Minimum Payments - or make offers ?

Ausweb

Hi, I have a debt problem which to date I have been covering up - I manage to make the minimum payments required to all my cards/loans/bills etc but I have now got to the stage that i have had to use these 'Cash till Payday' companies to get me through. - I realise that this is the beginning of the end.......

My question now is ..do I continue to make monthly repayments ?..( I have already destroyed all my credit cards (except one which is no longer in my posession and not readily available but dont want to lose for emergencies)

As i have not/never defaulted to the companies they seem unprepared to accept an offer of a reduced payment - If I do default, I incur an exhorbatant (sp) charge added to my bill before they will finally come to an agreement and therefore I will end up owing a great deal more than the original debt and will never be able to clear it. I realise that this has probably been covered many times in these threads but would appreciate your advice,

I take home £950 p/mth and current debts take approx £750 of this, so I have approx £200 p/mth for food and 'enjoyment'

I realise this is MY problem, but would appreciate the advice of fellow MSE'rs


Steve

Jinx

Hi Steve

I was in exactly the same position as you until around 9 months ago. It got to the stage I simply couldn't keep up the repayments on my cards.... I felt I had no option but to default on them all.... I did this by doing a budget as recommended on here ALL the time and pro-rataed the payments ie biggest payment to creditor I owed most to. While the correspondence flew, I continued to make the reduced payments on time as I stated in my letters.

Out of the five I owed money to, four have frozen the interest and they have all accepted the reduced payments. Not easily perhaps, but eventually. You have to be persistent and keep everything in writing.

This course of action will completely trash your credit rating, which I guess you may already have considered.

Good luck with it all

Jinx

garyclay

Contact the CCCS, https://www.cccs.co.uk.

They will assist you in drawing up a workable repayment plan and pay your creditors on your behalf.

You may find that your creditors don't register you in default but mark the account 'Arrangement to pay'

Ausweb

Thanks for all the advice, I will give the cccs a call tomorrow, really appreciate the info.


Steve

cgnao

Ausweb wrote:

I take home £950 p/mth and current debts take approx £750 of this, so I have approx £200 p/mth for food and 'enjoyment'
Steve

I don't think you are entitled to enjoyment until you have paid your debt back. Sorry mate.

skintchick

Assuming your rent and bills are paid, as implied in your post, then I think you're OK. By going Old Style, I have spent the paltry sum of £40 for the whole of last month's food. :eek: OK, I had stuff in the freezer, but I don't expect it to go up by more than a tenner next month, so I'm budgeting £50 a MONTH for food for me and the cat. :eek: :j

And then you actually don't have anything else essential to spend on, unless you have a car and need petrol. So you have plenty of money.

Keep paying your minimums, tighten your belt RIIIIIGHT in, and basically face up to what you owe, as you have been doing.

If, in fact, you do need to pay bills etc and have forgotten to tell us about them, please re-post and I'll re-consider my opinion.