Struggling with debt? Ask a debt adviser a question

jimbo0797

Any response to my post would be gratefully received

StepChange_Allen

jimbo0797 wrote: »

Any response to my post would be gratefully received

Hi James

Thanks for posting.

Rachael did reply to your original post, it can be found here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5559140/struggling-with-debt-ask-a-debt-adviser-a-question&page=51#1001

Best wishes

Allen

LLM1985

Hi

I'm hoping someone can help me. I had a Credit Card with Aqua and due to my circumstances I could no longer afford to keep up with my payments. I received a letter from Cabot Financial to tell me they have bought the debt and I need to pay. At the time I hadn't heard of the 3 letter process and set up a payment plan of £18 a month. Will I be able to carry out the 3 letter process or is it too late?

I'm really worried about it and don't know what to do. I appreciate any help\advice anyone can give me
Thank You

sourcrates

LLM1985 wrote: »

Hi

I'm hoping someone can help me. I had a Credit Card with Aqua and due to my circumstances I could no longer afford to keep up with my payments. I received a letter from Cabot Financial to tell me they have bought the debt and I need to pay. At the time I hadn't heard of the 3 letter process and set up a payment plan of £18 a month. Will I be able to carry out the 3 letter process or is it too late?

I'm really worried about it and don't know what to do. I appreciate any help\advice anyone can give me
Thank You

Hi,

Stepchange advisor will be along shortly, but just to tell you 3 letter process is utter rubbish.
You can ask them to prove the debt by all means, you do this by sending the provit letter, if they can prove liability, sort out the payment plan at a rate you can afford.

Former_StepChange_Joe

[FONT=&quot]Hello[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Sourcrates is correct – Simply put, the ‘3 letters process’ is nonsense and isn’t worth pursuing.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You can of course ask Cabot Financial to provide proof of your liability, and you can do this by sending just 1 letter – there’s a template letter you can download from our website here.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the unlikely event they are unable to provide proof of liability, they can’t legally enforce the debt. I wouldn’t bank on this, however: as you say yourself, you had a credit card with Aqua, and this it appears this debt has been sold to Cabot Financial.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I’m sorry to hear this is worrying you, but please don’t panic – Cabot Financial are nothing more than a debt collection agency. There’s some really useful and reassuring information about debt collection agencies on our website here
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If you’re worried you can’t afford the payment arrangement you’ve made, you can negotiate a more affordable payment with them. They’re more likely to accept this if you send a copy of your budget and list of debts along with your offer of payment, to show you’re paying them a fair amount.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]StepChange can help you create one of these: a good place to start is our online Debt Remedy self-help tool. As well as creating a budget of list of debts with you, Debt Remedy will also provide you with some free, impartial and confidential advice on how to manage your debts going forward.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I hope you’ve found this helpful and we look forward to hearing from you soon.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thanks[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Joe[/FONT]

LLM1985 wrote: »

Hi

I'm hoping someone can help me. I had a Credit Card with Aqua and due to my circumstances I could no longer afford to keep up with my payments. I received a letter from Cabot Financial to tell me they have bought the debt and I need to pay. At the time I hadn't heard of the 3 letter process and set up a payment plan of £18 a month. Will I be able to carry out the 3 letter process or is it too late?

I'm really worried about it and don't know what to do. I appreciate any help\advice anyone can give me
Thank You

louise42

Hello,

I'm £2,500 in my overdraft and wanted some advice about how to get out of it?
I've never owed any sort of money before. I had to have time off work due to a shoulder injury and was only paid for some of this so am now struggling.

Now im back at work i get approx 300 left over each month after my bills come out so I can get myself out of the overdraft in time but im worried that the bank may just ask for me to pay it as I know they can demand it randomly.

Also my mortgage deal runs out in May and i will need to get a new deal (this is my first mortgage and this is the end of the first 2 year fixed rate deal) and im worried my overdraft will be a problem? Im not really sure how it works.

Any help would be appreciated.

StepChange_Rachael

Hi

Thanks for your message.

I’m sorry to hear about your injury, I can see how this could have caused you to rely on credit with the reduced income.

