or update in probably about 3 years now and I've reached the point where I'm too terrified to call in case all my creditors have now resumed interest charges and it turns out I've barely paid a thing off (although I've now paid somewhere in the region of £20k towards debts of about £45k).

Can someone please reassure me that despite not doing a reassessment for so long my plan will still be going strong and I really am still paying things off? I might then pluck up the courage to call....

Thanks.

Hi there,

I think mum2one has said it all really, if you give us a call we'll be able to let you know where things stand.

It's hard to say exactly what will have been going on with your debts, but it's fair to say that they'll usually be quick to let you know if they're not happy.

If you give us a call we'll be able to pick things up again, do a review of your income and expenditure and then send that on to your creditors. If it's been a while since they've seen one then they'll want to see something that confirms you definitely can't afford full payments and are paying the most you can through the DMP.

While creditors do like being kept up to date, getting regular payments is probably more important to them, so the fact that you've paid every month will have worked in your favour.

Hope this helps and good luck with the call - I'm sure you'll feel better after you've spoken to us.

James

skintandscared_2

StepChange_James wrote: »

Hi there,

I think mum2one has said it all really, if you give us a call we'll be able to let you know where things stand.

It's hard to say exactly what will have been going on with your debts, but it's fair to say that they'll usually be quick to let you know if they're not happy.

If you give us a call we'll be able to pick things up again, do a review of your income and expenditure and then send that on to your creditors. If it's been a while since they've seen one then they'll want to see something that confirms you definitely can't afford full payments and are paying the most you can through the DMP.

While creditors do like being kept up to date, getting regular payments is probably more important to them, so the fact that you've paid every month will have worked in your favour.

Hope this helps and good luck with the call - I'm sure you'll feel better after you've spoken to us.

James

Thank you. I will dig out my latest payslip and print my bank statement and call. What number do I call, please?

StepChange_James

skintandscared wrote: »

Thank you. I will dig out my latest payslip and print my bank statement and call. What number do I call, please?

Hello,

I've just sent you a PM with the number.

Cheers

James

ohdddear

Hi
Sorry another dmp question. Would my husbands credit rating be affected? And also once it's paid off how long will my credit score be affected for. Any other advice about dmps appreciated. Thanks

StepChange_James

ohdddear wrote: »

Hi
Sorry another dmp question. Would my husbands credit rating be affected? And also once it's paid off how long will my credit score be affected for. Any other advice about dmps appreciated. Thanks

Hello,

No need to apologise, we're always happy to answer debt questions.

Your husband's credit rating shouldn't be affected by you making lower payments to your own debts. This only gets more complicated if you're financially linked, by a joint loan or joint bank account.

We've a blogpost with more details here: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/10/how-do-other-peoples-debts-affect-me/.

There's so much to say about DMPs it's hard to know where to start. If we've recommended one to you then it must mean that maintaining full payments isn't affordable.

If you're thinking about trying to keep up with your debt payments in full then I'd suggest having a really good look at your income and expenditure budget and see if you can get your living costs down enough to pay for everything and cover the debts.

If not then you'll need to start making reduced payments one way or another, a DMP is a structured and realistic way to get your payments down and gives you a good chance of getting creditors to agree with lower payments.

Hope this helps.

James

spinoza

Hello, first post!

I have got approx. £22,000 of unsecured debt which is fast becoming unmanagable and it looks like I am unable to obtain anything other than a secured loan.

From the MSE site and other sources it looks like secured loans are no good given my salary and ability long term to pay it back.

I am also concerned a remortgage will be a bad move long term as there is very little equity in the property

Is a DMP a good way to resolve this?

The thing is that the big debt problem is a credit card debt of £8000; I have two loans of approx £10000 combined which will be paid off in 3 years 7 months if I keep up payments - Can I set up a DMP for parts of my debt but not all?

Any advice would be great as this is having a massively negative effect on my home and family life!

mum2one

spinoza wrote: »

Hello, first post!

I have got approx. £22,000 of unsecured debt which is fast becoming unmanagable and it looks like I am unable to obtain anything other than a secured loan.

From the MSE site and other sources it looks like secured loans are no good given my salary and ability long term to pay it back.

I am also concerned a remortgage will be a bad move long term as there is very little equity in the property

Is a DMP a good way to resolve this?

The thing is that the big debt problem is a credit card debt of £8000; I have two loans of approx £10000 combined which will be paid off in 3 years 7 months if I keep up payments - Can I set up a DMP for parts of my debt but not all?

Any advice would be great as this is having a massively negative effect on my home and family life!

A DMP while may be the best way to sort this out, I would say do the debt remedy theres a link on 1st page - this shows all your incomings v outgoings.

i'm pretty sure that a DMP would need all your creditors, as you'd be offering reduced payments back, - so all creditors would want to make sure that they are being treated equally.

Imagine that you and your mate did a job share - 40k pa wage - the company pays your mate 30k, - but only you 10k - thats becuase they want to favour your mate, thats how a creditior would see it, - unfair and favourtism whereas if you both had 20k each no probs - same as pro-rata for debts x