Struggling with debt? Ask a stepchange debt adviser a question

StepChange_Aidan

saving_88 said:

Hi, Long time debtor here. I have added Clearpay to my DMP, Payments will be lower according to their scheduled payments. Does anyone have dealings with Clearpay. Will they accept the DMP and just default account. Im at that stage where I don't care about credit report now. Has anyone dealt with Clearpay on a DMP. 

Also Snap Finance, How easy are they on DMP plans. 

Hi,

Creditors will usually accept the reduced payments and default the account after a few months in a DMP, but as it’s an informal arrangement we can’t guarantee that they will.

I don’t have any information about which creditors are more likely to agree than others, but even if the offer is rejected, we would still advise you to include the debt in your DMP to ensure that they’re receiving their fair share of the available funds.

Regards,

Aidan

Sadbutneedtoturnitround

Hi,

I’m very sad to say over the last few years I’ve run up a stupid amount of debt - I feel so ashamed. I think there’s some underlying reasons behind this but I essentially have spent way over my means and then started gambling to try and get it back…

I have a wife and two young kids and I basically want to sort this out for them and myself.

Here’s some further info and breakdown of the debt and situation:

Who I owe to:

Vanquis £840

MBNA card -£3450

PayPal £4504

Admiral loan £13761

Overdraft £3400

Zopa £1406

Lendable £905

Payments out monthly currently are £735

———————-

I earn 2.1k per month

_____________

I have a joint mortgage with my partner :

Mortgage £114,000 balance - Valued at 190k

I pay the mortgage on this every month : £608

_______________

After all other life expenses, travel, food, clothes, phone etc, this basically leaves me next to nothing left….

EDIT - for further clarity - the £1343 is mortgage and all loan payments. Over and above that I give my partner £500 per month towards food shopping, kids expenses + £150 of that going on a joint loan we took out. I’m basically currently left with the £257 which needs to pay for travel, food, clothes etc for myself now….

________________

Whatever I do from here, I’m worried for our mortgage and don’t want to affect my partners credit rating. I’ve told her everything and understandably, she’s really upset and angry…

I will be getting help for my gambling and underlying issues and just want to sort my life out for everyone’s sake.

Any advice or help massively appreciated.

Thanks 

____EDIT - somebody has mentioned a DMP that lasts for 6 years and after that you are debt free? Any advice or experience with these appreciated.

Thanks again.

StepChange_Sylwia

Sadbutneedtoturnitround said:

Hi,

I’m very sad to say over the last few years I’ve run up a stupid amount of debt - I feel so ashamed. I think there’s some underlying reasons behind this but I essentially have spent way over my means and then started gambling to try and get it back…

I have a wife and two young kids and I basically want to sort this out for them and myself.

Here’s some further info and breakdown of the debt and situation:

Who I owe to:

Vanquis £840

MBNA card -£3450

PayPal £4504

Admiral loan £13761

Overdraft £3400

Zopa £1406

Lendable £905

Payments out monthly currently are £735

———————-

I earn 2.1k per month

_____________

I have a joint mortgage with my partner :

Mortgage £114,000 balance - Valued at 190k

I pay the mortgage on this every month : £608

_______________

After all other life expenses, travel, food, clothes, phone etc, this basically leaves me next to nothing left….

EDIT - for further clarity - the £1343 is mortgage and all loan payments. Over and above that I give my partner £500 per month towards food shopping, kids expenses + £150 of that going on a joint loan we took out. I’m basically currently left with the £257 which needs to pay for travel, food, clothes etc for myself now….

________________

Whatever I do from here, I’m worried for our mortgage and don’t want to affect my partners credit rating. I’ve told her everything and understandably, she’s really upset and angry…

I will be getting help for my gambling and underlying issues and just want to sort my life out for everyone’s sake.

Any advice or help massively appreciated.

Thanks 

____EDIT - somebody has mentioned a DMP that lasts for 6 years and after that you are debt free? Any advice or experience with these appreciated.

Thanks again.

Hi,

Thank you for your post and sorry to hear about what you've been going through. 

You have taken a very important step by speaking to your partner and reaching out to us, as well as acknowledging that you have a gambling problem and you will be getting help for it. It is really important that you address the underlying issues first or at the same time as the debt situation.

In terms of advice, if you are worried about your mortgage being affected, please pay this first of all and make sure you're not missing payments. Your partner's credit rating would not be affected just because you are living at the same address or even if you are married. It could be affected if you have joint debts that you cannot pay. 

To find out exactly what solutions are available to you, based on your financial situation and where you live in the UK, I’d recommend creating a detailed budget so you can work out how much will be available for the debts.

If you’d like to do a budget with StepChange you could use the debt advice tool on our website or give us a call on 0800 138 1111 (open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturday) to speak with an advisor.

I hope this helps,

Sylwia 

jugglingfriend

Hi everyone,

Just joined and have been reading through the 5 steps to becoming debt free.

Brief overview

£35k debt - CC's, overdrafts and loans - all with standard providers

Take home roughly £2.2k per month - and not affording payments.

