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StepChange_James

peteuk wrote: »

Hi

Im on a DMP, which previously took into account a car loan. We are currently out of the UK, but are back in July. We need to buy a "new" car. I believe its acceptable to take another loan to buy a car, but dont want to upset the apple cart so to speak.

We have also been offered an interest free loan by my work which should help settle back in the UK. This will be taken at source from my wage. Again is this going to upset the balance.

I will also be over due my annual review, obvisouly its going to take a month of so to settle in the UK, is it acceptable to delay this?

Pete

Hi Pete,

I think it would be best to give us a call and we'll be able to look at your situation and work out the best way to proceed.

Kind regards

James

Spax

Hello, I've recently graduated from university and am now earning a decent full time wage. My issue is that I've been running from debt for about 4 years (non of it is over £1000 but I'd estimate that there is about £2000 worth of debt in various small amounts floating about out there), I've moved address countless times in that 6 years and have completely lost track of my debt. I also live in my student overdraft of £2000 currently.

I work for the NHS and my earnings are 22-24k a year. I am not on the electoral roll. I live in England. I'm single, and in private rented accommodation.

I have tried to get my credit score through experian and noddle but I get a message saying that they are unable to help me or explain why.

All I want to do is find all of my debt and arrange a payment plan of some sort. If anyone can help I would be ever so grateful.

Thanks in advance.

StepChange_James

sdsgirl wrote: »

Hi,

My husband and I had numerous credit card debts run up through costly family legal proceedings for which we ran into trouble paying in 2005. Following advice we sought, we contacted all our creditors and arranged token payment plans. A couple over the last few years offered reduced settlements which we managed to clear with family help. My question is, we have just printed off credit reports (which we have been doing every year so we can see what is settled and what balances are outstanding - psychological thing!) but apart from 1 debt each, the rest have disappeared from our credit report entirely. Does this mean they have been written off and we can stop making our nominal payments and focus on these last two debts? Out of all those there is one which is not showing on my husbands report which does send monthly statements for (RBS MINT), but we have not heard from any of the others since between July and November last year. A lot of these debts had been sold to other companies which previously showed up on our credit report but not any more. Any advice welcomed please as this is the unknown to us again now. Thank you

Hello,

I think it's fairly unlikely that these debts will have been written off. If you've made a payment to a debt within the last few years then it is still legally enforceable and it's not often that companies will write off a debt they still have a chance of getting back.

It's not unusual for debts to go quiet every now and again though. If you can afford to increase your token payments then that may be a way to start making progress with these accounts.

If you can't afford to increase payments and want advice on other options you might want to get in touch with us. You can get advice using our online tool, Debt Remedy (http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp) or by giving our helpline a call (http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx).

Regards

James

Ox1987

Can you advise I am in the process (waiting for the pack) of setting up a DMP. I have only at present 253 available to give to creditors though that is scaring me as I am concerned we will struggle to feed 3 kids on 450 a month
My question is that accross my creditors approx 10 they will not get much. Will that affect me as if they do not agree and not stop/reduce i am going to get nowhere. I have heard that Shop Direct will be difficult what has your experiences been with them in particular. At present the DMP would last over 12 years not ideal but situation may improve. Are we better of going BR, I would possibly lose my job and then the house but at present my mental health is suffering and kids are not getting a dad and the wife a husband due to my stress. Has this happened before to a family my size and what could happen it is really playing on my mind

StepChange_James

K0SS wrote: »

Hi there,

I owe overdraft limit of £4,000k I am emigrating to another country in the next few weeks I'll not be returning back to the UK for the foreseeable future. I can't afford to pay the bank back anymore, over the says I've regularly paid the minimum payment, I don't have any assets worth selling to repay the debt. My question is, when they send me a letter of missed payment I'll not be able to respond since am not going to be in the country, they'll not be able to mail me abroad either am moving to a small village which doesn't have internet, I'll also not have a phone either (can't afford it) so they've been pretty persistent and I am fed up of them I can't seem to get them off my back.

Basically am migrating abroad and I am not going to pay them since I don't have any money to give to them. What will happen?

