How to wipe debt and keep lump sum? - redundancy

Brightspark87

Hi

I have been helping my Sister in law in a similar situation. We got full & finals after 5-6 years of paying debts at a max of 50% of the debt value at the moment.

That would leave you with £14k, no debt and enough to help you before you get another job (well hopefully)!

Just make sure any f&f's are in writing, you pay the money by bank transfer or cheque NOT Direct Debit and you ensuring you are cutting back day to day spends as much as possible to get that £14k to last you.

Deep_In_Debt

National Debtline website has a good template letter you can use to write to your creditors to offer a F&F.
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Full-and-final-settlement-offers-%28sole-name%29.aspx

Always negotiate in writing and not on the phone. When I made F&Fs, I started low at 30%, didn't tell them how much money I had to offer or where it came from - I just told them what I was prepared to offer. It worked with a lot of them and I got some good F&Fs in the end. A lot of to'ing and fro'ing but my patience paid off with some of them in the end.

Richey_

Good luck to you, if I was you I'd be looking at the route cause of the debts not for some magic wand or loophole. I have a suspicion in years to come you will look back at this opportunity with regrets.

Most people here have paid the hard way, you have an amazing opportunity, don't waste it and certainly don't consider anything silly such as bankruptcy as you will potentially lose everything and your new born twins lose any home stability.

Genuinely wish you the best of luck, I suspect you will need it.

[Deleted User]

If you can get 50% full and final that will leave you 14k plus job seekers plus maternity pay plus child benefit more than enough to live on for 9 months

sourcrates

If you choose to do full and finals, then use this National Debtline template letter :

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

patman99

Be aware however, that should you still be on JSA after 6 months, they may count any money you spent settling the debts as deliberate deprivation of assets, so may count the money as still being in you account.

Please take full and proper advice prior to undertaking any F&Fs.

tlc678910

Hi,
if I were in your situation I would want to be settled into a new job before I gave up any of the lump sum, so I could manage if it took a while to find a job.

Why not just carry on making your agreed payments for now and review what you can afford when you are working based on how much lump sum you have left and how much you are earning.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

This thread is putting the cart before the horse.

You're about to be unemployed, your family has just grown and so your costs have just taken a step-change upwards. Childcare costs are such that one of you would probably be wise not to return to work at all.

Have you made any kind of plan for how to get through the next month, 3 months, 6 months? Have you got control of the spending that gave rise to the debt in the first place?

You should really talk this through with whichever organisation arranged your DMP, first, to check that your present arrangement to pay is still the best, to make sure that whatever you do isn't going to result in more charges, or loss of government support when you really need it.

Paying off all the debt and starting afresh might be the solution, but that's a decision to be made once you've accommodated these life changes. Whatever happens, you won't be able both to have your cake and eat it.