Advice and Guidance

wannabedebtfree2016

Hey All,

New here! I have been reading through some threads and I can see that some of them get a little heated so before I go ahead with my story I would like to say that I know all of my debt is my fault and my problem. I do not defend the situation I have gotten myself into I only seek advice to aid getting out of it.

Okay, here goes! Basically, I used to have a problem with gambling then I was "clear" for a few years until recently (again, not an excuse, just trying to put things into context). Long story short I have the following debt as a direct and in-direct result of the gambling.....balances quoted are current balances as of now

- Everyday Loans - £1900 (Personal Loan)
- On Stride Financial - £2290 (Personal Loan)
- Wonga - £720
- Quick Quid - £430
- Peachy - £135
- Mr Lender - £350
- Wage Day Advance - £130 (but its the flexipay thing)
- Clear Account - £250
- My Jar - £120

Total £6325

Yes, I know, it's bad! I am currently seeking advice from Step Change as I have been told that you should never pay for a DMP. What I want to know is:-

a) Has anyone used step change before and if so how would you rate them?
b) How likely is it that interest and charges would be frozen?
c) Do you guys think a DMP is the right option here bearing in mind IVA and Bankruptcy are not a route I want to take?
d) If anyone reading has been in a similar debt situation, how did you deal with it? Was it direct with the lenders or through a third party such as step change?

This may sound insane but would it be easier to pay the smaller ones off one by one/ month by month and make token payments to the rest? I seriously just don't know what is the best route to take.

Once again, I can't stress enough how ashamed I am and I am genuinely looking for opinions, guidance and others' experiences.

Thanks

Seanymph

can you put the interest rates as well?

I'm not very good - I'm learning! But the guys here are brilliant, and to be supportive they need the rates.

And things shouldn't get 'heated' at all - no one is here to judge, we are here to support. If someone needs to feel superior that badly they trawl internet sites looking for someone to look down on they need to get out more, obviously they have nothing else going on they can feel good about in their lives. Ignore them.

You are taking a really really good step posting here.

wannabedebtfree2016

Thank you. Yes I have been looking through the forums over the past couple of weeks and the only thing that put me off was seeing the horrible comments. Okay, interest rates as follows

- Everyday Loans - 188.8%
- On Stride Financial - 89%
- Wonga - 365%
- Quick Quid - 300% but this is a line of credit
- Peachy - 989.4%
- Mr Lender - strange I can't find an interest rate on their site or my agreements. Phoned them to ask and they said the can't send it out as it's automated.
- Wage Day Advance - £29.50 per £100
- Clear Account - £1.00 per £100 per day 365%
- My Jar - 406%

Hope this helps. It's really scary when you actually look at the situation in black and white. I want to be debt free ideally in two years if I can get interest and charges frozen but from other forums I understand everyday loans hardly ever agree to this.

Thanks again

sandy1957

hi, iv been on jury service this week but only lasted 4 days but my employer isn't paying my wages, court is for 2 weeks but its fin early what do I do now who pays me the next week while im off

Marisco

sandy1957 wrote: »

hi, iv been on jury service this week but only lasted 4 days but my employer isn't paying my wages, court is for 2 weeks but its fin early what do I do now who pays me the next week while im off

You'd be better off starting your own thread on this, as you can then get answers tailored to your question, otherwise it just confuses things.

fatbelly

wannabedebtfree2016 wrote: »

a) Has anyone used step change before and if so how would you rate them?
b) How likely is it that interest and charges would be frozen?
c) Do you guys think a DMP is the right option here bearing in mind IVA and Bankruptcy are not a route I want to take?
d) If anyone reading has been in a similar debt situation, how did you deal with it? Was it direct with the lenders or through a third party such as step change?

Stepchange are fine - they post on these boards and are well respected. They don't charge a fee.

Interest will be frozen (probably some faster than others but there you go)

Impossible to say what your best option is without full info, which stepchange will get from you. What we can say is that at 6k debt IVA and bankruptcy would not be appropriate, though a Debt Relief Order may be, depending on other factors. I believe Stepchange are the second biggest providers of DROs (after the CAB)

Talking of the CAB, they do provide help to set up a self-managed plan called cabmoney if you want to go that way.

Also, if you notice 'horrible posts' here then use the report button and the board guides will remove them. They are particularly inappropriate on the dfw board.

