Debt Questions

Hi,
Me again with more questions!
I am with the Debt Advisory line and with debt of about £32k I pay £510 a month to them, I have asked them to reduct it to £433, this will cover the £233 the RBS have a court order for and £200 spare to pay the other creditors, I realised (stupidly) that not all the money is being paid to the debt, about £70 of it the Debt Advisory Line take, so I have decided to go to another company who dont charge as I want to address the debt not just keep the wolf from the door.
I have about 12 Creditors: inc the RBS who I said get £233, 3 credit cards, one with £6k balance, one with £2k balance and I think the other may be about £4k, they each get about £20-23 each. The other catalogues and store cards get about £1-2 each, I will NEVER pay them off at that rate.
If I change to another company, will I be better off? if I up the 3 credit cards to maybe £25 each then I will be able to pay the rest about of them about £15, does that sound ok?
At all costs I have to protect my home, and I am terrified they will make me sell it or something to get the equity, can they do that in Scotland or do they just put an association order on it to make sure that if I ever sell it, they can get the equity then?

If any others have Debt Management Plans, can you give me an idea of the balances and how your payments are split up?

Will there be any debt forgiveness at any point in your experience, will anybody write some of the smaller balances off?

Try CCCS or Payplan who charge no fees.

Payments are made on a pro-rata basis where creditors are paid in proportion to what they are owed. Take the individual debt, divide it by the total debt and then multiply that by the disposable income available to give you the payment to be made by that creditor. Of course Payplan and CCCS plus those CABs who use the Paylink system just press a button and it is done automatically.

At the moment in Scotland the worst thing they can do is get an inhibition on your property which means any remaining debt to them should be cleared when the property is sold - by you.

Honestly - you can do it yourself but why do this with multiple creditors when CCCS or Payplan could do without charging you a penny and doing a realistic budget too. However they have no more success than you would fighting a decree debt if you owe the money ... however there is the support

Hi,
The DAL are going to cap my monthly payments to £25 which is much better cos all in all im happy with what they do.
I am just so terrified that its going to take 10 years to pay, circumstances could in that time change for the worse and I cant keep up payments or the credtors are fed up with taking £23 a month to a 6k debt and bankrupt me, arrest earnings blah blah and basically ruin me.
I dont know how likely it is for the creditors to break from the DMP and just drop the hammer.........

This could happen in any debt management plan - fee charging or otherwise. Do not look for problems!!

Hi Squeek. there are a few things I think you should be aware of. Firstly, these Debt Arrangement Schemes do not protect you from further action from creditors. The only 1 that does is the Scottish Debt Arrangement Scheme. So if you wish to be in such a scheme, you should apply through your local council to try and join that. Going by your total debt and the amounts you are re-paying, you would be likely to be accepted for the Scottish DAS.

Also paying debt fees is pointless, CCCS and Payplan will do it free, although please note info above about such schemes.

As for paying the debts early through what's known as early settlements, most creditors will accept reasonable offers rather than wait years on getting their money back. My creditors offered me settlements ranging from as low as 30% of the sum owed to settle early, although most wanted a bit higher than that, and 50-60% was more common.

If you were in a position to release some equity you could negotiate with them all and you might be able to pay them all off for much less than 32 k.

I would recommend you speak to an Insolvency Practitioner. They don't usually charge you for the initial meeting.The previous poster mentioned Inhibitions (see my thread in this forum), but you should be aware that is not the only form of action they can take which is why I feel you should see an IP. I can recommend an excellent one if you wish.

cheers

If Squeek wants to apply for a Debt Payment Programme through the Debt Arrangement Scheme then she needs to follow your earlier advice and seek help from a money adviser in Scotland who can do this - often can be found through the CAB.

She would not need to go to an IP for this whose real job is to look for Trust Deeds and after sequestrations - the former may be an option for her if the DAS is not suitable but I would try that first. Certainly I would try that in her circumstances before going to any Debt Management Company - whether or not they charge fees.

Hi,
Well I was only aware of one government backed DAS which info is available from Money Scotland website and to do that, you have to go to one of the listed money advisors on there, My local CAB said they can set this up for me and I go to see them on 7th and it cant come soon enough.
According to all the info I read it can and does protect you from creditors taking diligence at least I do hope so or I might aswell through myself in the canal!