Court Action – County Court Judgements

On Tuesday I blogged about Default Notices, todays blog will follow on from that to go through the different types of court action your creditors could then take if you do not acknowledge the notice.Under the Consumer Credit Act 2006, before a creditor can pursue any kind of legal action they must issue you a default notice. Once the default notice has been issued the creditor can then seek further legal action against you.The first thing they would look to do is issue you with a County Court Judgement or CCJ. A CCJ is where the creditor or claimant attempts to reclaim the money that is owed to them by going through the County Courts. The first stage of the process is a County Court Claim form or a N1, once you receive this you must act very...

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Posted in: Action,County,Court,Judgements

Holiday on a Budget

If you are in debt holidays may be something you can only dream of. It’s not surprising, as research by insurers Churchill reveals that the average family of four will spend £4,792 on a two week break!But this isn’t to say that you cannot take a holiday because you are in debt, it just means that you have to budget. So here are a few tips on how you could budget this holiday season:If you have children going at the end of summer is generally cheaper. If you don’t have children it is definitely cheaper to go during term time.Always go self-catering, whether you are going abroad of staying in the UK, it will be cheaper to book a hotel room and eat out or buy your own food.Set yourself a spend limit for each day and stick to it! Remember to factor...

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Posted in: budget,holiday

Bankruptcy

Hello and welcome to my latest blog. For today’s instalment I am going to be talking about bankruptcy. I want to continue on with the journey of making everyone savvy with all issues relating to debt and getting out of it.Bankruptcy is usually thought of as the last resort in solving financial problems. From my past experience, whenever the word is mentioned people get instantly scared and go into a bit of a panic.In the past Bankruptcy has always carried a stigma with it, it has always been thought of as a big no no, or not something that should be done easily. However over recent years, with more and more people experiencing problems with debt, it has become more acceptable for someone to become bankrupt.In a nutshell you would either register...

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Posted in: Bankruptcy

Debt Relief Orders

When people think of ways to resolve their debt problems there are a few options that always come to mind: Debt Management Plan, Individual Voluntary Arrangement or Bankruptcy. However there is another possible solution available, a Debt Relief Order.A Debt Relief Order (or DRO) is sometimes referred to as BankruptcyLite. It is very similar to bankruptcy except it doesn’t hold as much stigma and it costs a lot less to do. A Debt Relief Order can only be authorized by a qualified intermediary, Payplan are one of few that can do this.To answer that simply, no.  In order to qualify for a Debt Relief Order you must owe less than £15,000, you must have assets worth less than £300 and you must have a monthly surplus less than £50.You cannot...

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Posted in: Orders,Relief

What Is A Debt Management Plan?

Good afternoon bloggers. Now you know who I am, I want to share with you what I do and all that I know. I want to start with the basics so today I will be sharing with you what a Debt Management Plan is.A Debt Management Plan or DMP, as you may know it, is an informal agreement between you and all of your unsecured creditors, you can think of it as kind of a gentlemans agreement. The agreement will last until all of the money that you owe has been repaid to your creditors. A DMP isn’t legally binding therefore your creditors can still apply interest and charges and they can also pursue legal action against you. The way a DMP works is that you will tell them what you earn, what you spend and what is left over at the end of the month, you will...

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Posted in: Management

Debt Consolidation Launch

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our brand new website http://www.debtconsolidation.org.uk/. The site provides all of the help and information that you should need.Follow the link and have a look around the site, and please send me your feedback and tell me what you think.If you are struggling with debts then please call Payplan on 0800 2802816.Don’t forget you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.Written by davemac on February 11th, 2011 Filed Under  Debt News   |  Trackback  |   1 Comment daniel says If you are really struggling with debt and do not want to go bankrupt debt consolidation is another way out. there are some new government schemes out to help you with debt too so you...

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Posted in: Consolidation,Launch

Low base rate may not help homeowners struggling to pay mortgage increases says Payplan.

Payplan, a leading provider of free debt advice, has today welcomed the Bank of England’s decision to leave the base rate at 0.5% – but say it may not help homeowners already struggling to pay mortgage increases.Jason Eaves, a Director at Payplan, said:“Whilst the base rate has remained unchanged we have already seen a number of mortgage lenders increase their SVR (standard variable rate), and the Euro crisis could push the cost of mortgage borrowing even higher.“Many households have faced a sustained squeezing of their incomes in the last few years while prices have continued to rise. Now an increase in their mortgage payment could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”The group who will feel the economic pinch the most are the 800,000 mortgage customers who have struggled to meet their...

