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StepChange_Kirsty

Hi Brad,

This is absolutely fantastic news! Many congratulations on completing your DMP. Now you get to move on from it all and look forward to living debt free. It must feel brilliant.

Of course if you’d like to send in a thank you card then it will be greatly appreciated. Our address is:

StepChange Debt Charity
Wade House
Merrion Centre
Leeds
LS2 8NG

Thank you for your post and all the best for the future.

Congratulations again!

Kirsty

Brad1991 wrote: »

Well i've just received my letter of comfirmation from StepChange stating that i've made my final payment and my debts are finally cleared off after been on a DMP for 5 years !

I'm so thankful for all the work StepChange have done for me and i can finally feel free and not tied down !

Does anyone have a postal address i can send a thank you card to ?

KasiaLondon

Hi, help is much appreciated - copying from my original post:

I'm 22, currently a student. My family has gone bankrupt around 3 years ago - my dad hid some huge debts, lost his job, me and my mum (cleaner) were forced to pay the rent and all the bills, including bills in arrears.

I have used my credit card and my overdraft to cover this. Stupid I know! But I'm trying to fix it now.

I currently owe around £1300 in Credit Card Bill and around £1600 in Overdraft to Lloyds. I have been contacted my Moorcroft Debt Agency regarding the CC bill and Westcot regarding the overdraft. I have set up £80 pm to go to Moorcroft last October so I now owe around £1000 on my Credit Card. I have ignored (stupidly) Wescot up until now.

I am currently working but will be going back to uni in September. I really want to settle this as soon as possible. I've heard that debt collection agencies are awful and it's best to liaise with the lender, in this case Lloyds, themselves.

I can afford to pay probably around £1000 - is it worth writing to them to settle the debt for £1000? Or do I set up a payment of whatever I can afford to Westcot? What is the best option for me?

I know it's not huge in comparison to over people's debts but I am only 22 in a happy relationship so want to fix this ASAP so my credit rating isn't impacted any further.

si.bham.76

I'm in a bit of a pickle,

I currently have:
£1283.36 on a Natwest credit card (16.57%)
£4447.39 on a different Natwest credit card (6.68%)
£364.88 on my Argos store card (29.9% var)
£372.91 on a Next store card (22.9% var)
& £1747.47 on an account with Jacamo

(Other debts include, £1848.02 on an overdraft, £9511.76 left to pay on a personal loan and £985.22 on a desputed electricity bill from co-op energy on a property i left 18 months ago, but that now has a debt collection agency involved

Now the Jacamo account doesn't have a physical card with it, is this still technically a store card. Am I able to transfer all of these debts onto a 0% transfer card to try and help get a handle on them?

January has been the 1st month that I have ever fallen into arrears with some of my payments, I need to find a way to free up some money from my monthly outgoings in a bid to make sure I am able to pay all of my priority bills and actually start working my debt off and mostly keep the debt collectors from the co-op happy.

Thanks in advance

DK71

I have 45k of debt on credit cards and a loan following divorce and job changes. Is it best to go bankrupt to deal with this?

Secondly, I want to go to court over finances with my ex but the Deputy District Judge said I could be charged with paying her fees if I lose. If that happens can I put that under the bankruptcy too?

Thanks

Darren

Biffy70

Hi Craig. No I haven't ever missed any payments upto date..But that day was fast approaching as the bills are due on the 1st.ive been really stupid gambling up all this debt but i always leave enoughh funds to pay the bills until last weekend.So lastnight I applied for another money transfer card and got it hopefully. They said I can have £2000 even though I asked for almost 5k to clear my overdraft but it will get me out of a tight corner. I would of preference a consolidation loan but didn't want to risk trying only to be refused and put another mark on credit file.if the weather isn't to bad and I managed to get at least 3.5 to 4 days work a week and definitely don gamble I'll be flatlining maybe reducing debt.then when weather improve my wage will increase and I should have £500 extra / month to clear overdraft and credit card over the year.
I'll have to just accept the overdraft fees (£90) for now and the credit card interest.Or should I still apply for consolidation loan.
Also I haven't mentioned .my wife dosnt know .so everytime s get new financing I spend days worrying about her open the letters .

StepChange_Allen

KasiaLondon wrote: »

Hi, help is much appreciated - copying from my original post:

I'm 22, currently a student. My family has gone bankrupt around 3 years ago - my dad hid some huge debts, lost his job, me and my mum (cleaner) were forced to pay the rent and all the bills, including bills in arrears.

I have used my credit card and my overdraft to cover this. Stupid I know! But I'm trying to fix it now.

I currently owe around £1300 in Credit Card Bill and around £1600 in Overdraft to Lloyds. I have been contacted my Moorcroft Debt Agency regarding the CC bill and Westcot regarding the overdraft. I have set up £80 pm to go to Moorcroft last October so I now owe around £1000 on my Credit Card. I have ignored (stupidly) Wescot up until now.

I am currently working but will be going back to uni in September. I really want to settle this as soon as possible. I've heard that debt collection agencies are awful and it's best to liaise with the lender, in this case Lloyds, themselves.

