Struggling with debt? Ask a debt adviser a question

StepChange_Kirsty

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your message and welcome to the forum.

I can’t explain why your address hasn’t been updated on your credit file so I would suggest contacting the credit reference agencies for further advice. There are three main credit reference agencies: Experian, Equifax and Call Credit so it would be worth contacting each of them to make sure your address has been updated.

One thing you need to check is if you’re registered to vote. When you’re on the electoral roll, your credit file will show the address which you are registered at. You can apply to be on the electoral roll here on the government website.

As we don’t specialise in advising people on taking further credit I cannot comment on whether you taking out credit cards to repay the overdraft would be a wise decision. Before applying though you would need to check if you can actually transfer funds from the credit card to your current account and many credit cards don’t allow you to do this. If you’re looking to get a 0% interest credit card then do make sure that you have a plan in place to pay off the balance before the 0% comes to an end as there is no guarantee you would be able to get another card at that rate.

If you’re struggling with repaying your overdraft then you might benefit from further debt advice. You could complete our online Debt Remedy tool which takes you through a process of putting a budget together and will give you advice at the end in the form of a personal action plan. You can find Debt Remedy here.

I hope this helps.

Kirsty

Alexf1987 wrote: »

Hi. I want to get a few credit cards to avoid the high overdraft fees I am paying. I have a good credit score, but my experian score has my old address on it. I bought a flat and moved in over a year ago, and changed my bank accounts to the new address when I moved. My credit report has no record of this, and now I'm getting denied every card/loan (presumably because my addresses don't match up?) How can I get this changed? Thank you!

Sue67_2

Thank you Kirsty. I believe they were looking at possession approx 4 1/2 years ago and from what you have said it was probably a combined unsecured loan and mortgage. £200 of the current monthly payment is on the arrears the rest being for the mortgage. It's the monthly mortgage payment of £2000 that they need to reduce by approx half but no one will give them a remortgage while the ccj is in place. If there is still an amount outstanding after 6 years on the arrears which they continue to pay will the ccj drop off their credit file like other info or will it still show. At the age of 63 this is a huge deal for them, they have lived at their home since 1995. Originally they had an endowment mortgage which was changed to a repayment mortgage after their spouse passed away - hence the £2000 per month.

Former_StepChange_Linsi

Hi Sue

Thanks for posting.

A CCJ will remain on your friends credit file six years from the date the judgement was entered. The CCJ will still be removed even if there is an outstanding balance, but this doesn’t affect the creditor’s rights to continue collecting it.

As well as using the services Kirsty mentioned in her post your friend may also want to look at the Money Advice Service website for more information on mortgages. Whilst having a CCJ can make it harder to remortgage there may still be lenders willing to help.

All the best,

Linsi

Sue67 wrote: »

Thank you Kirsty. I believe they were looking at possession approx 4 1/2 years ago and from what you have said it was probably a combined unsecured loan and mortgage. £200 of the current monthly payment is on the arrears the rest being for the mortgage. It's the monthly mortgage payment of £2000 that they need to reduce by approx half but no one will give them a remortgage while the ccj is in place. If there is still an amount outstanding after 6 years on the arrears which they continue to pay will the ccj drop off their credit file like other info or will it still show. At the age of 63 this is a huge deal for them, they have lived at their home since 1995. Originally they had an endowment mortgage which was changed to a repayment mortgage after their spouse passed away - hence the £2000 per month.

Sue67_2

Thank you Linsi - will do - if we come up with anything will let you know

stessedtfout

Hi,

I have a CCJ from Lowell, passed to Cohen Cramer and I have accepted it and I'm ready to pay.

I just want to make sure I'm paying the correct people and I'm doing in the correct manner as I don't want the CCJ on my file and it will be within 30 days of the judgement.

I have received a notice of a county court judgement from Cohen Cramer and a judgement for the claimant from the county court business centre.

The letter from the county court says to pay the solicitors, the letter from Cohen Cramer says to pay a company called Lucas Credit services.

I want to make sure I'm paying the correct people because the last thing I want to do is pay £860 to the wrong people and have this drag on.

Can I not pay the court and have them pass it on? It seems like the safest option?

Darren66

Hi in 2004 I had a dept of £2327.91 I moved away from the area and forgot about it now I'm getting letters from a Mortimer Clarke solicitors saying that I've got to pay them I've been told by a friend that after a certain amount of years the dept would be wiped the company Mortimer tryed to contact me last year but I never replyed where do I stand with this thank you

jonjon123

Hi, hoping someone can answer my questions and help me out and steer me in the right direction.......

