HELP!! Debt advice needed please

Alanwright87

Hi, I’ll give everyone as much info as I can . Here goes...

I have roughly around £4500/£5000 debts from various creditors like credit card, old bank account and also payday loan companies . For the last few years I have been stupid and ignored all this thinking it would go away. I get constant calls and texts from companies I don’t recognise from my credit file and assume that the old creditor has sold my debts off to a collection agency. The thought of answering one of these calls to find out who it is and how much owed brings on my anxiety pretty hard.

I am trying to start this year as positive as possible and get my life back. I have so many questions .

•do I contact the original creditors or the collection agency?
•once contact is made what do I say?
•can communication between us be via email?
•is a DMP (debt management plan) a good idea?

I have a young family and would hope I can get my life on track and start providing a home and a decent life for my family.

Any advice would be much appreciated

thanks

BlueJ94

Alanwright87 wrote: »

Hi, I’ll give everyone as much info as I can . Here goes...

I have roughly around £4500/£5000 debts from various creditors like credit card, old bank account and also payday loan companies . For the last few years I have been stupid and ignored all this thinking it would go away. I get constant calls and texts from companies I don’t recognise from my credit file and assume that the old creditor has sold my debts off to a collection agency. The thought of answering one of these calls to find out who it is and how much owed brings on my anxiety pretty hard.

I am trying to start this year as positive as possible and get my life back. I have so many questions .

•do I contact the original creditors or the collection agency? Collection agency I believe, as they've been given your accounts
•once contact is made what do I say? Tell them you'd like to start paying, see what the minimum is each month or offer what you can afford?
•can communication between us be via email? I've contacted all my creditors by email, easier to phone as its quicker
•is a DMP (debt management plan) a good idea? Not sure on this one sorry


I have a young family and would hope I can get my life on track and start providing a home and a decent life for my family.

Any advice would be much appreciated

thanks

I'm also in debt, a much smaller amount and I have found this forum has helped alot. Maybe post a SOA? People can help you. Find put APRs for your debts and the exact figures. Hope some of this helps!

sunflowerlady

I agree. Post an SOA and loads of people here will help you get yourself on track today!

Alanwright87

What is an SOA

sunflowerlady

Alanwright87 wrote: »

What is an SOA

It’s a Statement Of Affairs - basically your personal balance sheet.

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

Have a look at others on this thread to get an idea of what goes on it and what level if info is helpful to include.

sourcrates

Hi,

You contact whoever is writing to you, but it depends how you are going to tackle this, as the debt is reasonably small, you need to decide if you are going to attempt to settle each debt individually for a reduced amount, or make them all a monthly offer as part of say a debt management plan, either way, you make your offers in writing, and be specific about what you are wanting to do.

Basically if you intend to make monthly payments, you need to know what your disposable income is, the SOA will tell you that, but you must be honest, your other option is to save up and settle each debt individually, by making a reduced offer in full settlement, again, everything must be agreed in writing first.

Its whatever you decide to do, you can contact stepchange and they will set up a DMP and deal with your creditors on your behalf if you want them to, or you can easily do it yourself.