Struggling with debt? Ask a debt adviser a question

manue1970 · 25 September 2017 at 2:53PM

Many thanks for your reply.
My SOA is :

2903.41 salary / month (husband and me)
Outgoing :

Mortgage £628.00
Rent 2nd charge
Council Tax £109.00
Life insurance£0.00
Buildings & contents insurance £14.06
Water rates £27.90
GasElectricity £44.00
Other Fuel £44.00
TV Licence £12.33
Telephone £12.50
Internet £12.50
Mobile telephone £45.00
Housekeeping (food & toiletries)£400.00
Clothing and footwear £60.00
Public transport "son"£40.00
Car petrol *husband and me*£280.00
Car insurance £68.00
Car road tax £18.00
Car repairs & servicing£ 15.00
Medical expenses£7.50
Optical expenses£0.00
Dental expenses£0.00
Sky £0.00
Laundry & dry cleaning£0.00
Hairdressing £20.00
Pocket money *kids*£60.00
Newspapers£0.00
Cigarettes£215.60
Meals at work£100.00 .
Pets £10.00
Other Outgoings: Specify daughter and son hot dinner £88.00
Other Outgoings: Specify scouts£22.00
Other Outgoings: Specify Daughter afterschool activity£100.00
Other Outgoings: Specify Son afterschool activity£50.00
Total Outgoings £2,503.39

Creditor Information (Debts)
Creditor Balance%
Monthly Payment
1NATWEST MASTERCARD £5,737.91 24.61% £130.00
2NATWEST OVERDRAFT£6,576.98 28.21% £121.00
3BARCLAY CARD £11,000.00 47.18% £295.33

StepChange_Kirsty · 26 September 2017 at 11:17AM

Hi Emmanuelle,

Thanks for your reply.

It’s good to see that you’ve worked on a statement of affairs (SOA). This is a very important step to take when dealing with financial difficulties.

There are a couple of ways you can now receive help and advice from us. The first option is to use our online Debt Remedy tool where you can input this information online and receive advice in the form of a personal action plan. You can find our Debt Remedy tool here.

Alternatively, if you would prefer to speak to us over the phone, you can call our Helpline and have a debt advice session with one of our specialist advisors. You can find our contact details here.

Either way we’re happy to help.

Kirsty

manue1970 wrote: »

Many thanks for your reply.
My SOA is :

2903.41 salary / month (husband and me)
Outgoing :

Mortgage £628.00
Rent 2nd charge
Council Tax £109.00
Life insurance£0.00
Buildings & contents insurance £14.06
Water rates £27.90
GasElectricity £44.00
Other Fuel £44.00
TV Licence £12.33
Telephone £12.50
Internet £12.50
Mobile telephone £45.00
Housekeeping (food & toiletries)£400.00
Clothing and footwear £60.00
Public transport "son"£40.00
Car petrol *husband and me*£280.00
Car insurance £68.00
Car road tax £18.00
Car repairs & servicing£ 15.00
Medical expenses£7.50
Optical expenses£0.00
Dental expenses£0.00
Sky £0.00
Laundry & dry cleaning£0.00
Hairdressing £20.00
Pocket money *kids*£60.00
Newspapers£0.00
Cigarettes£215.60
Meals at work£100.00 .
Pets £10.00
Other Outgoings: Specify daughter and son hot dinner £88.00
Other Outgoings: Specify scouts£22.00
Other Outgoings: Specify Daughter afterschool activity£100.00
Other Outgoings: Specify Son afterschool activity£50.00
Total Outgoings £2,503.39

Creditor Information (Debts)
Creditor Balance%
Monthly Payment
1NATWEST MASTERCARD £5,737.91 24.61% £130.00
2NATWEST OVERDRAFT£6,576.98 28.21% £121.00
3BARCLAY CARD £11,000.00 47.18% £295.33

Gr8st33t · 29 September 2017 at 4:22PM

Hi I wasn't sure which part of the forum to post this on, so please let me know if this is the right thread. My question relates to a County Court Claim.

