Debt free

ditty1234

With a varying income I would say the most important ting is to nail down your monthly spending to a set budget adn then shove everything else into an other budget account - like you said you have an emergency account. Well done for turning it around. You don't need a credit building card! Just keep on going and time will mostly do the job.

Galloglass

a CCJ lands on the doormat 

They don't land on your doormat unless
a) they have been devious and send a claim to an old address. And since you've sent your new address for the SAR, the court won't be best pleased with their antics.
b) you ignore the instructions on any claim and fold.

Claims and default CCJs can be dealt with and plenty of experience here to help. 

IrishSean

Bossofmoney said:

For me personally, the information of any CCJ etc being available to the public could be damaging for my self employment. Definitely something id rather avoid. Iv been trusted with upto £15k of client funds before, I doubt they would've done that if it was common knowledge I had previous financial issues.

At least I'm dealing with them now and head is out the sand. Just a question now of the best way to deal with things and what the banks I owe to have in mind for future action/co-operation.


Im on Credit Karma which Is obviously free. I used to be on checkmyfile. Checkmyfile was so much better/more information however I see its now £7.99. Can anyone advise if this is worth paying for/If theres anywhere else as good as checkmyfile that wont cost so much? Already used my free trial years ago.

Clearscore (equifax) & MSE Credit Club (Experian), both free, updated monthly and detailed credit files from the two most used credit reference agencies in the UK.
Can't see the added benefit of paying £100 a year to access your own info.

spendingneedstostop

Well done you for realising you need to get this sorted. It’s a hard step and although I owe a substantial amount less than you, going into the bank & getting it sorted was the best feeling. 

sourcrates

Bossofmoney said:

I have been advised that the best action for me to take is simply do nothing about the debts. As i am in Scotland, they will become statute barred after 5 years, some of them are already over halfway to that stage.

Thanks all for the messages I have received with advice and support. 

Currently looking at ways to boost income, starting with £500 a month extra per month the rest of this year. Likely be mostly from Overtime but towards the end of the year id like to see some of it come from other income streams, like eBay sales perhaps.

Right, lets have a look see here shall we, the majority of your debt remains with the original creditors, now they may write and ring a bit, but your on a very long list of debtors, and that`s about as heavey as it will normally get with them, they very rarely take legal action.

The usual approach by most creditors is to pass unpaid accounts to there internal collections dept for a period of time, all may go quiet for a while, remember, you are not alone on this list, another option is for them to pass your account to an external debt collector, who will be acting on the clients behalf.

Once this approach has been exhausted, then sale of the account is the next step, the point i`m trying to make, is that the time frame from going into collections, to being sold, can be a year or more, and then once sold, it may take time for the new owner to get around to you, they will then run through their own series of standard collection letters with you, again, that can take up to another year, you can see where I`m going with this, add to that mix, your ability to request original paperwork from the creditors (CCA Request) thats another year gone, and the "stay put and do nothing" advice would seem to be the way to play it, once they hit the 5 year mark, scottish law comes into its own, and extinguishes all liabillity for these debts forever.

In your situation, i would give this genuine concideration, if your situation improves, then so be it, but as things stand, i`d say it was a good call.

natlie

Hi, 

The first thing I would do is get the CCA's for all of them, some of them may be unforcable now, it may clear a chunk of that total debt. Have a look at the DMP Mutual Support thread for tips on this. 

You could go self managed DMP and make offers of payments you'll need your budget sheet and list of debts to send to all of your creditors. You could also go to StepChange and they'll do your DMP for you, that's what I'm currently doing but its less flexible and you can't choose how you pay the money back they make the payments based on their calculations. 

Good Luck

Nat 

Bossofmoney

Assume the CCA's are all from the original lenders? Does this not making me acknowledge the debt so restarts the 5 year Statute Barred clock? Is a DMP public knowledge? I will look into this now. 

Thanks for your reply. I think a mortgage can be achieved by my partner (all debts before met and nothing to do with them) So it would be a case of I pay half of the bills after using deposit from their savings then once i'm debt free see about getting added to the mortgage or paying half to have the same money invested in the property. All up in the air at the moment, if there's a way for us to take a mortgage on we will do that. 

natlie

The CCAs will be from the original lender. I am not sure about the 5 year Statute Barred clock but @sourcrates will be able to tell you. 
The DMP is not public knowledge, as you will already have the markers/defaults on your credit file it shouldn't appear any different to how it appears now. 

Bossofmoney

Ok so final question after a little look into a DMP. How would i go about getting a mortgage? Clear all of the debt off before I would manage? I am trying to be realistic about this. We're in a good situation with the house set up at the moment however we cannot stay here forever. OH has around £60k right now and £210k would probably be enough for property price so £150k mortgage so the finances between mine and OH really is night and day at the moment. 

I'm not expecting an overnight miracle however the sooner I start tackling this the better. Don't want to start renting elsewhere and we're stuck doing that for years when I could stick to a budget/plan the next year or two and be in a much better place for us/my OH buying. 

Bossofmoney

Rain today halted plans so iv been looking over my credit rating.
2 loans are down as last payment due but missed and unpaid 26/12/16. 
A third one with that same company is 11/1/17

Adding on the 5 years for "Statute Barred" as I have made no payment in this time nor have I responded to any letters or emails. Phone calls I just ignored and stopped long ago.
The 5 years takes me to 26/12/2021 then obviously 11/01/2022.
I will wait until third one is past the 5 years before I take any action as it might end up with them taking action inside that few weeks. These 3 total £15,284. Am I right in saying they would fall off a year after this or does it take 6 years from the last Default?

Either way if I can get these 3 statute barred I will. This would then bring my total due to £28,772 based on todays level of debts. Minus paying off the smallest ones between now and then would see me below £28,000. That remaining £28,000 become statue barred by May 2023. 

So really in the eyes of creditors I will be debt free May 2023 once all these are statute barred? Then they all fall off a year after that or 6 years from the last default? 

Not an ideal situation, not trying to get out of paying but if I can do it this way it gives me 3 years till debt free ? Seems a no brainer to do this.