Debt Advice please

Dsy24

Hi, I am after some advice. Long story short, income has dropped, outgoings high inc credit cards. I am considering options at the moment, but am concerned about the effect on my credit file in the long term. Several payments on 9 credit cards are late, behind with priority bills and currently looking to make arrangements with credit cards. However, after reading several threads on the forums, it seems that making an arrangement to pay may actually be worse in terms of my credit file in 6 years, as any arrangement to pay, shows until the last payment rather than a default, which shows for 6 years from date of default. Also, the fact of having any interest stopped as well. Would welcome any advice. Thanks.   

elsien

To give you any meaningful advice, you really need to complete a proper statement of affairs. There’s a link at the top of here somewhere. 

What’s the reason for the drop in  income, Is it a short thing or likely to be longer term?

Dsy24

Hi, thanks. Self employed, lost 3 big clients, income dropped by 60%, in a nutshell. Client like these are difficult to come by so will take time, so looking for a respite of 12 months. My concern is that I may need to remortgage my house in 7 years, so need to ensure, as much as possible that my credit file is as clean as possible. Whats a statement of affairs?

elsien

Income, outgoings, debts, interest rates.
You don’t have to share it on here but sometimes people can see things that you might have missed.

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php  Then format for here. 

It helps to get a clear idea of where you are and what debt solutions may or may not be appropriate for you.

CliveOfIndia

Dsy24 said:

Whats a statement of affairs?

Basically a statement of all your income and outgoings.

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

Complete it as honestly and accurately as possible, select the "Format for MSE" option and copy & paste the results into this thread.

Dsy24

Thank you both, useful and will complete. 

fatbelly

To be clear, credit file entries are removed in full, six years after the debt is defaulted or settled, whichever occurs first.

So with an arrangement marker, the entry stays until 6 years after the arrangement completes