Personal Debt Advice & Assistance
When we use the term “personal” this will apply to an individual person and will also include a sole trader who is not trading through a limited company. If you have traded using a limited company or in a partnership see the corporate information pages.
“We will provide clear, practical advice to help an individual deal with their financial affairs.”
As an individual with financial difficulties, facing those difficulties and then working out how to deal with them can be quite daunting, and in some cases quite frightening. We have many years of experience in dealing with these sorts of difficulties and we are confident enough in that experience to say that there will always be some sort of solution for you.
Informal Solutions
Advice to Creditors
Informal Solutions
It is not always necessary to enter into a formal arrangement with your creditors such as an Individual Voluntary Arrangement when you are experiencing financial problems, or to refinance your debts using a consolidation loan.
Your options do become restricted however and will largely rely on the goodwill of your creditors. The good news is that many credit providers will be willing to reach an agreement with you on an individual basis providing you contact them earlier rather than later and you are honest with them about your financial situation.
This is particularly applicable to HM Revenue & Customs, as well as the usual credit card providers and banks. The majority of creditors would far rather receive something than nothing! At the very least, communicating with them gives them the opportunity to make an informed decision on how they need to treat the debt and this may even result in staving off legal action against you. If they don’t know what is happening with you, they will assume the worst and proceed accordingly!
Examples of informal solutions are:
- making token payments to each creditor each month, e.g. £5.00, to ensure that there is activity on the credit account whilst you make alternative arrangements for payment;
- agreeing a reduced monthly payment for a short period, e.g. 6 months, whilst you seek another source of income or job;
- offering a lump sum payment amounting to a large part of the debt as a payment in full and final settlement; or
- agreeing a payment holiday (where you make no payments at all) for a period, which may also include a freezing of interest.
There is no “one size fits all”
The informal solution will depend largely upon your personal circumstances – there is no “one size fits all”. Informal solutions work particularly well when you only have a small number (e.g. two or three) of creditors or all your debts are with one creditor (e.g. credit card, loan, overdraft all with one bank).
We can assist you in assessing or proposing any sort of informal solution you may be seeking with your creditors. Where appropriate we will also assist in negotiations with your creditors and implementation of the agreed solution.
We will also give you an honest opinion on whether or not your proposals will be likely to succeed and if not, can suggest other ways of dealing with your debts.
Advice to Creditors
Creditors have many rights in respect of being able to take action to ensure they are paid the money they are owed. We are in a position to advise creditors on what steps or actions they should be taking to maximise their chances of getting any money back. In addition we are also uniquely in a position to advise whether or not they are likely to actually get any money back from an individual who ends up bankrupt or in an IVA. This is due to us having been appointed to deal with these cases ourselves!
Any creditor who has any concerns as to whether or not they should take action to try and recover their debt should seek advice from us in the first instance.
