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 quickly as you only have 14 days to respond to the form.

There are three options to deal with a Claim Form:

You can deny the debt. You can counterclaim against the creditor. Or you can admit the debt.

If you admit the debt, you must fill out your income and expenditure on the N1 as well as detailing who else you owe money to and you offer of payment, and send this to the creditor or their agent, as detailed on the claim form

If you are already in a plan with Payplan and the debt is on the plan, you can sign and send the N1 to us and we will do everything for you.  (If you are denying or counterclaiming the debt, then Payplan is not able to help and you should seek advice from your local CAB or a solicitor.)

If you ignore the N1 or miss the deadline the creditor can then ask the courts for a Judgment by Default which means they can ask you for the full amount outstanding plus court costs.

Once you have sent the N1 form back to the creditor or their agent, they will then decide on what action to take. If the offer is accepted then you will be sent a CCJ detailing how, when and where to make your payments. This form will be called Judgement Acceptance N30 (1).

If you returned the N1 form in time, but the creditor objected to your offer of payment, you will receive a Judgment after Determination.  If this is more than you can afford then you can apply for a Redetermination, this is free to do and you must apply for this within 16 days of judgement. To apply for redetermination you can either write a letter direct to the court or you can submit an Application Notice N244. If this is accepted then you will receive a General Judgment detailing how and when to make your payments.

If you failed to send back the N1 form or missed the deadline then the court will make a judgement on the offer of repayment and will issue the CCJ without you. The offer of payment may be more than you can afford which is why it is so important to send your form back as soon as possible. This form will be called Judgement in Default N30.

If your circumstances change and you find you can no longer afford the payments you should then apply for a Variation Order N245. This costs £35.00 to do and you will offer your creditor reduced instalments.  If you are in receipt of certain income-based benefits, you may be able to get this form processed for free.

If you stop making payments or do not keep up with the agreed payment then your creditors could seek further action in the form of

Bailiffs

Bankruptcy

Attachment of Earnings

Charging Order

If you have any questions at all about CCJ’s or need help with your debts then please call us. 0800 2802816

Don’t forget you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Written by davemac on January 27th, 2011

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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 in meals, drinks and excursions.Go camping – it is cheaper than a hotel and more fun for the kids. Make it even cheaper by taking your own tent.If you’re flying, make sure that you stick to your luggage weight limit as going over can be an extremely costly mistake.You don’t need to buy gifts for people when you’re on holiday.Shop around online for the best holiday deals and don’t be afraid to leave it until the last minute.You don’t need to go abroad to have a good holiday, staying in the UK is not only cheaper, but far less hassle.

What are your holiday budget tips? Share them in the comment box below.

And remember that if you are struggling with debt repayments please call us on 0800 2945205 or fill in our online referral form and we will call you back.

Written by Gemma on May 23rd, 2012

Filed Under  Budgeting   |  Trackback  |   2 Comments

Stuart Rimmer says

People can use tokens from newspapers for cheap holidays. They offer a large range of destinations especially for caravan holidays and camping.

philip Burdekin says

Some great deals at the last minute too from Haven and Butlins.

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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 for bankruptcy yourself or one of your creditors would petition for bankruptcy in order for them to attempt to get the money that is owed to them. You would usually have greater debts than you do assets meaning that you are insolvent. When you are made bankrupt you will be relieved of all of your unsecured debts.

The bankruptcy will usually last for one year, however you could be required to pay an Income Payment Order or IPO which could last for three years and this is where you pay your surplus income into the bankruptcy to pay something to your creditors. At the end of the term your debts become ‘discharged’ meaning that the balance will be cleared and you will no longer be liable for paying anything to the creditors. For the duration of the bankruptcy you will be assigned an Official Receiver or (OR) who will be in charge of your case and will oversee everything. One of the important roles of the OR will be to protect any assets that you may have such as a car, house or motorhome. They will also be asked to investigate your debts, how and why the money was spent and what else has been done with the funds.

All assets are at risk when going bankrupt such as your house, car, motorhome or any household possession. Your creditors would seek anything that they deem to be of excessive value. However your creditors cannot ask you to sell any equipment that is needed for work purposes or household items such as clothing, bedding, furniture that is needed by the family.

The bankruptcy order will remain on your credit reference file for six years, after that you will have a ‘fresh start’. However the bankruptcy could have certain restrictions relating to the job you can do, or what credit you can take out in future.

Bankruptcy doesn’t have to be all bad, look at this list of people who were made bankrupt and have gone on to do bigger and better things and learned from their mistakes is the past.

Donald Trump

Walt Disney

Elton John

Simon Cowell

Peter Jones

For further information on Bankruptcy click here and follow the links.