If you’re within your agreed overdraft limit it’s unlikely the bank will remove your overdraft. If you’re now able to start reducing your overdraft by £300 a month, it sounds like you’re in a good place to start paying back your overdraft in a very realistic amount of time and without the bank removing it.

Debt can have some impact when you’re looking at new mortgage interest options; however it’s unlikely to have any real impact as it’s a relatively low amount of debt and if you’re servicing it then it won’t have any negative impact on your credit file.

If for any reason your bank does demand the payment back, they should work with you to look at repayment options that are affordable. If they decide to cancel the overdraft they should provide some warning and you can move banks to avoid your income being used for the overdraft.

As far as I can tell from what you’ve mentioned it doesn’t sound as though you need to worry about the overdraft at this time. However, you’ve always got the option that you can open another account for your income to go into and use the £300 a month to repay the overdraft. This way if the bank does cancel the overdraft limit they won’t have access to your income.

I hope that helps.

Thanks
Rachael

louise42 wrote: »

Hello,

I'm £2,500 in my overdraft and wanted some advice about how to get out of it?
I've never owed any sort of money before. I had to have time off work due to a shoulder injury and was only paid for some of this so am now struggling.

Now im back at work i get approx 300 left over each month after my bills come out so I can get myself out of the overdraft in time but im worried that the bank may just ask for me to pay it as I know they can demand it randomly.

Also my mortgage deal runs out in May and i will need to get a new deal (this is my first mortgage and this is the end of the first 2 year fixed rate deal) and im worried my overdraft will be a problem? Im not really sure how it works.

Any help would be appreciated.

LondonMoneyHelpPlease

Hello,

I have about 16k in loan debt in Canada but I live in the UK. I transfer monthly payments overseas every month or two but this is getting more and more expensive with international transfer fees. I think the best way to pay off the debt (which I'm happy to get advice on) would be to get a balance transfer card or loan in the UK, pay off the Canada debt and just pay off the debt in UK going forward. Apparently my bank (Lloyds) don't offer such services. Do you know any other banks or lenders who could help me? If not, what is your advice to pay off this debt?

Thank you!

Canadian in London

StepChange_Allen

LondonMoneyHelpPlease wrote: »

Hello,

I have about 16k in loan debt in Canada but I live in the UK. I transfer monthly payments overseas every month or two but this is getting more and more expensive with international transfer fees. I think the best way to pay off the debt (which I'm happy to get advice on) would be to get a balance transfer card or loan in the UK, pay off the Canada debt and just pay off the debt in UK going forward. Apparently my bank (Lloyds) don't offer such services. Do you know any other banks or lenders who could help me? If not, what is your advice to pay off this debt?

Thank you!

Canadian in London

Hi there

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting.

I'll be honest, this is the first time that I've had this question before and not something I really know much about.

Based on general knowledge around debts and credit that I do have, I'd probably start off by checking the repayment terms of the loan in Canada, because sometimes repaying a loan early can incur costs/fees, which could potentially outweigh the money saved in fees.

I doubt any kind of 'transfer' option as such will exist, so if the early repayment terms are okay, I suppose that if you can successfully get credit at a rate you're happy with here, and it's affordable, you could use that lump sum (e.g. if a loan), pay off the Canadian loan and then just have the one here. However I have no idea of your financial situation and whether applying for credit is a good idea or not. So this is just based on how to try and get rid of the Canadian loan, if it's financially savvy to do so.

I hope this helps in some way.

Allen

Welshmanc75

Hi all

Long time lurker but first time poster. Over the last 3 years I've manage to reduce my debts from over £14,000 down to less than £2,000 mainly due to advice and help on this site. I have however a question that I was hoping to get some help with.

I'm being chasee by Lowell on behalf of CashPlus for approx £115. They have provided me with a balance, but I've asked for a detailed statement to account for all transactions made on this card. The reason I ask for this, is due to the fact I can only remember having a pre-paid card from CashPlus and it was never activated.

Am I entitled to a detailed breakdown of all the transactions made? Lowell are trying to tell me no and that an end balance is all I'm entitled but I need to be absolutely sure before I agree to pay this balance.

Thanks in advance