Debt collection agencies - advice please

A_Lee

I was hoping someone could give me some advice.
My husband had a couple of credit/store cards way before I knew him - at least 8-10 years ago; he had quite a lot of problems (including a relationship breakdown, bereavement, mental breakdown and moving areas) and for some reason he stopped paying them and they got forgotten about; he got tracked down about 3 years ago and obviously by this point they had been referred to a debt collection agency; he owes about £4,000 for one and £800 for the other.

He has been paying them off bit by bit - initially at the rate of £5 each, it's now increased to about £25 - with full authority of the agency.

My question is although they are okay at the moment, will there come a point when they can just demand the balance back. I am very aware at the rate we are paying it off it is going to take ages.
I was looking into trying to clear it with another loan (see my post on the loans forum), but as we both have poor credit ratings I don't think anyone is going to lend us anything. Also, someone suggested that, as the interest is now frozen, it would not be economical to settle it with a more expensive loan.

Any thoughts please?

Many thanks

Alison

MissEyre

If you are paying back what you can afford, then I would be amazed if they increased the payments to an unaffordable level-if you go to court with it, a judge would only set the payments at an affordable level, and they know that-it's better for them to be paid a small amount regularly until it's cleared than demand lots of money and then have you miss payments/go to court to get a sum agreed. Sure there will be lots more knowledgeable people than me along shortly, but that's how I've always understood it from reading the threads

MissEyre

Oops, forgot to say that it would be pointless to get a loan-you are paying no interest on the debt at the moment, and so would be replacing 'free' borrowing with money that you were paying to borrow, thereby increasing your debt. Hope that helps! x

grace

I have been paying mine back at £25.00 per month for ages...as long as you dont miss a payment or anything they should be ok....if they do get funny ...you can always send then an Income and Expenditure sheet showing you are paying all you can afford.

A_Lee

Thank you so much for your responses. I just didn't want there to come a time when they took further action and wondered if it was better to get them off our back. Obviously not.

What about my husband's credit rating? Will his credit rating be poor for absolutely ages?

Many thanks

Alison