Hopefully this has helped clear up bankruptcy for you a little. If you do have any queries about anything you can always ask and remember our helpline number is 0800 2802816.

Don’t forget you can find me on Twitter and Facebook

Written by davemac on January 18th, 2011

Filed Under  debt advice, debt help, Debt News, Payplan   |  Trackback  |   2 Comments

Andrew Smith (@Andrew_F_Smith) says

I am really interested in a couple of things revealed by the latest bankruptcy statistics. First that around a third of all bankrupts are now subject to an Income Payments Order or Agreement (usually an “agreement” I guess) and second that the number of people being pushed into bankruptcy, whilst still a small minority, is going up.

I blogged about this, here: http://www.cleardebt.co.uk/blog/q3-2011-insolvency-figures-is-bankruptcy-still-an-easy-option_42132

Stuart says

It might also be worth pointing out that the risk of being stigmatised by bankruptcy is now much reduced by it not being advertised in the local press anymore.

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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 apply for a Debt Relief Order if you are an un-discharged Bankrupt, have an Interim Order, or have a Bankruptcy or Debt Relief restriction order.

The first thing that you would do is obtain a copy of your credit report, check that they are all listed and add any that aren’t on to a list of your creditors and confirm how much you owe, you would then send that into us here you would then complete an income and expenditure form. Once this has been completed then you would need to go to the Post Office and pay the £90 for the initial application for the Debt Relief Order. Once this has all been done then your DRO application will go through and you will enter into what is called a moratorium period will last 12 months. During the 12 months you will be assigned an official receiver who will be asked to investigate your situation, your debts and your assets to make sure everything is correct and as it should be.

At the end of 12 months as long as everything is ok, then you will be released from your debts.

During the 12 month moratorium period your creditors can still add interest and charges onto your accounts. At Payplan we advise that you do not notify your creditors about the Debt Relief Order. All payments towards the debts listed should cease during the 12 month the moratorium is in place.  This means that your creditors cannot take legal action against you (unless under exceptional circumstances) and will no longer chase you for payments as long as the order is completed successfully.

If your situation changes during the moratorium period then the official receiver would need to be notified and it would be your responsibility to do this. They would review your situation to see if the Debt Relief Order is still possible.

The Debt Relief Order will stay on your credit report for six years from the beginning of the process, the same as Bankruptcy, IVA and Default Notices.

For more information click here.

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 15th, 2011

Filed Under  debt advice, debt help, Debt News, Payplan   |  Trackback  |   4 Comments

Michael Anderson says

Exceedingly good many thanks, I’m sure your trusty followers would most likely want more stories like that maintain the great work.

Gemma says

Yes, we love reading the stories of our clients, they are really inspiring and they really do help others to see that they aren’t alone.

Gabriel Cole says

Particularly helpful cheers, I do think your current followers may want more posts such as this maintain the great effort.

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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 then show them what you can afford to pay them, and this is called a financial statement.

At the start of the arrangement all or your creditors will receive your financial statement which will show the offer you are making to your creditors. They can either accept this offer or not. If a creditor rejects the offer, payments will still be made to them regardless.

Once in your DMP you will send your payments in each month and this is then distributed equally amongst your creditors. By doing this, the hassle is taken away from you so all you need is to make one payment.

A DMP will last for however long it takes for you to pay your debts in full. At the start of the plan all creditors will be asked to freeze interest and charges but this cannot be guaranteed and even if they do agree to it, they could change their minds at any time; because of this a time plan cannot be made.

You will be assigned a Case Officer; this person will act as the middle man between you and your creditors. They will look after you during your plan, they will speak to all of your creditors for you and they will deal with all of the correspondence from them, so you don’t have to. You will send your payments into us each month and 100% of this will go directly to you creditors, this is because we are a free service and we do not take any fees or charges.

At the beginning of your plan we will ask each of your creditors to freeze interest and charges, whilst we cannot guaranteed that we would be successful, we have a very good relationship with creditors. The main for reason for this is because we do not take any fees ourselves so they know that they are getting all the money from you that you can afford.

Once your plan is up and running you will have constant support from your Case Officer until your debts are cleared.

We have several different departments dealing with specific area’s that can also assist you whilst in your plan. One of these being our Legal Document Handling, they help deal with any legal action that is brought against you. There are also people dedicated to helping with mortgage arrears also.

Remember Payplan offer free DMP’s. All of the money that you pay in goes to your creditors. We do not work for the creditors. We work to get you out of debt and pay your creditors back.

