Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

System

lessonsinlove wrote: »

No, not quite the news I wanted to hear James! Thanks anyway though, appreciate your honesty.

Out of interest, which do approach do you think would be more successful? I indeed did let Barclaycard know that I was moving, in a telephone conversation regarding managing my debt - but fear they would not believe me. Would i have a chance? Or would it be better to pay off the default, but with it still on my credit report? Would i get a mortgage like that?

Hi lessonsinlove,

I’ve picked this up for James.

If you can remember the time and date that you spoke to Barclaycard you could ask that the call be listened to as proof you notified them of the address change. (Although if it's been a while since you spoke to them they may not have the records). You could then take up the complaint in writing.

Your next port of call would be the Financial Ombudsman who could take up the complaint – though they are very busy at the moment so I’m not sure of the wait time.

If you are unable to have it removed the default will stay on your credit file. If you pay off the debt in full or negotiate a settlement figure you could negotiate having the disputed default removed as part of the settlement though again they could decline to do so.

With the mortgage, we’re debt advisors not mortgage advisors, a default will stay on your credit file for six years, it may affect chances of getting a mortgage but other factors come into account too, such as deposit size etc. It really comes down to the lender and their criteria, so I’d suggest they speak to an independent financial advisor.

Hope this helps,

Jess

StepChange_James

photographer1953 wrote: »

Thank you for that James.
Can you tell me what can or would happen if she continues to pay the £3 per month (as this is all she can only offer this last company) which they will not accept and still pile on the charges as stated previously. She has already been told by the one person she spoke to that they would not take her to court but would instruct a collection agency.

They keep sending her letters saying the she is ignoring them and that she should contact them but she has sent 4 letters and made 2 telephone calls. As far as I am concerned this is now amounting to harassment.

I have a template letter from this site that I intend to give her to fill in the blanks and send to them. 1 is a letter asking for a True Copy of her agreement with them and the 2nd is about them harassing her. Will either of these be of any use?
I have told her that they cannot take what she has not got regardless of their demands but the concern is the mounting interest and fees and all this stress is now beginning to have a affect on her (restless sleep, tearful).

Keith

Hi Keith,

What happens after your sister sticks to her £3 a month payments will depend on the company. If they continue to be unhappy with the payments I'd expect them to pass the debt on to a debt collector within a few months.

As I mentioned earlier, debt collectors can often be easier to deal with and don't usually add on charges.

Occasionally companies will change their mind once payments start coming through and decide to accept the payment offer and freeze interest and charges. It's quite rare, but it does happen.

It's true that the catalogue company are unlikely to take this debt to court. Not out of kindness but because it won't get them any extra money. When they refer to court they'll mean a county court judgment (CCJ) which is dealt with through the post and I'd expect it would end up with the court asking your sister to pay £3 a month towards the debt.

As the stress of dealing with this debt is having quite a serious affect on your sister, I would recommend sending through the letter about harassment. It's probably worth adding an extra paragraph below the pre-written bit, explaining the effects on her health, just to make the impact clear to them.

There's no guarantee this will make a difference, but most companies will back off if it is made clear that their debt collection is seriously affecting someone's wellbeing.

The request for a copy of the original agreement may be useful or might not be. This is usually done where there is doubt over how the arrangement was set up and if proper procedure was followed. Usually it has been, so it may not move things forward.

It sounds like your advice to your sister has been spot on, debts like these don't have any serious powers at this stage. They can ask for money, but if it's not there then they can't have it. This article about what creditors can and can't do might be useful: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/08/you%E2%80%99re-in-debt-but-what-can-your-creditors-actually-do/.

Kind regards

James

photographer1953

Thank you James. Your reply confirms what I thought and I will tell my Sister to just continue paying the £3.00 per month and hopefully they will just accept that or apply for a CCJ which we can deal with if that happens.

Regards
Keith

BigGirlPants

BigGirlPants wrote: »

Due to an awful year my husband has been trying to shield me from how badly in debt we are, and has finally told me all an hour ago. Basically we are 10k in debt.

We need help and are approaching this together as a team.

We have a telephone appointment with Step Change on Thursday, but do want to retain control of our accounts (is this possible?).

Please can someone advise me what else we can do.

It is all credit card debt and a bank account, all below our max credit limit.

The bank account was having DD's return but we have managed to bring it below the overdraft limit so nothing further can be returned.