P.S, I also owed another bank 65K thats been a few years, they sold the debt on to the debt collectors, I refused to pay them anything (the debt collectors), they told me they were going to take me to court etc, etc the usual threats, but nothing materialized. Its been 9 months I've not heard anything from them. Plus if they did take me to court, I don't have anything in my name to give them. Plus I'd rather spent a few months in prison (since they were imply I did fraud) then to give them 65k they must be dreaming, if they think am going to pay them, if I had the money I would have paid it off, but I don't have the money to pay them. They seem to be incapable of understand that.

Hi K0ss,

If you've moved abroad then you wouldn't be subject to the English county court system for these debts. Depending on the country you move to, there may be an agreement in place that means debts from this country can be enforced using your new country's legal system.

Obviously there are lots of ifs and buts to consider before getting to that stage. If you notify your creditors of your move abroad then they can still pursue you for this debt and it is possible that you could face legal action.

I'd recommend you get in touch with us once you've settled in the new country and we can give you advice on options to deal with this debt. Here's our international contact details: http://www.stepchange.org/LivingoutsidetheUK.aspx.

The £65k debt you mention sounds like more of a legal issue, so there's not much advice I can offer. If this company is threatening to take criminal action against you it might be worth getting some legal advice.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

Cat-lover wrote: »

I am in urgent need of help. I was left in a financial mess after my divorce 7 years ago. I took the matter in my own hands and wrote to all the creditors and must say that the majority accepted my offer of reduced payments.

Unfortunately things have gone terribly wrong. Firstly I have been homeless for the past year and living day to day on sofas of family and friends as my local council do not consider me a priority.

I am still named jointly on a mortgage for a property that I kept after my divorce as my 2 children were still at home. My ex was ordered to pay the mortgage until my youngest became 21 in order that she could attend uni. This was granted in lieu of any maintenance for either of my children. My daughter was 21 last may. However my ex had defaulted on the mortgage for a period of 18 months prior to that happening. He would make a payment every couple of months to prevent court action. The house was put on the market and as he refused to pay any more of the mortgage after the 21st birthday unless I moved out and we sold the house empty. I put my furniture in storage in April last year and thought I would only be living on the kindness of family and friends for a few months at least.

However once I moved out my ex took changed all the locks, took the house off the market and put tenants in.

This has been the most stressful time and I have lost all control over my debts now. I do not have a permanent address so can only have my post redirected to a c/o address.

What is making things worse is I have a crippling illness that developed following spinal surgery 6 years ago and I live in day to day pain. I have lost everything including my health although I am still in employment. It's a struggle working with my illness but as it is the only thing normal left in my life I am determined to hold onto my job.
I have also had to put my beloved cats into a cat rehoming centre and feel I have nothing left in this life.

I have approached my local cab but unfortunately they were not of much help and implied I need to sort things myself.

I have looked locally for a face to face debt help organisation as I am emotionally fragile and know I could not cope with just a voice on the end of a phone.

I believe I now have between 15 and 20k in debts. Some of which I am still making payments to by direct debit.

I have no one close that I can turn to for help or advice and all debt help seems to be by telephone only.

Please help. I am now at breaking point with everything and feel so alone.

Hello,

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.

It sounds like a really tough time for you at the moment.

It's true that we mostly help people over the phone. If you're willing to give it a try I'm confident that the person you get through to will be kind, patient and understanding. We know how daunting getting debt advice can be and try our best to make a positive experience for our clients. Here's the contact details: http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx.

Another way we help people is our online advice tool, Debt Remedy(http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp). You might find this a more manageable way to approach things. It takes about 20 minutes and will provide you with a personalised debt advice pack.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

BevieB wrote: »

Hi,
My self and husband have been on a joint DMP with Step Change since Sept 2011. We have approx 10 creditors and all have stopped interest. However we have a current account with the Halifax. They originally allowed us to set up a repayment plan with zero interest. They wrote to us end of Jan and informed us that the repayment plan was due to end. I contacted them to expain that our DMP will be in force for 7 years. After about 40mins they explained that they needed SC to send them a payment proposal. I then spoke to SC who agread to do this. After a few weeks we received another letter I rang the Halifax again and was told again that they had not received any notification from SC. After 3 attempts we heard nothing so thought all was well.
Anyway I have just received a call from the Halifax asking me what my proposal was???? I expalained again about SC. If I ring SC can they ring the Halifax to discuss as I feel like a piggy in the middle. The Halifax will not take details from me and for some reason do not receive correspondance from SC. They have know informed me that charges re being applied on my OD.
Not sure what to do next. I have made 2 offical complaints (They state they did not receive first) Please do you have any advice for me.

