Advice needed

SPM87

tigergambit said:

SPM87 said:

Also I am not waiting for SB either.. there are not only 2 options, pay it all down or wait for SB. It is wait until not able to enforce or they cannot enforce and were never able to.. whatever comes first. 

this is why I say, pay as little as possible. Too many on here are promoting using SC and are doing budgets paying back mind blowing amounts of their income to defaulted debt. This is the scam of all scams and should not be advice

NO! There are not only two options. There are also the options of (i) playing the game by stringing things out and aiming for F&F settlements further down the line and (ii) Waiting until the debt has been sold on a few times and then asking for a CCA, hoping it's been mislaid or (iii) any combination of the above and other strategies.

Above all, this is a game but it can be played any number of ways and the way you play against one creditor does not have to be the way you play against another. Yes, above all your aim is to pay as little as possible (and imo avoid the courts) but there are many ways of doing this.

FWIW I disagree that many on here promote using SC - anyone with large or longer term debts inevitably gets told to self manage as far as I can see. You have also said " Is filling out I&A form benefit to the consumer? no it is not. " well, imo that rather depends. If you are playing a long game and aiming to secure a F&F then completing an annual SOA which shows decreasing surplus and a struggle to keep going is a very useful tool to have when negotiating the F&F. 

There is no set strategy in Debt Management - what is wrong for you may be the exact method someone else needs. An open mind is needed.

Literally there people with links to Stepchange on here, so you can disagree on this point but you are flat out wrong to suggest this site is not pushing SC.

There is a general set strategy anyone should follow... pay as little (ideally 0) defaulted unsecured debt as possible. That is it, nothing more. So again, saying otherwise muddies the waters for an already scared and mentally vulnerable consumer.

Martico

Without any agenda, this whole back-and-forth appears to have derailed from the focus on glasstable's current needs. I hope they've not been discouraged from seeking advice and updating as needed. On other subforums here, many threads get derailed, it very rarely happens on this one

Rob5342

tigergambit said:

SPM87 said:

Also I am not waiting for SB either.. there are not only 2 options, pay it all down or wait for SB. It is wait until not able to enforce or they cannot enforce and were never able to.. whatever comes first. 

this is why I say, pay as little as possible. Too many on here are promoting using SC and are doing budgets paying back mind blowing amounts of their income to defaulted debt. This is the scam of all scams and should not be advice

FWIW I disagree that many on here promote using SC - anyone with large or longer term debts inevitably gets told to self manage as far as I can see. 

That's the way it looks to me too. Normally if someone mentions that they considering using them then they get advised to default first. I can't remember anyone saying they were self managing and then getting advised to use Stepchange.

I'm not a fan of them by any means but they do have their uses. You have to remember that there are some people who neve never dealt with debt management plans before and find it very overwhelming. so having someone like Stepchamge can help them take the first steps they might not have the confidence to take in their own

glasstable

Thank you for the advice so far.  As for my SOA I had a quick look at the form and it asks for partners income.  We organise our finances probably a lot differently from what would be considered the norm.  All household bills are split down the middle so OH transfers me
 50% of household..  Debts are our own - there are no joint debts and I pay for mine OH pays their own.  I assume I would just put the amount I receive on the SOA from OH as income? Also my car is pcp - is this considered a HP?

RAS

Put the value of the share you get from OH with a note explaining. Add the car with a note (PCP), and the end date.

What you both need to think about is whether you are paying towards joint costs in proportion to income or halving it?

Halving living cost regardless of income works but can leave one party with much less for discretionary spends.

If you are a couple are you happy to limit joint activities to those the lower earner can afford? Or are they going into debt to cover the costs they can't afford on their income, just to keep up with the other partner?

ICOMsurveys

Not financial advice, but you should not feel any shame for being in this situation! It happens so easily - our society is set up to try and create as much debt as possible, as this is where banks and credit card companies make their profit. Times have been hard, don't punish yourself for just doing what you felt was the best thing at the time to get by. 

flamingo22

Rob5342 said:

If I had simply stopped paying my Nationwide credit card then the very best case would be that I paid no more towards it and it became statute barred after six years. Making the affordability complaint meant I got a cheque for £5000 that I wouldn't have done otherwise and I was guaranteed that there would be no further legal action. 

Sorry for jumping on your comment but with your affordability complaint, did you complete this whilst paying off your debts or waiting for them to default, sorry if you've already answered this. 

Rob5342

flamingo22 said:

Rob5342 said:

If I had simply stopped paying my Nationwide credit card then the very best case would be that I paid no more towards it and it became statute barred after six years. Making the affordability complaint meant I got a cheque for £5000 that I wouldn't have done otherwise and I was guaranteed that there would be no further legal action. 

Sorry for jumping on your comment but with your affordability complaint, did you complete this whilst paying off your debts or waiting for them to default, sorry if you've already answered this. 

I started paying Nationwide via Stepchange, then made an affordability complaint, then they defaulted it, then I made a cca request that they couldn't fulfil, then I stopped paying, then they made an offer on my affordability complaint of an interest refund and removal of all negative marks from my credit report. That was about two years after I'd first made the complaint and it had been with the FOS for 18 months or so.

It was a rather disjointed approach really but it worked out in the end. I started repaying before I should have done as Stepchamge rushed me into the Dmp, and I only found out about the other options once I'd started. 

sourcrates

flamingo22 said:

Sorry for jumping on your comment but with your affordability complaint, did you complete this whilst paying off your debts or waiting for them to default, sorry if you've already answered this. 

If you`re going to make a complaint about affordability, its best to do it as soon as possible, as time limits apply to the complaints process, you have 6 years in which to make a complaint, but the clock starts from when the event first occurred, so don`t hold off.