A lot of questions that come to us are about the surplus, people say that if they have money left over they wouldn’t need help. To calculate your surplus we calculate your basic income, so your basics wages after tax, National Insurance and any other deductions, we then calculate what you spend each month, so your mortgage or rent, utility bills, food, travel and any other costs. This will then leave you with a surplus amount; this is what is offered to the creditors and what you would pay into you DMP.

What you need to remember is that you will no longer have your creditor payments to make; they will all be included in your plan, unless you have a car on Hire Purchase or a secured loan which will be accounted for in your expenditure.

A creditor pursues legal action? We have a team of people who will deal with all of the paperwork for you. You would just need to send in the claim form and we will do all of the hard work and take the stress away from you.

My situation changes? Throughout your plan we will complete regular reviews to make sure your payments are affordable. If things do change, so will you payment.

Written by davemac on January 4th, 2011

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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 are not alone. I think you have a great site here with lots of valuable information

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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 mortgage commitments and already been provided with some level of mortgage forbearance by their lenders.

He added:

“Prior to the credit crunch, financial deregulation, low interest rates and supreme confidence in the economy, led to a significant expansion of credit.  For many low and middle income earners spending exceeded earnings for the ten years leading up to 2007 and this was fuelled by increased borrowing.

“Whilst there is evidence that some consumers have been using the windfall of super low mortgage rates to repay personal debt, there are many who continue to have significant unsecured debt outstanding.

“At Payplan we have almost 20 years’ experience of helping people with debt problems.  We know some consumers take out new debt just to make payments on existing loans. This may provide some breathing space but is not sustainable.

“Our advice to anyone who is worried about falling into debt is to seek help as soon as possible. Further information is available here on our website or we can be contacted free on 0800 294 5205.”

For further information, or to arrange an interview, please contact Jane Jenkins, PR Manager on 01476 581 279.

Written by Gemma on June 7th, 2012

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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 amount to them each month or week depending on how often you are paid. They will then continue to do this until the debt has been paid in full. At this point you will resume receiving your full wage again.

If you change employer then the AOE will need to be transferred over to your new employer straight away. It is your responsibility to ensure that this happens and it is an offence not to do this.

Once your creditor applies to the court for an AOE you will be sent an N56 form. You must fill out this form and disclose your financial circumstances. This form must be returned within eight days.

If you do not return the form then the County Court bailiffs will serve the form to you. If you still do not return the form then the court will issue a warrant for your arrest and you will be taken to court to explain why you haven’t returned the form.

Sometimes, if you do not return the form to start with, your creditor could go directly to your employer.

An Attachment of Earnings affects some jobs so you always need to check your contract of employment if you receive an N56 form. You can ask for the AOE not to be granted by filling out the N56 form and you would explain the reason for not wanting the AOE is because you would lose your job, and it will then be up to the court to decide what to do. If they decided not to enforce the AOE then you would receive a Suspended Attachment of Earnings and will come to a new agreement with your creditor. If you then fail to make the payments as per the new agreement, the AOE can be set up immediately without any further notification to you.

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 3rd, 2011

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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 that a divorce is a very costly exercise.  Even if you are eligible for Legal Aid, you’re still expected to divide any financial (i.e savings, debts, pensions) and physical assets (i.e., house, car) in a manner that is fair and reasonable.

What Are The Steps To Divorce?

A divorce usually begins when one person decides to formally end the marriage, although in England & Wales you must have been married for more than one year before you’re allowed to apply for divorce.  Someone who initiates the divorce procedure is called the petitioner (because they need to file a petition to the court) and the other person is called the respondent (because they are required to respond to the court during the process).

You need a legal reason to get divorced and the divorce will proceed more smoothly if both parties agree on the reason for the divorce, so it would make sense to discuss this fully between yourselves.  If the respondent were to contest the decision in court this can result in expensive and unnecessary delays that could be avoided had you agreed this from the offset.

The petitioner normally appoints a solicitor to represent them during the divorce.  If there are children involved in the marriage, a formal arrangement to state how the children will be looked after during and after the divorce must be agreed before the petitioner then applies to the court to acknowledge that a divorce has been requested.

After the respondent has formally accepted the petition, the petitioner can then request to the court that a decree nisi is issued.  This is in effect a legal announcement of the intention to divorce.  Six weeks and one day after the degree nisi is issued, the petitioner may apply for a decree absolute, which is the legal order that finally dissolves the marriage. However, if there are complications and disagreements between parties this could take longer.

You may qualify for Legal Aid to assist you during your divorce, although depending on your circumstances you may have to repay this at some point in the future.  If you think you are eligible for legal aid, telephone Community Legal Advice on 0845 345 4345 (calls are not free).

