The Online Debt Advice Blog

November 11, 2009

Managing Your Finances During Divorce

Filed under: Bankruptcy, Online Debt Advice — Tags: , , — admin @ 12:11 pm

Summary:
If you’ve ever been separated you’ll see that the proceedings can leave both sides deeply in debt. The emotional side of divorce can be awful, but it’s the financial side that can be one of the most demanding part of separating. And dividing up the debts from the marriage can leave a big black hole in your bank account.

Since in financial and emotional terms the entire divorce proceedings can be expensive, there have been requests for a more amicable avenue to organising the separation terms. The “Debts and divorce campaign” sponsored by J D Roberts, has been released by the UK Insolvency Helpline to provide a guided avenue in dealing with household debts and online debt advice. This is good news as 45% of people questioned said that seperation caused them more financial problems than redundancy or bereavement.

In the questionnaire, nearly a third of divorcees said that they needed professional debt counselling, while 28% found it difficult to adjust to having just one household income. In fact ten per cent had major difficulties sorting out their debts and had to consider bankruptcy.

The research which was sponsored by the UK Insolvency Helpline, has decidedly demonstrated that the cost of separation can leave couples burdened with debt. Fifteen per cent said they had used credit cards to purchase holidays or luxuries they wouldn’t have bought if still married. This kind of spending can cause problems during the divorce negotiations.

Only 7% of divorcees said they had managed to control their finances during the divorce proceedings and had come to an amicable agreement. Of the 77% of those questioned who ended their marriages amicably, the majority said that their finances now needed extensive review and makeover.

On for the most part those divorcees who got in touch with the UK Insolvency Helpline had between £15,500 and £25,250 of unsecured loans, while half of them had debts of between £2,400 and £6,100, primarily as a result of the cost of moving.
Many divorcees quizzed had entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement which is a gentler option to bankruptcy whilst still resulting in greatly reducing debt levels.

When it came to practical advice, many relied on the CBA, whilst some turned to friends and others went to counsellors or used consultation organisations.

A spokesperson for the UK Insolvency Helpline said, “We have developed the Debts And Divorce Campaign to try and understand our callers’ spending trends. We can then develop a plan for the future so that they should be able to keep their legal costs down as they are guided through the entire divorce process.”

September 21, 2009

Female Bankruptcies Keep Climbing

Filed under: Bankruptcy — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 1:44 pm

Summary
In the last few years bankruptcies involving females have amplified severely. This article looks at the patternsand examines the reasons.

Whilst interest has focused on major business bankruptcies like that of Woolworths, new data revealedby the Insolvency Service reveal that lots of individuals are going bankrupt – and lots and lots of them are ladies

In the last seven years bankruptcies among females have increased by as much as 400 per cent. In fact they now make up forty per cent of all bankruptcies with young females under the age of 32 most apt to bear financial downfall.

The information from the Insolvency Service publicised that last year 23,173 females were declared insolvent, up from only 6,644 in 2001. With males the figure was 37,971, that’s roughly 240 per cent higher than the 15,746 which were declared bankrupt in 2003.

This purports that 8 years ago females made up 31% of bankrupts, but by the previous year that had increased to 38 per cent.

In general, folks aged between 34 and 40 are most prone to go bankrupt. But with women it’s the younger ones that are possiblymost at risk, the 26 to33 year olds.

The swift rise of womens insolvency is may be interrelated to both overspending when getting a loan was too easy and their increased exposure due to the escalating numbers of ladies who don’t have family support and marriage. It is obvious that more ladies are running up insurmountable debts as they endeavour to sustain extravagant lifestyles. They want to spend like Paris Hilton but evidently do not have the money to repay the debts they run up. It is difficult as they increasingly have to borrow more to purchase a house and if they live by themselves, there is no one else to share the financial burden.

In general, some licenced insolvency practitioners consider that insolvencyamong females would quickly correspond with levels amongst gentlemen.

However theories by Ministers of Parliament, that ladies are predominantly vulnerable to being made redundant were proved wrong by the Office for National Statistics last month. It said insolvency amongst females is running at at half the rate of men, and a lot more women are protected as a large proportion of them work in the public sector, many of these are then forced to take out debt management plans to deal with their debts.

But the escalation in female insolvency suggest that ladies are miserable for reasons beyond cuts in pay and jobs. Social studies have over and over again demonstrated that divorce leaves males much better off than women, usually because women more often than not take the children.

But if a unmarried couplebreak up, the man has no financial requirement for the woman. And between three and four million Britons live together.

And a accumulating proporton of females have decided to remain single either to follow jobs that may now be doubtful, or because of a benefit system that penalises couples but rewards single mothers.

Most of us get into financial difficulty from time to time and some of us rely on our relatives to help us out. These insolvencies amongst females are a product of too manywomen being alone without financial help.

September 8, 2009

Debt Advice, Where To Turn?

Filed under: Online Debt Advice — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:54 am

Summary
If you are under pressure from creditors, you need to read this article. It outlines the three main debt advice services and describes the services they offer.

As England’s money problem develops, debt consultants are being inundated by households desperately hoping to meet their mortgage repayments, credit cards and loan repayments. There has been a 40 per cent escalation in people making late payments on secured loans and mortgages say the CAB, compared inquiries in 2008. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service, which additionally offers free financial advice, is receiving 1,500 calls a day, while calls to the National Debtline have gone up by thirty five percent. So, if you are burdened with financial difficulties how can confidential services will be of assistance? 

