Struggled with debt for 12 years and now at the end of my rope.

Almo

Hi cupcake,

I don't know much about DMP/bankruptcy etc so will not comment on any of that. What I would say is that I think you probably could cut down your food bill, and if you had one really frugal month that would be a real help with those pay day loans. Could you make a list of what food you have in cupboards/fridge/freezer? If you have a look at the old style board you will find a few threads about eating on very low budgets and they might give you some inspiration.

I know you're pregnant and you need to make sure you're getting the correct nutrition but even shaving 100 off your grocery bill for a couple of months (hopefully longer!) would give you some extra money to play with.

eyeopener2

ValHaller wrote: »

Credit record trashed for 6 years. Multiple attempts to take money from your bank account (open a new one before you go down this road). Phone calls, threatening letters, threat of CCJ. Initiation of CCJ. You have to be hard about it and threaten to go bankrupt unless they stop interest - and be prepared to carry it out.

Doing it is pretty much nuclear, but if you have no way of paying them off, you would have to go bankrupt anyway - even though you could pay the rest off. But going bankrupt would mean they get nothing much. So better for them to back off and stop interest.

Think long and hard before you do. There is a fee to go bankrupt and you'll need to default for a month or 2 on virtually everything to get that fee saved.

This is wrong on so many levels. defaulting the payday clowns should be your first port of call. Go to your bank and cancel the continuous payment authorities and let the payday lot squeal for a for a few days.

Right OP, first things first is you ring CCCS and admit what you've done. They may cancel your DMP, they may not but you should have rung them the first day you had trouble and reorganised your DMP.
If they let you continue, put the payday into your DMP. If they cancel, go to PayPal.

Ring them now, and start getting things back on track.

Ignore all this bankruptcy talk and CCJ and killing of your first born, your way off that at the moment.

You need to make the phone calls and you need to make them now, this minute if you can.

E2

ValHaller

eyeopener2 wrote: »

This is wrong on so many levels. defaulting the payday clowns should be your first port of call.

Well, I'll defer to your obvious authority. But for the life of me, I don't think that there is anything wrong with what I gave as an answer to the question

cupcake32 wrote: »

What would happen if we defaulted on the Payday loans?

And I think you are very wrong to say

eyeopener2 wrote: »

Ignore all this bankruptcy talk and CCJ and killing of your first born, your way off that at the moment.

OP does need to know of the things which might happen and plot a way through. At this stage there is no benefit in pretending that a CCJ is not a real possibility, nor in pretending that bankruptcy shouldn't be on the table as an option. If you read the thread earlier, I was disagreeing with someone urging opting for bankruptcy straight away.

It makes good sense to think about bankruptcy and to use that to think about the things which must be done and the things which you might hope to happen to avoid bankruptcy. At least by thinking that way, bankruptcy does not catch you by surprise.

I did say

ValHaller wrote: »

.... I think the strategy has to be

• Come up with a plan to get out of the PDL's within say 6 months
• If there is no viable plan or it does not work, then default on the PDL's and take shelter from the crapstorm
• If the PDL's will not stop interest, then threaten to go bankrupt
• If that has no effect, go bankrupt

You differ in that you would go for an immediate default on the PDL's and you provide the extra detail that you would seek to put the PDL's in the DMP. There is no big difference which makes what I have said wrong.

eyeopener2

Scaremongering does nobody any good. I and many others have defaulted on payday loans and not even a sniff of a ccj. So yes, I do know about these things. Worrying about what may happen, what could happen is a waste of energy. You deal with the issues as they appear on your doorstep.

OP, do as I say and contact CCCS/stepchange as soon as you can. Everything else is just stuff and nonsense until you know where you stand with them.

ValHaller

eyeopener2 wrote: »

Scaremongering does nobody any good.

True. But then no one is scaremongering. I am giving an honest answer to OP's questions. Which of the things I have mentioned can you give a cast iron guarantee will not happen to OP? Yes, you didn't get a CCJ. But that does not prove that no one else will get one.

eyeopener2

Most people in a DMP don't get a ccj, a few may.

A court would not look favourably on the payday scum if they decided on legal action if the OP has a payment plan in place.

Bankruptcy, ccj and all the rest scare people silly. The OP is in a very vulnerable position and needs practical baby step advice. Which I'm trying to give.

ValHaller

eyeopener2 wrote: »

The OP is in a very vulnerable position and needs practical baby step advice. Which I'm trying to give.

The OP's situation is too serious for babysteps. It was probably babysteps and not seeing where it might go which got her into the mess in the first place.

cupcake32

Right, first of all I want to say that I've had some excellent advice here and all of it has been worth mulling over. Thanks to ValHaller for all the help and for sticking with my story from the outset.
We called Stepchange or whatever they call themselves now and told them we were struggling and all about the Payday loan misery. The idea was that we'd ask for advice from them on bankruptcy but it never got that far because the little loves have reduced our monthly payments by 50% and included the Payday Loans at part of our DMP from now on. This means our immediate money worries are solved which is an enormous relief!
Thank you so much for giving me the kick up the backside I needed to sort out our living hell. One phone call... who'd have thought it.
The only downside is that now the DMP will end in the year 2045 or something ridiculous, which will bother me once the initial euphoria wears off but what can you do?
Anyway, I'm off to start enjoying my life again. Thank you, thank you, thank you. xxxx

Willing2Learn

Oh My God cupcake. That is fantastic news. I am honestly really pleased for you

Edit: In fact, I am thrilled for ALL of you (and any pets you may have)

Willing2Learn

As far as the 2045 date is concerned. You have no way of knowing what the future holds. Employment may improve...family income may increase...things can change