Division Of Assets

When a couple divorce, they are expected to formalise their financial and support arrangements for any children, and then divide the assets that are held by both parties in a responsible and fair way.  As people have many different personal circumstances these days, there are no hard and fast rules employed by courts to assess how the assets of a marriage should be split.

Instead, a couple are encouraged to discuss and agree how assets should be divided between themselves, and the court will generally only become involved if it feels that the division as presented to the courts is significantly unfairly biased towards one person.  You could use a family lawyer or some other professional mediator to help you decide on how to split assets, but obviously if you can agree on a fair split yourselves then this works out much cheaper than if you needed professional help to agree on what assets you will each take from the marriage.

There aren’t any hard and fast rules when it comes to the division of assets, so the court generally hopes that a common sense agreement can be made in most cases.

Bank Accounts

Most married couples these days have a joint account that both use for joint purchases such as weekly groceries and consumables for the home.

Once you’ve both agreed to divorce, it may make sense to change any joint accounts and make other arrangements to deal with such expenses, as both parties are liable for any overdraft on the account.  If the divorce is not amicable, then it’s possible for an irate partner to run up an overdraft in that account with no intention of repaying it.  The other partner would then also be liable for repaying this.

In order to separate any money in any bank accounts, you’d need to discuss who is entitled to what.  Bear in mind who pays into the various accounts, money needed for children’s expenses, and any money that may have come to one person in particular such as inheritance money.

Child Maintenance

Child maintenance is a court-approved regular payment that the child’s main carer is paid by the other parent in order to help maintain the day-to-day care of a child whilst they are in full time education.  Child maintenance is intended to help to provide things like clothing, food, and leisure expenses, and such financial arrangements can also encourage both parents to stay actively connected to their child’s upbringing and development.

Contrary to popular belief, the amount paid as child maintenance is not usually set by a court at a fixed rate for everyone.  In fact you’re encouraged to agree a child support arrangement amicably between yourselves, and such an informal arrangement is commonly known as a ‘family arrangement’.

A child maintenance family arrangement needn’t be a set amount of money that’s paid regularly, an estranged parent may agree to take responsibility for school uniforms, sports equipment, leisure expenses or anything just so long as both parents agree to the arrangement.

If a family arrangement can’t be made, perhaps because the relationship between the parents is particularly bad, then you can still look at making a child maintenance arrangement through the Child Support Agency (CSA)

A Final Word…

This is a guide only.  As everyone’s circumstances are different, we unfortunately can’t cover all aspects of divorce in this guide but we hope we’ve given you some helpful information to get you started.

As a general rule, the more amicable you can proceed through the divorce process, the less it should cost you.  But even so, all divorces will involve some sort of expense and division of assets, so you need to be prepared for at least a temporary loss of income, or increased expenditure, or even a complete change in circumstances.

Written by Gemma on May 16th, 2012

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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 1993 and we help over 100,000 people each year with their debt related problems.

Not only do we offer free debt advice and free debt management plans, but we offer free to client IVA’s, Debt Relief Orders and help with debt related issues such as court action, bailiffs, and bankruptcy.

We have many highly trained debt advisors on hand seven days a week to talk about any debt related issues that you may have so that they are there when you need them.

Don’t forget you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Written by davemac on February 1st, 2011

Filed Under  Debt News   |  Trackback  |   1 Comment

Julie says

Hi

Thats great news.

I was not aware of your services. I have a few debts myself, although nothing out of control, but its nice to know that there are such organisations.

Keep up the good work.

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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 application has been made you will receive notification of this as well as a hearing date.

It is always in your best interest to attend the hearing so that you can plead your case to the judge. When you attend the hearing you will need to take with you the following: income and expenditure breakdown, list of all creditors and anything else that you feel will help your case. If the Charging Order is granted then you will be required to maintain monthly payments to the creditor or risk losing your house.

It is very unlikely that a creditor would want to apply a charge to your property if there is not equity as there would be no gain for them. However if your property is in negative equity then they could still proceed to try and apply a charge. If you have proof that there is no equity in your property then you would provide this at your Charging Order hearing.

If you do not maintain your payments towards your secured loan then your property is at risk of being repossessed.

If you jointly own the property with your partner or someone else, as mentioned earlier the creditor can still apply a charge to the property. If you fail to maintain the payments then your creditor can repossess the property. Once the property has been sold and the outstanding mortgage has been paid then the equity is split 50/50. Your 50% would go towards paying the secured loan and your partner would keep their 50%

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 8th, 2011

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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 offering loans between £500 and £20,000 with an APR of 498% which means that if you borrow £1,500 you will pay a total of £4,388.28 after 78 weekly payments.*

The log book loan industry was thought to be worth an estimated £40 million in 2010**. With the cost of living soaring and people’s incomes unable to keep up there is a chance that this is now higher.

