Struggling with debt? Ask a debt adviser a question

moneyman_34

Its been fairly recently that my marriage has broken down and I have been asked by my partner or ex partner, still not sure yet. To move back home with my parents.

She has left me with over £3k of debt, this is a mixture of bills she had no intrest in paying and credit cards she took out in my name along with some catalogues as well I have a plan in mind to what i want to do to clear it all but it will take time as she has no intrest in budgeting. We have three kids together as well which she makes me feel guilty as well when i dont see them even though she asked me to leave.

I think i might fill in one of those forms on here to show the debt i am in and show my journey. Has anyone else done this?

turbonet

Hello Everyone

just after a little bit of advice, don’t normally have to ask debt questions but this letter i got made me laugh ....

Got a letter a couple of weeks ago from department for work and pensions saying that i owed them £556.71.
did not know what this was so i wrote to them asking for confirmation on what this actually is.
got a return letter today (20th august)
stating it was for a social fund loan that i had back in 2002 (yes 2002) for furniture and household equipment.
i take it this was proberly when i was not working and claiming benefits ......

my question is ..

can they still try to claim this from me after all this time (16 years)????
it’s a very long time to send me a letter to demand the money back

have they been going through some old paperwork, and found this bill?

any thoughts would be appreciated

Former_StepChange_Joe

JWinnie71 wrote: »

Hi,

Hope I'm posting in the correct place.

Would like some advice please. I currently have 3 credit cards and am going round in circles trying to get the best deals and to try and pay them off asap.
1-£6000
2-£2500
3-£1700

I can currently put the £1700 onto one of the other cards at 0%, but its only for 6 months.

I am paying over the minimum payment for all of them, but still trying to pay 3 is causing me a headache.

Can anyone advise the best way around this?

Please and thankyou...

Hello

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.

It’s not worth doing a 0% balance transfer onto one of the other card. While it would stop the interest on this balance for 6 months, you’d have to pay quite a lot each month in that time to make a dent in the balance before the 0% period ends, and it sounds like you’re finding it hard to pay more than the minimum payment at the moment.

However, please be assured that we can help. I’d recommend getting in touch with StepChange for some further advice. We’ll be able to advise you on the best way of dealing with these debts going forward.

The first step is building a budget with us. You can do this either by completing our online Debt Remedy tool or by giving us a call.

I hope you’ve found this helpful, we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks

Joe

Former_StepChange_Joe

moneyman_34 wrote: »

Its been fairly recently that my marriage has broken down and I have been asked by my partner or ex partner, still not sure yet. To move back home with my parents.

She has left me with over £3k of debt, this is a mixture of bills she had no intrest in paying and credit cards she took out in my name along with some catalogues as well I have a plan in mind to what i want to do to clear it all but it will take time as she has no intrest in budgeting. We have three kids together as well which she makes me feel guilty as well when i dont see them even though she asked me to leave.

I think i might fill in one of those forms on here to show the debt i am in and show my journey. Has anyone else done this?

Hello

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum. Please be assured you’ve done the right thing by getting in touch and we’ll do everything we can to help you.

I’m sorry to hear about your marriage breaking down. This can bring lots of difficulties with it, and not just financial difficulties. If you need some further advice and support with your relationship I recommend getting in touch with Relate. A good place to start is this section of their website.

In the meantime, we can provide you with advice and support on how best to deal with these debts. A great place to start is building a budget using the online Debt Remedy self-help tool. This is available 24 hours a day and takes about 20 minutes to complete. The tool will guide you through creating a budget and will then offer the best debt solution for your situation.

I hope you’ve found this helpful and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks


Joe

Former_StepChange_Joe

turbonet wrote: »

Hello Everyone

just after a little bit of advice, don’t normally have to ask debt questions but this letter i got made me laugh ....

Got a letter a couple of weeks ago from department for work and pensions saying that i owed them £556.71.
did not know what this was so i wrote to them asking for confirmation on what this actually is.
got a return letter today (20th august)
stating it was for a social fund loan that i had back in 2002 (yes 2002) for furniture and household equipment.
i take it this was proberly when i was not working and claiming benefits ......

my question is ..

can they still try to claim this from me after all this time (16 years)????
it’s a very long time to send me a letter to demand the money back

have they been going through some old paperwork, and found this bill?

any thoughts would be appreciated

Hello

Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.

Yes, social fund loans were available until 2013, to people claiming benefits such as jobseekers allowance and income support.

This debt seems to be quite old, so it’s possibly statute-barred by now. If the debt is stature-barred, this means that, by law, the DWP aren’t able to pursue the debt through the county court. There’s some useful information about statute-barred debts and the Limitation Act on our website here

However, the debt still exists and is still owed to the DWP, regardless of how old it is. The DWP are still allowed to contact you and ask you for payment, even if the debt is statute-barred.

I recommend getting in touch with the DWP to make a payment arrangement. If you’re unsure how much you can afford to pay this back, we can help you with this. The first place to start is to build a budget. A great place to start is building a budget using the online Debt Remedy self-help tool. This is available 24 hours a day and takes about 20 minutes to complete. The tool will guide you through creating a budget and will then offer the best debt solution for your situation.

I hope you’ve found this helpful.

