Help needed confused what to do first.

debtout

Hello, been lurking on here for a while. Been reading up an all the information and at times the information and situation can become very overwhelming. Debt has affected me and my wife a lot over the years and at one point we ended up separating due to the pressure, strain and emotional effects of the debt. We have since come back much more stronger and in a better position to sort this out. We have savings of at least 15.000.00 ans we earn at least 4000.00 a month after tax. We have debts that include -
A car from welcome finance which has a long history, but bottom line is we last paid anything for it in 2008,and I had it returned to a Renault dealer and that was last I heard of it. The value was 18grand.

My wife also had a car from welcome and we still have it and have never heard from them since 2010 and its still on the drive. It. Was worth about 9 grand and when we stopped paying in 2010 we owed about 6grand.
We also have loans and credit card to the value of about 8grand.

So based on the above we owe about 30 grand and we want to pay it off and become debt free so we can get a house.
Please advise me what do we do first. Do I start with experian to get our credit files, then what company do you recommend so we can get this sorted out as we intend to concentrate all our resources, energy and the savings into sorting this out. Looking forward to your kind and honest advice thanks.

rockm87

Hi and welcome!!

the best thing to do is put together a statement of affairs, and post here, so we can all see what is really happening. Try to be as accurate as possible, and not just make a 'wish list'.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

To check up on your debts, you can get a free credit report from Noddle.

best of luck!

HappyMJ

Start with the free services Noddle and Clearscore.

I wouldn't call any creditors until you get all this information.

If the debt is over 6 years old and you haven't been taken to court I'd just ignore the debt. If they demand payment then you can respond in writing the the debt is statute barred. You can get the default dates from your credit report and just wait the 6 years out before you buy a house.

You don't need to be debt free to get a house. You need to free of unsatisfied CCJ's and have no current defaults. The amount of debt you are in will reduce the amount the lender is willing to lend.

National_Debtline

Hi

As the others have said checking your credit files is a good idea to get an overview of your current debts, and posting a statement of affairs is also a good idea.

HappyMJ is right that the car finance you stopped paying in 2008 may well be statute barred and therefore unenforceable in court now if there isn’t a CCJ for it already, so you wouldn’t have to pay it. The default should have dropped off your credit file by now.

That means you may only have to pay the £6,000 car debt and £8,000 loans and credits cards, which you could use your savings for.

James
@natdebtline

debtout

Hello everyone, have checked on Noddle and clearscore and based on the information, we have ccjs 0f 3000, and the cr debts for both my wife and myself are not showing up on both these credit checking companies. The debt shows a total of at least 6000 plus the 3000 for ccj which makes it 9000 in total. Now as mentioned we have the savings to pay for this, how and what company can we use to sort this out so that we are debt free, which by the way sounds easy to write!. Looking forward to your help as always.

sourcrates

debtout wrote: »

Hello everyone, have checked on Noddle and clearscore and based on the information, we have ccjs 0f 3000, and the cr debts for both my wife and myself are not showing up on both these credit checking companies. The debt shows a total of at least 6000 plus the 3000 for ccj which makes it 9000 in total. Now as mentioned we have the savings to pay for this, how and what company can we use to sort this out so that we are debt free, which by the way sounds easy to write!. Looking forward to your help as always.

Err, you don't use any company, you would write to the creditor yourself with your offer to settle, it's that simple really.

northerner999

Is that £15,000 figure a typo or do you actually have that in savings?

With that and £4K salary a month it will be easy to sort so long as you address whatever has prompted you to get into the situation.

Because, as is pointed out above, your debts that need repaying legally may be less than your savings. If you do that, you must address your fundamental issues that led to stopping paying two loans while on a good income and with large savings.

debtout

northerner999 wrote: »

Is that £15,000 figure a typo or do you actually have that in savings?

With that and £4K salary a month it will be easy to sort so long as you address whatever has prompted you to get into the situation.

Because, as is pointed out above, your debts that need repaying legally may be less than your savings. If you do that, you must address your fundamental issues that led to stopping paying two loans while on a good income and with large savings.

Hello yes savings of 15k. The issues that led to the debts have been addressed as it was a time when we still in uni, so it was all youthful school boy and girl errors. However now we are in a good position financially so hence the need to have a clean slate and move forward.

debtout

sourcrates wrote: »

Err, you don't use any company, you would write to the creditor yourself with your offer to settle, it's that simple really.

Is it easy, though contacting them alone?. So is it a matter of writing to them and stating I owe for instance 3grand to you so can I pay 1500 if you are prepared to write it off? Sorry if this sounds scilly.

National_Debtline

Hi debtout

debtout wrote: »

Is it easy, though contacting them alone?. So is it a matter of writing to them and stating I owe for instance 3grand to you so can I pay 1500 if you are prepared to write it off? Sorry if this sounds scilly.

I think sourcrates is just keen that by "using a company" you don't mean paying an unnecessary fee to a 3rd party to handle matters.


If you want to make a reduced lump sum offer like the one you suggest above, you can very much do this yourself, but feel free to make use of the letter templates on offer for this kind of scenario. You can find ours at:


https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/24%20EW%20Full%20and%20final%20settlement%20offers/Page-04.aspx


Dennis
@natdebtline

sourcrates

debtout wrote: »

Is it easy, though contacting them alone?. So is it a matter of writing to them and stating I owe for instance 3grand to you so can I pay 1500 if you are prepared to write it off? Sorry if this sounds scilly.

idealy you would write to each creditor, using the template letter from the National Debtline website, for full and final offers, link here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Full-and-final-settlement-offers-%28sole-name%29.aspx

If the debt is subject to a CCJ, then you would need to make an offer which they may reasonably accept.

With other accounts, start at around 40%, and see what they come back with, you can always increase your offer.

It's all a matter of negotiation, you do not need any 3rd party help, if you are caperble of writing a letter, then you have cracked it.

Of course if you just want rid of them, and are willing to pay the full amount, then do so, it's entirely at your own discretion.

Edit; cross posted with Dennis.