If you are struggling with debt repayments and would like some advice then please call Payplan on 0800 2945205 or fill in our online referral form and we will call you back.

*information taken from http://www.v5loans.co.uk/ on 23rd April 2012

**information taken from BBC1 documentary My Worst Deal aired on 2nd April 2012

Written by Gemma on June 1st, 2012

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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 it very seriously before the creditor takes any further action. You will usually be given seven days to comply with the appropriate action. After seven days the creditor will not necessarily proceed with court action but it is a risk. If you comply with the notice the problem will be resolved and the creditor won’t take any further action.

If you cannot afford the payment that they are proposing you make it is best to contact them and come to a different arrangement.

You won’t need to go to court for the default notice, but as I mentioned above it is often a warning so if you do not make any payments then the creditor could then pursue further action which would involve going to court. For example a CCJ.

Yes a Default Notice will show on your credit report if you don’t pay the creditor within seven days and it will stay on there for six years regardless of whether you subsequently maintain monthly payments so it makes sense to settle the debt as soon as the notice is issued.

Any of your unsecured creditors can issue you a Default Notice.

If you have received a Default Notice and you are not sure what to do or you need help with your debts then please call us on 0800 2802816 our advisors are fully trained and ready to help you.

Don’t forget you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Written by davemac on January 25th, 2011

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A day in the life of an IVA case officer.

By Richard Healey

Exactly 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 went extremely well, and I knew I would fit in well. There was a hardworking, motivated vibe in the office. Everyone I spoke to was friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, but above all else it was obvious I had joined a winning team with a positive attitude.

I really enjoyed my time as a case officer assistant and the three months I was in the role completely changed my mind on the country’s economic climate. I was, and to be honest still am, surprised at the actual number of people needing our help every single day. To date we average 90-100 new clients in our department each week.

I worked as an assistant for three months before training to become a case officer. On reflection my time as an assistant was crucial to my current role. When joining the department I was under the impression a CCJ (County Court Judgement) was a wrestling move and so essentially I was a blank canvas. It gave me a view of the process our clients go through. When my first client was granted an IVA it made me proud of the work we do. Now, nine months on it is something I am getting used to as the vast majority of our clients are granted an IVA, but I still remember the overwhelming sense of achievement from my first client.

As a case officer no two days are the same. This is the aspect of the job that engages me the most. This, coupled with the fact that on a day-to-day basis I still get a buzz from being able to help people and oversee them through a process. It really goes some way to explaining why I enjoy my role so much. One of the roles I undertake every day is assessing each of my new clients as they come into the department. This includes looking at all aspects of the case and familiarising yourself with it. For me, I enjoy working with clients with limited companies. Often looking at their cases is comparable to doing a complex Sudoku puzzle.

Nine months on and I am still learning and adapting to new challenges every day. Every case is different as we deal with buy-to-let properties, limited companies, sole traders and partnership companies.

Just when I thought I had things under control one of my clients turned my day upside down by announcing they had just bought a property in Spain – and the irony of that was not lost on me!

Written by Gemma on May 30th, 2012

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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 a look at the process of an IVA.

An IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement as it is otherwise known is a legally binding agreement between you and your creditors. An IVA usually lasts for five years; however it can be longer depending on any modifications your creditors may put forward at the time of the IVA being approved. To be able to consider an IVA you must be insolvent, meaning that you assets can not be of higher moneytary value than your debt. The main asset that would need to be consider would be your property, if the equity is more than you debt you are solvent, if it is less then your are insolvent and could therefore possibly do an IVA.

There are so many other things to talk about and consider with an IVA so I am going to break it down as best I can.

Simply put an IVA works by you and your creditors legally agreeing to a payment amount and payment term. The payment amount is your surplus after your income and expenditure have been calculated and the payment term will be set at 60 months, but creditors can ask for an extension of 12 months in some circumstances but I will explain this more in a later section. For an IVA to be approved your creditors will be asked to vote of your IVA. In order for the approval more than 75% of the monetary value of your creditors must accept the IVA

Meaning that if you owed £10,000, you owed £3,000 to one creditor, £2,000 to another, £4,000 and £1,000 to another, all of your creditors approved your IVA apart from the last creditor who you owe £1,000 to your IVA would be approved based on 90% of your debt have agreed. Therefore ALL creditors will then be bound by the IVA including the creditor that voted against the IVA.