I received a County Court claim form, filed by Lowell Solicitors, for an old O2 debt. The total amount on the claim is £660.74. I've also signed up for the online service https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk, which apparently extends the deadline for response to 28 days.

Having calculated my monthly outgoings and expenses, I've decided that the amount I can realistically pay is around £10.

In your experience, given the small size of this debt (£660.74), how likely it is that the County court would challenge my calculations and ask me to provide further proof of income and expenses? While I am concerned about responding as swiftly as possible I am equally concerned about making a mistake in my calculations. Does anyone know if the county courts challenge these sort of amounts, or do they tend to accept any offers of repayment?

PS: As I was writing this letter, I received another letter, this time from Lowell Solicitor's themselves. The letter mentions the County Court Claim which I should be expecting and asks me to call them to discuss paying the outstanding balance.

In your view, now that they have already lodged a County Court claim isn't this a bit pointless? Can a claim be cancelled once it's already been filed and I have already received the notification? I'm guessing the purpose of this letter is to use the claim to pressure me into accepting whatever it is they tell me on the phone. I would really rather not discuss this over the phone as based on previous experience these agents are invariably rude and aggressive. Do you think it is worth writing a letter with a payment proposal at this stage?

Thank you

Former_StepChange_Linsi · 30 September 2017 at 10:25AM

Good morning and thanks for your post.

The deadline to respond to a claim form is 14 days from the date of service. If you needed more time to prepare a defence you can return the Acknowledgement of Service which would give you an additional 14 days to submit your defence.

As you don’t plan to defend this claim you’ll need to respond to the claim form (either online or by post) within 14 days from the date of service.

Lowell will review your offer of repayment initially. If they accept this they’ll update the county court and you’ll receive a judgment in acceptance. This will confirm the repayment you offered and tell you when and how the payments need to be made.

If Lowell didn’t accept your offer, then the repayment will be decided by the county court. I can’t say whether or not the £10 you’ve decided to offer will be accepted by either Lowell or the court as this is looked at on a case by case basis.

From past experience offers can be rejected if your living costs are excessive such as budgeting a high amount for entertainment costs. The court will also ignore some living costs such as tobacco, children’s pocket money and newspapers/magazines.

As the judgement hasn’t been registered against you yet, you can try to come to an arrangement with Lowell directly. If you decide to do this and they accept your offer I’d recommend you ask them to confirm in writing that they’ve accepted your offer and won’t be pursuing a county court judgement.

Should you decide not to contact Lowell or if you don’t have time to contact them before the deadline, then it’s best to return the claim form. If you don’t return the claim form its likely Lowell will ask for the full payment to be made immediately.

There’s a video tutorial on our website which shows you have to complete the claim form, here’s the link.

I hope this helps,

Linsi

Gr8st33t wrote: »

Hi I wasn't sure which part of the forum to post this on, so please let me know if this is the right thread. My question relates to a County Court Claim.

I received a County Court claim form, filed by Lowell Solicitors, for an old O2 debt. The total amount on the claim is £660.74. I've also signed up for the online service www.moneyclaim.gov.uk, which apparently extends the deadline for response to 28 days.

Having calculated my monthly outgoings and expenses, I've decided that the amount I can realistically pay is around £10.

In your experience, given the small size of this debt (£660.74), how likely it is that the County court would challenge my calculations and ask me to provide further proof of income and expenses? While I am concerned about responding as swiftly as possible I am equally concerned about making a mistake in my calculations. Does anyone know if the county courts challenge these sort of amounts, or do they tend to accept any offers of repayment?

PS: As I was writing this letter, I received another letter, this time from Lowell Solicitor's themselves. The letter mentions the County Court Claim which I should be expecting and asks me to call them to discuss paying the outstanding balance.

In your view, now that they have already lodged a County Court claim isn't this a bit pointless? Can a claim be cancelled once it's already been filed and I have already received the notification? I'm guessing the purpose of this letter is to use the claim to pressure me into accepting whatever it is they tell me on the phone. I would really rather not discuss this over the phone as based on previous experience these agents are invariably rude and aggressive. Do you think it is worth writing a letter with a payment proposal at this stage?

