Fed up with unsecured debt...

Wipemydebt

Hi All,

I'm looking for a solution to deal with £25k worth of unsecured debt ... we have equity available in the house but cant really go down this route without paying extortionate interest charges due to me being Self Employed with less than two years accounts.

We have been managing the minimum payments for a while but due to increase in rates by a couple of credit providers as they have seen we are high risk the payments are becoming unmanageable... we have cut back after using SOA but we need to get this debt restructured as we are paying over £5000 per year in interest on this debt!!! :mad:

So reading up I have one of two options:

1. Contact Payplan to start a DMP and manage the debt this way...

2. Take out secured loan with 'Capital Trust' to pay off the debt and lose the equity in the house - interest rate is a mad 19% though :rolleyes:

Any advice would be much appreciated... tempted to ring Payplan anyway and see what they say... I just need a target in mind to help us pay all this debt off!

To make things worse the bank has called in my overdraft this week saying they want it paid off in 10 days time... :rolleyes:

poppyg_2

Hi and welcome

How are your debts spread out, any chance you can provide a list with the APRs?

I'm currently looking at possibly going onto a DMP via CCCS (Payplan say they can't help me as I only have one creditor). In fact CCCS have an online debt remedy thing on their website which you can fill in and that gives recommended action, I had a go of it yesterday, just not decided whether to go ahead with it or write to creditor myself to see if they would freeze interest to help me get the debt paid off

I got a loan tied in with my mortgage and I'd strongly recommend not doing it, certainly with me I just didn't learn from my mistakes and carried out spending without a thorough budget plus as you say the APR you're being offered is pretty horrendous

bank_of_slate

Wipemydebt wrote: »

Hi All,




1. Contact Payplan to start a DMP and manage the debt this way...

2. Take out secured loan with 'Capital Trust' to pay off the debt and lose the equity in the house - interest rate is a mad 19% though :rolleyes:

I wouldn't do the secured loan! not usually a good idea!
Talk to Payplan or CCCS to get professional advice!

RE the overdraft, have you contacted the bank to explain that you can't clear the overdraft but perhaps you could agree to reduce it a little each month?
...Linda xx

Wipemydebt

bank_of_slate wrote: »

I wouldn't do the secured loan! not usually a good idea!
Talk to Payplan or CCCS to get professional advice!

RE the overdraft, have you contacted the bank to explain that you can't clear the overdraft but perhaps you could agree to reduce it a little each month?
...Linda xx

Thanks Linda.

Will talk to payplan tonight...

RE: Overdraft I have just sent off a letter asking them to reduce it by £100 per month.

Wipemydebt

CCCS say they cant help me as I'm self employed although the Wife isnt... ?

bank_of_slate

Good idea, keep copies of all correspondence so you can keep a track of it all and demonstrate that you are doing what you can!
...Linda xx

Wipemydebt

bank_of_slate wrote: »

Good idea, keep copies of all correspondence so you can keep a track of it all and demonstrate that you are doing what you can!
...Linda xx

Just typed out a response and the server times out ... grrr...

I'm also going to pop down to the local branch tommorrow to see what they can do... I'm confident they will be reasonable - I think the main reason they have called the Overdraft in is due to me no longer having my salary paid into the account. Shame eh?

If only the unsecured debt was easy to sort... the thing is if I could freeze the interest on the main debts I could have it all paid off in 4yrs probably less... its the interest thats killing me... 31% on an MBNA card with £9k on it is a good example!!!

If Payplan cant help me sort this then last resort is the secured loan... I REALLY dont want to go down this route

RAS

Wipemydebt wrote: »

CCCS say they cant help me as I'm self employed although the Wife isnt... ?

garbage..
Can you pm CCCS_Matthew, CCCS_Sarah and CCCS_Alan who all work on here at times. I know there is a special team at CCCS for the self-employed as they have posted the contact details on here previously.

Wipemydebt

poppyg wrote: »

Hi and welcome

How are your debts spread out, any chance you can provide a list with the APRs?

I can do this tonight but off the top of my head... lowest is 17.9% and the highest 31.1% with MBNA being the worst culprit...

Ironic how they have increased the interest on ALL MBNA cards then send me details of secured loans a couple weeks later from YES credit... :rolleyes:

The main debt is £19k across three MBNA cards... each one of the cards has a rate of between 27% and 31% so you work out the interest alone and you can see why we are struggling to pay off the balances... i.e. we are only managing the minimum payments (just) ...

Had a couple of things bounce recently due to not enough funds to pay but managed to find funds and get them paid before any snotty letters came through...

Like I said I'm eager to do something NOW rather than leave it till we are behind in arrears... I can already see its going to get worse hence want it sorted.

I work long hours and often 6-7 days a week so could do without the stress.

Wipemydebt

RAS wrote: »

garbage..
Can you pm CCCS_Matthew, CCCS_Sarah and CCCS_Alan who all work on here at times. I know there is a special team at CCCS for the self-employed as they have posted the contact details on here previously.

PM sent... thanks

CCCS_Matthew

Hi all,

Just to confirm, we can help self-employed people, and we do have a specific team of counsellors who are trained specifically to deal with this. If you ensure you advise one of my colleagues that you are self-employed when you make the call they will book you in. The Helpline is 0800 138 1111

Hope this helps,
CCCS