Prioritising Creditors

SimonSaysWhaaa

I am currently paying 21 creditors £1 each per month, they are all debt collection agencies. Today Mortimer Clarke Solicitors have refused my offer of £1 per month saying:

"Our client has considered this proposal very carefully and, in view of the outstanding balance and your outgoings, is not prepared to accept the offer of £1.00. From the information you have provided, your monthly income is £549.00 and your outgoings are £541.00, leaving an available surplus of £8.00. Our client therefore believes that you would be able to afford a higher repayment offer. Our client proposes a repayment offer of £5.60. We believe that this is an acceptable compromise."

The debt is £738.

Unsure what to do now, do I have to pay them £5.60 a month which I can't really afford? If I do this am I prioritising this debt over all my others? Some of which are much higher debts but they are happy with £1 a month. 

Any advice at all?

sourcrates

SimonSaysWhaaa said:

Unsure what to do now, do I have to pay them £5.60 a month which I can't really afford? 
Any advice at all?

No, of course you don`t have to pay what they ask, you pay what is affordable.

Should this go to court, the court would set your payment using the same budget figures you quoted.

Obviously Mortimer Clark  think they are special, well there not.

You may want to look at other options if this is going to be longer term.

RAS

SimonSaysWhaaa said:

I am currently paying 21 creditors £1 each per month, they are all debt collection agencies. Today Mortimer Clarke Solicitors have refused my offer of £1 per month saying:

"Our client has considered this proposal very carefully and, in view of the outstanding balance and your outgoings, is not prepared to accept the offer of £1.00. From the information you have provided, your monthly income is £549.00 and your outgoings are £541.00, leaving an available surplus of £8.00. Our client therefore believes that you would be able to afford a higher repayment offer. Our client proposes a repayment offer of £5.60. We believe that this is an acceptable compromise."

The debt is £738.

Unsure what to do now, do I have to pay them £5.60 a month which I can't really afford? If I do this am I prioritising this debt over all my others? Some of which are much higher debts but they are happy with £1 a month. 

Any advice at all?

Well, if your total debt across all creditors is below £1k, they may have a point. If it's over £6k, they are getting more than their fair share. 

SimonSaysWhaaa

RAS said:

SimonSaysWhaaa said:

I am currently paying 21 creditors £1 each per month, they are all debt collection agencies. Today Mortimer Clarke Solicitors have refused my offer of £1 per month saying:

"Our client has considered this proposal very carefully and, in view of the outstanding balance and your outgoings, is not prepared to accept the offer of £1.00. From the information you have provided, your monthly income is £549.00 and your outgoings are £541.00, leaving an available surplus of £8.00. Our client therefore believes that you would be able to afford a higher repayment offer. Our client proposes a repayment offer of £5.60. We believe that this is an acceptable compromise."

The debt is £738.

Unsure what to do now, do I have to pay them £5.60 a month which I can't really afford? If I do this am I prioritising this debt over all my others? Some of which are much higher debts but they are happy with £1 a month. 

Any advice at all?

Well, if your total debt across all creditors is below £1k, they may have a point. If it's over £6k, they are getting more than their fair share. 

In total it's well over £6k.

RAS

Well if Mortimer Clarke were to try court action, they'd get less or nothing.

Have you considered asking for your debts to be written off?

ManyWays

How long ago was your I&E drawn up? Are you sure that something hasn't gone up by £6 since then, so many bills have in April.

This is just messing with them, but as they are being so pathetic, you may feel that this is well deserved.

Alternatively, you need to look at when your situation is going to improve and whether it may not be better to look at write-offs or insolvency if that isnt soon. 

enthusiasticsaver

I am not really a fan of these arrangements to pay.  They stay on your credit record much longer than defaults. If your monthly income is only £549 and there is not much likelihood of that increasing I would be asking for a write off.  Are you working at all? 

Personally with 21 creditors I would stop paying them anything and save for full and finals. If the debt is high and you are just paying £1 a month to each creditor the debt will be with you forever. I would write to them all and tell them you cannot afford to pay anything and if you are sick or retired ask for a write off.  At the very least you could save up for full and finals when you have more room in your budget.