This is all a blow, and of course the fact that I was kept in the dark is hurtful, although I understand the reasoning but really I need to know what steps I and we can take to get things on track.
We could afford minimum payments but really I'm not happy with that.

If I can find some money from selling belongings and cashing it wherever possible. How do I prioritise what to pay and get this into a manageable plan?
It's very stressful, but I believe it's not the worst that can happen and just want to get it organised so we can cope.

Thanks

I just wanted to say thank you and we will hopefully sort out tomorrow.

mesoldsan

Since I left university, I racked up quite the overdraft and decided to get a loan to pay it off. I got a loan for £9,000 and used £4,000 for overdraft, 2k for credit cards and kept 2k for myself.

To prevent matters getting worse I decided I would post on here for advice on how to repay back quicker. I live at home but since my mum has retired and my brother works full time I pay most of the bills.

I have started selling some of my belongings to help with the debts (as I have 1k on credit cards to pay off as well) its essential to do it sooner so I can go to Brazil for the world cup!!

I get an income of £1480 per month and my outgoings are 900 quid

Please any advice would be helpful

joee

I just wanted to ask, I sent a private message earlier but I have no sent messages in my box. Have you got it?

StepChange_Private_Messages

joee wrote: »

I just wanted to ask, I sent a private message earlier but I have no sent messages in my box. Have you got it?

Hi Joee,

We got it yes - you should have my reply.

Thanks,
Jess

StepChange_Private_Messages

mesoldsan wrote: »

Since I left university, I racked up quite the overdraft and decided to get a loan to pay it off. I got a loan for £9,000 and used £4,000 for overdraft, 2k for credit cards and kept 2k for myself.

To prevent matters getting worse I decided I would post on here for advice on how to repay back quicker. I live at home but since my mum has retired and my brother works full time I pay most of the bills.

I have started selling some of my belongings to help with the debts (as I have 1k on credit cards to pay off as well) its essential to do it sooner so I can go to Brazil for the world cup!!

I get an income of £1480 per month and my outgoings are 900 quid

Please any advice would be helpful

Hi mesoldsan,

From your wage you should be paying your share of the household bills, food and living costs then seeing what you can pay towards your debts.

The best way to work that out is to do a budget. MSE have an excellent article on creating a budget here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning

You could also use our online debt advice tool Debt Remedy [http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp] that could provide you with you budget and give tailored advice on what to do next.

If you have £520 disposable income then you pay extra into the loan. You might want to check with the bank if over payments are penalised in anyway. Settlement offers can be negotiated but you would need to speak to the bank and over payments are likely to be your best course of action.

After a budget you could cut back on non-essential spending to boost your disposable income to clear the loan at a fast rate. Again MSE have plenty of great advice here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money

My advice would be to pay off debts before you save. So any money you have left from the loan (you mentioned you kept 2k for yourself) would be best used paying off your 1k credit card debt.

ope this helps,

Jess

System

mesoldsan wrote: »

Since I left university, I racked up quite the overdraft and decided to get a loan to pay it off. I got a loan for £9,000 and used £4,000 for overdraft, 2k for credit cards and kept 2k for myself.

To prevent matters getting worse I decided I would post on here for advice on how to repay back quicker. I live at home but since my mum has retired and my brother works full time I pay most of the bills.

I have started selling some of my belongings to help with the debts (as I have 1k on credit cards to pay off as well) its essential to do it sooner so I can go to Brazil for the world cup!!

I get an income of £1480 per month and my outgoings are 900 quid

Please any advice would be helpful

Hi mesoldsan,

From your wage you should be paying your share of the household bills, food and living costs then seeing what you can pay towards your debts. The best way to work that out is to do a budget. MSE have an excellent article on creating a budget here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning

You could also use our online debt advice tool Debt Remedy [http://www.stepchange.org/msehelp] that could provide you with you budget and give tailored advice on what to do next.

If you have £520 disposable income then you pay extra into the loan. You might want to check with the bank if overpayments are penalised in anyway. Settlement offers can be negotiated but you would need to speak to the bank.

After a budget you could cut back on non-essential spending to boost your disposable income to clear the loan at a fast rate. Again MSE have plenty of great advice here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money

My advice would be to pay off debts before you save. So any money you have left from the loan (you mentioned you kept 2k for yourself) would be best used paying off your 1k credit card debt.

Hope this helps,

Jess

mesoldsan

Thanks for your reply Jess I will get onto it right away!