DEBT/DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO

Madhatter20 · 22 April 2020 at 2:17PM

Thanks will do

Madhatter20 · 22 April 2020 at 2:19PM

Hi
I am struggling now financially as I have previously relied on my overdraft facility to get by having been on low income. Anyway bottom line is my situation is affecting my health and mental health.
My outgoings are more than my income which I have done my best to reduce. Plus I have various credit cards and 0% purchases. I relied on the fact that I had overdraft facility and borrowing capacity so I could continue credit card shuffling. With the changes in bank overdraft interests equating credit card interest and the covid 19 and reduced availability of 0%credit cards.... I am now stuck with absolutely no wriggle room.
I would really appreciate some advice please
I contacted what I thought was CAB (turns out they are some company that keen on IVAs) and they were very quick to jump to an IVA. They asked for I'd bank statements payslips finance agreement etc and suggested 115 per month for 5 years which would pay off approximately 7k of a 22k debt. It sounded doable. I wasn't sure so I did a few checks and realised IVA is not the best outcome
So then I contacted step change they advised me to contact all my creditors and offer £1 payment per month and ask them to freeze interest or give me a few months holiday. I'm not convinced this is gonna help.
Happy to complete a SOA on here shorty
Thanks

Yes, do an soa. But can you post it as a new thread?
You have already learned that there are sharks out there who impersonate reputable organisations, push IVAs and collect their fees. They should all be hunted down and used for medical experiments.
Also you have correctly worked out that token offers are largely a waste of time. The theory is that you get the creditors' agreement not to enforce, and I guess that can be useful if your situation is a very short blip, then you can resume full payments.In most cases it's better not to delay the inevitable defaults.

Before we decide on a strategy let's have a look at that soa.

For now your shopping list is:

1. Address the mental heath aspects with your GP and any local organisations that they can refer you to
2. Make sure you are claiming all the benefits you can (Turn2Us)
3. Get any income that you do have paid into an account with a bank that you do not have any debts with. Did that make sense? I mean do not let your bank have any opportunity to dip into your account (right of set-off). You need your income to pay priority stuff and so some people are going to have to go unpaid for a bit.

Heres my original post and a response from forum.