Financial strife

[Danni79]

Hi, what do you do if you cannot afford to repay debts? my husband works and i don't as we have 2 very young children, we have loans and cards and have been only just managing to cover them but i'm not sure what would happen if we couldn t afford to repay them as this looks likely? we dont own our own house either :-( Thanks x

[danchip]

get some financial advice from the numerous free debt counselling services, it sounds like you may need to go down the route of an IVA or trust deed (if in scotland)

[themas]

As you do not own a house an IVA is probably the last option for you to consider. It is most unlikely to be suitable (or acceptable to creditors) unless your available income is sufficient for you to be able to repay about 40 - 50% of your debts over 5 years. You become tied in to the payments for 5 years & they can easily become very difficult to keep up.

A far better alternative is likely to be to negotiate an informal debt management plan with your creditors. Get advice about this from a free service - such as your local CAB, or CCCS or NationalDebtline. Do not go to any fee charging company. A further possibility is bankruptcy - there are a number of implications of this & the free services should be able to advise you.

[annie0000]

In addition to the above, you need to stop spending money that you don't have and see what you can cut back on.

[bednobs]

or maybe get a part time job - ie if your husband works days, can you get an evening job?

[Danni79]

Great info thanks. We are not lazy bums or big spenders - We have not been spending money we didn't have and we have tightened our belts as far as we can!! these are all fairly old debts, plus i am going back to work end of this month. We're trying everything this is just 'if all else fails' info. x

[Harveypool]

I was in exactly the same position so no need to panic.
If you contact the CCCS they have a pack they can send you. This pack will detail how to contact all of your creditors and arrange with them to freeze the interest on all of your debts for an agreed amount of time (say 6 months) during which you can pay off some of your debt. Whatever the situation I found that the CCCS where very helpful and understanding and will talk you through everything. Good luck.