Struggling with debt – Is defaulting and a DMP the only option

RAS

You need to make sure that your salary is going into the new bank account before you stop paying everything. Ask HR now what the next deadline is to achieve that. Then confirm that they've achieved it before moving the important DDs.

As for your partner, debts not pretty and you'll need to regain trust but they may well have feared that the distraction had two legs.

explorer_235

RAS said:

You need to make sure that your salary is going into the new bank account before you stop paying everything. Ask HR now what the next deadline is to achieve that. Then confirm that they've achieved it before moving the important DDs.

As for your partner, debts not pretty and you'll need to regain trust but they may well have feared that the distraction had two legs.

Thank you, already spoke to HR and it's instaneous so I'll be switching that as soon as the new account is opened.

As I understand it, if the debt is passed on to DCAs I then engage with them to start making token payments, or whatever I can afford based on an SOA I provide to them. Do they ever offer full settlement figures instantly, or is this usually after a period of time?

Grumpelstiltskin

Do not make any payments until you know the debts have defaulted.

They won't all default at the same time it could be many months before some of them default.

Token payments are a waste of time, they just prolong the agony.

Whilst you are not paying any debts save as much money as you can into your emergency fund as you will need it in the future and check everything in your budget to see if you can reduce anything.

stymied

Do you actually need to default when according to your SOA you can cover the minimum payments with a small surplus that you can use to start snowballing, especially as a large proportion of your debt is at 0%.

You seem to have taken on quite a large proportion of the bills - can your wife help out with any more of these?

Have you tried eBay / Vinted for any of your purchases that you no longer want?

enthusiasticsaver

Do you split the bills 50/50? Given your wife actually earns more than you I would question if she is shouldering her share of the household expenses.  £300 is high for energy costs and really your wife should be paying half of that.  Is she paying half the mortgage/council tax  and groceries bill? If not, why not? 

If you intend going down the DMP route then you need to wait until the payments are defaulted and save up for emergencies as you will have no access to credit. Personally before going down that route I would make sure your wife is paying her fair share, query whether private medical insurance is worth going into debt for and be aware that if you have a joint mortgage and loan your wifes credit record will be affected by any defaults you make. 

explorer_235

stymied said:

Do you actually need to default when according to your SOA you can cover the minimum payments with a small surplus that you can use to start snowballing, especially as a large proportion of your debt is at 0%.

You seem to have taken on quite a large proportion of the bills - can your wife help out with any more of these?

Have you tried eBay / Vinted for any of your purchases that you no longer want?

enthusiasticsaver said:

Do you split the bills 50/50? Given your wife actually earns more than you I would question if she is shouldering her share of the household expenses.  £300 is high for energy costs and really your wife should be paying half of that.  Is she paying half the mortgage/council tax  and groceries bill? If not, why not? 

If you intend going down the DMP route then you need to wait until the payments are defaulted and save up for emergencies as you will have no access to credit. Personally before going down that route I would make sure your wife is paying her fair share, query whether private medical insurance is worth going into debt for and be aware that if you have a joint mortgage and loan your wifes credit record will be affected by any defaults you make. 

Thanks both, regarding my wife's share, we do contribute equally, she solely pays the main family car which is on an EV scheme through her work, hence the reason the electricity bill is probably higher than normal.

We used to be with Green energy who went bust and then got transferred to Shell and now Octopus, we're currently in a surplus for the first time ever so after winter I'm hoping our energy bills will reduce.

Regarding private healthcare, she gets this free through her work too, from June next year so will only cost me about 20 pounds a month to keep mine, considering the state of the NHS I would like to continue this for the next few months.