Financial First Aid's Blog

#DEBTPLAN Containment and Arrangement

financialfirstaid — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:04:53 +0000

OK so you have decided to write to each of your creditors explaining that you cannot afford to keep up your payments and you asked if they would accept a Token Payment of £1.00 per month. I know many people who have followed this advice, and almost all creditors simply agree. When a creditor refuses or does not respond, there are further actions you can take which I will cover later.

Expect replies from your creditors within 30 days. Do your own homework and perhaps use Recorded Mail for the less reputable lenders. Keep a spreadsheet up to date logging which creditor you wrote to and keep a copy of your letter. In order to avoid unwarranted potential libel charges I cannnot publish a list of less reputable lenders. I can however publish a list of reputable lenders, so here goes:

List of reputable lenders who do not rip you off as at 26th April 2009 in the UK:

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The £1.00 per month arrangement is not seen as a long term solution – so further options will be discussed in later blogs. For now focus on getting to the point where each one of your beloved creditors are tied up in an arrangement where they have agreed to accept your token payment. With this agreement in place creditors are unlikely to take further legal steps against you. Doing so is more work for them, and by putting the token payment arrangement in place you have told the creditor two things they need to hear: 1) you are willing to keep the Token Payment arrangement as against running away from the debt and 2) you are facing extremely difficult financial circumstances.

Experience shows that almost all UK banks, credit card companies and loan sharks will leave you alone, however you can expect them to write to you every 3 to 6 months to see if your circumstances have changed. If your financial circumstances have not changed let them know in writing. Do not lie to them about your income and expenses, if they ask for details be accurate and do not think you can hide income or savings – the penalties for being caught are not pleasant.

Making Token Payment arrangements can reduce your monthly outgoings by the sum of all your payments less £1.00 per creditor. I know people who have set aside figures ranging from several hundred £’s to several thousand £’s per month and ended up paying between £4 and £23 per month. Thats just £1.00 per creditor. You can do the same. Don’t spend this disposable income – transfer it to your savings or you will be acting foolishly.

#DEBTPLAN Introduction

financialfirstaid — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:00:59 +0000

Facing dire money problems? Follow this blogstream for assistance and pointers in how to pay off or eliminate your UK debt. Did you know that you do have the right to ask for an arrangement to pay a token payment of £1.00 per month per creditor – regardless of the outstanding balances? For more details contact me or call Consumer Credit Counselling Services – they are one of the few truly independent sources of help – they do not charge you any fees. This first step will take a lot of pressure off you in terms of available cash – make sure you save every penny freed up, if you simply spend it you will never get out of debt. In todays climate almost every creditor will accept a token payment plan – you have to write to them explaining your financial position. You have little to loose by trying this, worst case you loose 30p for the 2nd class postage stamp.

Will the Darling-Brown budget work?

financialfirstaid — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:21:38 +0000

Debt fuelled recovery as we head towards depression? I don’t think so. How about investing a little bit more in UK based manufacture? Scrap wind turbines – that has only ever been a political play if you examine the Return on Investment and breakeven period. Have you ever seen any government invest in something when the payback is not inside their term in office? Wind Farm payback is measured in decades. Lets see now. We live on a large island, surrounded by automatically surging, tidal seas. Anyone thought about focussing the economic recovery on building sustainable, renewable energy supplies? The technology exists. Build a storage tank just above low water mark, let it fill up as the tide rises. Capture all that free hydro-electric energy as the tank empties after high tide. Simple. Distributed around the coastline. Hidden underground. Low environmental impact. Huge, real employment potential. Export the know how to the Rest of the World.

Financial worries?

financialfirstaid — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:56:08 +0000

This recession affects everyone – the wealthy and the poor. Mortgage supplies have dried up. Unemployment? Increasing with no end in sight. Will the powers that be fix this mess? Any time soon? Google dead cat bounce to see whats happening with the stock markets.