hi worried sick, this going to be a long aswer, are you working? if not are you on benefits? on the income and expenditure, you see the list is long and what you are allowed , it realy do's not matter if you have only a few pounds to pay of the debts, also keep in mind that if the debt went to court the the same thing that appies with the DMP would apply in court, if you don't mind me asking what do you owe and what is left after out goings, i will help you with what ever you ask if i can, but would say go for the DMP AND IF YOU ARE PAYING YOUR CREDITORS AT THE MOMENT NO MATTER HOW SMALL THE AMMOUTS KEEP PAYING UNTILL PLAN IS SET UP, BUT IF PLAN IS NOT SET KEEP PAYING WHAT YOU CAN AND CONTACT CREDITORS WITH AN OFFER OF PAYMENTS TILLER

I am working, but as stated in previous posts, my previous firm put s on a 4 day week and I could not afford to stay. So got a new job, however this is less than my old 5 day week salary.

I sent the income and expenditure form to Payplan. Basically they told me I should contact my creditors and sent with their email info and template letters. I don't think this was particularly helpful, I thought they would do all the negotiating etc. Should I try a different debt advisory? I'm now wondering if I should go to CAB for a chat.

Totally fed up with it all. Still haven't been able to rent the flat, one viewing so far! You see, if I could rent the flat I could struggle on and keep my head above water without having to affect my credit rating.

hi worried sick, with payplan they do contack creditors, but i would use letters (tenplate) to them and keep all copies

of letters sent by you and from them, you could try national debt line (www.nationaldebtline.co.uk) freephone 0808 808 4000 they do a free DMP as far as credit rating that is prob affected by now anyway, when you contact your creditors work out what you can afford and keep copy of letters sent and replies, what are your debts Bank, credit cards, catalogue ect if catalogue might be able to show you a way of getting rid of them and bank and credit cards debt, but i would need more imformation, its always a good thing to talk to the cab as they can be very helpfall .

tiller.

Hi

No, no catalogues thank goodness. It's just credit cards and an overdraft which is eating up my salary every month. Total debt is around £41k. Yep, shocking I know.

The flat is still not let, bloody fed up with it. Also trying the holiday letting route as that is what I want to do really, rather than long term let coz it would bring in much more money.

Have been unable to get in to see CAB.

Payplan have told ME to contact credit card companies. This is simply because I have no disposable income after all my priority things have come out.

Hi worried sick, ok so its just cc, look if after paying outgoings and priority debts(rent morgage ect) it might be possable to get a holding action, if you have nothing left tell your creditors by sending them your personal budget and a letter to back this up ask all creditors contacted to hold action until your circumstances improve this is called asking for a (MORATORIUM ) or offer a (TOKEN PAYMENT) say of £1 a Month to each creditor instead. i know from other post by you that you are not happy with dealing direct with the creditors but, you will have to at some time, also there is a letter on the site at www.nationaldebtline.co.uk, this website is very good you can talk to them on the phone this a free phone no 0808 808 4000, you can requst a sample letter for the above from them

good luck tiller

I'd love to know when these cards were first issued?

(I'm sure all the regulars will know why I ask that)! *wink*

Hi

Went back to payplan with a revised income and expenditure report as I'm increasing my mortgage term. They've phoned me and now sent me what they call an 'interview pack' which is a very long form (a lot of it not relevant to me) that I'm to fill in. However, I've no intention of telling them my partner's business, he's not the one with the problems.

To be honest, I wonder if I'm just better off as you say, using one of those sample letters (Payplan also sent me those and I have looked at National Debt Line too) and sending them to my creditors myself. With the smaller mortgage payment I should have around £198 spare that could be split between the creditors.

Unfortunately I also have an overdraft which is eating up my salary every month. My bank have been very good to me though and I've been with them since I started working. (Barclays). The problem is, I have what they call a reserve on my account, which is when I go over my overdraft, I have an extra limit of £500 but they charge me £22 per 5 day period of usage. Unfortunately I'm now going into this every month. My normal overdraft amount is £1000 plus the £500 reserve.

