Arrangement to pay help

fatbelly

Court action is unlikely as the court should just order instalments equal to what you're paying in your dmp, so there would be little point.

It is however another advantage to having a fighting fund alongside your plan. If you were unlucky enough to get one then if it's paid within 28 days it does not appear on your credit file.

Newmum92

fatbelly said:

Court action is unlikely as the court should just order instalments equal to what you're paying in your dmp, so there would be little point.

It is however another advantage to having a fighting fund alongside your plan. If you were unlucky enough to get one then if it's paid within 28 days it does not appear on your credit file.

Thank you. Yes that’s very true, I’ve done a better SOA and have budgeted £350 which still gives around £200-300 spare a month to put some money into savings and for emergencies. Do you think that’s enough?

For most of the debts I could save up for settlements if required- but one of my creditors I have a £20,000 loan so there’s no way I’d be able to pay that off. Hopefully they accept and aren’t the ones to take things further legally. I guess if they don’t accept my offer of payment is it worth me negotiating with them? Or is that a bad idea as it looks like I could in effect pay more? 

Thank you so much, 

fatbelly

Your 20k is AA loans. Is that Bank of Ireland? I've never had a problem with them.

There is not much negotiation with a dmp. You present your soa with the amounts they are getting as a pro-rata payment of your available income.

Then you start paying it, whether they accept or not. 

I've had some creditors query some expenditure items but even that is rare - most just get on with it.

Newmum92

fatbelly said:

Your 20k is AA loans. Is that Bank of Ireland? I've never had a problem with them.

There is not much negotiation with a dmp. You present your soa with the amounts they are getting as a pro-rata payment of your available income.

Then you start paying it, whether they accept or not. 

I've had some creditors query some expenditure items but even that is rare - most just get on with it.

Thanks so much 😊

Newmum92

Angry_Bear said:

You need to know have a plan if you want to deal with your creditors yourself - and lots of people do, there's nothing I've ever seen to suggest that they "play ball" more with Step Change or PayPlan than if you do it yourself.

Ideally you want them to default your accounts as soon as possible, as Sourcrates says, this is of benefit to you even if it sounds scary.

Your creditors will want to see an SOA and know that you're treating them all "fairly". I would strongly suggest having another version of your SOA that allocates a bit more to expenses so that you will be able to save a small emergency fund and not set yourself up to fail. It's not a bad idea to show your creditors an SOA that only has a very small amount "free" for debt repayments, then build up a pot to be able to offer them full and final settlements in 6 months or so (there's a long and useful thread on F&Fs somewhere). 

At the moment your SOA is a bit confused because you have both you and your partner's income but don't account for all the bills you both pay. Are the debts yours or joint? Make sure your SOA reflect this (i.e. is entirely yours, or is completely joint).

For now, I'd write to your creditors telling them that you are unable to meet your contractual minimums and offering a token payment of £5 or even £1 per month while you arrange a repayment plan. Keep it at that level while you build up a buffer and let them default you.

Thanks so much for your advice that’s really informative. 

I’m terms of a budget, would you say if I allocated £300-350 a month for the DMP, and then allocated around £300 for other expenses / emergencies ok? It almost feels a bit wrong on my part but this way if I managed to save even half of that a month away then it puts me in a position to offer settlements at a later date with some of the smaller debts. 

Also, how long would you leave my accounts without making payments to give them time to default? Do I contact my creditors to explain that I can’t pay right now, or is ignoring them the best way forward? I always assumed that keeping them informed would be best, but maybe not if they won’t default me?

Newmum92

Toddy2 said:

I agree with all the above.  I was in a similar situation 2 years ago £65k unsecured debt, went straight in to DMP with Stepchange.  In hindsight I should have waited a few months to let them default.  After researching I took the step to self manage my DMP most creditors have been really good.  I’m slowly knocking off smaller debts as and when I can afford F&F offers.  Good luck you’ll get there!

Hi, thanks for commenting on my post with your advice. Ah that’s really reassuring and that’s what I’m hoping to do, save a bit each month on top to offer some settlements when I can. 

Do you mind me asking, have any of your creditors refused your offer, if so what happened? I just read another post from someone who said the DCA refused to any monthly payment plan at all and now she’s got bailiffs coming. Im now terrified that one of my creditors could refuse to negotiate with me at all and I’ll be in an even worse mess 😞 this is all causing me such anxiety. Thank you 

sourcrates

Newmum92 said:

Toddy2 said:

I agree with all the above.  I was in a similar situation 2 years ago £65k unsecured debt, went straight in to DMP with Stepchange.  In hindsight I should have waited a few months to let them default.  After researching I took the step to self manage my DMP most creditors have been really good.  I’m slowly knocking off smaller debts as and when I can afford F&F offers.  Good luck you’ll get there!

 

Do you mind me asking, have any of your creditors refused your offer, if so what happened? I just read another post from someone who said the DCA refused to any monthly payment plan at all and now she’s got bailiffs coming. Im now terrified that one of my creditors could refuse to negotiate with me at all and I’ll be in an even worse mess 😞 this is all causing me such anxiety. Thank you 

Sometimes posters confuse debt collectors with bailiffs, or they tend to freak out and think worst case scenario.

