Becoming Bankrupt?

aaroncaz

The "old debt" of £3800, which has just caught up with me, has been "sold" to a company, i hear these ppl are very aggressive in what they want you to pay monthly!!

fermi

The best thing to do is get advice from one of the free services mentioned earlier. They will go through your finances and your options with you and find the best course of action.

This could be anything from:

Budgeting advice
An negotiated informal arrangement with the creditors.
A Debt Management Plan (DMP) with Payplan or CCCS
An IVA
Or bankruptcy

So there are lots of options to discuss.

aaroncaz

Yes, i will do, thanks.

aaroncaz

Just another question!!

Can a debt collection agency, tell your bank, credit card company, that you owe money elsewhere, or that you have bad credit?

user55

It will be on your credit file for all of the above to see, if they check.

Have you got a copy of your own credit file? Always a useful read!

oscar_uk_2

one thing you can try as an alternative to bankruptcy...

if the old debt has been sold on to a collection company then you can make them an offer. Ring them up and be prepared to play hardball. Start by offering half. They'll have bought the debt for a pretty low price and will be prepared to negotiate if you can give them a lump sum to settle the debt. It'd be well worth trying to scrape the money together if your credit rating is salvageable and your other debts are manageable.

I did this when I was at uni. My bank (HSBS) sold on the debt (1500) and I ignored the letters for ages til I got one offering to settle for 1000. I talked them down to 700 and the uni hardship fund paid it for me. Pity I didn't learn my lessons about borrowing money then...

aaroncaz

Well, its £3800, i dont really have the cash to offer a settlement, and no i havnt got my credit file, but i can get one, i got my credit card and loan of bank, who couldnt have checked, and i recently applied for a tescs credit card, got that, but following week, got turned down by virgin!!

[Deleted User]

14K on 12K a year should be manageable . Its only about one times your wage, many of my friends are juggling debts of 5-9times there salary.

Salary not including tax credits - £840/month
Rent + bills - in a shared house - £250 (check out gumtree.com if your paying too much rent)
Food and entertainment - £200
Spare - £390 - £4680 spare every year = £28,080 spare over a 6 year period. If you can get them to freeze the interest youd have that back in a mere 3 years. I dont think theyll let you go bankrupt TBH.

You can sort out arrangements with the rest, with advise from the CAB and the government debt agencys.

What caused you to live beyond your means? Do you go out too often, do you gamble, do you buy expensive clothes?