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Posted in: homeowners,increases,mortgage,Payplan,struggling

Court Action – Attachment of Earnings

Following on from my other blogs about Default Notices and CCJ’s I am now going to talk about one of the next steps if you do not keep up with the repayments under the CCJ – Attachment of Earnings.An Attachment of Earnings (or AOE) is where your creditor applies through the court to be paid directly from your wages in order to guarantee their money. If the AOE is granted then your employer will be notified and each time you are paid, a percentage is given straight to the creditor and you will get the remaining amount.Sometimes your employer may charge you £1 in admin fees for the extra administration they put into paying you, and they are within their rights to do so.As already mentioned, if an AOE is granted then your employer pays a certain...

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Posted in: Action,Attachment,Court,Earnings

Dealing With Debt and Divorce

In spite of all the good intentions you might once have had, sometimes two people in a married relationship simply have to accept that it’s the best for both parties if the relationship is ended and the marriage dissolved.A marriage (or civil partnership) is a legal joining of two people, and therefore if the two parties decide to legally seperate then they must apply to the court to do so.  This process is known as divorce, and while the divorce process is much simpler than it was many years ago it can still cause complications, particularly if the split isn’t amicably approached by one or both of the parties concerned.You should think carefully before proceeding with a divorce.  As well as the emotional upheaval that is felt before, during and after such a split, many people find...

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Posted in: Dealing,Divorce

Payplan is free and proud to be.

Today the BBC has announced that due to Government funding cuts hundreds of Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) debt advisors have stopped taking on new cases meaning that there will soon be a shortage of free debt advice.This announcement comes after the Government cut its funding to 500 CAB’s at a time of economic uncertainty, escalating debt and an increase in unemployment and redundancies.Although there will still be free debt advice for people in need, it is certain that there will be a great loss when the help of Citizens Advice Bureaux is gone.Payplan offer completely free debt advice and completely free debt management plans. We are one of the very few companies that do this and we are also one of the biggest.We have been helping people since...

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Posted in: Payplan,proud

Court Action – Charging Orders

Following on from my other blogs, another option for your creditors after a CCJ is to apply a Charging Order against your property.A Charging Order is where an unsecured creditor secures the amount owing to them on your property. This is done through the courts, just like with a CCJ.Anyone who owns a property with unsecured debts who has previously defaulted on payments and had at least a CCJ issued against them. The property doesn’t have to be in your sole name, creditors can make a sole debt secured against a jointly owned property.What happens with a Charging Order application?After you break the terms of the CCJ your creditor will apply to the courts to turn the unsecured debt into a secured debt against the debtor’s property. Once the...

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Posted in: Action,Charging,Court,Orders

What is a Logbook Loan?

Log book loans are a growing trend, with the number of people taking them out increasing by 40% between 2006 and 2009**. With more of these types of loans appearing it is important to understand exactly what they are.Log book loans, unlike a normal loan, come under the Bills of Sales Act which was created in 1878. The Act enables a loan to be secured against an item of goods which can be seized and sold if the borrower defaults. The borrower can then be chased for any shortfall when the item is sold. All of this can be done without the need for a court order.These days, as the name suggests, logbook loans mean borrowing money using a vehicle as collateral.Similar to payday loans, log book loans have high interest rates with one major lender...

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Posted in: Logbook

Default Notices

People often get very worried if they receive a default notice through the door. Today I want to go through what they are and what you need to do so hopefully you needn’t worry in the future.A default notice is an official notification from a creditor or lender to inform you that you are in arrears with payments. The default notice will have your full name and address as well as the full name and address of the creditor. It will also have the original credit agreement outline with details of how you have broken it, a settlement figure, what you need to do to solve the problem and what will happen if you don’t.Once you receive the notice you need to act as quickly as possible. A default notice is usually a warning so it is always best to take...

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Posted in: Default,Notices

A day in the life of an IVA case officer.

By Richard HealeyExactly one year ago I would wake up, don my tracksuit bottoms and trainers and spend most of my days shouting at people, who in return would pay me for this pleasure. I worked hard to make a living with the dream of moving to Spain and being able to do this on the beach in the sun every day – it was just another day in the life of a personal trainer.The move from personal trainer to IVA case officer for the self-employed wasn’t a natural transition; however, as I walked in on my first day nine months ago I found out you need a lot of the same traits. I soon found the ability to work proactively and efficiently whilst remembering the slightest piece of information was vitally important – and that was just on the coffee run for my new team!My first day as a case officer assistant...

