Hi Wink1,

I feel for you, I'm also making multiple payments to multiple loans, credit cards, bills etc etc, and the juggling is hard.

Unfortunately at the core of the problem is that you basically owe 10,000.

This is not a small amount of money, and ignoring interest would take over 5.5 years to repay at the 150 per month you are paying now. Adding interest takes this closer to 7 years.

This is not a short term deal, but you need some help / advice right now.... what can you do?

Can you look at switching the debt onto your mortgage? (Probably not)

Or to consolidate into a single loan to make only one repayment each month? (Probably not)

Can you look at switching your mortgage to an interest only / investment mortgage and use the money you were repaying there to repay these? (Possible if you haven't already thought of this)

Could you talk to work about your hours / pay / debts and how to work together. This is most likely affecting you at work as well, and there is a potential risk against your job if an IVA happens..

You mention looking at bills - have you been paying your bills (gas / elec) by monthly direct debit? Have you taken a meter reading recently and seen if these are over charged? (Mine always seem to be). If so you could be able to see about reducing these. You have to be forceful (but calm / polite), as despite being 150 in credit and paying more than 20 a month more than the average useage they didn't want to give me a refund or drop the direct debit, but I 'm going to get both.

This could get you some money (a 1 off sum and a reduction in monthly bills).

Other things to get money / reduce outgoings that are worth looking into (and you have hinted at)

Council tax banding - are you paying too much.

Bank and Credit card charges reclaiming - if you are in financial hardship your case may be dealt with and not held.

Whatever happens keep paying what you can and good luck.

Sparky

Hi

first i would say dont panic it wont change anything- easier said than done i know!

I am in virtually the same situation as you debt wise except i dont have a morgage i rent. I have recently contacted cccs and they are now dealing with my credit card debts, I feel like a weight has been lifted, i know it affects your credit rating but its worth it for me i really dont want credit until im sorted again and then it would only be a morgage. I know you have a house but if that was me i would seriously think of selling and sorting your debts, you can find rental property fairly cheaply at the moment and i would bet a million pounds you will sleep easier at night.

Why dont recontact cccs and explain the current situation and see what they advise? Also why dont you find out how much your property would sell for and how quickly the market in your area is moving? Investigate all avenues before you promise any companies anything- dont be pressured into a quick descision.

Good luck i'm sure it will all come good in the end!!

At this stage I would seriously consider everh's advice. Bung in a s.78 request for your credit agreement for each credit account.

Depending upon the start date for these agreements you could end up having to pay nothing. Agreements started before about 2005 have a chance of being unenforceable, especially the store cards.

Send each the following letter and see what comes back:

Dear Sir/Madam

Re Account xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I am currently trying to re-establish my financial portfolio in an attempt to get my finances in order.

To that end, I understand that under section 78(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, I can ask for a copy of any credit agreement I may have entered into when the above account was started.

I enclose the statutory fee of £1.00 and understand you should send the information within 12 days.

If you cannot deal with my request can you forward this letter to the correct person. I look forward to your reply and the copy of my agreement.

(Sign with a NON STANDARD SIGNATURE and send a Postal Order not signed cheque) Some companies are suspected of copying signatures onto compliant copies of agreements - tricky or what!

As a PS: Don't allow yourself to be bullied. At the end of the day they cannot take what you haven't got i.e. spare cash.

They can do absolutely nothing without a judges say so, so don't be put off by their horrible threats of charging orders and attachment of earnings. We all here are in a similar boat and have gone pro active in taking the fight to them not just cowering and defending. Join the fight club!

When (if) you get your agreements we can discuss what if anything can be done about your debts. Until then sit back and relax, you are in good company now.

PPS: If there is a chance of fighting your creditors off it will be a long struggle (6-9 months or more!) but cost effective. It will demand a lot of reading & understanding legal documents, maybe going to court but could be very rewarding. Be warned this may take up all of your spare time!!!

Hi tt lady,

Thanks for your advise. Anything is grately received at the moment and taken in. As you and others may know there is so much to take in and try to figure out what to do for the best. These companies seem so quick to give credit and offer you things, until you ask them for help. And they seem to drop you from a great height and stamp on you!

