Debt advice

ManCity11

Hi all just looking for bit of advice of whats the best course action i should do.

So we are roughly around 30k of debt
16k loan (joint)
11k loan  
and 3 other small creditors round 3k total.

Have been on token payments for 5 years now paying £1 month and all defaulted over 4 years ago.

Is there much point even trying to even pay the big loans off at all ?

tigergambit

ManCity11 said:

Is there much point even trying to even pay the big loans off at all ?

No, but if you stop paying the £1 they will eventually get nasty so you need to stay in the game.

So long as you are able to live and don't require further credit you should just look at this unsecured debt as a cheap interest free loan and try not to worry too much.

Rob5342

Have you made ccs requests for them? If they can't provide the cca they cant enforce the debt and you can just stop paying it. 

ManCity11

Yeah did that last year. Is there any consequences to just keep paying my £1.
im currently in private renting and  desperately  want to buy a house so all my money is trying to save up for a deposit like.

Grumpelstiltskin

ManCity11 said:

Yeah did that last year. Is there any consequences to just keep paying my £1.
im currently in private renting and  desperately  want to buy a house so all my money is trying to save up for a deposit like.

Did they provide valid CCA's?

ManCity11

Yup.      

sourcrates

Token payments are not a good long term strategy, the debt never goes anywhere nor does it become statute barred.

Not having seen an SOA, its hard to comment, but in general, if your disposable income is only allowing you to make token payments, have you looked into doing a debt relief order?

Or, if this situation is unlikely to improve, ask the lenders to make a commercial decision and write the debts off.

You are currently treading water and getting nowhere fast.

ManCity11

Hi thanks for the reply.

so basically im 20 more months we can start process of buying a house with a  5% deposit when my defaults are off my file. So currently saving all i can for this.  We cant wait any longer as im pushing 38 now and with price of houses atm. So dont want to take a mortgage more than 20 years.  There is my soa if helps.

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 3

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 2400

Partners monthly income after tax....... 1700

Benefits................................ 240

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 4340[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 1440

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 195

Electricity............................. 200

Gas..................................... 0

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 60

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 110

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60

Internet Services....................... 50

Groceries etc. ......................... 800

Clothing................................ 100

Petrol/diesel........................... 200

Road tax................................ 18

Car Insurance........................... 120

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 50

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 12

Life assurance ......................... 5

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100

Haircuts................................ 40

Entertainment........................... 0

Holiday................................. 0

Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 3640[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 0

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 8000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 8000[/b]

[b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Loan...........................17000.....1.........0

Loan...........................11000.....1.........0

Creditor.......................1000......1.........0

Creditor.......................350.......1.........0

Creditor.......................800.......1.........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........30150.....5.........-  [/b]

DankVielen

tigergambit said:

ManCity11 said:

Is there much point even trying to even pay the big loans off at all ?

No, but if you stop paying the £1 they will eventually get nasty so you need to stay in the game.

So long as you are able to live and don't require further credit you should just look at this unsecured debt as a cheap interest free loan and try not to worry too much.

I seriously disagree with this advice

I made the mistake of paying token payments and it kept resetting the limitation act to 6 years.

If you had paid NOTHING and not acknowledged the debt you would be 4 years into a the 6 year statute bar.

Stop paying ANYTHING

There is no "staying in the game" do not engage except at the outset to say "Due to unforeseen circumstances I am no longer able to make any payments to this account and do not envisage being able to in the forceable future".

This usually has the desired effect of getting a default, but you are past that.  I would just stop paying and wait for an offer of 60% discount or more.  Even if you have to wait out the 6 years for the debts you have been contributing towards to become statute barred.

Just wait to be passed around from debt collector to debt collector and eventually the offer will come.

DankVielen

ManCity11 said:

Hi thanks for the reply.

so basically im 20 more months we can start process of buying a house with a  5% deposit when my defaults are off my file. So currently saving all i can for this.  We cant wait any longer as im pushing 38 now and with price of houses atm. So dont want to take a mortgage more than 20 years.  There is my soa if helps.

I am sorry but I think you have been misinformed or maybe have not laid things out clearly, the debts are still alive because of your payments, a default will only become statute barred if you do not make any payments or acknowledge the debt for the six year period.  SO STOP PAYING NOW!

Smudgeismydog

Thanks for posting your SOA, a couple of things stand out;

- £700pm groceries for a family of 4 looks on the high side. I appreciate the cost of food shopping has increased, but do you do things like making a list (and sticking to it) or batch cook?
- how many phones does the £110pm cover as that seems huge. Are you in contract?
- another £110pm for satellite/cable tv and internet also looks high, what does this cover?
- you said you have been paying token £1 payments for the last 5 years in order to save, but don’t have anything in savings, is that right? Your SOA suggests you have £695 pm left over, so where is this going?

As sourcrates noted, long term token payments is not a strategy to help you actually deal with the outstanding debt. Your SOA indicates you are in a position to pay more than the token payments.