Refused breathing space

triskaidemania

I have tried to contacting lenders/creditors to preempt my situation.
I am expecting unaffordbability on my debts within the next few months.
I have spoke  to Payplan but feel
pushed for an IVA.
I am looking into a self managed DMP, I need a bit of time to sort this plan and budget and sell some stuff.
The rest of my creditors generously gave me breathing space which has helped ease my anxiety and feeling of drowning. 

But Vanquis whom I owe 900£ just refuse to give breathing space. 

They want a repayment plan right away. Even on my first contact they want a figure of how much I can repay. I haven’t defaulted or missed any payment yet by the way.
they Are too tough! Multiple emails and request and a letter still nothing. 

I cannot give a figure just yet, I am speaking to SC right now developing a plan working on my budget but I feel I want to self manage.

any advice please?! 

Thank you in advance I am desperate 

Grumpelstiltskin

Advice? just don't pay them anything, don't talk to them, ignore phone calls and E Mails, you only need to check anything  you receive by snail mail.

Don't talk to any of your creditors they will only try and get you to pay them what you can't afford.

Wait until the accounts have defaulted and then think about paying them if you can afford to.

fatbelly

You don't really need Breathing Space. Nothing of any consequence will happen for a long time, maybe years or never, if you stop paying.

Having said that, stepchange are really keen on it so it would be a surprise if they don't suggest it

triskaidemania

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Advice? just don't pay them anything, don't talk to them, ignore phone calls and E Mails, you only need to check anything  you receive by snail mail.

Don't talk to any of your creditors they will only try and get you to pay them what you can't afford.

Wait until the accounts have defaulted and then think about paying them if you can afford to.

Thank you for this. And this is what i don’t have the guts. I’m so fearful of being hounded and the feeling of being harassed by debtors. My credit score is gonna go down in flames anyway I was just hoping for something amicable. 

I am reading through the threads trying to understand why “default” is recommended. There were mentions about debt being sold to collectors and ultimately discounted, none of my creditors have offered discounts yet. 

I am continuing my research, hence the breathing space would’ve been a respite and stopping their interest been a big help. 

Thank you for the advice and reassurance.

triskaidemania

fatbelly said:

You don't really need Breathing Space. Nothing of any consequence will happen for a long time, maybe years or never, if you stop paying.

Having said that, stepchange are really keen on it so it would be a surprise if they don't suggest it

Thank you for your input and reassurance. It’s really the uncertainty and fear of bailiffs at my door that stresses me out. I work in healthcare not sure if that affects it in anyway especially foe
future employment checks. This financial debt just makes me feel like I’ve done so much wrong i
cannot justify what has happened to us financially but I want to do things right and try to control situation and minimize impact. But help me
dear life I feel pushed hard by Vanquis

Grumpelstiltskin

No need to feel hounded, contact ( not by phone ) your creditors and tell them you only want them to contact you by letter.

Block phone numbers, delete E Mails and text messages just rely on what comes through the post.

I know in these circumstances you feel you are the only person with debt problems, you are not I can guarantee some of the people you work with will be in the same position or worse than you are.

OK defaults will show on your credit report but in healthcare you shouldn't have to have a credit check so no problem.

The way to control the situation is not to let the creditors control you.

RAS

Hi you really need to take control.

First of there's pretty much no one who cares if you stop paying. There are computers programmed to send out letters and trigger auto-dialling but you might not even get a person on the line if you pick up the call. Anyone you do speak to works to a script, so has no real negotiating rights anyway.

The creditors obviously prefer if you just keep paying and if your debt isn't yet unaffordable, they'll push for that. Most now recognise unaffordability but others try to push the boundaries of the acceptable, particularly if they speak to you, suggesting things that might happen if you don't do what they want. 

You need to concentrate on paying the rent, Council Tax, HMRC, keeping any vehicles legal, food and utilities. Then think of annual costs including insurance, clothing and footwear.

They can't send bailiffs. They can go to court for a CCJ, but can't do that until they've issued the default. That halts interest anyway, and if you then offer an affordable payment, few will bother spending money to get what they've already got from you.

Most likely the debt will be sold on, for much less than you owe. At some stage some of the new owners may offer you a full and final settlement for a discount, which still allows them to make a tidy profit. There are a few house calling companies which seem to be used by low end debt buyers who have acquired debts that are unenforceable but hope to embarrass people. Those agents have no more power than next door's cat, so tell them where to go.

If you can afford to or wish to, write to your creditors after you stop paying and tell them to remove your phone numbers and email address from their records. By law they have to write to you before they default the debt (scary letter demanding the debt is repaid in full), for the default and any court action. 