Once your IVA has been approved, you will be required to send you payments each month for the funds to be distributed to your creditors. You case will be reviews annually to make sure that payments are still affordable or make any changes that are needed.

Similar to a DMP, for an IVA your income and expenditure will be calculated to give you a surplus. The difference for an IVA from a DMP is that you are required to send in proof, firstly of your income and then for items in your expenditure. Usually only your basic salary will be used for the IVA, and the main reason for this is because any additional income may not be guaranteed and therefore the IVA wouldn’t sustainable if it was included. Usually you will not need to send in proof for everything in your expenditure, the main things that you may be asked for are:

*mortgage/rent

*mortgage redemption statement

*council tax

*gas/electric/water

*petrol/diesel

*benefits such as child tax credits, working tax credits, housing benefit, council tax benefit

*creditor balances and agreements

*child care

*child maintenance

The reason why proof is asked for is because all IVA’s are regulated and therefore it has to be shown that everything is being monitored.

Once all of this has been collected the information will be used to draw up your IVA proposals. Your IVA proposals are the legal document that will detail all of your creditors, plus your budget, your circumstances plus all of the legal notices and terms and conditions for the IVA. Before anything can be done with these documents, you will be asked to read through them thoroughly before signing then and sending them back.

Once these have been received, your IVA meeting can be arranged.

This term may be used a lot in the process of drawing up your IVA proposals. What is being referred to is the amount you are paying back to your creditors; if you owe £35,000 and your monthly payment is £200 then your dividend would be 20% because for every £1.00 you owe you will be paying 20p.

The creditors meeting sounds a lot scarier than it needs to. It isn’t all of your creditors sat around a table discussing your future in front of you. Your proposals will be sent to all of your unsecured creditors asking them to vote either in favour or against. A meeting date will be set so your creditors must submit there vote before the set time on the day. They usually submit their votes by fax or post. As your creditors do not attend the meeting, you do not have to. After all votes have been received we will call you to notify you of the outcome.

It is at this stage where your creditors can ask for things within the proposals to change and these are usually referred to as modifications.

All IVA’s charge fees. The fees charged within an IVA can depend on who is dealing with the IVA for you. All IVA’s will have fees for the Nominee and Supervisor costs, their then may be additional costs to the company. With Payplan, we only change what we have to, the Nominee and Supervisor costs. The nominee costs are for all of the work getting your IVA proposals together and everything up until the creditors meeting. This is a fixed sum and will be around 15% of the total fees. You will then have the Supervisors costs which are the charges to maintain the arrangement, these fees are usually around 40% of the total amount you pay into the IVA after 60 months.

Their will then be a few additional items to add on top of that which are VAT, the cost of arranging the meeting and any out of pocket expenses.

All of the details of the fees are detailed in your proposals so you can clearly see what they are.

You will never be asked by us to make any upfront fees; all of the fees detailed above will be taken out of your monthly payments. Therefore when your proposals state your monthly amount, you will pay only this for the fees and to your creditors.

Payplan would only ever ask for the fees on top of you payments, if you were in a position to repay your debts in full.

You may have seen these names mentioned a couple of times throughout this blog already so let me explain who they are. They are the legal names for the Insolvency Practitioner who will be authorised to work on your behalf. The Nominee will oversee the first stages of the IVA, getting the information together and getting the proposals drawn up. They will also oversee the creditors meeting being arranged. Once your IVA is approved they will then become your Supervisor. As your Supervisor they will oversee the length of the plan to make sure everything runs smoothly and that they terms of the arrangement are kept.

Come back tomorrow where I will be discussing your assets in an IVA.

Don’t forget you can find me on Twitter and Facebook

Written by davemac on January 10th, 2011

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iva online says

such a nice and informative article on Individual Voluntary Arrangement. thanks for sharing

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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 2802816

Don’t forget you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Written by davemac on February 10th, 2011

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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 & Julia Somerville replaced the original presenter Jennie Bond from last year.

About the people who being ripped off by huge bills or even the drains are unblocked.

Rip Off Britain is The Wonderful Daytime & Evening Consumer Affairs Programme on BBC-1 is The Great show and coming back for the fourth series later this month and once again to Angela,Gloria & Julia are doing a grand job and keep up the good work indeed.

Terry Christie
From Sunderland,Tyne & Wear

Andy Parker says

Great show, and long may it continue.
My question is… I would like to know and I
would like every one else to know…
THE TRUE PRICE OF A LITRE OF PETROL
AND DIESEL. Before VAT and the FUEL
TAX ESCALATOR. It makes my blood
boil when I hear politicians talk about the
price of oil. The Government is the
biggest Rip-off of petrol and diesel and I
would like every one to be aware of it.
My guess is, that a LITRE of diesel at
£0.50 earns the government £0.90. That
is too much and should be reduced by
30 pence and that reduction could reflect
on the high price of every thing else.

