Hi All My wife is expecting and will be going on mat leave in September this year. The loss of her wages means we will be approaching our creditors via the CCCS with a short-term debt management plan. I think I have that side of things under control but I am wondering what to do in the next 4 months whilst the wages are still coming in. Here is a rough profile of our debt: Halifax loan £7k Halifax credit card £3k Barclays o/d £2k Barclaycard £2k Vanquis Card £1500 (high interest) As I will be asking my creditors to suspend fees and interest (fingers crossed) I wondered if there were any that are likely to resist. My thoughts are that the highstreet lenders, Halifax and Barclay's are more likely to play along, whilst Vanquis being a sub-prime lender might play rough. Also as the interest on the Vanquis card is double to tripple to that of the others, common sense would tell me to try and pay that off before the DMP kicks in. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions about this, or any other preparations I should make before defaulting on the above and requesting a DMP? Many thanks in advance. p.s. I am trying to do the opposite of 'burying my head in the sand' by being proactive...

We live in England My wife owns our house, but all the debts are in my name. Not sure how that affects things. We do have about £60k equity in the house, but as it's a joint ownership, it's impossible to remortage to release the equity unless you buy more of the property share. We can't really downgrade as there's not much cheaper in our area compared to our part own deal. My wife earns £30k so when she returns to work, the problem will almost be solved, apart from the £1000 p/m nursery bill we will then face. I have spoke to the CCCs about a DMP which sounds fairly promising.

Hi All Here is my predicament. We are expecting another baby in Sept and my wife will go on mat leave for approx 6 months. She is the main earner in the household so we are going to lose approx £1200 per month. Est income will be £2000 Est outgoings will be £2600 Outgoings include £900 of loans, credits cards and other finance. If I could 1/2 the payments I am making to these lenders in the short-term (6-12 months) and make a few cutbacks elsewhere, I think I could make the books balance. Finance includes the following: Private loan £20k @ £280 p/m Personal loan of £8k @ £230 p/m (halifax) 3x credit cards of £6k @ £140 p/m (halifax, barclaycard, vanquis) DFS @ £70 p/m Solicitor @ £100 p/m What I plan to do is write to all these creditors with an offer: Are they likely to listen and help? Is there any chance they might freeze interest? Would DFS try to reposes the sofa? Any other advice? I know this is going to affect my credit rating and quite frankly I would be glad of it. Finance people throw credit at me and I am not responsible enough (see above). The alternative is IVA or BR but I think as it's a short-term problem and we are homeowners, I should avoid that. I would be extremely grateful for any advice. Thanks Ryan

Hi all I realise this is a small matter, but I wanted to seek some advice before proceeding. I took my Peugeot 306 to a garage and told them that the steering was stiff when turning left only, turning right was fine. The garage diagnosed the fault as being the power steering pump and quoted me "£150 + 1hr labour". I expressed concern that the fault wasn't the power steering pump as the steering worked ok to the right. The garage insisted this was the fault and I agreed to let them carry out the work. The car was fixed and returned to me. I have now been billed £277 (£145 part + 2hr labor + fluid +VAT). The bill sent to me says "fit power steering pump and free up jammed universal joint". I think the problem was in fact the UJ, which would have needed cleaning with WD40 and I don't think the pump was faulty. I also think the quote of "£150 + 1hr labour" was slightly misleading. Can anyone give me some advice on how to proceed. I have asked for the old pump back but the garage won't confirm or deny if they still have it.

Hi I am due in court soon for the second hearing to have my CCJ set-aside (1st hearing was adjourned). I need some advise please. Here is the info. The debt is statute barred yet Cabot (Morgan Solicitors) were awarded a CCJ when they went to court a year or more ago. I was not made aware of the CCJ hearing at that time. The first I knew about it was when Cabot got a charging order on my house. I read some advice here and decided to request that the CCJ be set-aside so that I could properly defend my case (debt was statute barred). My grounds for setting aside the CCJ were that I was not notified of the court case and that if I had been I would have used the statute barred defence. I received a court date and a pack from Morgan Solicitors. They claimed that the debt was not statute barred as a payment was made on xx.xx.xx I don't believe a payment was made and after reading much about Cabot question the validity of this claim. The payment details they sent me were nothing more than an excel/word style print out with a date and amount. No other payment information or evidence of a payment were given. I have been to court once already and the case was adjourned on the grounds that I needed more time to get bank statements to show I hadn't made a payment. I have now received this statements which clearly show no such payment. This is from the bank account that was used when payments were being made prior to default. As far as I know I wouldn't have made a payment by any other means (as I didn't have any). The judge said that if I produced the bank statements showing payment wasn't made he would consider setting aside the judgement (Morgan were not impressed!) The solicitor from Morgan said she was obligated to provide me with some legal guidance as I was not represented. This is what she said: i. even if i could provide evidence, morgan would simply go for another CCJ. This would incur further legal fees (the figure she gave was £10,000) ii. that I would then have 2 ccjs on my credit file iii. the adjourned case would incur more costs but if i dropped the case, morgan would consider waving some costs. So, I guess what I want to know is if it's worth carrying on fighting or getting on the phone to Cabot to sort things out. 1. can pushing this any further really incur these sorts of costs? they far outweigh the debt! 2. if i deal with cabot and they offer to settle the debt in full a reduced amount, can they then still chase me for the rest (it's my understanding that they can and will) Thanks in advance. While I wait for a reply, I will carry on reading about everyone else's dealings with cabot to see if i can learn anything from this.

Hi all What a great forum! So much help and advice. Thanks! I've recently been served with an interim charging order and been notified of the application for a final charging order. From what I have read, there is little use trying to stop this as the order will most likely be granted regardless. The alleged debt dates back to 2000 (last payment was made/debt last acknowledged). My understanding is that the alleged debt would have been statute barred in 2006. Unbeknownst to me a CCJ was granted in 2007 (Norwich CC). At the very least this would have been 7 years after the last payment. The first I heard of the CCJ was when I received this communication. I have since checked my credit file and it does in fact exist (the only black mark against me, being why I'd never needed to check it before). My understanding is that I should first apply for the CCJ to be set-aside on the grounds that I was never notified of the CCJ (I had not moved house or any other reason I would not have received the paperwork) and that had I been notified I would have entered a defence that the debt was statute barred. I am in the process of completing the forms (n244) and will soon submit them. I just wanted to say thanks for all the information and perhaps check that I am doing the correct things at this stage. Should I enter into any communication with Cabot/Morgan Solicitors or the Courts? Many thanks.. Louise