Personal Debt Advice and Assistance
I will provide clear, practical advice to help you
As an individual with financial difficulties, facing those difficulties and then working out how to deal with them can be quite frightening. I have many years of experience in dealing with these sorts of difficulties and am confident enough in that experience to say that there will always be some sort of solution for you.
informal solutions
There is no “one size fits all”. The solution will depend largely upon your personal circumstances. 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. HMRC).
Your options are a little restricted and will largely rely on the goodwill of your creditors. The good news is that many creditors will be willing to reach an agreement with you providing you contact them sooner rather than later and you are honest with them about your financial situation. Always remember that most creditors would much rather get something than nothing!
You might be able to get agreement to:
- make token payments to each creditor each month to ensure that there is regular activity on the credit account;
- agree a reduced monthly payment for a short period;
- offer a lump sum payment equal to a large part of the debt as a payment in full and final settlement; or
- agree a payment holiday (where you make no payments at all) for a period, during which interest on the debt may also be frozen; or
- in the case of HMRC, a Time To Pay agreement could be agreed.
At the very least, talking to them gives them the pportunity to make a decision on how they will treat their debt with you and this may even result in stopping legal action. If they don’t know what is happening with you, they will assume the worst and will proceed accordingly!
Due to changes in Regulation, I am unable to offer an informal solution where any of your debts relate to Consumer Credit (e.g. credit cards, loans etc) unless a formal individual voluntary arrangement, or bankruptcy or a debt relief order is expected to be the recommended way forward. Where you have non-Consumer Credit debts I can help you negotiate an informal solution with your creditors – and I’ll be honest with you if I don’t think what you are proposing will be accepted by them.
Call me sooner rather than later to discuss your own circumstances.
advice to creditors
If you’re a creditor, you have many rights in respect of being able to take action to ensure you are paid the money you’re owed. I’m in a position to advise creditors on what steps or actions you should be taking to maximise your chances of getting any money back. In addition I‘m also uniquely in a position to advise whether or not you are likely to actually get any money back from an individual who ends up bankrupt or in an IVA. This is due to me having been appointed to deal with these cases myself!
If you have any concerns over whether or not you should take action to try and recover your debt please call me to discuss matters.