I earn approximately 24k a year and my total debt level is approximately 23k.

After paying out living expenses, rent, bills, loans, credit cards and HP which are currently up to date I find myself left with next to nothing every month, so wandered what my options are please?

I have spoken to someone in the past and they have advised DRO, but dont think i qualify for this because my debt level is too high, so would like some advice please.

The main issue i have is my car on finance. It's halfway through the term and obviously want to trade it in, in a few months for a newer vehicle, but am worried if i go down some sort of ''help'' route my credit file will be severly damaged and won't be accepted for another car in the future?

Things are up to date as i say, but it is making me struggle and swallowing me up every month, so what are my options please?

Stay as i am and pay them, or go down some form of debt route and potentially damage my credit for the next 6 years?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Legend4uk

Morning
Just a quick question I have a few defaults on credit cards if I settle the debt as partial settlement in the future creditors when they check my credit file does the partial settlement show as a figure on my credit file of what I payed and what I didn't or does it just get marked as a simple "Partial settlement" with no outstanding numbers

Thanks for any information.

Hjr2611

Hi

I am a single Mum of 2 teenagers with my own home which has a mortgage of £226k and around the same amount of equity. I currently only pay the interest part of the mortgage on SVR and have nothing in place to pay off the mortgage, which ends in around 12 years.

I am self employed, my profits last year (and probably slightly less this year) are approx £21k.

I receive tax credits of around £300 per month and Maintenance (not through the CSA) of £200 per month. I also receive child benefit of circa £126 per month.

I have circa £30k of debts on a Tesco Loan, MBNA & Halifax credit cards, some of the debt is still on a promotional rate but most is now earning interest. I'm due to pay another HMRC tax bill of around £2k in July and have no means to pay it... Im also beginning to find it difficult to meet the monthly loan/credit card payments each month.

I have an excellent credit rating as I've never missed a payment for anything but I'm beginning to struggle and this month is particularly tight, times where I've struggled to have money to buy food. I'm really worried this situation will only get worse and can't see any way of solving it.

I've attempted to get help from my bank (my mortgage is also with them) but they are unable to increase my mortgage and won't consolidate my debt in to any other loan. To be honest I'm loathe to do this latter anyway. I doubt anyone else would consider me for a mortgage as my income is so low and being self employed.

One option that could be a possibility is to sell my home and buy something cheaper elsewhere but this would need to be within proximity of my children's school (they are mid GCSE's). I don't know if someone would give me a mortgage for this though or who I could go to to help me work out my options.

The other option is to get help with the debts.. to be honest I'm not worried so much about my credit rating at this stage, it's no use to me currently anyway and I want to get out of debt rather than take on more. I don't know what the best thing is to do with this though, and would like some advice on who would be the best contact at this stage and what my possible options would be?

If someone could take the time to offer me some advice I would really appreciate it. I'm running round in circles with it all in my head and I'm getting nowhere other than more anxious and down about it.

Thanks

StepChange_Kirsty

Hi there,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

The best thing to do here is contact Cohen Cramer solicitors to find out where they want you to pay the money to. When the court wrote to they will have suggested you pay the money to the organisation who obtained the judgment, in this case Cohen Cramer. However if Cohen Cramer are only acting on behalf of Lucas Credit Service then they may prefer you pay the money directly to Lucas.

The court will not accept the payment for the judgment directly.

When you do pay the judgment make sure that you ask for written confirmation of payment. You can then forward this to the court with an N443 application for a certificate of cancellation to ensure that the debt is removed from the public register and your credit file. This application carries a fee of £15 which you would pay directly to the court.

I hope this helps.

Kirsty

stessedtfout wrote: »

Hi,

I have a CCJ from Lowell, passed to Cohen Cramer and I have accepted it and I'm ready to pay.

I just want to make sure I'm paying the correct people and I'm doing in the correct manner as I don't want the CCJ on my file and it will be within 30 days of the judgement.

I have received a notice of a county court judgement from Cohen Cramer and a judgement for the claimant from the county court business centre.

The letter from the county court says to pay the solicitors, the letter from Cohen Cramer says to pay a company called Lucas Credit services.

I want to make sure I'm paying the correct people because the last thing I want to do is pay £860 to the wrong people and have this drag on.

Can I not pay the court and have them pass it on? It seems like the safest option?