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spinoza

Thanks very much Mum2one, that makes sense put like that, do you know how these things work payment wise as in how much can payments be reduced etc?

thanks again

StepChange_James

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!

Hi Spinoza,

Mum2one's post sums it up really nicely I think.

A DMP isn't the best option for everyone, but they can be a great way to pay what you can afford to your creditors and make sure they're all being treated fairly. Part of that fairness is making sure that all debts are included within the plan.

Our DMP payments are worked out from your income and expenditure details. We help you plan out a realistic monthly budget and see what you've got left from your income after essentials have been paid for.

So to answer your later question, payments are reduced to what you can afford, so it varies depending on the situation.

There are other debt solutions that might suit you better though, so the next thing is to get some advice from us.

You can do this online, using our advice tool Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) or by giving our helpline a call (http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx).

All the best.

James

llem89

Hi,

I seem to have got myself in a rut. I have three debts that are hanging over me and not sure where to start. My first one is with Lloyds, I took out a loan in 2008 for £1000 and I'm pretty sure I paid this one off but can't find proof anywhere. I checked my credit rating last year with experian and the account was settled, I also had a letter from a debt collector who I wrote back to with proof from experian that this account was settled and never heard from them since. However having checked my credit history yesterday with noddle, this account is open again? The status is at default, where as last year it was settled. The balance is now £2,103. From 2008 up to now each month is different, I have some in red and some in green meaning some months have been paid and some have been missed, so how do I know what I actually do owe?

My second debt is with creation consumer finance back in 2008, this was when I moved out for the first time (hence the loan) and decided to go for a buy now and pay later scheme, all for a 42" television, I look back now and kick myself for it!! The total cost of the television was £789 but because I didn't pay any money when I should have done, the amount has now got to £2353. I had no correspondence from these people as they have an incorrect address on the contract, I'm not sure who's fault that is? As I supplied them with a utility bill at the time and this address was definitely not on the letter! Again, this doesn't really make any sense on my credit history as there are only 4 red symbols from 2008 till now? And the most recent update was in January this year?

And my third one is an electricity bill from 2008 for £652 this had mine and my flat mates name on the bill but they only caught up with me! And it has been outstanding since then.

I hope you can help or point me in the right direction. I need to sort my life out and this has caused major problems between me and my partner as I didn't tell him the whole truth (my own fault) not asking for sympathy, just some good advise.

Thanks :-)

kirsty92

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me.

I'm 21 and have decided to go back into education and going to university in september.
I've been using wonga for about a year now and I can't seem to stop using it. I have a job in asda and I can always afford to pay it back every month but it always results in me needing to use wonga again.
On top of that, I've always got bank charges of about £40-£80 every month because there's always a bill that comes out at the wrong time. I've also got a phone bill coming out of about £40, that I no longer use anymore but because one payment was missed orange have stopped taking it out by direct debit and have begun sending me letters of the amount I owe.
Could anyone give me advice on what do please? I'd like to get everything cleared off before september!

StepChange_James

llem89 wrote: »

Hi,

I seem to have got myself in a rut. I have three debts that are hanging over me and not sure where to start. My first one is with Lloyds, I took out a loan in 2008 for £1000 and I'm pretty sure I paid this one off but can't find proof anywhere. I checked my credit rating last year with experian and the account was settled, I also had a letter from a debt collector who I wrote back to with proof from experian that this account was settled and never heard from them since. However having checked my credit history yesterday with noddle, this account is open again? The status is at default, where as last year it was settled. The balance is now £2,103. From 2008 up to now each month is different, I have some in red and some in green meaning some months have been paid and some have been missed, so how do I know what I actually do owe?

My second debt is with creation consumer finance back in 2008, this was when I moved out for the first time (hence the loan) and decided to go for a buy now and pay later scheme, all for a 42" television, I look back now and kick myself for it!! The total cost of the television was £789 but because I didn't pay any money when I should have done, the amount has now got to £2353. I had no correspondence from these people as they have an incorrect address on the contract, I'm not sure who's fault that is? As I supplied them with a utility bill at the time and this address was definitely not on the letter! Again, this doesn't really make any sense on my credit history as there are only 4 red symbols from 2008 till now? And the most recent update was in January this year?

