General Chat

A lot will depend on to whom you owe the money. If it is a company with usurious rates of interest they deserve to be knocked. Write and tell them that you can't pay them and see what happens.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/debt-solutions/debt-management

3 main plan managments that make no charges for service.

I was a senior honcho with Equifax for three years but I bow to yr vast knowledge of the consumer credit industry.

In closing I would recommend CAB as a thousand times better than other options.

good luck

Rollo, that looks like a 'solution' for someone with a business that's rapidly folding, not just a few long term domestic bills!!

That looks fairly wrong Rollo.

Whatever you do do not sign up with a debt mgt company they will have yr guts for garters and extricating yourself from them v difficult. Typically they take over yr income stream and more money goes on their fees than paying creditors. It is not unusual for agreed payments to creditors not to be made at all!

All you need to do is to prepare an income / outgoings statement ( use the free CAB one which is widely accepted ) and send this to each creditor with your offer. By and large the creditor will be looking for a down payment and then so much monthly. Very often after a while the creditor will offer a write down of 50-90% so long as no payments are skipped. Do not use the phrase "full and final offer" or anything agressive.

The letters need to be on A4 and presentable ie use a word processor. CAB have templates you can use.

The advantage of doing it this way is that you don't waste money on fees and instead of shelling out for fees and (even worse) an IVA yr credit rating will start improving. That makes it much easier to get good deals on power, car insurance etc.

It is not really possible to live in modern times debt free unless you have inherited a fortune or won the lotto.

Prioritise council tax. They will give you time to pay but will not reduce os debt. If this tax is unpaid for any length of time then you are risking a bailiff visit and hundreds of pounds in fees.

good luck

The only large debt that we have ever thought OK was the house mortgage

A small debt to buy a car by using a personal loan from the bank (as against a credit card) was also acceptable as long as we paid it off ASAP

Put something on a credit card only if you can pay it off in full when the statement comes in.

If you can't afford it, wait until you can save up the money, or buy something cheaper (or get it second hand).

We never asked our parents for any help after we got married, and only rarely before that.

Our daughter was raised the same way, so was her husband according to his parents.

BUT he is in the habit of buying expensive things and then working out where the money is coming from.

I couldn't believe the wedding present list they put together back in 1998 ............ he wanted "only" crystal and bone china. I pointed to her that they were students, most of their friends were students, and she at least knew how difficult it was for a student to buy an expensive wedding present for a friend (she'd been through that the previous year, 3 of them finally clubbed together for that one).

Now they both have good jobs, but a large mortgage which is not allowing them to save up the money they want to do some badly needed renovations. Plus she and 2 partners have just had to buy out the 4th partner at her company 18 months earlier than originally planned. I think they also have large credit card bills.

It seems that if they want to do it, or have it, then they do it and then try to work out how to pay for it.

If we want to see daughter and grandson here, we have had to pay their airfares to come (it's as expensive as if we wanted to fly to England).

We've done that for the last 3 years, but I drew the line when they wanted us to pay for all 3 of them to come this summer. I think they should not require help after 16 years of marriage, and things are getting tighter for us as well.

Do I want it? YES

Do I need it? NO

Can I afford it? NO

Then don't ****** buy it!!!

Money - the aphrodisiac that never lets you down, until it does. The deficit is caused by spending all our money & buying nothing much of lasting value.

And I acknowledge my own deficiency in this matter! :-S Money means a lot to me especially when I don’t have much. :-(

Thank you. That is more advice than we have had from many agencies.

Go in with a low offer!

I have seen some offers accepted which are 20% of the total owed, there are lots of sample letters online eg https://www.nationaldebtline.org/ , make sure your offer and the replies accepting include the words "full and final settlement", and keep the paperwork indefinitely.

The CAB was the first step but things have moved on and I do like to gather information before I do anything.

At the moment our rent is being paid, we have let the council know the situation but I am still not sure if we are entitled so I have been putting the rent aside every week in case they want it back.

when I first took over the tenancy I made a bit of a balls up with the extra bit I have to pay for the bedroom tax and the guy from the council called me because I owed something close to £400. He asked me if five pounds a month would be too much for me to pay back. I think his system had a bit of a problem coping with me paying it in one lump.

Technically, a mortgage is a huge debt. All is well while you have an income to pay the installments, but if you lose your job??

From the sound of it, most of us are of the age where you don't buy what you can't afford. Hand-me-down furniture was the norm when you first set up home. Now the younger generation expect everything brand new and take out loans/credit cards to afford it.

You're not 'odd' in our books; you're sensible.

I'm not sure it's the norm amongst those born earlier than, say, the 1960s but my children and grandchildren's generation just seem to assume that it is OK to have loads of debt. When my daughter was at college she couldn't pay a credit card bill so she cut up her credit card and has never had one since. As a student I think that took guts and we were so proud of her.

Have you tried the CAB Sharron? I believe they are quite helpful with sorting out "full and final settlement" letters.

So do I Sharron, I hate owing money.

I just find it so hard to believe that huge debt is now the norm.

Ha ha Sharron I always knew you were odd :-D :-D but I will join you in being odd about debt. I have always believed in paying cash rather than credit. Although I have taken credit when I have known I can pay when needed. I have been in debt and it´s worried the s***e out of me.

I¨m with you I can´t believe how people live with so much debt over their heads. :-S

As far as I am concerned, my OH is a financial bus smash but we have some money together now and have taken advice as to how to discharge his debts so that we don't carry them on through old age.

He probably doesn't owe as much as many but it needs clearing and we have been advised that the best way is to make a full and final offer. I did know this was possible but have had no experience of it so we have been casting around the debt management agencies for advice and support because it is a bit daunting to take on alone.

Well, from what I can discern, we must be some of the very few people who actually want to be debt free. They can all offer us myriad ways to make huge amounts of debt ' manageable' which is not what we want at all. We want rid.

As one who loses sleep about not paying the paper boy, I can't believe people can live with enormous debt and still keep functioning but it looks like most people do now.

Whatever must this be doing for the economy, never mind the mental health of the populace?