Credit card debts

Looking4silverlining

EssexHebridean said:

If you want to stop them calling you then you need to contact them to tell them you are only prepared for them to contact you in writing now - you can stipulate only being contacted by hard copy letter if you want - a lot of people find that makes it easier to keep all their paperwork in one place. once you've told them, they have to abide by it as well as far as I recall. You can also in the interim block any numbers that calls come from. 

Understandable that you are finding this scary but look at it this way - you've now taken control! How great is that! 

Yes I agree that Ive taken control. Ive been having weird dreams about it all and waking up in the night. I can't stop thinking about it. What if I can't make much in the way of payments, what if I can't get a good enough fighting fund together etc etc What happens if I simply can't pay??? 

EssexHebridean

What if, what if. what if? Probably surprisingly little happens, to be honest! I suspect you would be surprised! 

If you don't have the surplus for much in the way of payments then so be it - until and unless you can increase your income, that's the way things are. Ultimately, you can't pay what you don't have!
A good fighting fund is a nice thing to have, but equally, if you can't build it, then again, so be it. You will just continue to make payments but F&F's might not be in your reach. 

Looking4silverlining

EssexHebridean said:

What if, what if. what if? Probably surprisingly little happens, to be honest! I suspect you would be surprised! 

If you don't have the surplus for much in the way of payments then so be it - until and unless you can increase your income, that's the way things are. Ultimately, you can't pay what you don't have!
A good fighting fund is a nice thing to have, but equally, if you can't build it, then again, so be it. You will just continue to make payments but F&F's might not be in your reach. 

So if I don’t have enough for F & F’s I just keep paying the token payments/as much as so can afford for the 6 years? Is that it, what happens after the 6 years if I’ve not got anything more to offer them? 

sourcrates

Well its common sense really, if your situation is that the debts won`t be repaid within a realistic timeframe (we use 6 years as a rough guide for this), or you simply can`t afford to service them, why wait six years?

Write to your creditors and explain your circumstances to them, go into as much detail as you wish, and ask them to take a commercial decision to write the debts off on that basis, nothing else you can do is there.

They won`t chase debts where you cant afford to pay, it depends if your situation will improve or not.

tigergambit

Looking4silverlining said:

EssexHebridean said:

What if, what if. what if? Probably surprisingly little happens, to be honest! I suspect you would be surprised! 

If you don't have the surplus for much in the way of payments then so be it - until and unless you can increase your income, that's the way things are. Ultimately, you can't pay what you don't have!
A good fighting fund is a nice thing to have, but equally, if you can't build it, then again, so be it. You will just continue to make payments but F&F's might not be in your reach. 

So if I don’t have enough for F & F’s I just keep paying the token payments/as much as so can afford for the 6 years? Is that it, what happens after the 6 years if I’ve not got anything more to offer them? 

@Looking4silverlining

6 years is a long time - concentrate on where you are now.

You can keep offering F&Fs when you have some money or feel the time is right - it's not a one bullet gun. I have been in a DMP for 20 months and offered F&Fs (through PayPlan at 30%) after 6 months and then directly after 18 months (at 23%). Surprisingly MNBA accepted the first time. Two others have accepted this time (so far). So I have managed to clear ~£20k of debt for ~£5k donated by family. Currently I have had one refusal this time around but I will just resume paying at a recalculated lower level on any refusals and try again in 6 months. You just need to plead your case well and tell a story which is reasonable and believable.

A DMP is a long term strategy, be prepared for months of comparable inactivity as you just pay your monthly amount and build a fund. Then there's a couple of months of offering F&Fs and back to inactivity. There's no point worrying about what happens years in the future - if your circumstances change you just alter the amount (or save more).

Looking4silverlining

Should I talk to the banks now to let them know what’s going on or should I avoid speaking with them? I’m getting charges now for being in unarranged overdrafts. 

tigergambit

If you have already set up your new, clean bank account and cancelled your DDs do you have anything to say to them? I suspect it's best to sit tight and let them get on with their default processes. Speaking to them will probably just delay this.

Try not to let this run your life. Set all the letters aside and deal with them for 30 minutes once a week. If you really have to do something set up a filing system for the letters and a summary spreadsheet so that you have contact details and state of play all in one place.Otherwise just sit back and build that emergency fund.

Looking4silverlining

tigergambit said:

If you have already set up your new, clean bank account and cancelled your DDs do you have anything to say to them? I suspect it's best to sit tight and let them get on with their default processes. Speaking to them will probably just delay this.

Try not to let this run your life. Set all the letters aside and deal with them for 30 minutes once a week. If you really have to do something set up a filing system for the letters and a summary spreadsheet so that you have contact details and state of play all in one place.Otherwise just sit back and build that emergency fund.

This all makes sense. I am very organised with paperwork, I was going to make a folder with all of the cards, log in details and the amounts owed at the start of this journey. Ill keep everything together.
I was just a bit concerned about the overdrafts as they are different from credit card debt. I wasn't sure how it worked with unnaranged overdrafts, that's all.

tigergambit

Looking4silverlining said:

tigergambit said:

If you have already set up your new, clean bank account and cancelled your DDs do you have anything to say to them? I suspect it's best to sit tight and let them get on with their default processes. Speaking to them will probably just delay this.

Try not to let this run your life. Set all the letters aside and deal with them for 30 minutes once a week. If you really have to do something set up a filing system for the letters and a summary spreadsheet so that you have contact details and state of play all in one place.Otherwise just sit back and build that emergency fund.

I was just a bit concerned about the overdrafts as they are different from credit card debt. I wasn't sure how it worked with unnaranged overdrafts, that's all.

If a bank has chosen to make a payment that takes you into an unarranged overdraft then I would suggest that's their mistake and their problem. 

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but the only difference I am aware of between O/D and CC debt is that an O/D can be withdrawn at any time and CCA rules don't apply. Once you go down the DMP route you can treat them the same although O/Ds are enforceable whereas CC or loan debt may or may not be. 

Asking for CCAs is some way in the future for you, so don't worry.

Looking4silverlining

tigergambit said:

Looking4silverlining said:

tigergambit said:

If you have already set up your new, clean bank account and cancelled your DDs do you have anything to say to them? I suspect it's best to sit tight and let them get on with their default processes. Speaking to them will probably just delay this.

Try not to let this run your life. Set all the letters aside and deal with them for 30 minutes once a week. If you really have to do something set up a filing system for the letters and a summary spreadsheet so that you have contact details and state of play all in one place.Otherwise just sit back and build that emergency fund.

I was just a bit concerned about the overdrafts as they are different from credit card debt. I wasn't sure how it worked with unnaranged overdrafts, that's all.

If a bank has chosen to make a payment that takes you into an unarranged overdraft then I would suggest that's their mistake and their problem. 

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but the only difference I am aware of between O/D and CC debt is that an O/D can be withdrawn at any time and CCA rules don't apply. Once you go down the DMP route you can treat them the same although O/Ds are enforceable whereas CC or loan debt may or may not be. 

Asking for CCAs is some way in the future for you, so don't worry.

The bank has chosen to pay itself from my account but it put me into a unarranged OD Basically I have a bounce back loan with them and there wasn't enough for the monthly payment so they took it out anyway. I thought if you didn't have sufficient funds the thing would simply bounce. Oh well