If a creditor isn`t happy with the payment they receive, there is no negotiation, they just wash their hands of it, what you can afford is what you can afford, all they do is sell the debt, usually to a debt purchasing company, who will be only too glad to accept whatever you offer, you just keep paying whoever writes to you.

If you were unlucky enough to have legal action taken against you, the court just sets you an affordable monthly payment, according to your budget, and most likely what you were offering previously.

The only way a bailiff would be involved, is if legal action was taken, and a judgement granted, and you failed to keep up with repayments, then and only then could they use a bailiff, and that is just one enforcement option.

There are so many myths about debt collection, as long as you pay what is affordable, most plans run very smoothly, if you can`t pay, tell them so, the system is not designed to punish you, its there to be fair to all.

Newmum92

sourcrates said:

Newmum92 said:

Toddy2 said:

I agree with all the above.  I was in a similar situation 2 years ago £65k unsecured debt, went straight in to DMP with Stepchange.  In hindsight I should have waited a few months to let them default.  After researching I took the step to self manage my DMP most creditors have been really good.  I’m slowly knocking off smaller debts as and when I can afford F&F offers.  Good luck you’ll get there!

 

Do you mind me asking, have any of your creditors refused your offer, if so what happened? I just read another post from someone who said the DCA refused to any monthly payment plan at all and now she’s got bailiffs coming. Im now terrified that one of my creditors could refuse to negotiate with me at all and I’ll be in an even worse mess 😞 this is all causing me such anxiety. Thank you 

Sometimes posters confuse debt collectors with bailiffs, or they tend to freak out and think worst case scenario.

If a creditor isn`t happy with the payment they receive, there is no negotiation, they just wash their hands of it, what you can afford is what you can afford, all they do is sell the debt, usually to a debt purchasing company, who will be only too glad to accept whatever you offer, you just keep paying whoever writes to you.

If you were unlucky enough to have legal action taken against you, the court just sets you an affordable monthly payment, according to your budget, and most likely what you were offering previously.

The only way a bailiff would be involved, is if legal action was taken, and a judgement granted, and you failed to keep up with repayments, then and only then could they use a bailiff, and that is just one enforcement option.

There are so many myths about debt collection, as long as you pay what is affordable, most plans run very smoothly, if you can`t pay, tell them so, the system is not designed to punish you, its there to be fair to all.

Thank you 😊 yeah I think it’s just my anxiety kicking in and thinking about all worst case scenarios … knowing my luck I’d be one of the unlucky ones who has lots of trouble with it. But again that’s probably my anxious thinking taking over, I have a habit of over thinking everything to my own detriment. Ugh why did I get myself into this mess!

thanks for your support 

pelirocco

Newmum92 said:

fatbelly said:

Court action is unlikely as the court should just order instalments equal to what you're paying in your dmp, so there would be little point.

It is however another advantage to having a fighting fund alongside your plan. If you were unlucky enough to get one then if it's paid within 28 days it does not appear on your credit file.

Thank you. Yes that’s very true, I’ve done a better SOA and have budgeted £350 which still gives around £200-300 spare a month to put some money into savings and for emergencies. Do you think that’s enough?

For most of the debts I could save up for settlements if required- but one of my creditors I have a £20,000 loan so there’s no way I’d be able to pay that off. Hopefully they accept and aren’t the ones to take things further legally. I guess if they don’t accept my offer of payment is it worth me negotiating with them? Or is that a bad idea as it looks like I could in effect pay more? 

Thank you so much, 

I'm not sure how you would be able to save up to settle  debts there isn't the room in your soa ?
You have said your partner pays for some stuff  ,yet you have included their income in your soa ?

Newmum92

pelirocco said:

Newmum92 said:

fatbelly said:

Court action is unlikely as the court should just order instalments equal to what you're paying in your dmp, so there would be little point.

It is however another advantage to having a fighting fund alongside your plan. If you were unlucky enough to get one then if it's paid within 28 days it does not appear on your credit file.

Thank you. Yes that’s very true, I’ve done a better SOA and have budgeted £350 which still gives around £200-300 spare a month to put some money into savings and for emergencies. Do you think that’s enough?

For most of the debts I could save up for settlements if required- but one of my creditors I have a £20,000 loan so there’s no way I’d be able to pay that off. Hopefully they accept and aren’t the ones to take things further legally. I guess if they don’t accept my offer of payment is it worth me negotiating with them? Or is that a bad idea as it looks like I could in effect pay more? 

Thank you so much, 

I'm not sure how you would be able to save up to settle  debts there isn't the room in your soa ?
You have said your partner pays for some stuff  ,yet you have included their income in your soa ?

Hi,
There’s currently £557 available for debt payments in my SOA, so I’m not sure what you mean? Or am I reading it wrong? If I budgeted £300-350 out of that for my DMP then with the rest it could go towards saving so that in the future I could maybe pay some of the smaller debts off. The income from my partner listed is what he transfers me each month to go towards bills.