Hi Bevvie,

It sounds like you're doing all the right things to get this sorted out at the moment. If you've submitted a complaint (that they've received) then Halifax should now investigate and respond with details of what's gone on.

I'd hope that they should be able to turn up a copy of the payment proposals that we've sent to them.

If they continue to be a problem I'd suggest giving us a call and we'll see what we can do form our end but the complaint you've submitted should hopefully get things sorted.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

Spax wrote: »

Hello, I've recently graduated from university and am now earning a decent full time wage. My issue is that I've been running from debt for about 4 years (non of it is over £1000 but I'd estimate that there is about £2000 worth of debt in various small amounts floating about out there), I've moved address countless times in that 6 years and have completely lost track of my debt. I also live in my student overdraft of £2000 currently.

I work for the NHS and my earnings are 22-24k a year. I am not on the electoral roll. I live in England. I'm single, and in private rented accommodation.

I have tried to get my credit score through experian and noddle but I get a message saying that they are unable to help me or explain why.

All I want to do is find all of my debt and arrange a payment plan of some sort. If anyone can help I would be ever so grateful.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Spax,

It's great that you are looking to get things sorted out with these debts. Not so great that the credit reference agencies are throwing up these strange messages.

We'll definitely be able to help you plan a budget and work out what debt solution suit you best (there's contact details in my signature) but the first step is to get details of what your debts are like.

A copy of your credit report is usually the best option to work out what's going on with debts that you've lost track of. You could try contacting noddle or Experian to see why they won't give you your report.

Alternatively you could make a statutory request for a copy of your report. You'll have to pay a £2 admin fee but it may be worth it to get an up to date list of your creditors. There's more details here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score#files.

Hope this helps.

James

mickelaine1

Hi just after a bit of advice before I commit to my DMP with Stepchange.

I have a joint account with the wife with £1200 overdraft up to limit. We also have a couple of small isas with the same bank that would pay this off but we want to keep this for emergencies.

Would the bank be able to take my savings to pay overdraft?

I also have an interest free debt on a card but intend to pay this off within two months.

Do i have to declare this when sending my DMP back to stepchange?

Cheers

Mick

StepChange_James

Ox1987 wrote: »

Can you advise I am in the process (waiting for the pack) of setting up a DMP. I have only at present 253 available to give to creditors though that is scaring me as I am concerned we will struggle to feed 3 kids on 450 a month
My question is that accross my creditors approx 10 they will not get much. Will that affect me as if they do not agree and not stop/reduce i am going to get nowhere. I have heard that Shop Direct will be difficult what has your experiences been with them in particular. At present the DMP would last over 12 years not ideal but situation may improve. Are we better of going BR, I would possibly lose my job and then the house but at present my mental health is suffering and kids are not getting a dad and the wife a husband due to my stress. Has this happened before to a family my size and what could happen it is really playing on my mind

Hi again Ox,

It's up to your creditors whether they'll accept payments or not. If your budget is reasonable (and I couldn't see anything they'd be likely to have issues with on your SOA) then I'd hope your creditors would be willing to consider reduced payments.

I'd recommend not worrying too much about specific creditors at this stage. They'll all be sent a breakdown of your finances that shows you're offering as much as you can afford and they'll then make their own decisions.

The Debt free wannabe boards are brilliant for tips on how to stretch out a food budget. It might take some adjustment if you're used to spending more but the support on MSE is really good.

If I remember rightly, your StepChange advisor suggested a DMP, so I'd assume that is likely to be the best option at the moment. If for whatever reason you find it's not for you then you can cancel it, you won't be tied in for any period of time or anything like that.

Kind regards

James