Thank You
A. Parker

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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 that you live in you will not have to sell it or give it up and it isn’t at risk with an IVA as long as you keep up with the terms of the arrangement. If you have equity in your property you will be asked to release a percentage of this equity in the fourth, however I will discuss this in more details later. As your mortgage is a secured debt, it will be shown as a creditor but you will still maintain your mortgage payments in full. If you have more equity than you do debt then you are solvent so an IVA isn’t an option for you.

Car If you own the car outright, as long as the value doesn’t exceed £5,000 you should be fine keeping the car. However if your car is worth more than £5,000 your creditors may ask you to sell the car and downgrade it to something cheaper. They will then ask for that money to be paid into the IVA. If your car is on Hire Purchase, then you do not actually own the car and therefore they cannot ask you to sell it.

If you have more than one car, your creditors may ask if there is a valid reason for it, otherwise they could ask you to sell one of the cars.

Motorcycle the same rules apply for cars.

Caravan These are seen by the creditors as a luxury and it is therefore highly likely that your creditors will ask you to sell it. If the caravan is on Hire Purchase, you would have to hand the caravan back to the finance company and any money still owing to them would be included in the IVA as an unsecured creditor.

Holiday Home or Time Share your creditors would see this as a luxury and would again ask you to either sell the property or stop paying into the time share and hand it back. Any money still owing to them would either then be included in the IVA as an unsecured creditor.

Shares you would need to tell us who the shares are with, how many shares you hold and the value of them. These would be detailed in your proposals and your creditors may ask you to cash in your shares. This works on a case by case basis so no definite answer can be given.

Savings you would need to tell us how much you have and you would be required to pay a percentage of this into the IVA.

Endowments as long as your endowment policy is linked to your mortgage this will not be included in the IVA, as if the money was to be released it could only be used to pay the mortgage. However if the endowment policy isn’t linked to the mortgage then the money would have to be released and paid into the IVA.

If you are a home owner and have a mortgage there is a clause in IVA proposals that states in the 54th month you must carry out a valuation of the property to show the current value of it. Your creditors would ask that you make a payment in lieu of equity in your property, they only look at you re-mortgaging up to 85% of the value of your property and only for your share of any equity.

If your secured borrowings on your home are already over 85% of the value of your home you will not have to offer any payment in lieu of equity. If not you will be asked to release equity in your home up to 85% of its value, but if you are unable to obtain a re-mortgage and provide proof of this, your arrangement will be extended by an extra 12 months payments instead. By doing this your home is completely safe.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow as I will be talking about your creditors.

Don’t forget you can find me on Twitter and Facebook

Written by davemac on January 11th, 2011

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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 in a previous blog, you could possibly be asked to make a further 12 payments if you have a mortgaged property and are unable to release the equity. The IVA stays on your credit reference for six years. Therefore assuming you maintain your IVA payments it will only appear on your file for one further year or at the end of your arrangement depending on your plan length. After the six years your credit reference won’t show anything at all.

At this stage you will be debt free.

I am hoping that by now you should all have a clearer knowledge of IVAs, but if not and you do have any questions then please do not hesitate to get in touch. You can visit the Debt Questions forum which has a lot of other information and the opportunity to post your own questions or post questions on the Facebook discussion board or on one of the blogs or simply call our Helpline 0800 2802816 where someone will be on the end of the phone to hopefully help you.

Don’t forget you can find me on Twitter and Facebook

Written by davemac on January 14th, 2011

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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. Not all private bailiffs have to be certified.

-County Court Bailiff they work for the county court and they are responsible to the district judge of the local court and they are used if you have a CCJ.

-High Court Enforcement Officers they work for the High Court and deal with High Court orders. They also deal with some CCJ’s as long as they are over £600 and they must deal with ALL CCJ’s when they are over £5,000.

-Magistrates Court Bailiff work for the Magistrates Court and are responsible to the clerk of the court and they mainly deal with money owed in criminal offences.

In general you do not have to let the bailiffs in.  They are also not usually allowed to force their way into your home. However there are certain situations where they can force entry. These situations are:

-Bailiffs collecting unpaid fines they can force entry whether they have been in your home before or not. As a last resort they can break into your property.

-They have gained peaceful entry before if they have been in your property before by means of peaceful entry then they can then force entry upon their next visit if you do not allow them in.

-County Court bailiffs entering a commercial property they can only do this if there is no living accommodation attached. They need permission from the court to force entry into any commercial property.

