Stick with stepchange or go alone with F&F

LMJ10

So in a few weeks ( fingers crossed) we move house and from the house sale we will have £8000 left over.
I want to try and clear the debts with this, I still owe £29000 it’s around 36% and I know it’s a
long shot but want to try. 

I’m with stepchange but thinking whether it’s better to come out of that plan and contact creditors myself, or shall I let Stepchange negotiate and try and get a settlement figure for me? I have around 20 creditors still so quite a bit of work for me.

StepChange_Aidan

LMJ10 said:

So in a few weeks ( fingers crossed) we move house and from the house sale we will have £8000 left over.
I want to try and clear the debts with this, I still owe £29000 it’s around 36% and I know it’s a
long shot but want to try. 

I’m with stepchange but thinking whether it’s better to come out of that plan and contact creditors myself, or shall I let Stepchange negotiate and try and get a settlement figure for me? I have around 20 creditors still so quite a bit of work for me.

Hi,

We have a specialist team at StepChange who may be able to help you to make settlement offers to your creditors, depending on your situation. Alternatively, you may prefer to make offers to your creditors directly.

I wouldn’t be able to say which is the best approach without knowing some more details about your budget and debts. When you’ve received the money, I’d recommend getting in touch with our Aftercare team who’ll be able to review your plan and discuss the settlement options with you.

There’s some more information and guidance on making settlement offers to your creditors here.

I hope this helps.

Aidan

Suseka97

I'd be more inclined to have a go myself, but how successful you'll be will depend on a number of variables, including how old the debt/s are.

The first step would be to send off CCA requests to find out whether any of your debts are unenforceable and if any are, that gives you leverage or the opportunity to put those aside giving you more funds to put towards settling those that are enforceable.

With 20 debts still remaining it will be a bit of a slog, but all doable although, of course, it will do you no harm to speak with SC as has been suggested.  The one thing I would say is that SC will treat them all the same and won't explore the UE possibilites for you.

fatbelly

LMJ10 said:

So in a few weeks ( fingers crossed) we move house and from the house sale we will have £8000 left over.
I want to try and clear the debts with this, I still owe £29000 it’s around 36% and I know it’s a
long shot but want to try. 

I’m with stepchange but thinking whether it’s better to come out of that plan and contact creditors myself, or shall I let Stepchange negotiate and try and get a settlement figure for me? I have around 20 creditors still so quite a bit of work for me.

Yes it's quite a bit of work but it's worth doing. As @Suseka97 says, do CCA requests to all relevant credit debts (loans, credit cards, catalogues, not overdrafts, phone, utilities).

Then start with a low offer, in writing, using the National Debtline standard letter. Maybe offer 25%.. See what comes back. it's going to take some time

LMJ10

Thanks All, looks like I am doing it on my
own, Stepchange have said they can’t help me by making offers! 😵‍💫

Suseka97

@LMJ10 - good for you.  Just take your time and send off the CCA requests and in the meantime, stop making any further payments until you get a response.  That'll enable you to build up a few more £s towards the F&Fs.  I take it you have, or will be, closing your account with SC?  You'll need to take a note of all the balances and account details first.