Help with catalogue bills/interest?

Mae85

We don!!!8217;t have any surplus, and everything we spend is what we need to spend, can!!!8217;t save in places as we have already done that and tightened our belts as much as we can. We are now losing £121 a month as my OH has been put in a lower group of ESA so we are appealing that decision.

January2015

I realise you have looked at your income and expenditure and realised your have no surplus, but what the folks on here are saying is for your to post your SOA (statement of affairs) and others will look at and give you ideas of what else you could do.

Seriously, it's amazing what other people see that you don't, and almost everyone on here has been through the same process and is offering advice based on their real life experiences of having to look, and look again at what they thought was a tight budget. You would be amazed at what people have managed to change to make extra room for payments in their budgets.

It's defintiely worth posting your SOA even though you think nothing can be changed. At best you will get great advice, at worst - you will be able to say "see I told you I have no surplus"

No-one on this forum is going to shout at you for a mobile phone of £18 a week. They may offer suggestions - and that's all they are. Believe me we've seen people come on here with trouble paying their debts and they have one and sometimes two mobile contracts of over £50 a month. Well of course they are going to be advised that it's not manageable or realistic for them to be continued if they want to clear their debts.

Mae85

Hi all, just wanted to give you an update on this.
I sent off my letter and SOA to both catalogues and have only just heard from fashion world today.
They have agreed to accept my £10 a month payment towards my bill, and have said they will review this in 6 months to see if my situation has changed.

They’ve also said this will affect my credit score, which I was aware of as some of you mentioned this so whilst it is annoying as I’ve had a perfect score my whole life, it’s got to happen.
They also said I can’t order from them anymore as my account has been suspended- which is fine by me as I haven’t ordered off them for over 2 years anyway!

So thanks for all your advice, the spare money from this is gonna help us out loads.
I really appreciate all of your help x

[Deleted User]

Mae85 wrote: »

They’ve also said this will affect my credit score, which I was aware of as some of you mentioned this so whilst it is annoying as I’ve had a perfect score my whole life, it’s got to happen.

Don't worry about that - you don't have a credit score at all (it's just a made up number from the CRAs that no one sees). Just credit history, and with a history of minimum payments and low income, it won't make any practical difference.

Check your credit files to see how they have marked it. If it is going to take months/years to clear, you would be better off with a default, rather than an arrangement, as it will clear from your files more quickly.