So confused what to do

Sarkar8487

Dear all,

I am going towards my personal DMP and already posted about my personal situation on this forum and taking steps based on great advice here.

This post I have created this on behalf of my wife.

She also has a debt of around £25,000 and pays more than £500 a month, we thought before to only go for DMP for me as we will be able to manage her payments, but unfortunately, we realised it is not the case. at the moment all credit cards are on an interest-free promotion period but once this ends I don't think we will be able to get another card as her credit file is damaged as well due to being associated with me ( joint mortgage & joint bank account ) and we will not be able to pay off in full to avoid huge interest.
The confusion we are facing is that she is not willing to speak to creditors or any debt collector we may face in the future over the phone as she gets panic and anxiety, we can deal via email or letter as I can guide her as well. also I am the reason for all these debts which I am very shameful so don't want to trouble her much with the process and want to deal all myself, the confusion I have is that two of her credit cards have a balance under £3k ( 1 Sainsbury, 1 Halifax ) and acquired recently around Feb time, they have long interest free period of up to 29 months so I am confident we can clear these without any issue by paying around £60 a month each.
The two cards are with MBNA total balance of £12k and a Tesco card balance of £8K which is the problem where we paying around £400 a month and the interest-free period is ending around July this month on all, we cannot afford to clear these by then neither we can afford £400 payment.

Is it possible to go for DMP only for MBNA and Tesco and the other two cards carry on as normal? She banks with Barclays and Metro so we have no issue with these.

Can we request to deal only via letter and email and she doesn't not receive phone calls? and should we send letters to MBNA and Teso and inform them that we cannot make regular payments and want them to stop charging interest plus offer them a reduced payment?  I will definitely make my wife aware of all this but will deal my self.

For my self since I am planning on full DMP, I am waiting to get defualt on all accounts before moving forward, but I believe her situation is different then me.

Your help is always appreciated.

sourcrates

Hi,

First off, you don`t have to keep asking "can we do this" "can we do that" You can do absolutely anything you see fit, you are free to ask your lender anything, and to repay your borrowing any way you choose.

There are just a couple of points to mention, credit card companies won`t stop charging you interest, just because you ask them too, they may lower the rate on a temporary basis, they may even suspend interest for a short period, but any situation that is going to be more of a longer term issue, they will just refer you to the debt charities for advice, that is how the system works now.

Any reduction in payment will result in missed payment markers and charges, and eventually lead to defaults.

So really just don`t worry about what the lenders reaction might be, by all means write and tell them your plan, it never hurts to do so, but the collection process will kick into gear regardless of what you say or do.

So if you need to make reduced payments, just go ahead and do it, eventually the accounts will default, and all interest and charges will stop permanently.

gwynlas

You and your wife  can self manage her plan however you wish. If you can clear the balances on the 0% cards as indicated then continue as planned. With the others write to them, always keep a copy, telling them that you are unable to make payments at current levels and ask will they freeze interest? Offer them what you can afford which would clear the outstanding debt in a reasonable time and also explain that all correspondence needs to be in writing. Most credit card companies are used to this and might push you to complete and return a SOA to assess what you can afford. I just told mine that I had already indicated what I could afford and ignored it.

Sarkar8487

Thank you both for your reply.
I also have debt for myself with MBNA and Tesco which I am ignoring for now until default, if I contact Tesco and MBNA for my wife's CC, will it have any impact or both cases will be dealt with separately despite we are husband and wife and live together, I was bit worried about our house too due to joint mortgage.

Also, should I wait for Tesco and MBNA to get us to default or start the payment plan straightaway?

So just to clarify if I understand correctly, I can contact them via letter and request to only communicate via mail also I can carry on the other two credit card payments as normal, and for the one with higher interest rates, I can make reduced payments.
By doing this we will only have to deal with 2 creditors.

I just don't want my wife to get any stress, so want to deal all by myself.

Sarkar8487

@gwynlas when you say ignored it, what does it mean?

sourcrates

Sarkar8487 said:

Thank you both for your reply.
I also have debt for myself with MBNA and Tesco which I am ignoring for now until default, if I contact Tesco and MBNA for my wife's CC, will it have any impact or both cases will be dealt with separately despite we are husband and wife and live together, I was bit worried about our house too due to joint mortgage.

Also, should I wait for Tesco and MBNA to get us to default or start the payment plan straightaway?

So just to clarify if I understand correctly, I can contact them via letter and request to only communicate via mail also I can carry on the other two credit card payments as normal, and for the one with higher interest rates, I can make reduced payments.
By doing this we will only have to deal with 2 creditors.

I just don't want my wife to get any stress, so want to deal all by myself.

Yes, that is fine, a reasonable strategy.

@gwynlas when you say ignored it, what does it mean?

It mean`s they ignored the income and expenditure form from the creditor.

Sarkar8487

Thank you @sourcrates you are always very helpful, I hope someday I do the same on this forum for others

I think I will ignore the form as well because other two new CC I will be paying much higher compared to the balance and for the one I will pay less, I will try to keep lower and save money so at some point I can clear with partial settlement, is there any template in this forum to send to creditors to contact via post only and also offer a lower repayment?

sourcrates

Sarkar8487 said:

 is there any template in this forum to send to creditors to contact via post only and also offer a lower repayment?

Try something like this -

Dear Creditor,

I am unable to manage full contractual monthly repayment at present due to my circumstances.

(Go on to add further detail if you wish) 

However, I am able to offer a monthly payment of £X.XX which is all I can afford, according to my budget.

Also as you are aware, under General Data Protection Regulations, I am able to choose how I am contacted by my creditors.

From the date of this letter, please contact me in writing only.

regards

Sarkar8487

Rob5342

Remember that while a DMP feels daunting to you now, it's just a normal part of buisness for lenders. I've been on a DMP for nearly two years and it's been absolutely fine. I had a few phone me to start with but when I said I was on a DMP they apologised for phoning and made a note. None of them have ever suggested that I pay more than I've offered, in fact a few of them asked if I was sure I could afford that.

Sarkar8487

Thank you for your messages, just a final question before I contacted them, at what point they will stop charging interest because if they don't and I am paying reduce amount, I will not be able to catchup, same for Default can I request them to mark default on her file? Also sorry just to clear since I have debt with MBNA and Tesco as well, my wife and mine will be dealt separately, because I am waiting for default to appear before I contact them.

sourcrates

Sarkar8487 said:

Thank you for your messages, just a final question before I contacted them, at what point they will stop charging interest because if they don't and I am paying reduce amount, I will not be able to catchup, same for Default can I request them to mark default on her file? Also sorry just to clear since I have debt with MBNA and Tesco as well, my wife and mine will be dealt separately, because I am waiting for default to appear before I contact them.

You cannot predict when interest will be stopped, it will definitely stop after the accounts default though.

That should not be a worry to you to be honest, yes your debt may increase to begin with, but further down the line, when its sold on, you can make a settlement offer and probably save more than you originally paid in interest, it would all work itself out.

Once accounts default, and get sold on, you never repay the full outstanding balance, there is always room for negotiations to settle for less than is owed.