No assests - mortgage or car.

I recently spoke to PayPlan who were keen to get me onto an IVA - which I almost did before I came here...

No I am looking at a self managed DMP - but understand the first step is to default on payments. This does feel somewhat scary I must admit - as I will have about 7 different banks chasinf me. I can't quite work out the markers / steps from that process to organising the DMP - and how you share it between creditors. Is there anywhere I can find out more abou that? Is it worth calling StepChage to talk that aspect of it through with someone?

Thanks very much!

StepChange_Sylwia

StepChange_Sylwia said:

Sadbutneedtoturnitround said:

Hi,

I’m very sad to say over the last few years I’ve run up a stupid amount of debt - I feel so ashamed. I think there’s some underlying reasons behind this but I essentially have spent way over my means and then started gambling to try and get it back…

I have a wife and two young kids and I basically want to sort this out for them and myself.

Here’s some further info and breakdown of the debt and situation:

Who I owe to:

Vanquis £840

MBNA card -£3450

PayPal £4504

Admiral loan £13761

Overdraft £3400

Zopa £1406

Lendable £905

Payments out monthly currently are £735

———————-

I earn 2.1k per month

_____________

I have a joint mortgage with my partner :

Mortgage £114,000 balance - Valued at 190k

I pay the mortgage on this every month : £608

_______________

After all other life expenses, travel, food, clothes, phone etc, this basically leaves me next to nothing left….

EDIT - for further clarity - the £1343 is mortgage and all loan payments. Over and above that I give my partner £500 per month towards food shopping, kids expenses + £150 of that going on a joint loan we took out. I’m basically currently left with the £257 which needs to pay for travel, food, clothes etc for myself now….

________________

Whatever I do from here, I’m worried for our mortgage and don’t want to affect my partners credit rating. I’ve told her everything and understandably, she’s really upset and angry…

I will be getting help for my gambling and underlying issues and just want to sort my life out for everyone’s sake.

Any advice or help massively appreciated.

Thanks 

____EDIT - somebody has mentioned a DMP that lasts for 6 years and after that you are debt free? Any advice or experience with these appreciated.

Thanks again.

Hi,

Thank you for your post and sorry to hear about what you've been going through. 

You have taken a very important step by speaking to your partner and reaching out to us, as well as acknowledging that you have a gambling problem and you will be getting help for it. It is really important that you address the underlying issues first or at the same time as the debt situation.

In terms of advice, if you are worried about your mortgage being affected, please pay this first of all and make sure you're not missing payments. Your partner's credit rating would not be affected just because you are living at the same address or even if you are married. It could be affected if you have joint debts that you cannot pay. 

To find out exactly what solutions are available to you, based on your financial situation and where you live in the UK, I’d recommend creating a detailed budget so you can work out how much will be available for the debts.

If you’d like to do a budget with StepChange you could use the debt advice tool on our website or give us a call on 0800 138 1111 (open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturday) to speak with an advisor.

I hope this helps,

Sylwia 

Hi,

On the back of my previous reply and with regards to the 6 year DMP query in your EDIT, a DMP would last for as long as it takes to clear all of your debts. The length of the DMP will depend on how much your debt is and how much you can afford to pay per month.

The 6 years that someone has mentioned, may actually be an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement. This is a legally binding agreement and a form of insolvency. An IVA usually lasts for 5 or sometimes 6 years and any debt left over at that point would be written off.

You can find out more about IVAs on our website, here 

In order to get the advice tailored to you, I would recommend that you use the debt advice tool on our website or give us a call on 0800 138 1111 (open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturday) to speak with an advisor.

Sylwia

StepChange_Sylwia

jugglingfriend said:

Hi everyone,

Just joined and have been reading through the 5 steps to becoming debt free.

Brief overview

£35k debt - CC's, overdrafts and loans - all with standard providers

Take home roughly £2.2k per month - and not affording payments.

No assests - mortgage or car.

I recently spoke to PayPlan who were keen to get me onto an IVA - which I almost did before I came here...

No I am looking at a self managed DMP - but understand the first step is to default on payments. This does feel somewhat scary I must admit - as I will have about 7 different banks chasinf me. I can't quite work out the markers / steps from that process to organising the DMP - and how you share it between creditors. Is there anywhere I can find out more abou that? Is it worth calling StepChage to talk that aspect of it through with someone?

Thanks very much!

Hello and thank you for your post.

At StepChange it is not our policy to advise you to wait for your accounts to default. Instead, we would recommend that you get advice and set up a solution to deal with your debts as soon as possible.

We also don’t advise on ‘self managed DMPs’. We can, however, still help you complete a budget to work out how much you can afford to pay to your debts. We would then recommend a solution, for example a DMP or an IVA, that we can manage for you. If, at this point, you decide to deal with your creditors yourself, you can always do this and we will be happy to advise and support you.

In order to start the process, I’d advise you to do a budget with StepChange. To do this, you can use the debt advice tool on our website or give us a call on 0800 138 1111 (open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturday) to speak with an advisor.

I hope this helps.

Sylwia