Fosterdog

Don't worry too much about some of the posts you have read, there are so many different parts to this forum, on some there can be heated discussions but generally the debt free section is helpful with very few people being judgemental. Now you've made the first step of admitting there is a problem and asking for help you should get nothing but good advice.

On to your money issues, I've never death with Stepchange myself but have only heard good things about them.

For us to help you budget and plan your repayments could you fill in and post an SOA http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

These other calculators may also help, especially the APR rate converter and the snowball calculator to work out which debts should be paid off first to lower the interest you will pay overall.

Tixy

Hi OP,

Stepchange are very well recommended on here, of all the managed DMP providers they have the most consistent positive reviews here. Have you spoken to them yet? and have they suggested a DMP?

It can never be guaranteed that interest will be frozen but it is quite likely that most of your creditors will agree to. Some will likely agree straight away, others may agree after a couple of months. Occasionally you get lenders who don't and sometimes all you can do is to wait until the debt is passed to a debt collector who then is more likely to.

Whether a DMP is the right option will depend in part on how much you can afford per month. Given all your debt is high interest then I would think it may well be a good idea from what you have said.

Some people do self manage a DMP (this is a good link - https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp)
it is down to personal choice really and whether a person feels they are likely to 1) be able to control their spending and ensure they keep to the payments and 2) be confident to stand up to creditors/debt collectors and not be bullied in to paying more than they can afford.

Have you managed to stop the gambling now? I know you say you've stopped once before so that hopefully means you may find it easier to stop again. Have you excluded yourself from sites to help stop temptation. I know GA are recommended often on here.

Good luck tackling your debts.

nimbo

I hope you get the money bits sorted - have you tried SMART groups?

They are peer led and focus on any dependency - I have worked with people who find the groups to be really helpful.

Kind of like GA each group will have it's own personality so do try different ones on for size as different individuals can make them feel different.

(Thinking if you look for both there may be at least one accessible at a time that suits - anyone who offers SMART has to agree to make it open access so don't be out off by settings that may not specifically apply to you)...

sourcrates

Your debt is not high enough for an IVA, and DRO & Bankruptcy are not ideal options, you should be able to tackle this with a DMP, either get advice from one of the free debt charities, or if you prefer, self mange it.
Its really simple to do this your self, you simply tot up how much you owe, then how much you can afford to pay per month towards the debts.
Then distribute this amount on a pro-rate basis between your creditors.
Once you have done this, you write to each one, explaining the situation, and making your offer of payment, you can include your income/expenditure details, so they know they are getting what you can afford, also ask for there payment details, bank account/sort code etc, so you can set up online payments from your bank account, this makes it very easy to pay them all, once a month, with just a few clicks.
Most creditors should accept, if they can see they are getting a reasonable amount off you, don't offer more than you can afford though.
Just something for you to think about, the benefit is that you stay in control of your own finances, instead of having a 3rd party doing it for you.

wannabedebtfree2016

Wow, Thanks guys. Will definitely consider going self-managed but with the frame of mind I am in at the moment coupled with the fact that I have gambling issues (which are really hard to deal with in itself) I just don't know if I have the mental energy to do that.

From the research I have done most PDL companies are likely to freeze interest and charges. The one that I have heard bad reports on is Everyday Loans. Apparently they reject all IVA requests and all request to freeze interest and charges. I am going to have to keep a really close eye on the balance of that. I heard from someone that on a £2500 loan with them, they soon owed over £10k.... how true that is though I don't know.

As for the Gambling side of things. I have now excluded from all sites that I can think of that I registered with .... literally took me four hours and I still think I have missed a load. Changed my email address, telephone number ect to avoid contact from them with marketing (I have updated all creditors with my details though) and I have this software installed which requires a password that only my mum knows to access any form of betting related sites.

For those of you on a DMP or have ever been on a DMP, does the feeling of uneasiness and the "am I doing the right thing" feeling ever go away?
I have to say that my partner does not know about this, I have no idea how he doesn't but he doesn't and for now it is going to stay that way (I know many will disagree with that but thats how it has to be for many reasons) I don't know if the uneasiness of going onto a DMP is really because I am lying :-/

I wouldn't mind hearing some of your stories of how you got debt free and how long it took if anyone wouldn't mind sharing....

Im now going to try that stoozing website quoted above ....

Thanks again guys!