 The Citizens Advice Bureau (CABs) , who are they?  They area a network of more than 3,200 bureaux around the United Kingdom operated by volunteers. Most of these offices have trained debt manager.CAB (The Citizens Advice Bureau) One of the largest charity institutions in the UK equipped to help in dealing with most obstacles met in day to day life including financial advice.

1. What do the CABs do?   Initially begin preceding there advisement, they need to comprehend your financial circumstances. So they will aid you to produce a list of creditors with your profits and losses.

Once this is done, they will double check whether your assets can be expanded. For example, you may not claiming   benefits and perhaps you are using the wrong tax code. Then they will consider your family expenditure. They look at your household bills and mortgage repayments to see where you can save money. They look at your family expenses and finance repayments to see where you can save cash. Then they will consider your family expenditure.

Your debts will be sorted into priority debts – that’s payments such as rent or mortgage, utilities and council tax – and your non priority ones, such as unsecured loans, credit cards and HP.

 You will then be guided through the process of setting up an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) with your creditors.

The adviser at the CAB will then help you to negotiate a repayment plan with your priority creditors – your local authority, utility companies and mortgage lender or landlord. The balance of your income after meeting your family’s other living expenses can be offered to non-priority creditors based proportionately on how much you owe to each of them.

During the negotiations with the unsecured lenders the CAB consultants ask for the charges to be suspended which is usually agreed to by the creditors due to precedent in court rulings. They can also be of assistance if your home is under threat of repossession and with any other court actions. 

 The good points: The CABs service is generally face-to-face, which means they can deal with the paperwork with you. They can then stay with you whilst you speak to your creditors. They may also help you deal with the Courts.
The bad point: As more and more of us struggle with our finances, their services are overloaded, so you may have to wait weeks, even months, for an appointment. 

 The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) – The CCCS mainly operates via telephone and through there website although it is possible to visit one of their 10 regional offices by appointment.

CCCS What do they do? The CCCS will create a financial plan with you to see how much money you you can afford to live on. Then whatever remains can be used to repay your priority creditors and then your non-priority debts. Most of the serious cases join the CCCs’s debt management programme. The CCCS will then negotiate repayments with the creditors and ask to freeze interest and charges.

Once in a debt management plan, you make one payment every month to the CCCS and they allocate that money between your creditors therefore deducting the entire amount from your debt.

The good points: You can anonymously receive online counselling through a question-and-answer service. Debt management plans are easier to manage than continuing to repay several different creditors yourself.

The bad points: To enter into a debt management plan you have to have enough disposable income after basic living expenses.

ND The National Debtline – The first and the original telephone-based debt consultation service.

What do the ND do? The ND send you a help pack containing forms and documentation including example preformatted letters to send to your creditors. They can also talk you through your money situation and offer information on what your creditors can do legally and suggest ways you can increase your income.

The good points: The service is quick and packed with constructive information offering assisted self-help.

The bad points: They will not speak to your creditors on your behalf. You are on your own.

Who Can Help With Debt Advise?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — admin @ 8:28 am

Summary
Are your debts concerning you? There is guideance for people trying to balance their loans, credit cards, and mortgage repayments. Don’t be alarmed it’s confidential – they have heard it before.

Where do you go for advice with your debt problems? A huge amount of people are gettting into a predicament with debt in the current financial slump. Citizens Adivice Bureau has seen a record increase in people asking for their help in relation with managing their mortgage repayments and other credit problems.

A further source of free information when it comes to debt, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service is reporting approximately 1,505 telephone calls every day, with National Debt Relief stating that their calls are up at least 66.66 per cent.

If you have debt concerns, you’re not alone. Carry on reading to find out how much assistance is available.
For personal contact, The Citizen’s Advice (CAB) has a wide number, well above 3,000, of CAB’s situated all over the Great Britain. Their personnel work on unpaid basis, with many of the offices having people who focus on debt.

If you ask them for help, what they will do, initially, is to get you to compile a list of the people you owe money to, what income you have and and the amount of money it takes to cover the household bills. Armed with these figures, you will then have an appointment with an adviser. They will go through everything with you, to see whether there is any way that your earnings can be raised.

Even though you may imagine you have covered everything, it is feasible that there are benefits you are not getting or you could have been supplied with an incorrect tax code and are consequently paying too much tax.

They will help you look at your outgoings to establish if there may be any savings made. The debt management company will show you how to prioritize your debts. The crutial ones will be those related to retaining a roof over your families head,for instance mortgage repayments or rent, together with your  heating bills,light and power and of course the council tax. Debts like loans, credit cards and store cards which will not be secured on your home come at the end of the list.
Your debt adviser will mail you an ‘information pack’ containing letters for you to dispatch to the people you owe.
Along with your advisor, you will calculate your disposable income and come up with a repayment policy to be negotiated with the firms on your priority list – Mortgage Company or landlord, local authority and utility companies
Money remaining after these essential expenses and the costs will then be offered to the non-priority group. The CAB will always work with you to ask for the associated interest and charges to be frozen , however this is not always successful.If the court becomes involved, as long as the offer is deem fair the courts often rule in favour of the defendants .

If there is any threat of repossession or court proceedings to recover debt, the Citizens Advice Departments will help you handle the proceedings.

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