-Bailiffs collecting income tax or VAT they must also have permission from the court and they can only do it if they failed in a previous attempt at peaceful entry.

In order to keep the bailiffs out, especially on their first visit:

-Don’t open your door to them, use the door chain if you have one

-Don’t leave your windows or doors open when you know they are coming.

-Alert family members that live with you so they don’t let them in, which would count as peaceful entry.

What happens when they gain peaceful entry?

If or when the bailiffs gain entry into your home they will then firstly search your home. They will then decide which goods they are going to take and sell (this is called seizing). And then finally they will impound the goods, this is the point in which they take the goods.

The bailiffs can only seize and impound goods to cover the debt and their fees and nothing more.

A bailiff can take any items that belong to the person who owes the money, even if they are jointly owned. They cannot take any items that belong to family members or your children. They cannot take any items such as clothing, bedding, household equipment or anything that you would need to satisfy a basic domestic need.

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 10th, 2011

Filed Under  debt advice, debt help, Payplan   |  Trackback  |   3 Comments

alan says

i just want some advice we had a letter put through our door this morning saying they will return in 48 hours and said they will force entry could you tell me i can can force entry. thankyou hope to speak to you soon alan

Lizzy says

Hi Alan, would you be able to call us, our Helpline number is 0800 2802816 it is a freephone number and someone will be able to help you with your queries. Please do not panic, as we are here to help you.

Andrew Smith (@Andrew_F_Smith) says

Hi, a couple of points in addition to the above.

First, if the debt the bailiffs are collecting is relatively small (say an unpaid fine) then you should strongly consider whether you should pay if you can. Each time the bailiff comes to see you, whether you answer or not they will add a call fee to your debt. This can rapidly amount to much more than the original amount due.

Next, the impression given, above, that bailiffs will walk into your house and walk out with your telly is not quite correct. They cn do this and there is no guarantee that they won’t. However, it’s a hassle – so in most cases they won’t do this. Instead, they will usually offer you a “walking possession” agreement: You agree to pay off the debt in a number of instalments.

That can be a good way to deal with the debt. But – if you do miss a payment, they will be back with a van and the goods listed on the agreement will go and they will be auctioned.

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Posted in: Bailiffs

Planning a wedding on a budget.

By Rebecca Sowter-Croll

After 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 helped to pay for the majority of our wedding but we had to choose, this money could either go to our wedding or our house. As we wanted both we had to be aware of what we were spending on our wedding.

I found ways to cut costs that, hopefully, can help other brides-to-be:

Make your own stationery- I bought favour boxes, card and ribbon off eBay.I went to the local bargain store and bulk bought sweets.I started buying bits and bobs over the year to spread the cost.I did research in to chair covers to find the best prices. In the end I had enough covers and bows for the wedding ceremony. Then for the reception we placed the chairs alternatively with and without covers.It always good to know someone who can bake! In my case my mum made 170 cupcakes for the wedding.In terms of wedding transport try and find a friend who is willing to lend you their car for the day. For my wedding I was lucky and my parents and in-laws had blue and cream cars that matched.Have a wedding on a Friday instead of a weekend, it is cheaper and you have a long weekend to celebrate. This is what we did.My brother in-law filmed the wedding to save the cost of an expensive videographer.We did a lot of research to find the best wedding photography deal. In the end we opted for an all-day photographer and a CD of photographs we could print ourselves. Our photographer was asking for an extra £1,000 for a 30-page wedding album.I had five bridesmaids but bought dresses from a well-known department store that could be worn again.With table decorations I shopped around which paid off –I had chosen a butterfly decoration which were selling for 59p each in a local bargain shop. I saw the same decoration in a well-known high street store for £3.99 a butterfly!Tiara and shoes- I borrowed these from a family member.

In total my wedding cost just under £13,000.00 and eight months later, after viewing 25 houses, we have also bought our first home!

Written by Gemma on June 8th, 2012

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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 this was better than returning to Income Support. But this income was still very low. At this stage I tried hard to work as much extra work (night shifts) as possible to make ends meet which made me feel very unwell and depressed. This has resulted in my marriage being very close to collapsing.

We also tried hard to contact companies to ask if we could have reductions in our outgoings like Council tax etc… But because my wage was of a certain level they said we were not entitled to any help. My husband has now secured a full time job again but it is still nowhere near the salary he previously earned.

Their IVA was approved a couple of months ago and they are now on their way to becoming debt free.

If your story is similar to this one then please call us 0800 2802816 and we could help you too.

Written by davemac on January 21st, 2011

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Posted in: Story