I can afford to pay probably around £1000 - is it worth writing to them to settle the debt for £1000? Or do I set up a payment of whatever I can afford to Westcot? What is the best option for me?

I know it's not huge in comparison to over people's debts but I am only 22 in a happy relationship so want to fix this ASAP so my credit rating isn't impacted any further.

Hi Kasia

Thanks for your message.

I can understand that you want to try and resolve the debt before go to university if possible. When a creditor passes a debt to a debt collection agency (DCA) you need to deal with the DCA rather than the original lender. There shouldn't be any reason why they're any more difficult to deal with than the original creditor, and in fact it can often be easier to speak to someone, plus interest is usually frozen once it's passed on.

It's an option to offer a reduced settlement, but this will show on your credit file for 6 years and reduce your credit score for that time because some of the debt will have been written off.

I can't say for sure what your best options are for dealing with your debts without knowing more information about your circumstances. If you'd like to register with us for free we can assess your situation and recommend the best steps to take. Details of how to get started are on our website.

I hope this is helpful.

Allen

StepChange_Allen

si.arinze wrote: »

I'm in a bit of a pickle,

I currently have:
£1283.36 on a Natwest credit card (16.57%)
£4447.39 on a different Natwest credit card (6.68%)
£364.88 on my Argos store card (29.9% var)
£372.91 on a Next store card (22.9% var)
& £1747.47 on an account with Jacamo

(Other debts include, £1848.02 on an overdraft, £9511.76 left to pay on a personal loan and £985.22 on a desputed electricity bill from co-op energy on a property i left 18 months ago, but that now has a debt collection agency involved

Now the Jacamo account doesn't have a physical card with it, is this still technically a store card. Am I able to transfer all of these debts onto a 0% transfer card to try and help get a handle on them?

January has been the 1st month that I have ever fallen into arrears with some of my payments, I need to find a way to free up some money from my monthly outgoings in a bid to make sure I am able to pay all of my priority bills and actually start working my debt off and mostly keep the debt collectors from the co-op happy.

Thanks in advance

Hi there

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post.

It sounds like all of the debts you have there are of an equal priority - accounts being sent to debt collection agencies like the Co-op one aren't any more important than the others. With the amount of debt you have, I very much doubt that trying to transfer it to a 0% card will work. Firstly I think it's unlikely you'd be able to get enough credit to cover your debts, and secondly, we usually find that further borrowing doesn't really work. 0% cards can be helpful, but once the 0% expires things get more difficult again.

This is just general advice though, so in order to receive personalised advice for your situation you can register with us for free; details are on our website.

I hope this helps and we hope to speak with you soon.

Allen

StepChange_Allen

DK71 wrote: »

I have 45k of debt on credit cards and a loan following divorce and job changes. Is it best to go bankrupt to deal with this?

Secondly, I want to go to court over finances with my ex but the Deputy District Judge said I could be charged with paying her fees if I lose. If that happens can I put that under the bankruptcy too?

Thanks

Darren

Hi Darren

Thanks for your post.

There are a number of different factors that go into recommending a debt solution, the amount of debt is only one of those. Therefore it's not possible to say from this information alone that you should or shouldn't go bankrupt.

In regards to whether your ex's legal fees could go into your bankruptcy if you're ordered to repay those, again I believe there are a couple of factors that could determine whether this is the case, such as whether this is a divorce situation.

The best thing to do is to get in touch and register with us so that we can do a thorough assessment of your finances and then recommend the best debt solution(s) for you and discuss this legal fees scenario.

You can find the ways to get in touch here.

I hope we can help you soon.

Allen

StepChange_Allen

Biffy70 wrote: »

Hi Craig. No I haven't ever missed any payments upto date..But that day was fast approaching as the bills are due on the 1st.ive been really stupid gambling up all this debt but i always leave enoughh funds to pay the bills until last weekend.So lastnight I applied for another money transfer card and got it hopefully. They said I can have £2000 even though I asked for almost 5k to clear my overdraft but it will get me out of a tight corner. I would of preference a consolidation loan but didn't want to risk trying only to be refused and put another mark on credit file.if the weather isn't to bad and I managed to get at least 3.5 to 4 days work a week and definitely don gamble I'll be flatlining maybe reducing debt.then when weather improve my wage will increase and I should have £500 extra / month to clear overdraft and credit card over the year.
I'll have to just accept the overdraft fees (£90) for now and the credit card interest.Or should I still apply for consolidation loan.
Also I haven't mentioned .my wife dosnt know .so everytime s get new financing I spend days worrying about her open the letters .

Hi Biffy

Thanks for your post.

I agree with my colleague Kirsty's post that debt consolidation is rarely a good idea and usually results in the situation getting worse. You're of course free to do whatever you want to, but our advice is to get in touch with us via the links Kirsty provided so that we can advise what your best options are. You're still free to do your own thing if you contact us and not follow that advice if you wished.

It does sound from the way you describe things that the debt is escalating with more interest and charges being added, so the sooner you can get them under control the better.

Just a reminder that our contact details can be found here.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Allen

si.bham.76

Thanks Allen, I will register later today