Advice please on options

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: DMP mutual support thread part 13 !!.

Jetjet_12

HI! I need some advice / help please.

I went to Step Change as I am having financial difficulties. I have 4 credit cards, a loan and an overdraft. My problem is my credit cards as the interests have now sky rocketed and I am now only able to pay off the minimum payment to all 4 of them. Apart from that I have no other arrears. Step Change has advised payment suspension for all of them. I have been in touch with them and Barclays has only given me a month's suspension. Meanwhile, all the others haven't done so yet and from the way I see it they are not keen on doing so as I am not on arrears as I have mentioned. Instead, they want me to sort out an account with Step Change which I presume would be a DMP. Also, Barclays has now sent me a letter of notice of termination and has given me until 30th Sept to rectify my payments. I've been in contact with Step Change again and has advised me to write to Barclays once more to offer token payments but the way I've read in the posts here it doesn't seem to be beneficial. 

My question is as follows:
1. Would I be better off with a DMP or payment suspension? The way I spoke to my creditors, they are all kind of waiting for me to go to a default so that I would be able to arrange something with Step Change or with a collection agency.

2. If I go self-managed, can I choose to continue paying my loan and just have the credit cards go on default as those are the ones that are crippling me.

Any advice on the matter would greatly be appreciated. Thank you so much.

-Jejtet

Karonher

I am not 100% sure but I don't think Stepchange would agree to you treating companies differently.

fatbelly

You're saying that you are making the minimum payments but not whether that is affordable, i.e. are you robbing Peter to pay Paul? 

What the best strategy is for you is impossible to say without more details so I recommend that you complete a statement of affairs using this calculator and post here

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

If you go self-managed then you can do what you want but there seems no logic in paying non-priority creditors differently