And my third one is an electricity bill from 2008 for £652 this had mine and my flat mates name on the bill but they only caught up with me! And it has been outstanding since then.

I hope you can help or point me in the right direction. I need to sort my life out and this has caused major problems between me and my partner as I didn't tell him the whole truth (my own fault) not asking for sympathy, just some good advise.

Thanks :-)

Hello,

Welcome to the forum. The first thing to think about it whether you actually owe the amounts outstanding on these debts (there's no point negotiating payments if you shouldn't have to repay the debts).

From the description you've given it sounds like you're liable for the second and third debts. If you're named on the bill for the electricity then they can make you repay the full amount.

With these sorts of debts you are "jointly and severally liable" which is a fancy way of saying they can make either of you repay the full amount. If you're still in touch with your old housemate then it might be worth having a word with them, because they're still liable too.

The first debt you mentioned sounds strange. If you have definitely repaid the total amount of the loan (including all interest and charges) then I don't see how they could still be pursuing you for it.

You might want to request copies of statements from Lloyds to establish if you ever properly cleared the debt. Information on credit reports isn't always right (as you've seen with the changing status of this debt), so checking with the bank will give you a better idea of whether the loan was cleared or not.

So it'll either be two or three debts that you owe money to by the sounds of it. We can help you work out what to do about these debts.

I don't know enough about your situation to say what would be the best thing to do but we can help you plan an income and expenditure budget to see what you have coming in, what you need to live off and what's left over to pay towards debts.

With that information we'll tell you about the options you've got and support you through whatever solution suits you best.

You can get more in depth advice online by using our online advice tool Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) or by giving us a call and speaking to a debt advisor (http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx). Either way, our service is free of charge and completely impartial.

I hope this helps.

James

StepChange_James

kirsty92 wrote: »

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me.

I'm 21 and have decided to go back into education and going to university in september.
I've been using wonga for about a year now and I can't seem to stop using it. I have a job in asda and I can always afford to pay it back every month but it always results in me needing to use wonga again.
On top of that, I've always got bank charges of about £40-£80 every month because there's always a bill that comes out at the wrong time. I've also got a phone bill coming out of about £40, that I no longer use anymore but because one payment was missed orange have stopped taking it out by direct debit and have begun sending me letters of the amount I owe.
Could anyone give me advice on what do please? I'd like to get everything cleared off before september!

Hi Kirsty,

Thanks for posting.

I think the most important thing to do at the moment will be to try to get as organised with your finances as you possibly can. This will help you to understand what to do next.

I'd suggest starting with preparing an income and expenditure budget. Our advice tool, Debt Remedy(http://www.stepchange.org/debtremedy.aspx?domain=www.MoneyAware.co.uk), will guide you through this process.

This should help you to work out if you really can afford to repay your Wonga loan without having to take another one out later in the month. It would be easier if you could repay your loan and not take out a new one. If that's not affordable then it's worth breaking the cycle of payday loans - our blogpost will tell you how to do this: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2013/01/payday-loan-debt-help-what-to-do-if-you-cant-afford-the-payment/.

If you can get on top of your payday loan and have a monthly budget to work out what to spend then that should hopefully break the cycle of bank charges too, which will be like getting a £40-£80 a month pay rise.

For the orange phone bill, it sounds like they'll probably want you to contact them to come to an arrangement with this one. If £40 is affordable for you (your budget will tell you this) then you could ask to set that up again. If you can't manage that then you could look to negotiate a lower payment, our Debt Remedy tool will be able to talk you through this if it's your best option.

Kind regards

James

PandyTudor

Hi, I hope someone can help.

I have debts going back 8-10 years, most are now statute barred and I am dealing with them (thanks to the help/templates on MSE).

The tricky part of my credit file seems to be MONTHLY new defaults from one single debt with RBS, the debt in question is a student overdraft, I finished Uni 10 years ago and have made no contact or payment for over 7 years.

Two real questions.
1. Can I approach them to stop defaulting every month (under statute barred?)? If so how?
2. Is there anything I can do to get the MONTHLY defaults removed from my credit file?

Further on 2, I assumed that you could only default once? I spoke to a friend about this and they said that as it wasn't a loan, but an overdraft that they could default each month that I don't clear the overdraft?

If anyone could offer any advice on this I would be very grateful.