Thank you

simwells · 3 October 2017 at 2:53PM

Hi,

I was wondering if you have any advice as I am at an extremely frustrating point with debt that I'm not sure what to do, it has built over time but generally I am okay with covering the minimums and not missing payments (none late or anything for a good 6 months) however this month a few awkward costs have meant I will be really struggling to avoid payday loans this month.

My remaining debt is the following;

5k loan (3 years remaining) 6.9%
1k overdraft
5.5k credit card 18.9%
4.5k credit card 18.9%
2.2k credit card 8.9%

My credit rating is reasonable but not great (high 800s) I really want to be able to consolidate all of this into a 5 year loan apart from the existing loan which I'm comfortable paying off. I would be able to afford the payments this way and it wouldn't drag on forever with a much lower interest rate.

However I am hitting a brick wall with banks saying I won't be offered a loan due to my credit rating but the only negative is how close I am to the limit and the fact the total is 50% of my salary. Is there anything I can do about this, I've avoided directly doing full credit applications to not further damage my rating but I'm a bit lost as to how to clear this. Really not wanting to go the IVA route or anything else that would likely long term mess up my credit rating also.

Thoughts?

Mr._Gee · 6 October 2017 at 9:22AM

Hello. Here is a brief outline of my situation. My mortgage is ending on the 16th of this month (October) and I will have a shortfall of approximately £13,000. I am a teacher and usually do supply work. However, I have not had any work from September, so effectively have not had any money coming in for over two months. My wife works part time but does not earn enough to pay all the outgoing costs. We have contacted StepChange but they said they cannot help until I get an income. We have contacted the bank (Barclays) but have been passed around to various departments and have now been told we might have left things too late. There has been mention that our home could be repossessed!! The one piece of good news is that I have been offered full time employment but that does not start until January 2018. I have also joined several more education employment agencies in the hope of securing work up until January. What I would like to know is it possible to extend the time period for payment until I have a steady income? Or, who would be best to contact to offer me advice. I am still in contact with Barclays and I am in the process of completing forms regarding income and expenditure so they can evaluate my position. It has been suggested that I could borrow the money from a money lender but I believe the repayments would astrological.
I am really hoping you can help as we have worked hard over the years to own our home and these final few months have now put our home at risk.

StepChange_Allen · 6 October 2017 at 1:40PM

simwells wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if you have any advice as I am at an extremely frustrating point with debt that I'm not sure what to do, it has built over time but generally I am okay with covering the minimums and not missing payments (none late or anything for a good 6 months) however this month a few awkward costs have meant I will be really struggling to avoid payday loans this month.

My remaining debt is the following;

5k loan (3 years remaining) 6.9%
1k overdraft
5.5k credit card 18.9%
4.5k credit card 18.9%
2.2k credit card 8.9%

My credit rating is reasonable but not great (high 800s) I really want to be able to consolidate all of this into a 5 year loan apart from the existing loan which I'm comfortable paying off. I would be able to afford the payments this way and it wouldn't drag on forever with a much lower interest rate.

However I am hitting a brick wall with banks saying I won't be offered a loan due to my credit rating but the only negative is how close I am to the limit and the fact the total is 50% of my salary. Is there anything I can do about this, I've avoided directly doing full credit applications to not further damage my rating but I'm a bit lost as to how to clear this. Really not wanting to go the IVA route or anything else that would likely long term mess up my credit rating also.

Thoughts?

Hi there

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting.

I can't say for sure why you're not being successful in your efforts for a loan, but your affordability and amount of debt is taken into account as well as your actual credit score.

The best place I know to try and find competitive loans is the main MSE site itself, here's a link: www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cheap-personal-loans

There's also an eligibility calculator here: www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/loans-calculator/

An alternative to the loan route is to contact us for some free, impartial advice. You can register with us on the phone or online, with all our contact details here: www.stepchange.org/Contactus

We'll then be able to get a fuller picture of your financial situation and see whether a debt solution may be necessary.

