Struggling with debt? Ask a debt adviser a question

StepChange_Rachael

Hi

Thanks for your message.

It’s a difficult one because we don’t know how much exactly, the refund will be. If the amount is much less than the debt then there will still be something left owing and the collection company will still have a legal right to collect for it.

I’d recommend contacting the collection agency, explain the situation and see if they will put the account on hold until it’s resolved. You could also make a small payment as a token if they don’t accept the complete hold for the meantime.

It’d be best to make the collection company aware so that they don’t start any legal action by sending the debt to a CCJ.

Thanks
Rachael

BumpingBuzzards wrote: »

I had a Wonga loan which was one of the unsold ones and am waiting for compensation which I know won’t be much.

However I didn’t manage to pay that debt to Wonga so it was passed to a debt collector and they are still taking payments off me. As the loan was originally missold would I have a case to get the debt collector to wipe it?

crescent25

Apologies for the long post...

My house with an ex which I bought when I was stupidly young was repossessed. I've been told I should have declared bankruptcy at the time and that it'll all have been done and dusted now (but you know, I was young, severely depressed and received poor information at the time). It also wasn't until 2017 (5 years after the repo I think) that I received a letter through saying I owed £29k. I naively thought that it had all just been cleared when everything on my credit file was put to closed. The mortgage account was closed and showed as 'settled' within around 12-18 months of the repossession.

I was studying in Australia when I got the letter through saying I owed £29k, otherwise, I probably would have just declared bankruptcy then. Then when I came back, I was applying for a role that required very high vetting and again, I put off the bankruptcy as it was possible I would be declined for the job.

Anyway, moving forward, I WAS trying to rebuild my credit in the hope that I can save some money (and maybe take out a small loan) to add the the £10k that my parents will gift me £10k to offer as a full and final settlement for the debt (which was in joint names). I have been advised that this is a silly idea and still, to just declare bankruptcy.

I just don't know what the best thing is to do. If I had enough money to offer a final settlement of £15k in 12-24 months, this means that my credit file will have been rebuilt and in a few more years, I should be in a position to buy a house. I won't have to tell my employer or any future employers, I won't have to declare a bankruptcy if I ever settle down in a new relationship and I'll have cleared the debt off my own back.

I feel like if I declare bankruptcy (I have around £100 disposable income each month after paying all bills etc), I'll constantly have to explain in the future to employers, mortgage companies, new partners that I was once bankrupt. I also cannot understand whether if I had £100 disposable income, do I just pay this for 12 months or for 3 years? I'm also worried as I've read your bank account is closed. What if it was closed whilst my wages were being paid in and I lose them for that month and cannot afford to pay any bills? We get paid at the end of the month, but I believe the cut off date to change your bank account details is around 10th of the month. My credit file will also plument and I'll be back to square one and presumably, not be able to buy another house for at least 6 years until the bankruptcy drops off. Could I even rent somewhere else? I currently lodge with a friend.

If I have a fleet car through work that I pay £80 extra tax a month for (as I have to travel >7000 miles per year for work), would this be okay? Would it be taken off me or could I keep it with a bankruptcy?

I just cannot weigh up whether it would be stupid to save and accept money from my parents to offer £15k settlement, when I could just declare bankruptcy. But worried about the long term, negative effects that this would have.

YdidntI

Hi,

Looking for advice as I am struggling with trying to find a solution. I was in a cracking position financially last year and my credit rating couldn’t have been better!!

I decide to buy a new car and things just spiralled down, due to various stupid ideas and get rich schemes (which didn’t work) I’ve now landed myself in 45k of debt. My house is worth approx 230k and I have 180k of mortgage, the trouble is because I now have so much unsecured debt on loans and cards I can’t remortgage to consolidate debt. This I know is not ideal but would help short term, as my career improves then I can clear the extra up quicker.

I can’t borrow more and I can’t afford to pay my monthly payments which is spiralling up! I can’t hand the car back without owing thousands still and now I’m lost with what to do, it’s now impacting on my health as I’m stressing about what am I supposed to do?

Dan

Mrjohnp

Hi every one. So I'm in debt and want advice but any debt advice people I speak to seen to have limited options of bankruptcy or iva. What I want to know is who can I talk to that understand all aspects on money including mortgages and inheritance and debt. Who do I talk to? Thank you for your help

StepChange_Allen

crescent25 wrote: »

Apologies for the long post...