Can the creditors force me to sell my car or even my home? These are the things that are most worrying me and probably why I fear speaking to them direct.

hi worried sick, the short answer to your last Q, is not at the moment, if you were to go to court for debt you would be ask what you could pay to clear the debt, if you were to be declaired insovent then a charge could be made on your home and your car to help clear the debt, at the moment you are doing the correct thing by paying what you can, i said in one of my post to you keep paying what you can this was because all the while you pay something it is very hard for the creditors to take act, they would have to exsplain to the court what the problem was and all they could say is thay wont you to pay more, not sure about overdraft, my advice would be don't use it as this very exspences or you could ask bank to cancel over draft part, or redifine you outgoing so you don't have to use it, as you say this is not anything to do with your partner's unless any loans, cards or other finance is joint. the £198 spare split this up as you say putting the most to the creditor with the highest ammount owned pro-raita. tiller

Hi Tiller

Thanks for your reply (again...). So if I was declared insolvent then they would take my car and home but if I am still paying something every month they can't?

Yes I am still paying every month, this is the first month where I am not going to be able to pay the full minimum payments on all the cards.

Such a crap situation, although I know I'm not alone and at least I have a job.

Bubbleicious

I know exactly what you are driving at! I am a member of a local Church and we planned to set up a money advice centre to offer principally debt advice. We were going to apply for a grant through the local Community Foundation and one of the grant officers asked me if I wanted to attend a seminar at the Consumer Credit Counselling Service as they are based not far from us. I think they offer an excellent service and are a great charity who genuinely help people. I do have a critcism though which is the way they are funded. They are a charity and funded principally by the creditors of the people they organise debt managment plans for - 11p in the pound of what people pay to their creditors is paid back by the creditor to CCCS.

What I am driving at is this, for me, the first thing people should do is look at the enforceability of the contract. At organisations like CCCS that isn't even considered. What if every credit agreement you had was unenforceable - in my own case 3 of my creditors have admitted in writing that they don't have the original agreement. Surely getting help with debts should go hand in hand with checking enforceability?

Sadly what you say is true, and true in many other ways too.

I have no doubt that sites such as this, which openly discuss enforcibility, will be pressured to "damp down the fires". Remember that this site is funded through the sale of, amongst other things, financial products.

Obtaining truly independent advice is difficult.

Where leverage cannot be applied, then some posters to these forums will be in the employ of the financial institutions, angling at the risks, the long term costs and sowing doubt in the minds of the readers. You may want to check the number of individual posters to this thread, and compare with the number of readers. Many more people silently read and move on without registering an opinion than contribute so the damage may be done on a far larger scale than by engaging those who participate.

Remember that the financial institutions are facing a massive consumer backlash. Bank charges are coming to a head (and unlikely to go in the bank's favour), banks are mis-trusted following the credit crunch, job (and, therefore, income) losses are hitting revenues. Now we have enforcibility. Aggregate the effect and the banks will suffer massively. The more cold water they can pour, the more they mitigate the risk.

Banks take money from the little people, its all they do. If that stops, or the little people start wanting it back, then the banks suffer - their first duty is to the shareholder, not the customer as we all so naively believed for so long.

S

How very true!

Bubbleicious:

Hi Tiller

Thanks for your reply (again...). So if I was declared insolvent then they would take my car and home but if I am still paying something every month they can't?

Yes I am still paying every month, this is the first month where I am not going to be able to pay the full minimum payments on all the cards.

Such a crap situation, although I know I'm not alone and at least I have a job.

Bubbleicious

Hi Bubbs.

Have you actually established that the debts you have are legally enforceable? If they weren't then your creditors wouldn't have any legal remedies available.

I am pretty sure they all are. I've had a Barclaycard for many many years. I had a Morgan Stanley but then that changed to Barclaycard Cashback. I've got a Lloyds Card, again had that a few years. Mint card, a good few years. Also have an ASDA card, but that balance isn't such a worry.

I wouldn't be in this mess if my old firm hadn't gone to a 4 day week, reducing my salary by £367 a month, thus forcing me to get another job, but the salary is £3k short of my old 5 day week salary and so I'm still down every month.

Life sucks.

B