Your right, apart from a mortgage I cant see myself ever wanting credit again. I've had it with cards. I'm wondering whether to pass it all over to Consumer Credit counselling and let them contact the people and see what I can pay each month. Anything has to be better then this current situation. I just need some breathing space to get myself and my bank accounts sorted, start paying the bills properly. Then I can look at where I am.

I feel I'm barely treading water.

The options of selling my house and renting a not possible, I have 3 yrs left on my mortgage and the rates are too high to buy out. I'm on a fixed so cant switch to Interest only either. My work is only 10 minutes away, I don't go out, I have a gym membership I cant cancel too.

I'[ve thought of a second job but they are Very few and far between in this current market.

Back to the drawing board.

Thanks again

wink1

I'm really no expert,but you could try the same route as a lot of us on here and request a copy of your signed credit agreement-there are lots of templates on different threads. If they cannot produce a signed copy or one that contains the prescribed elements, then your work researching your options really begins and you have a few powerful weapons to give you leverage. Try putting a search in for conmankiller or stubieone. Allow yourself some time to slow down and go through it all. Don't expect the cccs to be nice or play fair, sometimes you can feel weary of the process, but these days they don't have the whip hand so don't allow yourself to be bullied.

I'm still asking questions so don't feel qualified to offer advice, but there is another side to the story and you really have to stand up for yourself-with a little help from your friends of course!

At the end of the day you can only pay what you can afford so I'd go back to Barclays and reiterate that your income and expenditure account shows you can only afford £x between all your creditors which means Barclays share is £y. If you start paying more to one creditor then it isn't fair to the others and they might also refuse to co operate. If they still won't budge then you will have to try and find the extra £40 a month from somewhere.

None of them have to freeze charges or interest and even if they do they might decide to start charging them again later on.

You could go down the route of asking for your credit agreements if they are old cards (see many threads on this forum).

If you continue with a debt management plan you will end up trashing your credit rating but that is probably not a bad thing as you don't really want any more credit (other than a mortgage deal) do you ?

As you've said the longer term answer is to either generate more income (overtime, second job, promotion, change of career, lodger) or to have less expenditure (cut bills, luxuries, get a job loser to home, downsize car). You need to start by getting your monthly budget to balance (with enough for CCCS suggested payments and an emergency fund) and then move to having enough to make the mimimum repayments on the cards and then to having enough to make more than the minimum payments and start paying them off. You might have to think the unthinkable and consider whether you can really afford your property - it might be better financially to sell it and rent.

Given that you've got a job that doesn't allow for an IVA nor also presumably bankruptcy then you need to be very careful and cut back hard. I don't think you've got enough of a surplus (from what you've said) for an IVA anyway.

Hi,

Please...Can anyone offer me some advise.

My brief situation is I have debts with credit card companies and store cards.

Barclaycard £4400 - £53pm, Citi cards £4200 - £45pm, Argos £1000 - £40- £50pm and Edge/ Halfords £360 - £15pm.

I have been struggling with payments to these companies for a while and so have incured bank charges and a high over draft of £770. I was getting between £46 - £126 in charges each month. I'm trying to get these back. My bank (Who i have moved away from now) wont help but are reducing my over draft limit by £70pm. I have to pay that too!

I consulted Consumer Credit Counselling service (Advised by my bank) who listed my debts, outgoings and incoming. They gave me letters to send to creditors to advise of a reduced payment.

Barclays have wrote back saying ''We will not accept lower offer, we're passing it to Mercers Collections ltd''. Panicking I'd be in even more debt once they got hold of it and slap charges on, I have called Barclays and offered the £53 payment on payday.

I'm hoping to then write to them asking what they will accept. When on the phone the man said 1% of the total so reduced to £47. Still too high for me!

They said they might accept the £5 offer from CCCS. I was hoping to sort my debts myself but they just dont seem to want to help! I'm worried about getting a bad rating if I go on a payment plan as I'm a home owner and my mortgage is up in 3 years!

I cannot get an IVA as my job/ company is regulated by FSA.

Does anyone have any good advise. I am looking into where I can save money by reducing my bills etc but need advise on what to do next.

Please help.

Wink1