Help with Loan

killie77

Hi
My Wife has an outstanding Loan,which she is having difficulty paying. The current amount of the Loan is around £14000. She has been paying £480 a month for a while now, she hasn’t defaulted on the Loan but is finding it hard to keep the Payments up. She currently works part time on a Zero hour contract so isn’t eligible for Sick pay or Holidays. As an Auxiliary Nurse.. She has been doing 3 shifts a week if she can get them. These are twelve hour shifts in a busy maternity unit. She is 62 and the work is starting to become very difficult. We have no Mortgage and the House is in both our names. I’m currently retired and on a State pension. I put as much of my Pension in to the House as I can manage. I’ve thought of going back to Work but after a recent Operation, I’m not in the best of health..

What were wondering is our best policy. Should she consider going Bankrupt ?
or rely on a Debt management agency. The thing she is most worried about is the House would she be liable to sell her half to pay off her Debt ?
Thanks for any Advice
Ian

[Deleted User]

Head to the DFW boards for more rounded advice on tackling the debts, before you head for a default or bankruptcy.

killie77

Thanks for the Advice 
ian

sourcrates

You don`t want to be going bankrupt for 14k, nor do you want anything to do with any debt agency type people.

Debt advice should only be sought from legitimate sources such as the debt charities in my signature, as they have no agenda to sell you.
Personal loans are unsecured, non priority debts, your house will not be at risk, as long as some kind of payment is forthcoming.

Is that her only debt ?

then simply reducing payments to a more affordable level is the obvious choice, would £240 per month be affordable ?
If so, just write and tell the creditor your situation, explain you are struggling, and that for the moment, all you can afford is the £240.

You then keep paying that amount, it doesn't matter if the lender is happy/unhappy with that, all they will do is default you, and possibly sell the debt to a debt purchasing company, who will gladly continue accepting the £240 per month, you see you just keep making your affordable payments, it matters little to you who actually owns your debt.

Affordability is everything these days, and there are very easy ways to deal with debts that have become a problem.

Further down the line, these companies will usually make some kind of settlement offer, to settle the debt sooner, for a substantial discount, so you have no need to struggle here, all you need is good advice.

killie77

Thanks
thats good advice. She was really worried about the House.. She has no other Debt that I know of. She contacted Stepchange spoke to someone. They have sent her an online form to fill in. Which she has now done.
Thanks again for the advice.
Ian

sourcrates

killie77 said:

Thanks
thats good advice. She was really worried about the House.. She has no other Debt that I know of. She contacted Stepchange spoke to someone. They have sent her an online form to fill in. Which she has now done.
Thanks again for the advice.
Ian

Stepchange won`t usually take you on for a DMP when you only have the one debt.

They like you to have at least 3 creditors.

But its super easy for you to do as I have described above, creditors are well used to situations like this, so please don`t keep struggling on trying to pay this out of some mis-guided good intention.

There is absolutely no need to stress yourselves out over it.

Good luck.

Grumpelstiltskin

Killie don't let your wife rush into a DMP even with Stepchange.

Go over to the Debt Free Wanabee board, bare your soul to them with an accurate SOA and you will get the best advice from the helpful members on there.

With all the forthcoming  price increases you have to account for them and not jump into a DMP with incorrect figures.

killie77

Thanks for all the replies. The Wife is going to have a good think on what to do next.
She has told me their is about 2  and a half years left on the Loan and she would rather Pay now than have the Loan extend due to added interest. I. Goi g to try to get back to Work even part time to help her out 
Thanks again for all the replies.
ian

MEM62

killie77 said:

She has told me their is about 2  and a half years left on the Loan and she would rather Pay now than have the Loan extend due to added interest. 

Once defaulted, no further interest is added.  

JCS1

Also to add, as her assets (share of house) would be higher than her liabilities, then declaring herself bankrupt would not be an option as she is not technically insolvent.