But it will take 6-18 months to even get a default. Meantime save up your emergency fund to cover boiler breakdown, car problems and family crises.

Once the creditors issue the defaults, wait to see if the debt is sold on, then you may want to set up a payment you can afford. 

Meantime, you need to work out your budget and stress test it. Look for www.lemonfool.co.uk.  Every time any bill turns up that isn't covered in your budget, or for which there isn't enough in the budget, revise and refine until you know you can live on the budget. 

Any once a week, try and open the mail. File the letters and come back here if you think you have a default letter or receive court paperwork.

You'll be OK. You just need to take control rather than being tumbled around in the financial washing machine, unsure which way is up.

Rob5342

It sounds completely bizarre but you actually get treated a lot worse if you tslk to your creditors about it. They'll want to put you on a payment arrangement whixh stsys on your credit report for 6 years after the debt is paid off. If you just ignore them they will eventually default you, and default drops off 6 years after it was applied. Once defaulted debts often get sold to collectors who are usually open to settlement offers, so you could settle the debt for half of what you would have paid the original creditor. 

freshstart2023

I have just been through this myself and all of my accounts have now defaulted. I blocked a few numbers in the first couple of weeks, after this I didn’t actually receive any calls. I received letters but I just shredded them until the defaults arrived. The debts were all sold on straight after defaults and so far I have been able to set up standing orders with each of the DCA’s without a problem and they have said they won’t contact me now for at least 6-10 months. Feels so good to be back in control 👍

sourcrates

You haven`t even missed a payment yet, so talking to your creditors about payment plans, before you have even defaulted, is like trying to knit fog, pointless.

Breathing space is a waste of time, average turn around of a creditor letter is 4 weeks, collection activity consists of a few phone calls and the odd letter, please familiarise yourself with the collection process, its mainly informal, and takes a long time, months, years in some cases.

Formal collection activity, legal action, is mainly used by debt purchasing companies much further down the line, after default, and after the debt has been sold, sometimes more than once.

Nothing will happen in the short term, your best bet is to let everything default (stops interest and gives a clear 6 year window till default drops off file) let the debts go to collection companies, or be sold on (whichever is soonest) then make payment arrangements on the collectors website, so simple, no need to talk to anyone, you can also use the time to save an emergency fund.

triskaidemania

RAS said:

Hi you really need to take control.

First of there's pretty much no one who cares if you stop paying. There are computers programmed to send out letters and trigger auto-dialling but you might not even get a person on the line if you pick up the call. Anyone you do speak to works to a script, so has no real negotiating rights anyway.

The creditors obviously prefer if you just keep paying and if your debt isn't yet unaffordable, they'll push for that. Most now recognise unaffordability but others try to push the boundaries of the acceptable, particularly if they speak to you, suggesting things that might happen if you don't do what they want. 

You need to concentrate on paying the rent, Council Tax, HMRC, keeping any vehicles legal, food and utilities. Then think of annual costs including insurance, clothing and footwear.

They can't send bailiffs. They can go to court for a CCJ, but can't do that until they've issued the default. That halts interest anyway, and if you then offer an affordable payment, few will bother spending money to get what they've already got from you.

Most likely the debt will be sold on, for much less than you owe. At some stage some of the new owners may offer you a full and final settlement for a discount, which still allows them to make a tidy profit. There are a few house calling companies which seem to be used by low end debt buyers who have acquired debts that are unenforceable but hope to embarrass people. Those agents have no more power than next door's cat, so tell them where to go.

If you can afford to or wish to, write to your creditors after you stop paying and tell them to remove your phone numbers and email address from their records. By law they have to write to you before they default the debt (scary letter demanding the debt is repaid in full), for the default and any court action. 

But it will take 6-18 months to even get a default. Meantime save up your emergency fund to cover boiler breakdown, car problems and family crises.

Once the creditors issue the defaults, wait to see if the debt is sold on, then you may want to set up a payment you can afford. 

Meantime, you need to work out your budget and stress test it. Look for www.lemonfool.co.uk.  Every time any bill turns up that isn't covered in your budget, or for which there isn't enough in the budget, revise and refine until you know you can live on the budget. 

Any once a week, try and open the mail. File the letters and come back here if you think you have a default letter or receive court paperwork.

You'll be OK. You just need to take control rather than being tumbled around in the financial washing machine, unsure which way is up.

Thank you for this. I am in tears reading this because I am so lost and I appreciate you all
taking the time and effort to enlighten me. 

It’s been 8 months of me shouldering all
our expenses. Recently back from
maternity leave and Now on a single income we’ve then relied on credit cards to get by. I’ve completely emptied our savings just to get by. But this needs to stop! I need to have the heart and guts to control this. 

Thank you!