Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

StepChange_James

nannymcphee wrote: »

I hope someone can help me as feel like I'm abt to crumble !

So have a cc of 4800 which is a 0% apr and slowly bringing it down . The problem I have is after a series of life difficulties losing a couple of jobs in quick procession (made redundant) I struggled with paying a halifax back acct. had used the overdraft for paying bills. I then sunk into depression and couldn't handle life no more. I ignored their calls etc hoping it would just all go away. However as u find out it doesn't. Fast forward to know and I have now got a job and this morning trying to deal with it to b told that it has gone on to an outside agency and I have to fone the first company who can tell me who is now dealing with it at tue end of the month. I just want to get rid of it it's abt 500 (the last few weeks have been putting money into the acc to bring it down. ) what do I do ? Just go and pay it and then speak to whoever at the end of the month and tell them bank account is now at £0 or in credit and accept all the extra charges I had recieved for going overdrawn or wait and find out the agency and deal with it then ?

I'm not very good at dealing with things like this and even worse when have to face my probs to someone ?

Thanks

Hello,

Thanks for posting. It's a strange situation - if I've understood things correctly the bank have passed the debt on but won't tell you until later this month where the debt has gone.

It's hard to say how best to proceed. If the debt has been properly sold on the account might have been closed and there'd be no way to make a payment until you find out who's taken it over.

If you can just pay the debt off with the bank and get it out of the way then that sounds like a good solution for everyone. As long as the bank notify the debt collector then everything should work out fine.

It doesn't make sense that the bank wouldn't want you to make payments towards the debt if they still had hold of the account. It might be worth getting in touch with them again and hopefully the next person you speak to will be able to clarify what's going on a bit more clearly.

Kind regards

James

Mossop01

StepChange_James wrote: »

Hi Mossop,

I noticed your post over on the DMP Support thread after you'd managed to get through to us. Really please that this is all resolved now.

Kind regards

James

Thanks i got through on phone this morning, as usual SC were very helpful and stopped me worrying, apparently NEXT can take 6 weeks to process the cheque from SC! Told me not to worry and they would send proposal again to help to ensure no more charges, they really are a fantastic support, only downside is they are very busy, but least u know they are helping someone else in a similar position whilst u are waiting.

Brown78

Hi,

I am desperate for advice and guidance. I am struggling with my debts, last year I was on point with my payments, but now am finding its getting very difficult.

I am in debt of around £17k. I have contacted one of the company on this site and they advised me that I should go on a DMP, which I rather not take up. My credit score is fair.

Does anyone know any alternative plan or solution or ways. I really need your help.

I work and I study and I guess am getting real stressed about this.

Kind regards
Brown78

StepChange_James

Brown78 wrote: »

Hi,

I am desperate for advice and guidance. I am struggling with my debts, last year I was on point with my payments, but now am finding its getting very difficult.

I am in debt of around £17k. I have contacted one of the company on this site and they advised me that I should go on a DMP, which I rather not take up. My credit score is fair.

Does anyone know any alternative plan or solution or ways. I really need your help.

I work and I study and I guess am getting real stressed about this.

Kind regards
Brown78

Hi Brown78,

There are quite a few different ways to get out of debt, a Debt Management Plan (DMP) is just one of them.

The tricky thing is that most of the strategies to deal with "problem debt" involve making a mess of your credit history in one way or another. By problem debt I mean debt which isn't manageable.

Whichever organisation recommended a DMP to you should have gone through an income and expenditure budget with you, which they'll have based their advice upon.

I'd suggest looking carefully at this and seeing if you can make changes which will leave you with enough money after living costs to make the full payments on all your debts. For many this isn't possible and that's where DMPs become a good idea.

IVAs (individual voluntary arrangement) are an alternative to DMPs but they are legally binding agreements which are a form of insolvency, so may not suit your circumstances. You can read more here: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/07/12-differences-between-an-iva-and-a-dmp/.

Another alternative which many people consider are consolidation loans but our experience is that these can often be more of a sticking plaster kind of solution. We speak to a lot of people who take them out and find they don't really make things better in the long run.

The best alternative to a DMP is probably to just pay the standard payments on your debts or more if possible. As I've mentioned above, it's often not realistic to be able to afford that.

If you'd like to see more about what it's like to be on a DMP I'd suggest checking out the DMP Support Thread which is usually somewhere near the top of the Debt Free Wannabe forum.

