Re: advice on debt please?

[Lottie37]

Hello,

Has anybody got any advice on what I can dk please?

I don't really want to call citizens advice bureau as already their telephone numbers have been so busy!

Just wondering if anybody has been in a situation where you are in debt with money and you join an agency/company and they consolidate all your debts and pay everything off for you then you sort out a plan on paying them back? It's something similar to that.

I know people have done this before, but I don't know what the companies are called?

Thank you 😊

Christians Against Poverty is a wonderful organisation for debt advice/debt management plans. They're free, and you don't have to be Christian. They're likely to be less busy than CAB right now - as the latter deal with a much broader spectrum of issues.

You could also look on Moneysavingexpert. They have an excellent debt help forum.

But no-one can give you appropriate help without a full picture of your incomings, outgoings, assets and family situation, because everyone is different and the appropriate solution could be anywhere between cutting back a bit on non-essentials and bankruptcy, depending on your individual situation.

Best place to start would be their debt help articles, to get a really good handle on your situation and signposting to appropriate help and you may wish to consider posting on their forum.

Be careful with companies that 'consolidate all your debts and pay everything off for you' because some make charges and the solutions they suggest aren't always in your best interest because what they want is for you to be paying your debts off via them for years while they take a cut of what you pay them.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan/

Good luck!

I used stepchange to help manage my debts. They go through your budget and work out what you can afford to pay each month and contact all your creditors for you to set up payment arrangements. You pay Stepchange monthly and they distribute it on your behalf.

They are well worth contacting.

You can do it yourself most of the time. So if it’s credit card companies etc you can call them, explain your in financial difficulties and set up a plan with them directly. This will obviously depend on who your debts are with and how many companies.

Before you do anything work out exactly what you have coming in and out and make a note of all your debts (however small/big). When your working out things like food shopping, be realistic about how much you do spend and don’t try to trim yourself down too much.

Cristians against poverty as someone else mentioned are a good shout. I’ve worked with them through my job and they work in the same way as citizens advise but I think they can be a bit better at times.

Do be careful about companies who claim they can help you consolidate. I think they tend to charge a fee which seems a bit counter productive!

I agree CAP are a good organisation to contact. Please don't touch any which charge a "£25 monthly management fee". They send out template letters, often with someone else's details on or the wrong information, ignore creditor's responses and therefore can lead to more stress for you. In the meantime if you feel able to, may be worth ringing companies and seeing if you can set up your own repayment plan. Be honest with them, in the company I used to work for we would be more likely to agree to an affordable repayment plan directly than with one of the money making debt management companies.

Step change are the best and don't charge a monthly fee.

Well done for being brave enough to sort this out. I know how awful it can be.

Also Lok at the money advice service website. They have useful tools for managing your debts and details of other FREE advice agencies.
Consolidation isn't always the answer. You'll end up paying near enough the same amount but just to one creditor, rather than split across several.

Try Stepchange, National Debtline or Christians Against Poverty (CAP). All free and non judgmental.
CAP were closed to new clients for a while as they got overwhelmed but may be taking them on again now.

I work as a debt advisor and would encourage you to pick up the phone and go through an advice session. They will go through your debts, income and expenditure and advise you of your options.

Good luck OP, let us know how you get on x

Def stepchange

Do you mean you want a loan to consolidate your debts or are you after a debt management plan?

I’m also with stepchange, they are awesome. Helped me when I was in a dark place mentally due to debt. I didn’t have to talk to anyone on the phone-whhich was a benefit to me. I get the odd letter from people I have debt with but that’s it.