Go it alone?

unreal83

Hi there

I am new here and this is my first post.

I have been with Spectrum financial services since Feb 07, and so far haven't really paid them much due to being completely stupid and letting my debt sit there.

I am thinking of forgetting about them, closing my account with them and going it alone.

I have contacted everyone of my creditors who have all forwarded my debts onto external companies, and tomorrow when they are open I am going to find out if they will accept a small payment every month to start paying off my debt.

I have been sent a court letter - well a warning actually saying that i need to make a part payment for a debt of £6k or they will do an attachment of earnings on me.

I cannot go down this route and cannot afford to pay the £320 they want which is 5% - I can however afford £100 and I will set up a standing order to pay them £100 a month.

Do you think they will accept this? I am going to speak to them tomorrow just wondered if anyone thought anything on this.

Also - do you think I am doing the right thing going alone and sorting out my debt by myself instead of paying Spectrum £30 a month to do this for me?

Thanks

churchrat

hi and welcome.
don't pay for advice-- I think that is the first thing everyone on here says. That £30 you are giving to them could come off your debt. You can do a DMP by yourself (we do) but a lot of people use cccs or payplan (sticky at top of page I think) they will help you for no fee and you can be sure of good advice. There is also CAB.
Can you really afford to give £100 every month?? We messed up at the start because we said we could pay alot more than we really could afford. If you put up a SOA (statement of affaires--I think there is a sticky about this as well) you will be able to see just how much money you can afford to throw at the debt and still pay essentail bills. Above all--don't talk to debt collectors on the phone, always get everything in writing and DON'T PANIC:D
good luck and keep posting

Burlesque_Babe

they can't do an attachment to earnings without a court order, so saying they will is just an empty threat.

Don't pay for them to do your DMP, think of the £30's each month that could be going towards your debt!

I would definitely ditch them.

We can help you do it yourself.

waddy_2

definitely go it alone. whats the point of paying someone else to sort it for you. like everyone says that cash could go towards debt. good luck. by the way i only started on here yesterday and already i have had so much good advice so do listen to all. dont let this stress you out, at the end of the day u can sort it, it just takes time.

unreal83

Thanks everyone.

I have a spreadsheet which I have every month and it lists my gross salary, tax, ni, net earnings, how much i earn per hour (not that this matters really haha) and then it has columns for rent, phone, utility bills etc.

I can afford the £100 against this £6k debt which is the biggest one, I am paying £25 to the others so its £200 a month. I earn £32k so I can afford this.

So if I go to the creditors and ask them this, I should then say to them I will write to you asking this, and then they will reply to me accepting my payment plan?

I feel like Egg r going to laugh at me - paying £25 a month for a £3k debt. It feels never ending!

Are there template letters to write to debtors? Actually these are the companies they've now sent the debt to so its not even Egg or Mint.

What is a DMP?

Thanks everyone

Unreal

HHH_2

A DMP is a debt management plan. have a look at CCCS website as someone has already mentioned they are a charity and will service your DMP free of charge. they also give very good advice.

unreal83

I had a look at the dictionary, thank you though.

I have worked it out myself - its gonna take me years to pay off but hopefully things may change and who knows I could get a better paid job etc.

Ok things that I would really like help on is the following

1 - Template to send a letter to my creditors to set up a monthly payment as i agree everything should be done in writing

2 - I am worried about this attachment of earnings - they said they are preparing the court letters this Friday. I read up on AOE and it says that i can try and get it suspended if i dont want them to contact my employer and so then the judge will say well set up a payment to them then - which is what im going to do.

I hope someone can help me out.

Thanks

UR

poppyg_2

just bumping for you as I know someone has template letters x

pania

Hi there.


Just a little benefit of experience if that is ok. I currently do a self managed DMP. I was with 2 fee charging companies for near enough a year paying stupidly low amounts of money. The fee for the company was the second highest amount i was paying from my £200 per month I was sending them.

The DMP companies dealt with the yukky phonecalls but it was tough in the beginning with the creditors thinking they could get one over on me by pressuring me into paying more.

Once I had been on the DMP for a year I realised that their fee was just wasted money, so i contacted all of my creditors (by now all DCA's) and asked them if the plan would continue if i took management of the DMP on myself. The creditors were more than happy to deal with me as they knew they would get the fee divided up between them. since then everything has gone smoothly with the odd occasional request to increase which i do so as i want to be shot of the debt.

So, advice, If you feel, and i mean honestly feel that you can deal with the barrage of phonecalls from companies, refusing to accept your plan (it isn't as easy as "they write back accepting it" unfortunately, some of them can try nasty harrassing tactics... then go for it and do it alone. If not or you'd rather not have to deal with that then utilise the excellent facility provided by CCCS or payplan. i believe there are also template letters on their websites with regards to this.
Good luck and kind regards
P
xxx

unreal83

Thanks for that

They've been ok so far, I spoke to the company dealing with the highest debt and they finally seemed to back down - he said he'd call me back in half an hour (still waiting im going to call him back) after i begged him to not let it go to a AOE - I said to him it seems pretty pointless considering in the end I will inform that I can afford to pay £100 a month. So he said he'll speak to their solicitors and get back to me.

I've done a statement of affairs which is quite tricky but i did it and it says i have £257 left a month to pay off debt.

I am paying £30 to one, £25 to 3 others and £100 to one so thats just over £200. I will review this and see if I can make a higher payment to any of them.

Cheeky one on the phone was pushing for £50 instead of £25 i ended up agreeing on £30 - which is ok. She said it would take me 9 years to clear debt - i said oh well it will then wont it!

I am thinking they may be ok with it - everyone i have spoken to has been quite nice not that im being naive they could change but it may be ok.

They all asked for a SOA - shall I send them what I have printed off from that website? I'll show them why i can only afford to pay £25 a month.

I have also asked for them to reply to me confirming my payment plan is ok.

Sorry if i sound like i dont know what im doing - this is all new to me - actually dealing with the companies!

unreal83

Right

He called me back straight after I posted that and said they'd accept £100 a month which is great.

So do I just set up the standing order with the reference number and start paying it?

Should I do anything else? This company in particular has not asked for a SOA. Should I request it in writing from them that they've accepted this?

Thanks