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Posted in: officer

What is a Individual Voluntary Arrangement?

I sat down to write this weeks IVA blog and after a while it became clear that it is impossible to give you detailed information on them in one blog without it being far too long. I therefore decided to turn this week into an IVA themed week. Every day I will be posting a new blog about IVA’s so by Friday you will have all of the information that you should need. At the end of the week I am hoping to do a question and answer session, so any questions that you have please send them in.Remember we are on Facebook, where there will be an on going discussion throughout the week so you can join in at anytime. You can also follow us on Twitter and send questions to me that way.I thought a good place to start today would be with an introduction and...

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Posted in: Arrangement,Individual,Voluntary

Payplan on Rip Off Britain

Did you all see Rip Off Britain on BBC1 last night?Payplan received a mention from Money Advisor Refat Nazdhar, who described us as one of the reputable free debt advice companies.You can view the programme if you missed it by clicking here. Our mention is about 12 minutes in.If you have any questions and would like free debt advice then please call us on 0800 2802816Don’t forget you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.Written by davemac on February 10th, 2011 Filed Under  Debt News   |  Trackback  |   2 Comments Terry Christie says Rip Off Britain is The Consumer Affairs Programme on BBC-1 is The Great Wonderful Show since 2009 with the famous presenters Angela Rippon,Gloria Hunniford &...

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Posted in: Britain,Payplan

IVA’s Explained Blog 2

Welcome to day two of my week long series of IVA blogs. Yesterday’s first instalment hopefully explained all of the basics of an IVA and gave you a general overview of what it is. On today’s blog I am going to focus on your assets; what is an asset and how the IVA will impact them. I also want to go through what happens to your mortgage property in the IVA.It is important to remember that with an IVA all of your assets must be disclosed, once your IVA is approved you are legally bond to notify us of them all, and if you fail to do so it is seen as a legal offense and can have serious consequences.To break it down and make it easier to take in, I have broken down each asset that would need to be considered in the IVA.House If you own the property...

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Posted in: Explained

IVA’s Explained Blog 5

Good afternoon and welcome to the fifth and final instalment of this weeks IVA themed blogs. On Monday in the first blog I talked about what an IVA is, how it works, how it is set up and the creditors meeting. In blog two on Tuesday I talked about assets, your home, your mortgage and re-mortgaging. On Wednesday for the third blog I talked about your debts and what type of creditors each debt is classed as. And then yesterday for the fourth blog I talked about your income, how we calculate it, what income is used, additional income and benefits.For this last blog of the week I wanted to talk a little about what happens once your IVA has finished. In your initial IVA proposals we would put forward that you make 60 payments over 5 years. As mentioned...

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Posted in: Explained

Bailiffs – who are they?

Following on from my previous blogs about Court Action with CCJ’s if you do not comply with the terms and keep up the payments then your creditor could seek to get a bailiff to recover goods from your home in order to sell and use to pay back what you owe them. From my past experience, working closely with clients, there is a lot of misunderstandings about them and what they can and can’t do.A bailiff is someone who is employed by the courts to take your possessions in order to sell them and give the money to your creditor to pay back the debt that you owe them. The court would only send the bailiff if you fail to maintain payments towards your CCJ.There are four types on bailiffs:-Private Bailiff self employed or employed by a private firm....

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Posted in: Bailiffs

Planning a wedding on a budget.

By Rebecca Sowter-CrollAfter recently getting married I know too well that weddings can cost a fortune and the budget can soon spiral out of control. You only have to look in some bridal magazines to see they average the cost of a UK wedding to be over £20,000. I know it is one of the most important and memorable days of your life but when you think you could use those funds to put a deposit on a house it puts things in to perspective.It was a situation I was in, wanting to have a wonderful day but also having enough left for a deposit on a house.Even though I was very grateful to my in-laws for allowing me and my fiancé to live with them so we could save for a deposit on our house, it was time to move out. We were lucky in that our family...

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Posted in: budget,Planning,wedding

Story of the Week

All week you get to read my blogs about debt, what to do or not to do or what your options are. Today, and hopefully everything Friday, I want to share some of our client’s stories to give you all a chance to read about the people we have helped in the past and still continue to do now.So here is this week’s story.I find myself in this current financial position due to different reasons. They are my husband being made redundant twice this year. Firstly in January when he had to start claiming Income Support then after looking hard for work he started to work full time for a company on a lot less money than he previously earned. He was made redundant again but this company continued to help us with giving my husband casual work. We thought...

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Posted in: Story