Which debt advice people should I use?

cherokee

Hi

Any advice greatly appreciated please.
I am having to admit to about 13K worth of credit card debt which I have been struggling to repay.

I have been shifting it about for a while on various 0% deals and paying the minimum amount every month hoping that things would bet better and it would get paid off.

Instead things have got dramatically worse as my husband is now out of work and I do not work either (he was self employed and I helped him) so I'm really in a fix. Really struggling now!

I need advice but theres so many places out there - for example is Payplan any good?

Thank you everyone.

Jon81

StepChange or pay plan are both free to use. Biggest step is realising there's an issue and that you need help. I'm working with StepChange they've been understanding and prompt getting in touch with my creditors.

cherokee

Jon81 - thank you. I feel I have truly had my Light Bulb Moment - what a brilliant way of describing it. So Stepchange would be as good as any to talk to?

Pixie5740

As long as you use one of the debt charities, CAP, National Debtline, PayPlan or Step Change you'll be fine. Just don't go with one of those blood-sucking-leech companies who charge fees for their "debt advice."

Jon81

I know of people who have used fee paying dmp providers, one is paying 50 per month, 25 of which is a management fee, when all of it should be going off the debt. Understand there will be cost in any such arrangement but month to month this company does nothing for my friends 25 per month

KirstyO

I used Stepchange, they were brilliant. Also when I finished my DMP I said they could contact me for marketing. Because I helped them with some national press, they sent me a voucher for my trouble. £30 at M&S, I was gobsmacked! I was expecting like £10 for a supermarket!

Mort

Go for a free one, that means all your payments go towards your debt repayment rather than towards fees. This list of organisations is from this site.
I used Payplan and it worked for me. It's all about setting a budget and sticking to it.

antonic

I second Payplan as well

Time_to_face_the_music

You can't go wrong with Fermi's excellent advice here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4228011

Please can I just point out that while Payplan provide a free DMP service, they are not a charity and they do try and sell you other services, e.g. insurance etc.

My personal recommendation is NED CAB online self managed DMP, it's fantastic and has won awards:

https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/debtremedy.asp

TTFTM x

sourcrates

Jon81 wrote: »

Understand there will be cost in any such arrangement but month to month this company does nothing for my friends 25 per month

Hi,
There is no cost involved in administering a debt managent plan.
The way it works is that creditors fund the work the debt charities do, everything is normally done by email, and post, so always use a free service.

cherokee

Thanks to everyone who replied and for all the helpful information - I decided to give StepChange a call and found them to be very helpful and there was someone to speak to immediately so I think I was quite lucky. So here I go... embarking on my new life as a Debt Free Wannabe! I'm sure I will be on again asking but it's great to see that someone always responds thanks guys!