Able to pay £500 a month towards £8000 debt, but...

kitty1010

As debt with each company lessens try negotiating a final figure to settle, I was paying 10.00 a month to BC for years to clear, I phoned and offered half the balance to end the agreement, advisor went away for a minute, added 5.00 to my offer and agreed to settle - Barclaycard finally gone from my list of debtors.

matilda.cs

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Closed and settled accounts have no long term negative impact.

Only retain the accounts you actually need day to day.

It's a fact that someone who has maxed out £5k is less attractive to lenders than someone with £5k debts but an extra £5k available.

Kitty1010 - did this affect your credit rating? Did you have to pay them a lump sum then? Would you mind if I asked how much they wrote off?

forgotmyname

What they accept will depend on your circumstances. If they see a good chance of getting all the money back they may well hold out for it.

I was in a worse situation. It was either MBNA or Cap1 that forced my hand. I was off work on sick pay at the time.
I assumed it to be a short term health issue and told the lenders my position should change shortly. But one of the above companies were a nightmare to deal with. Well they both were but i forget which one was worse.

They phoned me and i explained i was sick off work. All they kept repeating was we need £££ today. No deviation from that. I gave up and refused to speak to them.

My health issues got worse. And the calls/letters got more frequent. I waited until Cap1 and MBNA had been sold one because there was no way i would pay them a penny from the grief they gave me.

Cashed in a small savings plan and made them a one time only offer that would have probably made them laugh.
But i listed all my debts with account numbers and said if all the creditors fail to accept the offer then i will have to use the money to file for bankruptcy.
There will be no money left for them. Not a single penny.

As the deadline approached i got ready to file for bankruptcy. But just before they accepted my offers.

It taught me a big lesson and have been debt free since.

But it trashed my credit file. But that was trashed anyway so i had nothing to lose.
There would be no way to settle the debts in full.

Life sucks, But it can get better. You need to decide whats best for you.

matilda.cs

It sounds like you were in a worse position than I.
I'm sure they won't settle for anything less than all of it, as I'm nowhere near BR!

dealer_wins

kitty1010 wrote: »

As debt with each company lessens try negotiating a final figure to settle, I was paying 10.00 a month to BC for years to clear, I phoned and offered half the balance to end the agreement, advisor went away for a minute, added 5.00 to my offer and agreed to settle - Barclaycard finally gone from my list of debtors.

Great!! That is if you want to trash your credit rating for many years :mad:

You may now post your spam in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

27col

matilda.cs wrote: »

Thanks all,
I know my position isn't that bad, but in a way that makes it worse for me. If I had £80k debt and could only pay £50 a month I would understand being refused better rates of finance. (Though I would be going BR in a heartbeat, but that's a different discussion)
I am front loading the higher apr loans.
I'm reluctant to close accounts once paid as this could have a negative affect, as my debt will then be at 100% of my available credit.
If I keep my cards open, I can keep my debt to below, say, 60% of my available credit which will look healthier.
Swings and roundabouts in a way, I guess, but as I won't be getting a loan for at least 6 months I can decide then

Your logic escapes me.
You are trying to get your debt down so you can take out another loan in the near future. Weird!
Here's a thought. What about starting to live within your means, instead of always being in debt.

matilda.cs

27col wrote: »

Your logic escapes me.
You are trying to get your debt down so you can take out another loan in the near future. Weird!
Here's a thought. What about starting to live within your means, instead of always being in debt.

How does my logic escape you?
I'm trying to get my debt down so that I can shift my debt to a better interest rate provider...not increase my overall debt.
I'm paying £150 a month over and above my minimum payments, so exactly how am I not living within my means?

Here's a thought - read the post properly before commenting in future. Especially if all you can muster is an idle attempt to belittle the OP with cack based on opinions raised by incorrectly reading clear information.

redcard

You've been living beyond your means of around £8K, and the fact that the majority of that debt is on high-interest cards means you've had substantial problems for quite a while.

redcard

27col wrote: »

Your logic escapes me.
You are trying to get your debt down so you can take out another loan in the near future. Weird!
Here's a thought. What about starting to live within your means, instead of always being in debt.

Most people only appear to be concerned with shifting debt around rather than paying it off or looking at their spending. Much easier to get a 0% card and pretend you're on top of things.

matilda.cs

My partner had a substantial amount of debt, which we had to deal with, and also my partner had been on maternity leave.
So yes, we have previously lived outside our means.
That said, we are now living well within our means, and she returns to work very soon)
We have 4 children and we are living on £100 a week for general expenses (food, petrol, clothing, etc) and have absolutely no way to reduce that.
I don't need (nor do I appreciate) people making wild guesses at my affairs.
The facts of the matter are that I am overpaying my debts by 50% each month. That clearly shows that what ever position I was in to get my debts, is no longer the situation.
So yes, I have a right to be disappointed that I'm stuck with crappy interest rates. That's not to say that I don't understand why I have the crappy rates.
I know I have a history of using revolving credit, and my debt is high compared to my total credit....my point is simply that I was offered lots of credit when my situation was crap - now it's better, I can't get any! I know how and why, and I'll take it on the chin. I'll still moan about it because I'm English. And I wouldn't be happy if I wasn't moaning about something!

Edit: if I get a 0% card! I'll still pay £500 a month - I will be debt free in 24 months. I guarantee it.