Many thanks,
PandyTudor

FingerPastry

Hi,

Just before Christmas my partner spoke to someone representing a debt management company to help us sort out our jiont debts of around £6798.30. They told her that they would do the usual, negotiate on our behalf to reduce our debt, freeze interest etc etc. Now I don't really (or didn't), really understand how these work, so I called them. The representative told me that they charge a one off fee of £40 (we agreed £20 per week), i.e. the first two weeks payments would cover their management fees. I said that it seemed very cheap, so what is in it for them and he told me it is the volume of people they get on board that pays for them............. So we agreed to sign up with them.

Fast forward to the start of this month and I thought it odd they hadn't been in touch at all, so I contacted them and asked them for a statement (they have been taking £20 per week since December). I received the statement last week and apart from the breakdown of debt repayments they have arranged there was one item at the foot of the letter saying £30 Monthly Management Fee. I read the small print and it does indeed seem to be a monthly payment! I havbe just tried to call them and have got no answer,but will continue to call to get clarification if possible.

A quick bit of rough maths shows that at £80 per month (on a 4 week month) to them the shortest agreed repayment time (16.5 months) would cost us £495 in fees (that debt itself is £330!), while the longest term one they have negotiated (i.e. what would be the maximum time we would be with them) is 223 months, meaning we would have paid them over £6600 in fees for a debt of £6798.30!!!!!!

Anyway my point is, can I get out of this agreement with them and can anyone recommend a debt management company / centre that won't rip us off?

........And yes, we have been pretty stupid / naive..... but please help!!!

mum2one

FingerPastry wrote: »

Hi,

Just before Christmas my partner spoke to someone representing a debt management company to help us sort out our jiont debts of around £6798.30. They told her that they would do the usual, negotiate on our behalf to reduce our debt, freeze interest etc etc. Now I don't really (or didn't), really understand how these work, so I called them. The representative told me that they charge a one off fee of £40 (we agreed £20 per week), i.e. the first two weeks payments would cover their management fees. I said that it seemed very cheap, so what is in it for them and he told me it is the volume of people they get on board that pays for them............. So we agreed to sign up with them.

Fast forward to the start of this month and I thought it odd they hadn't been in touch at all, so I contacted them and asked them for a statement (they have been taking £20 per week since December). I received the statement last week and apart from the breakdown of debt repayments they have arranged there was one item at the foot of the letter saying £30 Monthly Management Fee. I read the small print and it does indeed seem to be a monthly payment! I havbe just tried to call them and have got no answer,but will continue to call to get clarification if possible.

A quick bit of rough maths shows that at £80 per month (on a 4 week month) to them the shortest agreed repayment time (16.5 months) would cost us £495 in fees (that debt itself is £330!), while the longest term one they have negotiated (i.e. what would be the maximum time we would be with them) is 223 months, meaning we would have paid them over £6600 in fees for a debt of £6798.30!!!!!!

Anyway my point is, can I get out of this agreement with them and can anyone recommend a debt management company / centre that won't rip us off?

........And yes, we have been pretty stupid / naive..... but please help!!!

You did the right thing seek help, - I would take a look at page 1 - there be links to the stepchange debt rememdy and other advice sheets, I have been with stepchange for 6 months, and can't recommend them enough, best thing is every penny goes to my debts, xx

meggiemoo1992

Hello, Last March I was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder. For many years I have experienced manic episodes during which I bought many things from a car (15,000 loan) at the worst point. Cycles of maxing out cards.....
Anyway, since being diagnosed and taking meds I've not bought anything except food and paying bills really. I had a next directory card which had 900.00. 600.00 I transferred to 0% then paid remainder. I have mbna which last month had 560.00 this month has 290.00 which I am paying next week from March salary. Zero. Gone! Going to leave it open as get offers 0%. In cards that leaves Barclaycard £1858.13 0% til Aug 13 and Natwest £3551.68 0% til Sept. Finally, Santander loan got 3 figures - capital 4645.09, redemption 4763.84 and total 5650.29. I have been making over payments. So my question is, when mbna is paid next week. what should I target next. The loan which currently ends June 2015. Think its 13.9%. Just pay min on cc then bal trans Aug? I do feel i am making some progress but I just want to do the best thing to make it go quicker. Thank you, x