My house with an ex which I bought when I was stupidly young was repossessed. I've been told I should have declared bankruptcy at the time and that it'll all have been done and dusted now (but you know, I was young, severely depressed and received poor information at the time). It also wasn't until 2017 (5 years after the repo I think) that I received a letter through saying I owed £29k. I naively thought that it had all just been cleared when everything on my credit file was put to closed. The mortgage account was closed and showed as 'settled' within around 12-18 months of the repossession.

I was studying in Australia when I got the letter through saying I owed £29k, otherwise, I probably would have just declared bankruptcy then. Then when I came back, I was applying for a role that required very high vetting and again, I put off the bankruptcy as it was possible I would be declined for the job.

Anyway, moving forward, I WAS trying to rebuild my credit in the hope that I can save some money (and maybe take out a small loan) to add the the £10k that my parents will gift me £10k to offer as a full and final settlement for the debt (which was in joint names). I have been advised that this is a silly idea and still, to just declare bankruptcy.

I just don't know what the best thing is to do. If I had enough money to offer a final settlement of £15k in 12-24 months, this means that my credit file will have been rebuilt and in a few more years, I should be in a position to buy a house. I won't have to tell my employer or any future employers, I won't have to declare a bankruptcy if I ever settle down in a new relationship and I'll have cleared the debt off my own back.

I feel like if I declare bankruptcy (I have around £100 disposable income each month after paying all bills etc), I'll constantly have to explain in the future to employers, mortgage companies, new partners that I was once bankrupt. I also cannot understand whether if I had £100 disposable income, do I just pay this for 12 months or for 3 years? I'm also worried as I've read your bank account is closed. What if it was closed whilst my wages were being paid in and I lose them for that month and cannot afford to pay any bills? We get paid at the end of the month, but I believe the cut off date to change your bank account details is around 10th of the month. My credit file will also plument and I'll be back to square one and presumably, not be able to buy another house for at least 6 years until the bankruptcy drops off. Could I even rent somewhere else? I currently lodge with a friend.

If I have a fleet car through work that I pay £80 extra tax a month for (as I have to travel >7000 miles per year for work), would this be okay? Would it be taken off me or could I keep it with a bankruptcy?

I just cannot weigh up whether it would be stupid to save and accept money from my parents to offer £15k settlement, when I could just declare bankruptcy. But worried about the long term, negative effects that this would have.

Hi Crescent

Thanks for posting.

The best thing to do would be to register with us for some free debt advice, as any advice we'd give to you would at least partly depend on your budget and level of debt.

I'll try and answer some of your points where I can though:

- There's not necessarily a right or wrong answer of whether you should look to do settlements or go bankrupt, it's down to you, with advice, to weigh up the pros and cons of both

- If you ended up with an income payment arrangement/order, this would be in place for 3 years.

- If your bank account was overdrawn, the debt would go into the bankruptcy and so you'd need to open a new basic account. If it has an overdraft facility even, the bank may close it and suggest you downgrade to a basic account. There shouldn't be any reason why you can't have a bank account after bankruptcy, you just won't be able to have an overdraft.

- I'm not sure with the car agreement, it's probably down to the official receiver's (OR) discretion. However, you should be able to have a vehicle one way or another if essential.

- Once discharged from bankruptcy, there's no rule to say that that you can't get a mortgage, though it certainly may be difficult as bankruptcy would stay on your credit file for 6 years. It may also be more difficult to get a private tenancy if they do a credit check, but not necessarily impossible.

So, all-in-all, little is certain, and it really comes down to weighing up the pros and cons of either option. There may be other alternatives too, which we can explore with you should you decide to register with us.

If you'd like to register with us, please visit: www.stepchange.org/Contactus

I hope this is helpful.

Allen

StepChange_Allen

YdidntI wrote: »

Hi,

Looking for advice as I am struggling with trying to find a solution. I was in a cracking position financially last year and my credit rating couldn’t have been better!!

I decide to buy a new car and things just spiralled down, due to various stupid ideas and get rich schemes (which didn’t work) I’ve now landed myself in 45k of debt. My house is worth approx 230k and I have 180k of mortgage, the trouble is because I now have so much unsecured debt on loans and cards I can’t remortgage to consolidate debt. This I know is not ideal but would help short term, as my career improves then I can clear the extra up quicker.

