StepChange

Bluefae

Hi,
Since getting myself into terrible debt in 2005, I have been paying StepChange on a monthly basis ( and never missed a payment).
I owe a considerable amount to various banks and my debts have been passed on to various loan companies eg Cabot / Moorcroft/Link
Once a year StepChange go through my payment plan and the payment is always increased.
I am now terrified because StepChange are saying that my monthly payment plan is not a permanent solution and basically I am being thrown to the wolves, they intend to close my monthly plan.
I have no idea where to go from here ! I’m worried about interest etc.

sourcrates

Hi,

That usually means you have a lot of debt which you have been paying token payments to, is that the case ?

If it is it’s likely you need to look at other solutions to your debt problems.

Post up an SOA and we can then make suggestion based on your circumstances.

SOA calculator here :

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Bluefae

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I am in a lot of debt
30,000

sourcrates

Bluefae wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I am in a lot of debt
30,000

So your options just based on the amount of debt you have are either IVA or bankruptcy.

Do the statement of affairs as honestly as you can, then we can see what money there is available.

A DMP may not be out of the question.

Bluefae

I read the SOA however I noticed that my husband’s income is added !
He has never been in any debt in his life so his income is not an issue at all.
The debt is my full responsibility.
We are in our 60’s
I only have my state pension to pay StepChange, so yes it is just a token off the debt.

sourcrates

You don’t need to add your husbands income or expenditure, just yours.

Just add what’s relevant.

Are you homeowners or do you rent ?

Bluefae

We own our home.

sourcrates

You can keep paying the token payments yourself you know, you don’t need stepchange or anyone else to do this for you.

As you own your own home, your options are extremely limited, would equity release be an option for you ?

If you can give us some information to work with {SOA} people can make suggestions to help you, without that info it’s all guesswork.

StopIt

As sourcrates has correctly stated, you can go self managed.


All Stepchange are doing in this situation is administering your token payments, and with a bit of effort, you can do this yourself.


I know it's not fair, but Stepchange will be beyond their remit if they continue to administer a token payment plan on someone of your age. Their remit is to deal with debt, one way or the other, and leaving a 30k debt on token payments isn't something they can really do once they know it isn't leading to a resolution.


If you're willing to post an SOA, it would be a great help, you may need to look at other options to deal with this, otherwise it's going to hang over your head for your entire retirement.

The_Analyst

StopIt wrote: »

As sourcrates has correctly stated, you can go self managed.


All Stepchange are doing in this situation is administering your token payments, and with a bit of effort, you can do this yourself.
.

Exactly this. I was in a DMP for 5 years with Vincent Bond. I was paying £600 a month off a combined debt of 50k. VB were taking £90 of the payment, so effectively I was paying £510 a month off this mountain of debt. By the time the DMP ended (prematurely as VB ceased trading) I had paid off £24k of the debt.

I then arranged direct payments with my creditors and whilst I am paying more a month (£740) I now only have 15 months until I am debt free. The DMP was great at the time because it took the pressure off us, but it's not a long term solution in my opinion. Once you have set up arrangements with your creditors through your DMP it is far easier to then contact them and arrange direct payments because all the hard stuff and difficult conversations have already happened. Now all the creditors are interested in is getting their money back.

sourcrates

The_Analyst wrote: »

Exactly this. I was in a DMP for 5 years with Vincent Bond. I was paying £600 a month off a combined debt of 50k. VB were taking £90 of the payment, so effectively I was paying £510 a month off this mountain of debt. By the time the DMP ended (prematurely as VB ceased trading) I had paid off £24k of the debt.

I then arranged direct payments with my creditors and whilst I am paying more a month (£740) I now only have 15 months until I am debt free. The DMP was great at the time because it took the pressure off us, but it's not a long term solution in my opinion. Once you have set up arrangements with your creditors through your DMP it is far easier to then contact them and arrange direct payments because all the hard stuff and difficult conversations have already happened. Now all the creditors are interested in is getting their money back.

The only difference is that you were paying Vincent Bond for the privilege, Stepchange dont charge fee`s for setting up or administering debt management plans.

Its working better for you because the money you were paying to the DMC is now coming directly off your debts, the OP`s situation, from the limited info we have been given, is that token payments are all they can afford, as they will never be able to repay what they owe, due to the high amount of debt, and a low income.