Desperately seeking advice! Please!

Grumpelstiltskin

Amy  Please stop overthinking the debt problem, you will work yourself into a bad place and there is no point in doing that.
Just go with the flow and everything will sort itself out.

collinsona

sorry- have I asked too many questions? I didnt mean to annoy anyone on here 😢 Amy

sourcrates

collinsona said:

sorry- have I asked too many questions? I didnt mean to annoy anyone on here 😢 Amy

No its not that, its just that there are so many different scenarios that can and could play out, we don`t want to baffle you with information.

Much better to deal with what actually happens, rather than what might happen, otherwise it can get very confusing.

collinsona

im a natural worrier and overthinker, I apologise. To everyone that has offered me support and information on here I appreciate it more than you will ever know. Amy x

jamiegutz

collinsona said:

This is probably a really stupid question but once the credit card company defaults my debt could they then not accept my payment offer and just demand the whole amount back? And if I dont pay it all back take me to court? Or am
I letting my imagination run away with me as usual? If anyone has rung the CC company to make a payment offer after a default could you give an an example of how the conversation went please?! Thanks in advance Amy x

They will demand the whole amount back (thats what the default notice is), but if you have made an offer of payment that is affordable to you then they will almost certainly accept it after the default has been issued. Your account will most likely be sold onto a third party who will usually accept whatever you can give them. It is more hassle than it is worth for them to take you to court and any judge would kick them out if they can see you have already made an offer of payment. Even if they were successful in obtaining a judgement, they would still need to accept installments if that is all that you can afford so the cost of going to court vs just accepting installments in the first place just isnt worth it. Dont make any offers until after the account has defaulted (that way the default will disappear after 6 years) and never deal with them over the phone. As you have already found out, its just a waste of time and will likely cause more stress and upset speaking to someone. Written communication puts you in control.

enthusiasticsaver

I can see that you are working yourself into a state over this and would agree that slowing down will help your mental health.  It is a shame your partner is not supporting you in this.  Ultimately the aim should be you both live a life without credit at least for the foreseeable future. 

Consumer credit like credit cards, unsecured loans have very little recourse should their creditors be unable to pay.  They don't rush to court/bailiffs etc as they know there would be no point and it is expensive for them as they cannot get blood out of a stone.  

I second the advice to put  a soa up on here so you can work out a budget and see what you can afford to pay towards a DMP after the debts have defaulted you? The first steps should be you defaulting so no further interest is added to the debts.  In the meantime just save as much as possible for emergencies. You can write to your creditors if you wish and tell them how you want to be contacted. There is a process and some of the letters sent are quite scary but they are just following the normal procedures. I would not bother ringing them.  The defaults will drop off after 6 years. 

Do you rent or do you have a mortgage?
Is it possible for you to return to work to get more income? 

collinsona

Thank you @jamiegutz and @enthusiasticsaver for your replies. I will do the SOA as soon as possible for all the helpful people to look at. I have just managed to cut down on my breakdown cover and my BT broadband- both considerably so im definitely becoming more aware of my outgoings. Can I just ask (sorry!) when a credit card company defaults the debt and I then write to them saying I can only afford to pay X amount a month will they reply to say yes we accept that or no we don’t accept that? Or will I not get a reply? I am going to write to them all this week asking to only be contacted by post- I shouldnt mention anything else though at this stage should I? I just want to say that I feel much better mentally than I did when I started this thread thanks to everyone that has replied to me. I do really appreciate it and im sorry if Ive got myself worked up and asked too many questions before anything has happened! Thanks, Amy

collinsona

@enthusiasticsaver I have a mortgage of about £109,000 and house is worth about £300k- tried to release some equity/remortgage to pay off this debt but they wouldnt let me. And yes I am
currently looking for a job so there will be more income coming into the household. Amy x

Floss

Re: offering payments - WAIT until whichever collection company contact you after the default shows on your credit card. By then you will have an idea of what is affordable, and should also have saved up an emergency fund (for emergencies like car tyres, repairs, new washer etc that you would previously have put onto a credit card).

Re: writing to state only contact by post - log into all your accounts & remove your phone number & address,  and no, don't mention repayments at all.

pogg000

tried to release some equity/remortgage to pay off this debt but they wouldnt let me. 



Please dont  do this