As catalogue debt offers a seemingly easy way to pay for small-value items it is a common problem area for people on low incomes. Each item that is bought seems like a small amount of money per week/month but the interest charges (whether identified separately or built in to the price of the goods) are often very high. Many people would be better off ignoring catalogues and getting their goods from discount retailers.
Catalogue Debt – What to do if You Have a Problem
If you are having difficulty making your catalogue payments, or if they are making it hard for you to pay other essential bills then you have a catalogue debt problem. Make sure that you are not giving your catalogue debts higher priority than they deserve – possibly because you see a representative of the catalogue company on a regular basis. Your priority should be to pay for essential items like mortgage/rent, food, council tax etc before paying any unsecured debt (which is what catalogue debt is).
Get advice from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau who will be able to help you with making a budget and dealing with your creditors.
Tags: catalogue debt, Debt Advice, Debt Problems
Debt fees can really make the agony of debt far worse. As soon as you start missing payments then you will find a debt fee (or a few) added to your account. If you get to the stage of having your account chased by a collection agency then you will definitely have debt collection fees (that can be quite substantial) added to your account
Debt Fees – Are They Legal?
If you want to know whether the debt fees that have been added to your account are legal then in the first instance refer back to your original credit agreement. This should contain details of the fees and charges that the creditor can add to your account in the event of you missing/being late with payments. If legal/collection action is being taken then there are usually rules on a country-by-country (or state-by-state) basis laying down what you can be charged for collection visits or court time.
Debt Fees – How to Stop Them
The only way to stop debt fees, penalties, and interest being added to your account is by negotiation with your creditors. You can do this yourself but you will find it a very difficult process. It is much better to contact a reputable debt management company or charitable organisation to do this for you. In the UK I suggest:
The Citizens Advice Bureau – with offices in most major towns/cities – find their number in the book.
The Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) – A charity that helps people with debt problems.
The Payplan Partnership - The premier debt management company in the UK – can provide advice on your situation leading to either a debt management plan or an individual voluntary arrangement.
Tags: Debt Advice, debt charges, debt fees, Debt Problems, penalty interest
With many people losing their jobs at the moment that are going to be a lot of cars debt problems, where people cannot afford the repayments on their cars. What should you do if you are in this situation?
Cars Debt - What Type of Debt?
When cars are purchased they will usually be financed either with a loan secured against the value of the car (motor finance) or by a personal loan. This post is concerned only with cars financed with a motor finance loan secured against the car.
Cars Debt – What Should You Do?
If you are having trouble making the payments on your car loan then there may be things that you can do. Investigate whether it is possible to re-finance the loan over a longer period – this could cut the payments quite significantly.
If you are unable to meet the payments and can’t refinance then you need to speak to the loan company urgently. Unless you can agree a payment holiday with them they will take the car back. Negotiate with them to get the best terms that you can – if you volunteer to give the car back you will probably end up owing less than if the loan company have to pursue you with bailiffs.
Shortfall Debt and Bankruptcy
If your car is taken back by the loan company and the amount that they raise from selling it is less than the value of the loan you will be left with a shortfall debt. This is just like any other personal debt (credit card, personal loan) and the loan company can and will come after you for it. If you are considering bankruptcy then it is important to realise that a secured motor finance loan will not be included in the bankruptcy but a shortfall debt would be. Therefore if you think that you are going to declare bankruptcy it is important to hand the car back and get the shortfall debt established before you declare bamkruptcy. If you don’t, you could end up with a debt that is not included in your bankruptcy.
