Struggling to pay business BBL

ricardinho88

Hi all,

As the title says, I'm struggling to repay a BBL I took out. I was self employed and I had to close my business due to the pandemic and ill health. I have now missed one payment and I really don't want it to spiral out of control. I've read that missing payments on a BBL won't affect my credit, is this true? Is there any way to get part/all of the loan written off, considering I no longer have a business? I know that's wishful thinking but I thought I'd ask anyway!

Thanks.

MattMattMattUK

ricardinho88 said:

Hi all,

As the title says, I'm struggling to repay a BBL I took out. I was self employed and I had to close my business due to the pandemic and ill health. I have now missed one payment and I really don't want it to spiral out of control.

Have you spoken to the lender? You could have the option to extend the term, which will reduce the payments and potentially take a payment holiday, but that might be harder now you have missed a payment.

ricardinho88 said:

I've read that missing payments on a BBL won't affect my credit, is this true? 

It will impact your credit report negatively, the confusion was probably because the initial lending was not subject to a credit check in the traditional sense. 

ricardinho88 said:

Is there any way to get part/all of the loan written off, considering I no longer have a business? I know that's wishful thinking but I thought I'd ask anyway!

Unfortunately not as you were a sole trader.

Do you have any assets? A property? If not then a default whilst not great, will be far from the end of the world.

The best advice would be to head to over to the Debt Free Wannabee section of the site, post an SoA and see what can be saved elsewhere, what benefits you may be eligible for etc. Also approach the lender ASAP to explain you are struggling, you can then also see what they can do in terms of temporary payment holidays, etc. 

Grumpy_chap

There are some flexibility options within the BBLS scheme that the OP could explore.  Payment holiday, extend term, interest only period.  These will increase total cost of the loan but may give short-term respite.

macman

Talk to the lender. The worst thing you can do is miss payments and default.
It's a debt against your personally, not against your former business=the two are not financially separate if you were a sole trader.

we_mean_clean

Sorry to hear this! Depends who the loan is with as each lender has different criteria regarding defaults. I would just make sure you communicate with the lender and explain your situation. Hiding/ignoring it won't help IMO. Good luck!