Writing off debt

[thephoenix]

Evening.......

A little guidance please

My cousin and partner are to become parents for the first time in Feb and for the past year have been frantically been trying to pay off their non priority debts before the event.
Unfortunately they seem to have their priorities all wrong and have fallen behind in their council tax and water. baaaad move.

As the birth is fast approaching and with only 2 debts to clear, I feel that they should try their luck with the creditors and get the remaining debt wiped.

The two debts remaining are HSBC management plan @ £3k and Solution Finance @ £550, paying £60 and £19 p/month.

I have done what I can as regards HSBC, charges etc. Requested CCA from Solution Finance which they have sent but not sent full list of all transactions on the account. I'm sure there are charges on this store card due to credit limit was only £400.

Total income per month £1500 Total outgoings £1330, now with baby due in 4 months, their income is gonna be reduced and outgoing will be increased.

So using the ' write debt off' template, I was thinking of asking solution finance to write their off, if not then pay up till feb and then write off, and if they still dont agree, offer £1 per month on a temporary basis for 12 months etc.
With HSBC, I doubt they will even contemplate writing theirs off, so requesting to continue to pay till feb, with a view to writing off debt then, if not then £1.

I'm worried that they are getting behind with the priority debts and will cause a problem when the baby arrives.

Do you reckon they'll go for this? any idea on best angle?
Any assistance would be greaaaaaat :carrot::beagle:

[iancognito]

Re: Writing off debt

I take it that outgoing figure includes their day to day living expenses? If not, and they have other priority debts, they should consider making reduced offers on these 2 now.

It's essential they pay off their priority debts first, it may be worth negotiating no further interest with the other two rather than writing them off, that's if interest continues to accrue.

I think you're right anout HSBC, the banks are so jittery about bad debt at the mo that a request to right off this debt could do more harm than good.

Can you not SAR Solution Finance for charges? although if I remember correctly they are supposed to provide a statement of account in response to a CCA, the fact that they haven't may put you in a better negotiating position?

[thephoenix]

Re: Writing off debt

I take it that outgoing figure includes their day to day living expenses? If not, and they have other priority debts, they should consider making reduced offers on these 2 now.

It's essential they pay off their priority debts first, it may be worth negotiating no further interest with the other two rather than writing them off, that's if interest continues to accrue.

I think you're right anout HSBC, the banks are so jittery about bad debt at the mo that a request to right off this debt could do more harm than good.

Can you not SAR Solution Finance for charges? although if I remember correctly they are supposed to provide a statement of account in response to a CCA, the fact that they haven't may put you in a better negotiating position?

Good morning......:roll:

All interest and charges have been frozen on these debts from the time i started helping him out, so they have been playing ball in that respect :swoon: yes, it includes ALL living expenses

HSBC wiil be the most difficult but if they would accept a much lower payment for, say 12 months and then continue paying from then..... that would help them from falling behind again.

As for solution Finance, your right, they are supposed to send statements under the CCA request and as far as we can remember they didn't. I would of sorted any charges out otherwise and i dont remember doing any.
He will have to ring them to chase up statements, the original request was done in feb/march of this year.

Add something like this to 'write off' letter.....(solution finance)

As you can see our outgoings are are almost equal to our income and we are experiencing financial hardship. We would be very grateful if you would consider writing off the outstanding debt owing. We have always taken very seriously our financial responsibilities but unfortunately our circumstances are about change and feel that we cannot realistically maintain payments of any kind. Please take into account my responsive and prompt payment history with your company.


Please take the following special information into account when making your decision..... In February 2008 we will become parents for the first time and with this comes greater financial pressures. As you are aware our household income will drop dramatically over the maternity period, plus the added expenditure that comes with having a child.

So as you can see our situation is very unlikely to improve in the future, and our continued debt level may have a serious effect on our physical and mental wellbeing not to mention the arrival of our first born. We would therefore be grateful if you would seriously consider our request for the debt to be written off.

[Amethyst]

Re: Writing off debt

Company Name
Address


Dear Sir/Madam

Ref: Your Reference

Further to your recent letter, we enclose a copy of our Personal Budget sheet which gives details of our present financial circumstances.

As you can see our outgoings are more than our income and we are experiencing extreme financial hardship. We would be very grateful if you would consider writing off the outstanding debt owing. We have always taken very seriously our financial responsibilities but unfortunately our circumstances are so bad that we cannot realistically maintain payments of any kind.

Please take the following information into account when making your decision. In February 2008 we will become parents for the first time and with this comes greater financial pressures. As you are aware our household income will drop dramatically over the maternity period, plus the added expenditure that comes with having a child.

As you can see our situation is very unlikely to improve in the future, and our continued high debt level may have a serious effect on our physical and mental wellbeing. We would therefore be grateful if you would seriously consider our request for the debt to be written off.

In the alternative please send us a full statement of our account as required under s.78 (4) & (5) of the Consumer Credit Act. This request was sent to you on XX/XX/XXX and we thank you for your prompt response in supplying a copy of the original credit agreement. We believe a number of unlawful penalty charges make up a proportion of the outstanding balance and we intend to reclaim these charges from your company, thus reducing the outstanding balance.

We then intend to make an offer to make token payments to the account to clear the balance. The amount offered will, of course, depend on our circumstance at that time. As I am sure you are aware this letter does place our account into dispute and any enforcement action you take against us will be strongly contested until such time this dispute is resolved.

We would appreciate any help you can give us, and look forward to receiving a response.

Yours faithfully

Your Name

[thephoenix]

Re: Writing off debt

78 Duty to give information to debtor under running-account credit agreement

(4) Where running -account credit is provided under a regulated agreement, the creditor
shall give the debtor statements in the prescribed form, and with the prescribed contents—
(a) showing according to the information to which it is practicable for him to
refer, the state of the account at regular intervals of not more than twelve
months, and
(b) where the agreement provides, in relation to specified periods, for the
making of payments by the debtor, or the charging against him of interest
or any other sum, showing according to the information to which it is
practicable for him to refer the state of the account at the end of each of
those periods during which there is any movement in the account.





MIND YOU....ALL THEY DID SEND WAS THE AGREEMENT. NOTHING ELSE. NO STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT, AMOUNT OWING, OR STATEMENTS

[Amethyst]

Re: Writing off debt

ahhh no not that bit. That for sending periodical statements.

I'll have a look its 61 or 77 or something

[thephoenix]

Re: Writing off debt

Thanks to you both, letters done and on their way.

Lets see what transpires shall we.....:roll: