PETER'S STORY
Peter had debts of £14,000 which he was paying £975 a month towards. He had taken on overtime to help clear his debt, working 10 hours each day, 7 days a week – only to be able to meet the minimum repayments.
Peter missed out on time with his children, hobbies and socialising. His life consisted of working and sleeping with no days off.
Three days after he first contacted Don’t Fret About Debt, Peter signed a Debt Payment Programme via the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) and his payments were reduced from £975 to £250 per month.
With monthly repayments he could now manage, he was able to reduce his working hours back to 40 per week, his weekends were his own again and he was able to spend quality time with his children. And for the first time in years, he even had some money to spend on them.
Peter’s debt will be repaid in full under the DAS.
KIRSTY'S STORY
Kirsty had debts of £12,000 and was making monthly repayments of just under £400, which made up the minimum repayments on three different credit cards.
All cards were taken out with a promotional zero percent interest. Kirsty started spending on the cards initially to buy things she couldn’t necessarily afford such as clothes, the occasional meal out and birthday presents.
As the balances increased so too did the minimum repayments. Eventually the interest starting piling on. Before she knew it, Kirsty was paying out a third of her salary each month to debt and relying on the available balance on the cards for food shopping and petrol to get by each month.
On preparing an income and expenditure sheet, minus the debt repayment with allowances for hobbies and clothing, Kirsty had £130 which she could afford to repay towards her debt each month.
With the help of Don’t Fret About Debt, she will make this payment for a period of 48 months under a Trust Deed and the remaining debt will be written off at the end of the term.
BEN'S STORY
Ben approached Don’t Fret About Debt after his business failed. As he was self-employed, he was personally liable for the debts as the company had no assets and no way of repaying the debts of £28,000.
He was under increased pressure from creditors who were threatening to make him bankrupt and he was concerned he would lose his home.
Following expert debt advice from Don’t Fret About Debt, Ben instructed a valuation on his property and obtained an up to date redemption figure from his mortgage lender.
The property was found to have £15,000 equity, half of which was Ben’s and his wife offered to buy out his creditors interest in the property at £156 a month for 4 years so he could apply for bankruptcy to deal with the debts.
As Ben was not working, he did not have to make contribution towards his debts and once his wife has made these third party payments, the remaining debt will be written off and the property will not be sold.