Unsecured debt help - I feel helpless

sourcrates

RubyGown795 said:

So out of the 3x unsecured loans I have all have now defaulted.

All of which I have been advised will be reviewed every 3 months and if my I&E stay the same they said the payments can remain the same 

Just one thing to note here, and its an important point, its YOU that decides the payment amount a lender will get, not the lender, not the pope, just you.

Payments will rise or stay the same as you see fit, not on the whim of a banks call handler.

This is why its important to word correspondence as though it has been your decision alone, not something you have asked for, as it means you retain control of matters and not your creditors, this goes a long way to keeping your focus and your head screwed on correctly.

RubyGown795

RAS said:

Put the money into an emergency fund, in an instant access ISA. If you are in receipt of means tested benefits, you need to look at the impact of savings over £6k . It might be better to clear a small overdraft?

You've already experienced the chaos caused by one lost income. You also have a house that will need repair and maintenance.

I'd add that you really need to devise a joint SOA, even if only for your own purposes. Unless your partner's debts are equal or greater than yours, they should be making a contribution to clearing your debts.

After all, the debts originate from covering debt attributable to your partner's injury.

Neither me or my partner receive any benefits so I will put the money (if it comes hopefully) into an instant access ISA and keep it there. 

RubyGown795

sourcrates said:

RubyGown795 said:

So out of the 3x unsecured loans I have all have now defaulted.

All of which I have been advised will be reviewed every 3 months and if my I&E stay the same they said the payments can remain the same 

Just one thing to note here, and its an important point, its YOU that decides the payment amount a lender will get, not the lender, not the pope, just you.

Payments will rise or stay the same as you see fit, not on the whim of a banks call handler.

This is why its important to word correspondence as though it has been your decision alone, not something you have asked for, as it means you retain control of matters and not your creditors, this goes a long way to keeping your focus and your head screwed on correctly.

You’re completely right… without sounding silly, how do I deal with them if they become pushy? Do I just resist and say this is what I can afford to pay and this only etc? 

sourcrates

RubyGown795 said:

You’re completely right… without sounding silly, how do I deal with them if they become pushy? Do I just resist and say this is what I can afford to pay and this only etc? 

You just say no, its as simple as that, you refuse, what are they going to do?

Its best practice, regardless of your actual budget, to have one that you can show to creditors to back up your position.

Now this may not reflect your actual financial position, but it should reflect the position you want them to see.

There is nothing wrong with this approach, debt management is an informal debt solution, there are no rules here.

Only in insolvency are there rules governing income and expenditure, in debt management lenders have no right to see or to ask you to complete one, remember you are the boss, not them.

RubyGown795

@sourcrates could they just refuse my offer of a low repayment and take me to court for the full amount? 

Also one of the loans is with a credit union (castle community bank) someone said they are likely to go straight to court proceedings. Would they be likely to reject a lower offer of repayment? 

sourcrates

No one refuses payment on a debt, if they are unhappy with what you propose, they just sell the debt on or assign a debt collector who will accept what you offer.

Its the same budget used to determine payment to the creditor, that would be used by the court, so what benefit would legal action have to them? none whatsoever is the answer.

Original creditors don`t usually go straight to court, this is why we have debt buyers and debt collectors.

If every creditor took every defaulted debtor to court the system would break down rather rapidly, don`t you think.

Credit unions on the other hand are not CCA regulated on the whole, so don`t have the same restraints high street lenders have.

They are more likely to take legal action if your offer is not good enough, so you must pay particular attention to that one, the others are all mainstream high street banks which all follow similar collection strategies, and can all be treated the same.

RubyGown795

@sourcrates thank you so much for the advice I really appreciate it. 

I’ve spoken to an advisor from CCB today and gone through an I&E with them and they’ve agreed to £40 a month repayment and said it will be reviewed in March after 3 months so I need to contact them then. The advisor I spoke to was very helpful and did state that if my financial situation remained the same and £40 was all I could afford they would likely continue this on. 

Would a credit union likely sell a debt on? 

Rob5342

sourcrates said:

RubyGown795 said:

So out of the 3x unsecured loans I have all have now defaulted.

All of which I have been advised will be reviewed every 3 months and if my I&E stay the same they said the payments can remain the same 

Just one thing to note here, and its an important point, its YOU that decides the payment amount a lender will get, not the lender, not the pope, just you. 

This is a good point. You set the dmp payments accordingly to your own strategy and whoever owns the debt gets whatever you decide to pay them, end of atory. It took me a while to get into that mindset as it was so different to the times when I was doing everything I could think of to pay the minimum payment they wanted before i started the dmp.

I had similar worries prior to starting my dmp but it is all going very smoothly. Everything was just sold on and I'm paying the amounts i decided on. 

sourcrates

RubyGown795 said:

@sourcrates thank you so much for the advice I really appreciate it. 

I’ve spoken to an advisor from CCB today and gone through an I&E with them and they’ve agreed to £40 a month repayment and said it will be reviewed in March after 3 months so I need to contact them then. The advisor I spoke to was very helpful and did state that if my financial situation remained the same and £40 was all I could afford they would likely continue this on. 

Would a credit union likely sell a debt on? 

No, they do not have the connections to debt purchasing companies that the banks have, nor would they be comfortable selling a debt for a fraction of its face value, they would be unable to take the financial hit, as they don`t have the financial resources of the high street lenders.

What they tend to do is agree a reasonable monthly payment, but if they don`t like what your offering, they may secure their position by way of a county court judgement instead.

RubyGown795

sourcrates said:

RubyGown795 said:

@sourcrates thank you so much for the advice I really appreciate it. 

I’ve spoken to an advisor from CCB today and gone through an I&E with them and they’ve agreed to £40 a month repayment and said it will be reviewed in March after 3 months so I need to contact them then. The advisor I spoke to was very helpful and did state that if my financial situation remained the same and £40 was all I could afford they would likely continue this on. 

Would a credit union likely sell a debt on? 

No, they do not have the connections to debt purchasing companies that the banks have, nor would they be comfortable selling a debt for a fraction of its face value, they would be unable to take the financial hit, as they don`t have the financial resources of the high street lenders.

What they tend to do is agree a reasonable monthly payment, but if they don`t like what you’re offering, they may secure their position by way of a county court judgement instead.

I would really really like to avoid a CCJ 😣