I hope this is helpful.

Allen

StepChange_Allen · 6 October 2017 at 2:08PM

Mr._Gee wrote: »

Hello. Here is a brief outline of my situation. My mortgage is ending on the 16th of this month (October) and I will have a shortfall of approximately £13,000. I am a teacher and usually do supply work. However, I have not had any work from September, so effectively have not had any money coming in for over two months. My wife works part time but does not earn enough to pay all the outgoing costs. We have contacted StepChange but they said they cannot help until I get an income. We have contacted the bank (Barclays) but have been passed around to various departments and have now been told we might have left things too late. There has been mention that our home could be repossessed!! The one piece of good news is that I have been offered full time employment but that does not start until January 2018. I have also joined several more education employment agencies in the hope of securing work up until January. What I would like to know is it possible to extend the time period for payment until I have a steady income? Or, who would be best to contact to offer me advice. I am still in contact with Barclays and I am in the process of completing forms regarding income and expenditure so they can evaluate my position. It has been suggested that I could borrow the money from a money lender but I believe the repayments would astrological.
I am really hoping you can help as we have worked hard over the years to own our home and these final few months have now put our home at risk.

Hi Mr Gee

Thanks for posting.

I'm sorry to hear that your home is currently under threat, I appreciate how worrying that must be. Without listening to the conversation you had with us it's difficult to be sure what exactly was advised. I'd imagine that with a very small amount of household income we wouldn't be able to advise what a long term debt solution would be; until things change; which happily for you will be in January at the latest.

We can still offer advice; even without seeing your budget I can say that it's vital to communicate with the lender about the problem and the fact you now have a job lined up. If you can show them (for example via a budget) that you can afford to pay the full mortgage plus something towards the arrears from January, they may be reassured that no further action needs to be taken.

What's key to remember or be aware of is that banks don't usually want to repossess houses; they'd rather look at alternatives where possible and realistic. However only the bank themselves can answer whether they'll give you more time to get things straight, and what they can do to help. As long as you're keeping in touch, being transparent and are willing to work with them I'd be surprised if they looked to repossess before you're back in work. At least if you've not got a history of problems with them - people that have may find that further action escalates more quickly eventually.

I hope this helps a little. Please get back in touch with us if you need some further help at any stage.

Allen

tomking83 · 6 October 2017 at 5:31PM

Hi,

I'm after some advice. My wife and I have been living in our house for nearly one year. When we bought it we knew that there was a lot of work that needed doing to the house. Over the next few months we saved and saved and my parents loaned us £25,000 to complete the work needed. Unfortunately, as often happens, it has gone over budget by about £10,000 and as a result I have had to use credit cards and overdraft to complete the work.
I have read that there is the possibility of additional borrowing on our mortgage however we have already borrowed 85% of the value of the house. The work we have had done is extensive such as rewiring, new bathroom, kitchen, lounge etc. Is it worth getting the property revalued by the bank to at least relieve some of the debt?

Many thanks,

Tom

InNeedOfAdviceAboutWork · 6 October 2017 at 9:40PM

Hi there!

I've worked my !!! off to get my debt from the teenage years sorted - I owed a lot (over 26k) , I now owe not a lot (less than 500£) .. it's taken years! But better that than go bankrupt - for me anyway. Now I've grown up I've realised what I should have back then if I'd spent it wisely, but hindsight eh ?

I've kept one low credit limit card up to date - and worked my way down to a pretty much satisfied record - with the exception of one thing from 2010 - Lowell Group - £300 - which still appears to be open and active on my file.

I'm confused - I thought it became Null after 6 years. No I have't had any contact with them at all... ?
I would much rather pay it off, but it would need to be at a rate I can afford ( would probably only take me 3 - 5 months at the minimum. But if I contact them and make the offer .. are they going to start hounding me? Because they haven't been ...

Just need to know what's the best route to take .... If I could phone them and pay it in one go I would .. but it's been a rough few months .. so I want to go the best way I can go with it, with minimal "damage"

Struggling with debt? Ask a debt adviser a question

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