I can’t borrow more and I can’t afford to pay my monthly payments which is spiralling up! I can’t hand the car back without owing thousands still and now I’m lost with what to do, it’s now impacting on my health as I’m stressing about what am I supposed to do?

Dan

Hi Dan

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting.

Firstly, if the debts are now impacting on your health, I'd recommend speaking with your GP for some help and advice.

In regards to the debts, we can definitely help. In order to do so, we'd need to know more about your income, expenses and debts. You can provide this information and then receive some advice by registering with us free of charge.

Details of how to do this can be found at www.stepchange.org/Contactus

I hope this is helpful.

Allen

StepChange_Allen

Mrjohnp wrote: »

Hi every one. So I'm in debt and want advice but any debt advice people I speak to seen to have limited options of bankruptcy or iva. What I want to know is who can I talk to that understand all aspects on money including mortgages and inheritance and debt. Who do I talk to? Thank you for your help

Hi John

Thanks for posting.

At StepChange, we'd take into account any and all information in order to give you advice, so you're welcome to register with us free of charge. I'd recommend calling our main telephone advice line rather than registering online; details can be found on our website: www.stepchange.org/Contactus

I hope this helps.

Allen

NewStart2017

Hello,

I've been abroad for many years, and moved back to UK (NI) late last year. I opened a credit builder credit card, signed onto the electoral roll again, but then decided to leave in spring this year. Today I received an email from Robinson Way about an old credit card debt which I *think* is statute barred. The debt is definitely well over 6 years old (possibly as much as 9 years), but I'm not sure if I ever acknowledged it in writing since it defaulted.

I am now registered as living in Portugal (as in I'm registered with the local town hall here, as self-employed). I'm wondering if I should:

1. Write to Robinson Way with your statute barred query letter template, not admitting liability and saying I believe it to be statute barred, asking them to prove otherwise;
2. Tell them I no longer live in the UK;
3. Ask them to only contact me via email (they've written to me at my parents' address, where I was living last year, and I don't want my parents worrying)

Thanks in advance,
Mike

StepChange_Kirsty

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

It sounds as though you have a good plan of action in terms of contacting Robinson Way to confirm if the debt is statute barred. If you need any more information on statute barred debt there is a useful article on our website here.

You can certainly ask them to contact you only by email but some letters, such as court documents, do have to be sent via post so you may wish to update them with your Portugal address, so you don’t miss anything important.

If the debt is not statute barred we would recommend looking to make an arrangement with them of what you can afford to pay. If you need debt advice we would recommend speaking to a debt advice service in Portugal.

I hope this helps.

Kirsty

NewStart2017 wrote: »

Hello,

I've been abroad for many years, and moved back to UK (NI) late last year. I opened a credit builder credit card, signed onto the electoral roll again, but then decided to leave in spring this year. Today I received an email from Robinson Way about an old credit card debt which I *think* is statute barred. The debt is definitely well over 6 years old (possibly as much as 9 years), but I'm not sure if I ever acknowledged it in writing since it defaulted.

I am now registered as living in Portugal (as in I'm registered with the local town hall here, as self-employed). I'm wondering if I should:

1. Write to Robinson Way with your statute barred query letter template, not admitting liability and saying I believe it to be statute barred, asking them to prove otherwise;
2. Tell them I no longer live in the UK;
3. Ask them to only contact me via email (they've written to me at my parents' address, where I was living last year, and I don't want my parents worrying)

Thanks in advance,
Mike

StepChange_Kirsty

Hi there,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

Yes, there are definitely ways to deal with your debts without needing to borrow further.

You mentioned you’re in danger of losing your house, so this is something you’re going to need advice about as a matter of urgency. I would recommend getting in touch with us as soon as possible on 0800 138 1111 to speak to one of our debt advisors. We’re available Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday’s 9am to 2pm.

If your expenses are high in comparison to what your creditors would expect to see, we’ll suggest reductions. I can appreciate cutting costs can be difficult but sometimes it’s essential especially if you’re trying to keep the roof over your head, but we can talk you through the best ways of budgeting when you call.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Kirsty

Jon838 wrote: »

I can’t remember the last time I was debt free. It’s been borrowing from Peter to pay Tom even though I have a steady source of income. My wife is expensive and would leave me if I start cutting costs (not that I know how to) and I am in danger of losing my house.


Is there a method I could use to pay off my debts without borrowing from person to pay another every other month?