Big help required!!!

Rosey321

Thanks again to all.
The most heartening thing is reading that people do still seem to believe that (with a lot of hard work) this is a salvagable situation - even if it takes many years.

I have called the national debtline - very helpful they were indeed. They have echoed the CAB's advice of offering the creditors £1 for the time being. They thought it would be much more likely to be succesful if I mentioned wife's forthcoming raise - which would then give a positive disposable income.

A question: If I offer £1 to each creditor, is the letter better coming from the CAB or from me or does it not matter? Not sure if the CAB have more clout or not. The CAB are primed and ready to send although I gather they won't mention the forthcoming raise until it happens - therefore I'm a bit worried it will get rejected immediately. In a sense however, I would like to send them myself - just for a fuller sense of control I think. The debtline told me that the letters on their templates are the same ones that the CAB use anyway.

Also, although we should be back in 'disposable income' territory next month, I was thinking of wording the letter to ask for three months grace, and saying we will be able to up our payments in January. Do you think this would be acceptable? Should I say that income is actually going up in January (even though it is next month)? The three months inbetween would really help us out then and help us in our cause.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Rosey321

Following on from the last post, if I do send the letters out myself, I have composed the following (by way of a few amendments from the debtline version).
Do you think the following sounds ok:




Dear Sir/Madam

Re Account No

---

Since making the above agreement with you, our circumstances have temporarily changed and following discussions with the Citizens Advice Bureau and the National Debt Helpline, we have decided to take the positive steps of contacting you.

For the forthcoming three months, we cannot now afford to meet agreed monthly minimum payments due to our current financial position.

We enclose a Personal Budget sheet which shows our total income from all sources and total outgoings of our household. As you can see, we currently have no money to make offers to our creditors although we will have a positive disposable income as of January 2008 which is also detailed.

In view of our circumstances, would you therefore please accept a token offer of £1.00 per month to be reviewed in three months, when, as specified above, we will be in a more accommodating situation. In the meantime, we would be grateful if you would please freeze the interest and any other charges that are being added to our account so that our debt does not increase.

If it would make it more convenient for you, we would be grateful if you could send us a paying-in book.

Thank you in advance for your assistance. We hope that you appreciate the nature of this letter as a positive long-term step to maintaining our previous good relationship with your company. We hope that you will able to be forthcoming in your support of our current situation.

Yours faithfully,

tealady

Sounds OK. BUT (and its a big but) occasionally not all your creditors will agree to this. Don't allow anyone to bully you in to paying money you cannot afford, don't lie to them and DO remember they can't take what you don't have. Good luck, keep reading the site for some great money savings tips. I am lucky enough to not be in debt at present (apart from a mortgage) but as I have seen from this site that could so easily change.

Rosey321

If they don't agree, will they get nasty straight away, or will they just expect the minimum payment as usual? Might they offer a compromise?

tealady

Best to wait and see. If they get nasty try talking to CAB or CCCS

fiveyearplan

Jacks, wow, that's some savings. I need to digest that fully before I ask you some questions!

Thanks.

firesidemaid

Concil Tax - other folks on here have been successful in paying their council tax over 12 months of the year rather than 10 to reduce the monthly outgoings. and people have done it half way through the year too.

there has been a lot of discussion about this both on here and at a national level - maybe search for some threads.

tumbleweed261

Just want to wish you good luck - and remember that seemingly little things like a newspaper or a coffee every day can really add up, so whilst it might seem like a little treat if you abstained every day for a month you'd be closer to being in the black at the end of the month, which would give you far more enjoyment I'm sure!

Rosey321

It's been a little while since I posted so I thought I would give a quick update on how the creditors have responded to my letters asking for help.

Mainly, it has been thumbs up and a really pleasing response from the creditors which I am really grateful for but with one evident thumbs down. Here's the results::

Firstplus - Agreed to halve the secured loan payments for 3 months and add the arrears to the life of the loan.

M&S More - Agreed to a 12 month payment plan.

Style Storecard (RBS) - Agreed to a 6 month plan as long as I returned my card.

Next - Agreed to a 7 month payment plan

Bank Of Scotland (Credit Card 1) - Agreed to 3 month plan

Bank Of Scotland (Credit Card 2) - Agreed to 2 month plan no lower than £5 a month after a bit of haggling!!

Capital One - Still dealing but they seem helpful. They have asked for bank statements, payslips and general proof of our plight. Hopeful of a positive conclusion.

GE Money (2 accounts): Completely unhelpful. Refused requests on both accounts 'due to recent spending' although this spending was a good couple of months back and certainly no different to spending patterns on other cards. Follow up letter sent on each appealing to their better nature appears 'to never have arrived'. Telephonist out of her depth (not her fault I know) who kept trying to offer me payment plans for my arrears, not understanding that it is the minimum payments I can't make!! Told me in view of my lost letter that I would need to send (another) balance sheet in to them and that she would send me the info in the post. That was ten days ago and nothing. Since then, received a default notice demanding payment of arrears within 14 days or they will ask for full amount. In addition the minimum payments are shooting up on the statements!

Any advice on the last one? The arrears they are demanding is £33. They have left me worried and I'm tempted to make this payment if only to buy another months worth of time in the hope I can get a positive result from them. However, this will leave me short and I'm worried it will give GE the impression I can pay! The minimum payment for next month however if I do pay will be over a hundred quid with the overlimit fees and additional payments they have added to the latest statements.

Are GE renowned for being awkward? Funnily enough, when I sent my letters out, I suspected I would have trouble with them. They do often seem to play hard ball and are always straight on the phone chasing money. I remember them phoning once as I sat down for Boxing Day dinner!!!!

Any advice will be greatly received as always!

fiveyearplan

Out of all my creditors only 2 took any notice of the letters I sent to them requesting reduced payment. One was RBS and the other was GE Money. I think it is really just pot luck and who you speak to. Why don't you send your original letter again with a covering letter explaining that it had already been sent, send it recorded.

Another thing about all my creditors is every single one of them ignored my letter (apart from the 2 listed above) and still kept phoning, each time I explained that I had sent them a letter and an I&E. When they looked further they all seem to have found the letter but weren't prepared to accept my reduced payment offer.