My advice for those in Debt

[intersimi]

I posted this in reply to someone else in the LlydsTSB section. The moderators have asked me that I replicate my post in the general area for all to see.

 

I have been in a terrible position with regards to debt, and believe me, it goes far, far beyond £2000. I mean, my overdraft with LloydsTSB was over £10,000!

 

Money was like monopoly money, I was just spending on things I wanted, as the debt was piling up.

 

Reality check time. I have come to realise my errors and even though I have a lot of debt remaining, I do pay everyone something every month. I produced a list of everyone I owed money to and what I paid them every month. Then I listed what I thought was a good compromise of what to pay every month.

 

I telephoned all of the people I owed money too and explained the situation to them, and said, that I could afford to pay them a certain amount every month. I even calculated a certain amount for my own spending money (on gadgets). This has worked very well in my case. A couple of the people I owed money too have said that they would rather take me to court. Coo, fair enough. When the court see my expenditure reports that I have produced, they too would agree with me and award the person I owe money to, to less a month, than I offered.

 

The bottom line is, you can only do what you can do. No more, no less.

 

I also read the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". It was actually this book that changed the way I think about money, however the only real thing I took away from it is this phrase, "PAY YOURSELF FIRST".

 

This is the order I use every month:

 

1. Pay myself (in to a separate bank account)

2. 2-3 days after pay day, pay Mortgage, Secured loans, Council Tax

3. Pay Utility bills

4. Pay for Broadband

5. Pay for Sky TV

6. Pay everyone else (10 days after pay day)

 

I have started to feel good about my finances now. If in doubt, go to the Citizens advice Bureau. They are a great help (I did not have to do this).

[natalie]

Can I just add to this that the cccs (consumer credit counselling service) are fantastic. They will help you to write letters to your creditors offering smaller payments and tell you where you stand legally.

 

A quote from their website

 

It feels like my creditors are harassing me, what are my rights?

 

It is often difficult to know what to do when you feel a creditor is not dealing with your account fairly. If you do not pay, your creditors are allowed to keep reminding you from time to time but they must not act illegally. Many activities could be classed as harassment but this is often difficult to prove. It is important to note that 'anything done by a person which is reasonable' when trying to recover a debt, is not considered to be harassment.

 

Guidelines have been put together by The Office Of Fair Trading giving guidance on what activities may be considered as harassment and should therefore be avoided by creditors.

 

Creditors are warned by the Office Of Fair Trading that they should not: -

 

Bring unreasonable pressure to bear on you in default of payment

Falsely claim that criminal proceedings can be brought for non-payment

Falsely imply that they may legally seize property or take other action without going to Court

Impersonate a Court or any other official person, by letter or by telephone

Make nuisance visits and phone calls, or use abusive or threatening language in person, by letter or by telephone

Leave messages for you to contact someone urgently with no explanation

Contact you at work, or the customer's employer with intent to create embarrassment and create fear of dismissal

Wait outside work on payday

Park outside your door in a vehicle marked 'debt collectors'

Call on the neighbours, pretending to believe the neighbour is you

Send insufficiently addressed postcards

You cannot be prosecuted in the Criminal Court because you have not paid a consumer debt, but some creditors may try to make you think you can, this is also illegal.

 

If you feel you are being harassed, you may take the following action:

 

The first step is to write to the creditor and outline your concerns regarding the company's behaviour. Inform them that you are familiar with the terms of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act and ask that the creditor take steps to avoid similar occurrences in the future. Make suggestions as to how youwould prefer to be contacted by the creditor and ask that they confirm their agreement to this in writing.

 

However if you do feel the need to make an official complaint regarding a creditor, this should firstly be made to your local Trading Standards Officer. If Trading Standards will not act it may be worth contacting the Office of Fair Trading.

 

A vital first call for anyone in debt.

 

http://www.cccs.co.uk/home.htm

 

0800 138 1111

[jonni2bad]

Agree with advice on the CCCS - they were a great to us in our 'hour of need'. Once they had sent me a printed Personal Budgeting Sheet', I converted the info into a excel spreadsheet, so that I could make ongoing ammendments as necessary.

 

Very simple to use, you input your income(s) into box A, your expenditure in B and it works out your available funds for creditors, if there is any! Priority debts into C (like mortgage, council tax arrears etc) leaves money for 'everyone else' in D

 

Once you input the total amount owed to each of these it will work out the monthly percentage share that you should be paying them (since it should be pro-rata).

 

If anyone would like a copy, I would be more than happy to email it and explain further, in case the above sounds odd!!

[richardc]

Thank you.

[intersimi]

jonni2bad, I wouldn't mind looking at the spreadsheet

[jonni2bad]

Have sent you PM for email address.

[intersimi]

Thanks

[forestzoepotts]

I have this morning received a letter from Levi Black and Associates in Leeds regarding a £150.60 alleged debt to Powergen which I know nothing about.

 

I received a letter from a company called LCS at the end of February (same address, ref no etc) about this and saying that they had been trying to liase with me over this and were taking me to court. I had no previos correspondance and wrote back stating this and asking them to furnish me with further details.

 

I have since found out that they have twice called my old workplace leaving urgent messages with just a name and number, I notice from above that this is not allowed.

 

The letter today states "you have previously been notified that a recommendation to commence legal proceedings to recover this debt may be the next step.....you have been given every opportunity to clear your indebtedness[sic] but have chosen to ignore our client's attempts. As a result of this we are left with no alternative but to pursue this matter through more rigid channels."

 

It goes on to say I should 'phone and settle. Surely by using 2 companies both registered together, this is to be seen as trying to confuse and they should also have replied to my request for more information?

 

Advice welcomed

[BankFodder]

forestzoepotts

This is a new topic. You are hijacking a thread for this and posting in the wrong section.

[forestzoepotts]

Sorry, wasn't sure where else to post, the knowledge here seemed relevant. Where should I post?

[BankFodder]

Sorry, wasn't sure where else to post, the knowledge here seemed relevant. Where should I post?

Everything else

[intersimi]

This topic was closed on 03/06/19.

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