Thanks Stardog.

I was also advised about Payplan. I'll need to check the website and see.

Hi

Apart from the age I'm 63 and a widow I am in almost the same situation in fact to the point where I'm not sleeping. I have eventually contacted Payplan and was surprised at the options I had open. You don.t have to go for a IVA you can just go for Debt Management and this helps a great deal and allows you to live and not just exist, and mainly to honor your debts and pay them off. It is a bit rocky to start with but the road does smooth out and yo can SLEEP. I got into the mess due to ill health and redundancy,and tried for a long time to bury my head in the sand (it doesn.t work) I have gone for an IVA and have just started the process so tjere are a few companies upset with me at this time, and the only really difficulty I am finding is opening a new Bank Account any ideas anyone out there I've tried Lloyds, Co-op and Alliance and Leicester. Anyway good luck and try this path you have nothing to lose.

Stardog

Hi

I thought I answered the question!! I applied for the original loan online and according to what Martyn Lewis says on his vid, you are bound to it because the paperwork is all online! I must have it wrong, will have to watch it again.

I think the last post was asking if you could take off the payment protection from the loan your bank offered. A loan with Alliance and Leicester for instance @ 7.7% would be £372 a month for 5 years without protection and over 4 years it would be £450. Go back to your bank and ask them to take the protection of the quote they gave you. It can not be sold a condition of accepting the loan

cerbius

Hi Axisme

Thanks for responding. I watched Martyn Lewis's vid on Payment Protection in the hopes that I could take it off the loan but I applied online so I'm not able to do that. I have taken off payment protection from the credit cards as someone at work told me it was a rip off also. I'm a civil servant so I'm thinking the worst that could happen is I'm made redundant and I can at least pay the credit cards off if worst comes to the worst. The Payment Protection on the loan comes out at about £40 per month over 60 months currently. Unable to take in a lodger, I'm a council tenant (who should have bought her flat some time ago but hey ho!). Moving in with my Mum would be the very last straw but I understand your point.

Hi,

Can you get out of the payment protection? They are not very useful and you would be surprised at the things they don't cover. They also whack on a fair amount on the total repayable.

Are you able to take in a lodger? Preferably someone both you and your child know.

Are you able to move in with your parents? Renting is not all bad but It's your biggest expenditure. It might be easier to swallow your pride for a few years and bounce back stronger.

Hi, Newbie here and would welcome some advice to my current situ.

For various reasons I'm in approx £18600k worth of debt made up of loan (£7500), credit cards (£8600) and an overdraft of £2500, I earn £21k per year.

In my bank's defence they offered me a loan to clear the jolly lot at a cost of over £400 (including Payment Protection) for 7 years. I have a 13 year old son and am single and renting. I've agreed to review the situation in approx 6 months time. I'm currently repaying the loan at £205 per month and have just over 3 half years left on the balance. One of the credit cards is £4500, the other two are split between £4k, the overdraft of £2500 is at its limit.

There's no one knocking down my door as I'm managing to keep up the repayments but it's leaving me with barely nothing at the end of the month and I need to find a way, apart from an IVA or bankruptcy, to clear these debts more efficiently and effectively.

Hope someone out there can offer sound advice.

kind regards