Debt Advise

TLC_3

Hi

I am so in need of becoming debt free that I contacted a debt company about clearing my debts. I'm in app £1700 in debt and I'm a full time student. This company agreed to contact my creditors and come to an agreement about a payment that I can afford. Nevertheless they sent me the paper work and it's now saying that of the £150 per month that I can afford to pay £29 will go towards management fees and the first payment is a fee and the second payment is a bond should I not complete my payment plan.

My question is, is this normal or are there any charity organisations out there that can help me for free.

:rolleyes:

HairyHandofDartmoor

Hi. It's lucky you asked because yes, there are several charities who will do it for free. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service and Payplan are two of them and are highly recommended on this forum. Someone will come along and give you link soon or type them into a search until. With CCCS you can fill in an online form, or ring either of them.

Don't give any money to any debt management company because it is a waste of your precious money!

greengrocer

TLC,

Don't pay for this kind of service! There are some charities which do it for free. Good ones are the Consumer Credit Counselling Service: http://www.cccs.co.uk/ and PayPlan https://www.payplan.com. I'm with the CCCS and they've been great.

GG

poppy10_2

Do not udner any circumstance pay this company,they are charlatans. Use the free charities listed above, they will also give you much better advice.

tealady

You could also try Citizens advice or your local Council (Birmingham City Council have debt advisors for Birmingham ratepayers)

supersavershal

Hi please dont go with this company.I went with one of these about 7yrs ago.At that time they took £90 each month in fees, I stayed with them about a year and ended up in more debt.They are in it for the money, go with one of the free charity ones.

p.s. the one I was with was b***** and e******, they are crap.

Teacher2301

Just remember - they are businesses - just like banks etc and they want to make money from you. Use this forum to help and use as much freebie help that you can.

Donedoingdebt

supersavershal wrote: »

p.s. the one I was with was b***** and e******, they are crap.

Couldn't agree more! I initially went with the same company at around the same time (Jan 2000) & couldn't wait to get away.

CLAPTON

One other thing, as others have adequately covered the debt management companies.

you seem to be saying you are in £1,700 debt. whilst this may seem a lot as a student, in absolute terms its quite small.
If you enter a DMP and make arrangements to pay the debt that way, it means you will have defaulted on the debt and your credit record will be marked accordingly.

The default will stay on your credit record for 6 years and will mean that you will have major problems getting credit later.
So you may find you can't obtain a contract phone or a credit card to use for work expenses, difficulties with credit checks for rentals and mortgages.

So if there is another way to pay the debts off or at least maintain the minimum payments (maybe parents?) then you should consider them very seriously.