If you never work again and can only pay a tiny amount I promise you they will let it roll on for as long as you need it to. I had the interest frozen and the payments reduced for 2 years. My husband has done the same with his debts over the past three years and a friend of mine has been doing it for 10 years! They give you a lot of grief but you need to remember that for them to take you to court they have to be confident they can get more out of you. If a judge determines you have made a fair offer of payment he will come down very hard on the creditor. They simply won't take you to court. Anyway, all the best with what you decide - its nice not owing anything but anything that involves a credit check - renting/changing car insurance/etc is all a big deal for me now. Make sure whoever you talk to is fully informed of all your options. I wish you luck

Hi Welshcake - welcome to freedom. I was discharged in Dec and remember only too well the whole sorry affair. It took ages for it to sink in that I was actually debt free. For months when the phone rang I still jumped but now I am really beginning to enjoy that sense of freedom and you will too, congratulations!

ooo apologies for the way that all came out - hope you can pick through it

Hi Boome - thought this may be useful to you...right, I'll stop going on now! Your name Address Postcode Date Name of creditor Department Credit Company Name Address Postcode Dear Sir/Madam Re: Account No: Further to our recent correspondence regarding my account balance I am writing to all of my creditors requesting the option of a new payment plan. Due to currently being unemployed my income has become reduced as I am living on benefits until I can get back in to work. I have every intention of honouring this credit agreement and am hoping that an arrangement can be made until I can find work. After assessing my finances I would be able to maintain monthly payments of (insert monetary amount). I am asking that you also consider freezing the interest on my account. I think that six months would be a reasonable amount of time for my current financial situation to be rectified. I enclose a copy of my income and expenditure for you to look at. Please do not hesitate to contact me either by letter or telephone at your convenience. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this matter. Yours faithfully Your name Sample Letter A TO BE USED WHEN A CREDITOR REFUSES YOUR OFFER OF PAYMENT Your Home Address Date: To: Dear Sir/Madam Re: Account/Reference Number: Thank you for your letter/telephone call of………., concerning the above account. I am sorry that you feel unable to accept the offer which I have made. The majority of my other creditors have accepted the offers made to them and I have commenced payments. I cannot offer you more because I can only afford £…………. per month between all my other creditors, and it would be wrong to cease or reduce payments to my other creditors in favour of your company. The offer made to you is on a pro rata basis, as used by the county court. In the light of the other creditors agreeing to my repayment plan, please would you reconsider my offer. I will be making the payments in line with the offer to your company, on a monthly basis, as a gesture of goodwill. (Optional - add details of your circumstances and financial situation) I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Yours faithfully (Your signature) Sample Letter B TO BE USED WHEN A CREDITOR REFUSES TO FREEZE INTEREST ON YOUR ACCOUNT Your Home Address Date: To: Dear Sir/Madam Re: Account/Reference Number Thank you for your letter/telephone call of _________ concerning the above account. I am sorry that you feel unable to suspend interest charges on the above account. The majority of my other creditors have agreed to the offer of payment and agreed to suspend any interest charges still accruing. They have accepted that to continue to charge interest would not assist me in my present financial difficulties, and can only serve to increase our total debt. As you are aware, I have already paid considerable sums in interest to my account. If interest charges continue, the monthly installments I am paying will not even cover that interest. Also the co-operation of my other creditors who have agreed to freeze interest already would be put at risk. (Optional - add details of your circumstances and financial situation) I would therefore be grateful if you would reconsider your decision not to freeze the interest. This would mean that the monthly payments I make would actually reduce the balance outstanding to your company. I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Yours faithfully Your signature I have no doubt they will accept your offer if they can see its backed up by your income and expenditure. Let us know how you get on

I had a Halifax bank account and a Halifax CC debt and they took money from my bank account to cover the CC arrears - was a huge amount of money to come out in one go - I got it back but it was a right old battle. Palomino is giving sound advice about opening another bank account - I'd recommend the co-op because when I went bankrupt they were the only bank who would let me have a bank account - so if you were to go down that route you'd be ahead of the game there. In answer to your second question if you own goods that could pay your debts the likelihood is that they will take them. You can petition to keep stuff but ultimately if it will be a way of offering your creditors something they will take it. I had a car and because at the time I wasn't working they took that. I literally had nothing else to give - oh a premium bond went as well. If your illness meant you had to keep something eg - the car to get you to and from the doctors - they would take it into consideration but would likely say get the bus. Bankruptcy really is not the easy option which is why I say try and come to an arrangement with them first

Thanks loopinlouie you are probably right - sorry if I've unnerved anyone! Certainly not selling anything just hate seeing people feel their only option is bankruptcy - was just explaining in the message that before yo even start to consider it as an option there are many, many things you can do and looking at Boome's first post it doesn't look like they have tried to come to an arrangement. Eg suspending interest and paying a token amount - which legally they have to accept. It doesn't even look like these debts are with DCAs yet? The people who call you do not care about you or your circumstances they care about hitting their team targets. The number of times I was broken to tears after calls from these bullies. Legally you have rights and can and should exhaust all other routes before you think of going bankrupt. I admit its a wonderful feeling being debt free but I can't get a mortgage without putting down at least a 50% deposit and had I owned a home or anything very much at all actually I would have lost it. Ultimately once you are back working or if you ever come in to any money to clear these debts you can offer extremely reduced settlement figures but until then you can carry on paying as little as you like a month. Apologies for private message - am new to this Good luck Boome

Boome - you really do not need to go bankrupt - I have sent you a private message. I declared bankruptcy last year and have subsequently discovered I needn't have. I know how stressful this is but don't let them scare you - you have more power than you realise and can come to several arrangements with crediors and it will not need to go to court. They CANNOT send anyone round to seize your goods or send anyone round to even talk to you without you agreeing to their visit. If they do its trespass and trust me they won't do it. If you pay them something even a token payment they will accept and they will freeze the interest. You are way off needing to declare bankruptcy. I am so angry at the bullying tactics employed by these companies and honestly want everyone to know whats going on and how you can fight back but most importantly realise that its actually you holding nearly all the cards (excuse the pun) and not them and you really have no need to feel stressed. I know its hard to believe now but i've been through it and trust me if I knew now what I'd known then I'd have taken them to the cleaners. Good luck