New and need debt advice

[ebooksgti]

Hi new to site basically I'm 28 years old and have bad credit showing 480 on noddle I have loads of defaults on account plus 1 ccj always ignored my debts and to be honest don't really get pestered by companies just odd letter there mainly from lowell for catalouges I had years ago and at the time lost my job they refused to accept lower payments so being young at the time just maxed them out and pretty much knocked them I'm now sick of having poor credit and decided it's time to sort this out where do u start any tips etc

[nemesis45]

Re: New and need debt advice

Good morning, welcome to LB.
Start by sorting all the debts by listing them, e.g. Creditor, DCA, date defaulted/last payment. type of debt, amount Outstanding. make a file for each individual debt,
then tackle them one by one, I suggest tackling the smallest first once you have decided what you want to do, there are choices at this stage.
Is the debt enforceable, if so do you want to make an offer in Full & Final settlement, make a payment plan, or challenge the viability of the debt.

It would be wise also to make an I& E statement so you can see what you can reasonably afford to pay each week/month.
Setting up payments always use a standing order not a direct debit so you have control.

Good luck, well done for trying to sort this out.

nem

[ebooksgti]

Re: New and need debt advice

Thankyou I will start by doing that then I don't think to much is happening with the debts as they are about 3 years old now I would just like to get it sorted to stop annoying letters and get back on track

[nemesis45]

Re: New and need debt advice

Thankyou I will start by doing that then I don't think to much is happening with the debts as they are about 3 years old now I would just like to get it sorted to stop annoying letters and get back on track

You can always come back to LB when you are ready to make offers etc. then we can guide you through that process.

nem

[Debt Camel]

Re: New and need debt advice

Hi!

It might help in your planning to realise that you you have two different problems - what shows on your credit file and whether you can be taken to court for the debt. There is no point in putting all your efforts into cleaning up your credit file and not tackling the underlying debts if they can be enforced. This strategy runs into big problems if you get taken to court for another CCJ - bang, your credit file is wrecked for another 6 years - or if you want to get a mortgage where the lender will want to know about ALL your debts, not just your credit rating.

I don't know how much you know about credit ratings. The 3 points that are most likely to be relevant to you are:
- don't rely on Noddle, get your credit reports from all three credit reference agencies. There can be a lot of differences!
- any debt with a default on it is going to fall off your credit report 6 years after the default date whatever you do. If this is coming up in the next few months then you don't need to worry about that debt from the credit file point of view as it is going to sort itself out.
- a creditor should have put a default on your file when your account was 3-6 months in arrears, even if you were making low, token payments to the debt. If any of your debts haven't been defaulted, or have very late defaults, you need to ask for this to be corrected because the older the defaults are, the sooner your credit file will clear up. See http://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-default-date/ for how to do this.

Looking at the problem of tackling the debts:
- if you haven't made any payments to a debt for over 6 years it may well be statute barred. See http://debtcamel.co.uk/statute-barred-debt/ for details. If you think this 6 year point is coming up soon or has just passed, you don't want to do ANYTHING that will wake the creditor up at this point, including trying to sort the default date on your credit record. As a rule of thumb, wait until you are sure it has been statute barred for 3, preferably 6 months.
- if statute barring looks a long way off, then consider if you could save up some money and make a "full and final" settlement offer to the debt. If you have a pile of these debts, I suggest saving up enough to make a 25% offer to two of the debts, then make an offer to one of them. You want to keep some money in reserve in case one of the other creditors springs into life and threatens court action so you can make an offer to prevent this.
- the CCJ is not going to become statute barred and they are very unlikely to accept a F&F. You should consider how much to start paying them every month to pay off this debt.

Finally, although you have to work out what has to be done about each individual debt, you also need to step back and look at the overall picture. If you realistically can't save up much money for settlements and you have a lot of debts some way from being statute barred, you may want to look at a formal debt solution such as insolvency. Otherwise you can spend ages still not really making any progress

[nemesis45]

Re: New and need debt advice

The OP has stated that the debts are All about 3 years old nowhere near SB or removal from CRA files.
I'm afraid it's wrong to even consider insolvency ( Bankruptcy at this stage).

[ebooksgti]

Re: New and need debt advice

Thanks for inputs yh my defaults all happened when I lost my job so all defaulted 3 years ago now and like I said nothing seems to escalate from these debts except odd letters offering discounts etc which u have always ignored but I feel I'm in a situation financially where I can pay these off for peace of mind

[Debt Camel]

Re: New and need debt advice

The OP has stated that the debts are All about 3 years old nowhere near SB or removal from CRA files.
I'm afraid it's wrong to even consider insolvency ( Bankruptcy at this stage).

ah yes, it took be some time to type my reply and in the meanwhile the OP added those extra details

Insolvency probably is wrong, but we have no idea. as we have no idea of the total amount of debt or how much can realistically be paid towards debt each month. I see too many people who have spent 10 or more years struggling with debts when insolvency (bankruptcy, IVA or DRO) and a clean start would have been a better approach.

[Debt Camel]

Re: New and need debt advice

nothing seems to escalate from these debts except odd letters offering discounts etc which u have always ignored but I feel I'm in a situation financially where I can pay these off for peace of mind

That is a good situation to be in, if they are offering you discounts and you are better placed financially, Make sure you get a F&F agreed in writing before making any payment.