Kind regards

James

Brown78

Hi James

The company who advised me on DMP was Stepchange and I used the tool indicated on the site to put in what a spend and my income and spoke to an adviser online. And the adviser said this is the only alternative method I can use.

Does anyone have any other solutions? As I mention my credit is fair but because I sometimes miss 1 payment, I am declined for loans, credit cards,etc most of the times.

Regards
Brown78

c85

hi,
im currently on a dmp with stepchange, i have a couple of creditors with low balances of around £200 and revieved offers of full and final settlement at 50% of the debts. My partner got an end of year bonus from work of £175 i was wondering if we could use this money to settle these 2 debts at half the amount owed this removing them from our plan? is this possible/allowed? or should i just put the money away into my emergency fund or offer extra payment to all creditors? i dont want to upset my plan by favourtising 2 creditors or will other creditors be happy as they will then get more money per month?

thanks

StepChange_James

Brown78 wrote: »

Hi James

The company who advised me on DMP was Stepchange and I used the tool indicated on the site to put in what a spend and my income and spoke to an adviser online. And the adviser said this is the only alternative method I can use.

Does anyone have any other solutions? As I mention my credit is fair but because I sometimes miss 1 payment, I am declined for loans, credit cards,etc most of the times.

Regards
Brown78

Hi again,

If your credit rating isn't great then it's probably going to be very hard to get other forms of credit.

I'm not sure what other options are likely to be available apart from the ones I mentioned in my previous post. If you can afford your monthly payments then you can carry on paying your debts. If you can't afford the payments then a debt management plan is a way to reduce them to a manageable level.

You don't have to do this through an organisation such as StepChange, you could negotiate payments directly with your creditors. Most people find this quite a lot of work and prefer a free DMP but others prefer the greater level of control. If you dig around on this forum you should be able to find people who've followed this.

Without knowing more about your finances it's hard to say much more really.

I hope this helps.

James

StepChange_James

c85 wrote: »

hi,
im currently on a dmp with stepchange, i have a couple of creditors with low balances of around £200 and revieved offers of full and final settlement at 50% of the debts. My partner got an end of year bonus from work of £175 i was wondering if we could use this money to settle these 2 debts at half the amount owed this removing them from our plan? is this possible/allowed? or should i just put the money away into my emergency fund or offer extra payment to all creditors? i dont want to upset my plan by favourtising 2 creditors or will other creditors be happy as they will then get more money per month?

thanks

Hi C85,

I'd suggest giving us a call and having a chat about it.

There are a few factors to consider with this sort of thing. We'll be able to help you weigh up the pros and cons of your options and recommend your best course of action.

Cheers

James

DebtBurden2013

I have finally after a long time of running from the problems of my debt have decided to try and deal with them.
I have a debt which was in huge and not payable within my lifetime.
I have accepted liability for the debt in the past.
I had a court order to pay £200 off a month for the first few years i didn't do anything and they didn't try very hard to contact me.
After a while they came after me for the £5000 arrears or so on the debt. Which for the past 3 or 4 years i have been paying off but in lump sums of £1000 here and £2000 next as they threaten legal action.
The thing is either me paying £200 a month or my current method is not going to work especially seeing as it is into a black hole (debt will never be paid).
I sought to get legal help but with no court or settlement fee because im in debt Solicitors don't seem too interested to even send letters for me. I even tried to get advice from a free legal aid centre(useless)

Out of desperation I contacted the solicitors representing my creditor and they spoke with me briefly and said to make a full and final settlement offer and asked for a statement of means as part of that and provide supporting documents.

Before i ever mentioned a sum the solicitor named an amount to me to make as a suggestion which is the sum i was also thinking I could reasonably make with loans from family.



Question: what sort of supporting docs should i send.
Bank statements, credit card bills, phone bill etc?

In the past few months i have really cut back on expenses and we have been using my wifes savings a bit so my current account doesnt show all the spending.
I dont want to really start sending them my wifes bank details as this debt was all my own.

The real alternative to me not having an offer accepted is either bankruptcy or emigrating to china.

So Im hoping i can get some advice on how to deal with them and what to give and what not give.

thanks for reading this if you made it this far.

c85

StepChange_James wrote: »

Hi C85,

I'd suggest giving us a call and having a chat about it.

There are a few factors to consider with this sort of thing. We'll be able to help you weigh up the pros and cons of your options and recommend your best course of action.

Cheers

James

thanks for the reply, i will do so