Help with catalogue bills/interest?

Mae85

Because it!!!8217;s using up our electric all the time - and why shouldn!!!8217;t I have a phone that actually works and doesn!!!8217;t have a cracked screen or keeps turning itself off and calling people that I don!!!8217;t want to call?

It doesn!!!8217;t matter anyway. I just wanted advice about my catalogues and potentially stopping the interest- at least now I know more about phones then I ever imagined I would know! Lol

sourcrates

Mae85 wrote: »

Because its using up our electric all the time - and why shouldn't I have a phone that actually works and doesn't have a cracked screen or keeps turning itself off and calling people that I don't want to call?

It doesnt matter anyway. I just wanted advice about my catalogues and potentially stopping the interest- at least now I know more about phones then I ever imagined I would know! Lol

A reasonable amount for a phone, mobile or landline, is included in a standard budget, sometimes people can get a bit obsessive about things you can and cannot do without.


A phone maybe a necessity to you, and that's fine, to others they are a luxury.

Just because you have debt does not mean you can`t live a little, and £18 is not worth discussing in my view.

National_Debtline

Mae85 wrote: »

Thanks for that. Been as our benefits are a joint claim, will I have to declare all of his and his ex wife!!!8217;s debt or just mine?

Hi again Mae


If you complete a joint SOA and this shows there is spare money left over, you could split that 50/50 (as you have a joint benefit claim) and only use your half of the spare money to negotiate on your debts.


There's no need to declare your partner's debt unless you decide to negotiate on all of the debts as a couple. There's certainly no need to mention your partner's ex wife's debts. I hope this helps.


Susie
@natdebtline

stclair

Mae85 wrote: »

Hi all, I did previously post this on a different section of the forum but was advised to pos it here!

Basically myself and my OH are on a joint esa claim, I have 2 catalogues (fashion world and studio) which I!!!8217;ve had since way before me and him got together.

I owe £645 on fashion world and pay £28 a month ( this is the minimum payment and all I can afford, £20 of this is interest!) and £666 to studio which I pay £33 a month and £27 of that is interest.

Now I know what you!!!8217;re thinking- why take out a catalogue if you are on benefits- but it seemed like a good idea at the time- I was struggling to buy clothes and xmas gifts so took out a catalogue and it has spiralled from there.

I do not use either catalogue anymore and just focus on paying th bill off (which is never ending as most of the payment each month is interest so essentially I am paying £7 a month off it) .

We are both struggling on the money we are on, he has CSA to pay, other bills and HMRC debt.

I was just wondering if there was any advice regarding these catalogues? Can I stop paying them or come to some kind of arrangement with them?

I!!!8217;ve always been on esa even before meeting my OH, I know I shouldn!!!8217;t have started them but there!!!8217;s no point looking back now is there.

Any help I would appreciate.

With regards to your Fashion World account if you pay 3% or less of the balance the interest will be turned off during the duration of the 6 month payment arrangement.

Mae85

Is that when you first have the catalogue? Cos I!!!8217;ve had mine for about 6 years now and still trying to clear it. I haven!!!8217;t bought anything from it for over 3 years now as I just wanna clear it.

I did actually speak to them when me and my OH moved into our first place and explained our situation and I did ask of the payments could maybe be lowered and all he said was there was no point doing that cos it would lower my credit scoring or something and in the long run take longer to pay off, he just suggested I not buy from the catalogue again but keep up the monthly payments.

fatbelly

Hi Mae

Generally the advice over here is more debt-focused, so let's leave the iPhone out of it for now.

If you wanted to post a soa that's going to be helpful, as Susie said. The calculator is here: http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php.

If these are your only debts

owe £645 on fashion world and pay £28 a month ( this is the minimum payment and all I can afford, £20 of this is interest!) and £666 to studio which I pay £33 a month and £27 of that is interest.

and your credit rating is not that important to you (not moving in the private rented sector, not getting a mortgage) then you have to work out the fastest way for your £61 per month to clear £1311 of debt, and that won't happen if you are paying £47 interest!

If no interest, you can clear this in 22 months. With interest, nearly 8 years!

So do as sourcrates suggests and ask them to freeze interest. But if they won't then stop paying. After a few months, they will default you and interest will stop. You can then set up a payment plan.

I would suggest saving the £61 per month into a separate pot somewhere so that, if this drags on, you can offer lump sums in full & final settlement.

Mae85

Thanks. So if I write to both catalogues and explain my situation, send them a SOA thing- do I ask them to stop the interest? What do I ask?

Then if they don!!!8217;t agree to that I just stop paying them?

It!!!8217;s really scary. I hate being in debt and I would never have taken out catalogues before for being afraid I couldn!!!8217;t pay them back- but when depression kicks in about having no money and xmas coming up you do stupid things. My mental health makes me do stupid things and then I spend the rest of my days obsessing and stressing over them.

Mae85

So I just done the SOA and it says I don!!!8217;t have enough surplus to offer my creditors.

stclair

Mae85 wrote: »

Is that when you first have the catalogue? Cos I!!!8217;ve had mine for about 6 years now and still trying to clear it. I haven!!!8217;t bought anything from it for over 3 years now as I just wanna clear it.

I did actually speak to them when me and my OH moved into our first place and explained our situation and I did ask of the payments could maybe be lowered and all he said was there was no point doing that cos it would lower my credit scoring or something and in the long run take longer to pay off, he just suggested I not buy from the catalogue again but keep up the monthly payments.

No the interest will stop regardless of age of catalogue if you pay less than 3% of the balance. If you’ve had the account along time you might want to ask them about your payment to order ratio. If its a lot higher you could then could go back and say well I’ve actually paid for the goods and complain.

Mae85

I was just thinking about this. I have had the catalogue for 5 years at least. At one point my outstanding balance was over £1000 so the fact it!!!8217;s now just over £600 shows I have payed a fair amount off.