Joe

stu999

Hi, I am considering taking out a secured loan to make the monthly payments of my debts more manageable. It seems to be that when I look into this online, you have to go through a broker who charges a large fee. Are there 1. Any reputable secured lenders that I can contact directly rather than go through a broker? And 2. A reliable comparison website that will show ALL the best deals available?

Thanks very much

Archdeacon

Hello. I am new to MSE. I wonder if you can help?

I have had a debt management plan for 10 years or so paying minimal amount per month. As it stands the £50000 or so will be paid off by the time I will be 90! I have just turned 65. The reason have persisted with the dmp rather than go IVA is that I work in financial services and either IVA or bankruptcy would mean not working.

I was until recently married living with my wife who owned the house.

We are divorcing and I will receive about £30000. I can afford to buy a house outright for around £45000. (Yes such houses are still around)

a) How will this stand with the debt management company - and of course the creditors?

b) Should I come clean or do it all on the QT?

c) Would they likely seize the house and make me homeless?

d) What would happen if I stopped the payments on affordability grounds when I stop working?

Many thanks for your consideration.

tiggy748_2

I have 12k in credit card debt
1500 overdraft
200 payday loan
10000 car finance
2000 tax credit overpayment
350 income tax fine

My mortgage is 75k. I purchased for 106k just under a year ago. I have renovated it and its now possibly worth 130-140k

I earn around 1200 a month.

From what I gather my car loan wouldn't go into the IVA but everything else would?
The credit impact is 6 years from the START of the VIA not the finish?

I'm wondering really how my house and car would be affected. I need my car as I'm a nurse and public transport wouldn't work for my shifts. I guess they would let me keep this as the car is valued around 8k?

I can afford 200 a month repayments, maybe 250.

I have looked at remortgage but my credit file ain't great with a missed payment and a few other bits. I'm also tied into the current mortgage for 5 years. Its very unlikely i will get another mortgage doe to having a zero hours contract and if can get one will be horrendous intetest.
Im wondering if the IVA will make me remortgage if so how does it work? If I can only get a seriously awful mortgage can they make me take it? Is the mortgage used repay the sum of debt owed as it stands at the start? Or is is just the balance of what the IVA is at that point?

If thye can force me to take out a dreadful mortgage i think im.more keen to go down this route by myself and not bother with the IVA if I can but would like more info on an IVA if needed.

I only got in this pickle as my partner has been seriously ill this year we can manage fine as we are however it's likely she needs more surgery and another 6 months off work. If so we are screwed. I want to get rid of money issues so I can concentrate on her.

StepChange_Kirsty

Hi there,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

As a debt advice charity we specialise in looking at ways to resolve outstanding debts without the use of further credit so unfortunately we cannot advise on secured loans. If you are considering taking out a secured loan to pay off unsecured debt you do need to think carefully about whether the monthly payments are affordable because if you were to miss a payment your home would be at risk.

If you’re struggling to maintain payments to your unsecured debts there may be other solutions to explore rather than secured lending. You could use our online Debt Remedy tool which is an anonymous service on our website. Debt Remedy will take you through the process of putting a budget together and will then explain your possible solutions by providing you with a personal action plan.

You can access Debt Remedy here.

I hope this helps

Kirsty

stu999 wrote: »

Hi, I am considering taking out a secured loan to make the monthly payments of my debts more manageable. It seems to be that when I look into this online, you have to go through a broker who charges a large fee. Are there 1. Any reputable secured lenders that I can contact directly rather than go through a broker? And 2. A reliable comparison website that will show ALL the best deals available?

Thanks very much

StepChange_Kirsty

Hello,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum. I’ll try to answer each of your questions in turn.

A&B) As the debt management plan is not legally binding if you choose to use the money to buy a house outright with the money this is your decision. It is important you make your debt management company aware of change of address and to do a budget review with them. If you own the property outright with no mortgage then it may mean you’ll have more money available on a monthly basis to pay towards your creditors.

C&D) An unsecured creditor would not be able to simply seize the house and make you homeless. They would need to either look at taking legal action to recover the debt or they would need to apply for your Bankruptcy. You can find more information about what action creditors can take on our website. As long as you’re communicating with your creditors and paying what you can afford each month they are much less likely to take this action. However if you were to stop your payments they may start considering taking further action especially considering you would have an asset you can sell to repay your debts. When you do choose to retire its important to review your plan again to make sure it is affordable. It may be at that point you would need to explore alternative solutions for dealing with your debts.

You’ve not mentioned who your debt management plan (DMP) is with but if you’re paying a fee each month for your plan it’s important to note that free help and advice is available. At StepChange we find free help and advice and we do not charge a fee for our DMP’s. You can find out how to access our service here.

I hope this helps.

Kirsty

Archdeacon wrote: »

Hello. I am new to MSE. I wonder if you can help?

I have had a debt management plan for 10 years or so paying minimal amount per month. As it stands the £50000 or so will be paid off by the time I will be 90! I have just turned 65. The reason have persisted with the dmp rather than go IVA is that I work in financial services and either IVA or bankruptcy would mean not working.

I was until recently married living with my wife who owned the house.

We are divorcing and I will receive about £30000. I can afford to buy a house outright for around £45000. (Yes such houses are still around)

a) How will this stand with the debt management company - and of course the creditors?

b) Should I come clean or do it all on the QT?

c) Would they likely seize the house and make me homeless?

d) What would happen if I stopped the payments on affordability grounds when I stop working?

Many thanks for your consideration.