debt management companies?

honeybee111

what are the benefits of using a debt management company such as payplan?
i have £32k debt.
and want to remortgage after paying off my debts which are currently in payment plans, some of which have interest frozen.

Stevie_Palimo

honeybee111 wrote: »

what are the benefits of using a debt management company such as payplan?
i have £32k debt.
and want to remortgage after paying off my debts which are currently in payment plans, some of which have interest frozen.

For a debt plan :- less or no hassle with creditors, one single payment being made, Would hope for frozen interest. Against a debt plan :- Nosey parkers who want to know what you have for breakfast dinner and tea, Narrow every single penny down whilst making sigh noises because you buy a lotto ticket each week.

National_Debtline

Hi honeybee


Short answer - using a debt management company (DMC) allows you to give them the work of negotiating, making payments and generally corresponding with creditors on your behalf. It is still essentially an informal arrangement to pay affordable amounts to each of your creditors. It may come down to whether you are more of a hands-on type or a delegator.


It's very important to distinguish between DMCs that charge you a fee and those that don't - Payplan are one of the latter.


How long would you expect to take to pay off your £32K debt if interest is frozen across the board?


Dennis
@natdebtline

sourcrates

Some creditors will only deal with you through 3rd parties, such as step change, or pay plan (never, ever use a fee charging company).
However, in cases such as that, they would simply sell on the debt, as DCA`s have no such qualms.


To be honest, there is nothing any 3rd party can do, that you cannot do yourself, were debt is concerned.


If you have a reasonable amount of common sense, and a little time to spare, there is no reason you cant go self managed.

honeybee111

One of the problems i have, is that i cant physically pay my husbands bills.
they are currently in plans that i set up as he finds it stressful dealing with companies, i will then put the money to one side and he will not pay the bill and spend it... and then wonder why we're in trouble. this month hes overspent.
also he never sticks to the dates, and i cant maintain it for him.

also... i have a commsave credit union loan, it is automatically deducted from my wage each week at £39. i cant afford to keep paying this, but they will not allow me to cancel, ammend or change... even though my wage is due to go to nil.

dancingfairy

I'm not sure how a debt management company will stop your husband spending money though. The only thing I can think of is that one payment goes out to them and they disperse it for you so maybe set it up soon after payday and then take out an allowance, and explain that is all he has to spend, when it's gone, it's gone.
df

andyfromotley

You may need marriage counselling rather than a DMC. its a rotten situation with a partner like that.

National_Debtline

Hi again honeybee


I'm afraid I'd have to agree with DF and andy's assessments. The DMC can only really execute whatever you have set up. If both you and your husband aren't fully on board and prepared to stick to a plan, it will make little difference whether you use a third party.


Do you think he might become more cooperative if you were to show him a household budget, showing how tight things were? It would certainly make your point.


Dennis
@natdebtline

honeybee111

Thanks everyone.
i think my husband is starting to come around to my thinking now. So we may be ready to sign up to something.
hes useless with money. And he really cant cope owing it.
hes very worried about his credit score as in the future we would like a bigger mortgage so we can extend the house.
We have a huge amount of equity, and i think at the back off both our minds, we think its ok to keep spending because we can always pay it off when we sell the house. £30k of debt is a deposit on a house in itself.

anyway, at the moment i have set up the payment plans with the companies themselves, and the repayments are relatively low.

i do however have a credit union account, this is deducted from my wage each week. they refuse to lower the payments, which are currently at £39 a week. and even on statuary maternity pay... ive emailed them and phoned them, but they refuse to adjust the amounts. i've explained £20 in manageable. but they have refused. what can i do about this company? ive even told them im behind on my council tax and electricity and this debt is just not a priority to us.

sourcrates

honeybee111 wrote: »

i do however have a credit union account, this is deducted from my wage each week. they refuse to lower the payments, which are currently at £39 a week. and even on statuary maternity pay... ive emailed them and phoned them, but they refuse to adjust the amounts. i've explained £20 in manageable. but they have refused. what can i do about this company? ive even told them im behind on my council tax and electricity and this debt is just not a priority to us.

All you can do is pay the £20.


If they don't like it, I expect they will sell the debt on, I`m not 100% up to speed on what credit unions do with defaulted accounts to be honest.

glentoran99

honeybee111 wrote: »

One of the problems i have, is that i cant physically pay my husbands bills.
they are currently in plans that i set up as he finds it stressful dealing with companies, i will then put the money to one side and he will not pay the bill and spend it... and then wonder why we're in trouble. this month hes overspent.
also he never sticks to the dates, and i cant maintain it for him.

also... i have a commsave credit union loan, it is automatically deducted from my wage each week at £39. i cant afford to keep paying this, but they will not allow me to cancel, ammend or change... even though my wage is due to go to nil.

can you not set it up as a standing order out of your account?