DMP Advice

wyattjnr

So due to my gambling addiction, I managed to get my family into a complete financial mess in the early part of this year. I am now clean and have been for 5 months. My wife and I are on a DMP with Step Change and we make the monthly payments.
We are about to sell our house and will have enough equity to pay off ALL debts owed in one go and then we can start again. I have two questions with regards the next steps:

1. Can I make an offer to settle in full to all credit card companies I owe money too and potentially get a discount on the debt? If so, if this is a full and final deal, will it take them off my credit history?

2. I also have a couple of defaults along with my wife for late or non payment on these credit cards. What is the best strategy to get these taken off the credit file so I can look to get another mortgage in the next 6 months? We will have a decent deposit but still know it will be a struggle to get one at a decent rate or even at all.

All help appreciated.

Willing2Learn

1. You are only likely to get good Full & Final Settlement offers accepted once the accounts have been defaulted. Are your accounts defaulted yet?

2. When were these accounts defaulted? I ask this because defaults are automatically removed from your credit files, six years from the default date.

Edit: How old are your credit accounts? The older the account, the more likely your creditors would have difficulty finding compliant paperwork. Without compliant paperwork, an account becomes unenforceable.

Edit #2: Congratulations on being gamble-free for the last five months

Edit #3: Have a read of the National Debtline factsheet on making full & final settlement offers. It includes a letter template.
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/fullandfinalsettlementoffers/lumpsumoffers.aspx

MovingForwards

Regarding the mortgage you will struggle to get one if you come out your DMP as they like to see it cleared for 12 months.

Speak with a whole of market mortgage broker before doing anything!

Just out of curiosity, are you selling up just to settle the debts and start over or are you relocating to a different area? As if you are looking to stay in the same area we don't suggest selling up to clear your debts.

wyattjnr

MovingForwards wrote: »

Regarding the mortgage you will struggle to get one if you come out your DMP as they like to see it cleared for 12 months.

Speak with a whole of market mortgage broker before doing anything!

Just out of curiosity, are you selling up just to settle the debts and start over or are you relocating to a different area? As if you are looking to stay in the same area we don't suggest selling up to clear your debts.

We are doing both. Selling up 2 years earlier than we were going to and moving to another part of UK.