Hi there. I'm currently in debt with several companies, including NatWest, Capital One, and Tesco Bank. NatWest is my biggest creditor and I also have a mortgage with them. I've been doing my own debt management plan for about 5 years so far and am currently paying £1 a month on all of my debts due to a drop in income (I'm currently a part-time student and do freelance work so my income varies). Some of them have been passed to debt collection agencies, including the NatWest debts. I'm (finally now the market is good) selling my property so I can wipe the slate clean and start again. I'm going to need some of the money from the sale to put a deposit on somewhere else to live so I won't have the full value of the debts. Having spoken to NatWest, they seemed to imply they could try to force me to use the full amount from the sale to clear my debts (which would leave me with nowhere to live). They also told me I should negotiate a settlement directly with them, even though the debt collection agents have told me I should negotiate with them. What I'd like to know is: Do I make my offer of a settlement to my creditors or the debt collectors? Can my creditors force me to use the full amount from the sale on my debts, or am I entitled to use it to put down on a new home? Is there a post/guide with advice on the best approach to take when making an offer for settlement? Am I right in my understanding that I should get somebody else to actually make the settlement payment in order to protect myself from any further action?

Apologies if this has already been posted but spotted this via the Lovemoney email: http://www.lovemoney.com/blogs/debt/debt/17461/new-laws-mean-credit-card-debt-can-affect-your-mortgage?source=1000550 Does anyone have any comments/useful advice to add on how to avoid this scenario as it will clearly have a negative impact on quite a number of people here...

Hi all. It's my first time to post a thread and I am hoping that you can help me out with my problem. In January 2008, I took out a £3361 loan from Welcome finance, that included the fess and interests. And in June 2008, I lost my job and I was unable to pay the repayments. Recently, I checked my experian report and the balance now is £8500 and it is still not in default. All I can see are the red 6666666666666 from 2008. I know that when a credit agreement is defaulted or settled, it will drop off from the credit file after 6 years. But now I'm confused because my loan wasn't settled or defaulted so I'm confused when will it come off from my file. Also, last year CRA contacted me about this loan for a balance of £4500. So I'm thinking, if it has been sold to a third party, it should have been in default and welcome finance shouldn't be updating my credit file every month for another red 6 as they don't own the debt anymore. Am I right or am I wrong? I'm totally confused