How much?

susiepink

£43,000 in debt, £24,000 redundancy. I have a new baby and was going to give up work anyway, before hearing of my redundancy I was going to petition for bankruptcy.

I can now offer full and final settlements, how much do I offer, £18,000, £20,000, all of it?

thank you

HairyHandofDartmoor

I don't have the knowledge to advise you on this, but I'm someone else will come along soon.

susiepink

Thank you, I'm gutted that I'm going to lose such a lovely payout but it's my fault I'm in debt and I guess I'm very fortunate that I can possibly get out of it without going down the bankruptcy route.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Yes I think bankruptcy is best avoided if you can. People who have had to do it say that it is not very pleasant! It is definitely not the easy way out that some people think it is.

Good for you for wanting to pay as much as you can. And hopefully you will have learnt a valuable lesson and be much more financially savvy in future and can pass that knowledge on to your baby.

CLAPTON

It's impossible to give advice without knowing your full financial circumstances.
and dont use any advice thats not been given without full knowledge of your circumstances

do you own a property ?
will you return to work and if so at what sort of salary
what are your outgoing?
other family income
have you defaulted on the debts
etc.

You need to post a full SOA giving income, spending, and full debt details and savings, assetts and family situation

susiepink

I have just typed a huge reply and my little boy managed to delete it!!!
I'm technically homeless (living sep from my partner with a friend until I can get housed).
All my debts are unsecured, 12 in total. I have always paid my debts on time and have never taken out a DMP although I wish I had. My biggest debt - a loan for £11,000 is covered by redundancy insurance.
I have no car, assets and the only thing I have of any value is my little boy.
My outgoings are approx £800-£1000 a month, I get £79 child benefit and have recently found out I can get £20 a week tax credits but I've yet to fill out the forms and I need to find out if I can claim for anything else now I'm unemployed.
I'm not planning to go back to work for 4-5 years, I would like to try for baby no. 2 next year as I'm now 37 and the clock is ticking.:eek:

tyllwyd

I don't have any experience, but my instinct would be to keep back a little bit in reserve, so that if the companies don't accept your first offer you have the option of agreeing a slightly higher amount. If you've promised the full amount in the first go, you don't have any room for negotiating.

What money are you going to live on when your redundancy is spent? I would have thought that you wouldn't get much in the way of benefits once they hear that you have been made redundant and received a payout.

susiepink

I'm just trying to find out what I am entitled to, probably nothing for a while but my partner can help me out if need be. I need to pay these debts off and I'm hoping they'll accept whatever I can offer them, after all I have nothing else for them to take and it will cost them more to take me to court.

OberonSH

I had a call from Barclays, and they told me on a 19k debt they would accept 13k, if this gives you any help on an answer. Might be worth phoning a few creditors and saying that family have offered to help you out for some of the debt, what sort of figure would they accept as full and final payment?

If they won't budge, you could always put it in the bank in a high interest savings account and pay the repayments out of it (as long as your debts are interest frozen) that way you have the cash handy if you need it, whilst still making the payments. Just a thought. Nice to clear them off, but also important to have contingency fund especially with a precarious living arrangement and a small child.

tyllwyd

I found this from the cab
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nm/index/life/employment/dismissal_and_benefits.htm

I really would speak to them before making any decision - in the worst case you might find that the benefits people treat you as having £24000 in your pocket, even though you've given it to your creditors.

immoral_angeluk

Can you do a break down of how many creditors you have and how much you owe them?