Debt advice

tigergambit

DankVielen said:

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!

If the OP stops paying now chances are one of his creditors may go for a CCJ which will damage his chances of getting a mortgage in his 20 month target. If he pays 20 x £5 = £100 then the defaults will drop off his Credit Report (although debts will still exist), he can try to get his mortgage and at that point can reconsider his strategy regarding the DMP.

I don't think £100 is an excessive amount to allow him the opportunity to do this. Sometimes you have to tread water until the time is right and you know which direction to swim.

1stTimer

DankVielen said:

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.

OP states all debts have defaulted so they will drop off after 6 years

kimwp

1stTimer said:

DankVielen said:

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.

OP states all debts have defaulted so they will drop off after 6 years

There's a difference between the debts disappearing from your credit record and debts being statute barred, which means a creditor can no longer take legal action.

ManCity11

Thank you for all your comments.
Im pretty sure they drop off my vile when hit 6 point. I know i still owe the money.
i am going to settle the small debts before i buy a house though so just the 2 loans. 

I may be wrong but long as you work with the creditor dont ignore letters email etc they have to work with you according to fca guidelines.

ManCity11

Smudgeismydog said:

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.

 So i have around 15k in savings.
 Food is family of 5, we dont batch cook as we have picky eaters me being 1 of them lol
mobiles are for contracts still a year to go on both.
Tv i pay Netflix disney plus amazon prime youtube premium and spotify.

ManCity11

kimwp said:

1stTimer said:

DankVielen said:

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.

OP states all debts have defaulted so they will drop off after 6 years

There's a difference between the debts disappearing from your credit record and debts being statute barred, which means a creditor can no longer take legal action.

I may be wrong but i generally thought as long you dont ignore creditors and work with them
they cant take legal action due to fca guidelines. If i ignore it gives them the power to slap me with a  ccj. Again maybe wrong here.

1stTimer

kimwp said:

1stTimer said:

DankVielen said:

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.

OP states all debts have defaulted so they will drop off after 6 years

There's a difference between the debts disappearing from your credit record and debts being statute barred, which means a creditor can no longer take legal action.

Yes I am aware, however OP says they are waiting for them to drop off credit file in the hope to get a mortgage which defaults will. 

Considering token payments have been made for the last 5 years and no mention of statute barred was mentioned in the post I’m really not sure why it came up.

i suspect OP may be doing what I am, keeping the creditors sweet until I can buy a place and wait for a decent F&F settlement offer or just ride it out.

I guess it all depends on how much aggro you are getting now paying token payments, I haven’t had anything but offers from my creditors in the last year they are just not low enough for me to want to take them. Rocking the boat and stopping those token payments 4 years in when they have already provided cca’s could start letters etc again

1stTimer

ManCity11 said:

kimwp said:

1stTimer said:

DankVielen said:

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.

OP states all debts have defaulted so they will drop off after 6 years

There's a difference between the debts disappearing from your credit record and debts being statute barred, which means a creditor can no longer take legal action.

I may be wrong but i generally thought as long you dont ignore creditors and work with them
they cant take legal action due to fca guidelines. If i ignore it gives them the power to slap me with a  ccj. Again maybe wrong here.

Have you asked or been offered any settlement offers?

ManCity11

Had a couple for the small ones, but the 2 big ones nothing.

kimwp

ManCity11 said:

kimwp said:

1stTimer said:

DankVielen said:

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.

OP states all debts have defaulted so they will drop off after 6 years

There's a difference between the debts disappearing from your credit record and debts being statute barred, which means a creditor can no longer take legal action.

I may be wrong but i generally thought as long you dont ignore creditors and work with them
they cant take legal action due to fca guidelines. If i ignore it gives them the power to slap me with a  ccj. Again maybe wrong here.

Text from stepchange:

A DMP is not based on Government legislation, so it does not protect you from legal action by your creditors.

Solutions like individual voluntary arrangements (IVA) or bankruptcy do.

It is rare to get a CCJ during your DMP if you stick to payments. But it is possible.

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/interest-creditor-contact-and-dmp.aspx#:~:text=Can%20you%20get%20a%20County,if%20you%20stick%20to%20payments