I have received a Default Notice from littlewoods and very stating that if I don't pay the full amount by such a date then further action may be taken against me, possible court action etc?

6 months ago i had to stop work due to a disability and have been paying £20 per month on each account ( i have two) which is the most i can afford at this point and i am now in arrears on both accounts, one has £600 arrears the other £900arreas .

I simply don't have the money to pay them both and thus have only been able to pay £20 per month on each one.

Now i am panicking and don't know what do do next? Any advice would be a big help.

Hi and welcome to CAG.

Based on what you owe, I think they won't back down on the default notice and it will be placed no matter what.

Have you contacted them at all to explain why you are paying a low amount? If not, do so.

In our library are some template letters that you can use to send to them and a income and expenditure form which ill help you work out what you can afford in repayments, not forgetting to allow a little for a social life.

At the end of the day, these are unsecured debts and should (quite rightly) be at the bottom of your priorities. If it works out that all you can afford is £1 a month on each debt then tough on them.

If any extra charges have been added, you can get them removed from the outstanding debt.

DO NOT ring them unless the call can be recorded. Write to them and get a free proof of posting from the Post Office.

When did you take out the accounts? Before or after April 2007?

Hey there silverfox, Thank you for the warm welcome and very informative reply.

I opened the accounts in around 2010-2011

I contacted them around 6 months ago, when i was forced to leave my job to explain that i was unable to work due to a disability and could no longer afford the minimum payments. They just advised me to contact StepChange for a debt management plan, which i did however i wasn't comfortable with the advice from step change who wanted me to open a complete new bank account and also stop paying all of my other creditors ( i have a couple of credit cards too which i pay monthly and have never missed a payment on these) I just wanted help with the very/littlewoods accounts but they were only willing to help with a plan that included my other creditors which is understandable.

I am not really worried about my credit history being effected as i don't plan on getting any more credit any time soon. I am more worried about the interest/charges getting out of control and most of all bailiffs! I estimate i will be out of work for another 12 month's, Once i am back working i expect to be able to pay off the existing debt relativity quickly. But until then i am stuck.

I will have a look at the link to the library you provided for the templates now, Thank's again its very much appreciated.

First of all, don't worry about bailiffs. A creditor has to take court action before any of that becomes a reality.

Stepchange would have been the one I would have recommended too. I would think of it this way. Is four defaults any worse than two? The answer is no. Just one default is enough to screw your credit history for 6 years so by adding in the credit cards as well will make no difference and will give you the opportunity to take back control of your finances.

By writing to each creditor and asking them to stop the charges and to freeze the interest is to your benefit and they get paid all the quicker. Whilst you are paying regularly, the chance of court action ebbs away. So long as you keep up the payments as agreed which will likely be reviewed every six months, nothing will be gained by them taking court action however, if you own your own home, they may try to get a charging order placed against it. Again this isn't the worst thing to happen as you can still keep up payments until the debts are clear and the charging order falls away.

Opening a new account isn't a bad idea, especially if the credit cards are provided by your current bank as they may just take their payments from your account to pay the bills. This is known to have happened in he past

Hi how do I start my own thread, regards to a problem am having with little woods? Thanks in advance

go to consumer forums]: mail order catalogues]: click on blue box saying start new thread near to top of page on l/h side

go to consumer forums]: mail order catalogues]: click on blue box saying start new thread near to top of page on l/h side

Thanks I will try that.