DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

blisteringblue

somuchindebt wrote: »

I don't understand how come these court enforcement officers come to peoples houses and businesses and take everything. Why? There was one couple that had some cars, two houses. They were taking away all the cars and doing charging order on both houses. They did not care if this family needed a car or home to live in.

This falls into the very much further down the line category.

That TV show tells you what happens after you have been taken to court and still don't pay what you owe.

These people have simple ignored it for probably upwards of 2 years to get to this point. That is what I am saying you need to keep in contact with your creditors.

It's people that try and hide from it that will go to court.

Always tell the truth in your financial statement and if it shows you cannot pay anything to your debts then so be it. Can't pay we'll take it away will not be round any time soon.

January2015

somuchindebt wrote: »

Hello, I watched programme on tv yesterday. It was called if you can't pay we will take it away, or something like this. Didn't watch it to the end, and I must say it got me very stressed! I really don't understand this world of debt.
We get told that we can only pay as much we can pay. My creditors have been very good to me so far accepting token payments or no payments for awhile and accepting really low payments at the moment. I don't understand how come these court enforcement officers come to peoples houses and businesses and take everything. Why? There was one couple that had some cars, two houses. They were taking away all the cars and doing charging order on both houses. They did not care if this family needed a car or home to live in. So why is it like this? Does it all change once there was a court case? On the other hand my husband had won a case against a company that clamped his car in a car park, this was years ago. The company later sold or destroyed the car, he won the money back plus interest. Bailiffs got to the person and got beaten up and that's it. My husband never got his money back. The company does not trade anymore now...
Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, but I really would like to understand all this. So on one side there are these officers ruthlessly taking stuff away and then there are people like us paying what we can pay and not paying when we can't. There are even people that manage to save for F&F settlements. They transfer money to Step Change, the charity negotiates with creditors and if creditors do not accept, then the money gets transferred back to the debtor! I am not against it obviously as I am hoping to negotiate partial settlements as full settlements but it's all beyond my comprehension.... I suppose I would like to understand it more, as I have the sum in the bank to offer them, but I want to wait little bit till I am in better position, ie, creditors are more likely to settle for less, plus I am on maternity, haven't got the childcare sorted, marriage is on hold (we separated), so I need to make sure I can definitely part with money I have from the house sale. I was warned that creditors may sniff and find out about house sale and potential money available, I understand that they won't know how much I have after they take me to court though...
Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Different type of debts. You will notice that on these type of programmes the debts are where people/businesses have taken others to court - you never hear of bank/credit card debts on these programmes. I'm not saying bank/credit card debts will never end up in court or subsequently in enforcement action but if you keep them informed of your DMP then enforcement action such as that shown on this type of TV programme is highly unlikely to happen.

somuchindebt

Thanks guys, I am just one of these people that gets stressed and needs loads of reassurance I suppose. I am keeping in touch etc, so hopefully it will work out ok. But if someone did plan to take me to court, I suppose they would warn me first?

January2015

somuchindebt wrote: »

Thanks guys, I am just one of these people that gets stressed and needs loads of reassurance I suppose. I am keeping in touch etc, so hopefully it will work out ok. But if someone did plan to take me to court, I suppose they would warn me first?

Lots of letters before you get to the stage of enforcement action. Don't ignore any letters. If you get any you are unsure about just ask on here.

I started 2 years ago with £95k of debt and I was nervous to start with. Our DMP is going to take 9 years based on current payments - a bit longer really because we have gone to token payments a couple of times already. Creditors are all fine with it. As I said, we have needed to drop to token payments of £1 since starting and creditors all fine. No threats. We have 2 cars and equity in our home. No threats from creditors. You will stop panicking about these things soon.

One point about those TV programmes is they do chase council tax debts - keep on top of your council tax and don't let it get to that stage.

You will watch those programmes with your eyes having been opened in a few months. They are chasing different type of debts, but those people have probably ignored situations/letters for months.

January2015

blisteringblue wrote: »

Seriously don't sell the house to pay unsecured debts, and do not even slightly worry about it. I learned this a long long time ago.

Mrs BB has had to stop work because of ill health and I've stopped all payments for 4 months possibly longer and none of them have even batted an eyelid and we still owe 30k.

Isn't is nice to know that life can continue and your wife can stop work to look after her health rather than continuing to work because you both feel you have no choice because of debt. That's how it should be. The debts will be paid.....eventually. Health comes first.

Hope Mrs BB's health is improving :beer:

Nigglesquiggle

Thank you to everyone for your advice it really is appreciated. I can't believe I have only just found this thread.....so so helpful
We are contacting SC early next week to discuss token payments for the next 3 months this will hopefully give us a bit of breathing space and time to sort out the self management option.
Blistering blue I must admit we were really shocked for them to suggest the bankruptcy option! :eek:
I think we initially thought about moving as these blummin debts feel like a noose around our necks. Just so fed up at not having a life. Our son turns 18 this year and it would have been nice to have gone away together as a family before he dumps us for his mates :rotfl:

sourcrates

somuchindebt wrote: »

Thanks guys, I am just one of these people that gets stressed and needs loads of reassurance I suppose. I am keeping in touch etc, so hopefully it will work out ok. But if someone did plan to take me to court, I suppose they would warn me first?

Unsecured consumer credit debts are always dealt with by the county court, never the high court, so you will never have high court enforcement on your doorstep because you didn't pay your credit card bill.

The only way a county court bailiff would be knocking on your door is is your creditor has successfully had a CCJ registered against you, and you have failed to pay it, or come to an arrangement to pay it.

In reality, these programs mainly show people who have allowed the high court enforcement officer access to there property, they can force access to business premises, and to private homes for some types of debt, but not all, in the main, if you deny them access, theirs nothing they can do.

They do have wide ranging powers, but there are ways to deal with them.

sourcrates

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Can I be nosy (sorry:o) and ask why SC have refused to act for you? What has the fact that they are a charity got to do with it?

I would think its because the OP, on paper at least, cannot afford to make any payments towards there debts, thats why.

If theres nothing in the pot to pay to creditors, then they cant morally take anything can they.

blisteringblue

January2015 wrote: »

Isn't is nice to know that life can continue and your wife can stop work to look after her health rather than continuing to work because you both feel you have no choice because of debt. That's how it should be. The debts will be paid.....eventually. Health comes first.

Hope Mrs BB's health is improving :beer:

Cheers Jan, while its not something to be taken lightly it's a chronic condition since childhood but just needs to be managed every once in a while. She was only agency staff and it was totally stressing her out so we are managing it by have a good few months off. Not the end of the world if it carries on forever really but you are right health comes first. Just had a nice pay rise from my work so we will start paying again after the 4 months, but probably about half what we were, so that keeps them all sweet again, just adds a couple of years which isn't the end of the world.

If they are not moaning too much (one just asked for medical records which of course they can do one) may eek it out past the summer, make sure they all get sold on and we can start looking at F&Fs next year. Which is why I still have an optimistic 2018 in the sig

jellybean08

Hello all,

I've just sent off the paperwork to start a dmp with stepchange. One of my creditors is my bank-I have a 2000 overdraft with them on my current account that I'm struggling to pay the charges on, let alone repaying it. Do I now need to change my bank account to another bank? Or will they still let me pay my salary in and make my direct debits?