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I have debts of roughly £2500, i'm 19 and its causing me severe stress, I got caught up in the whole borrowing thing as soon as I turned 18, thinking it would be so easy to stop if I wanted and well, it turns out it isnt. I owe money to my old building society, on a laptop i purchased, two credit cards and a mobile phone bill. I just dont know what to do now. I only earn £100 a week at the moment and so cant afford to pay off these debts. Any help would be extremely greatfully appreciated.

Hi there and welcome to the forum

With debts of this level your best bet is probably to negotiate directly with the lenders. One idea might be to get your largest creditor to allow reduced payments for a time, then concentrate on paying off the smaller ones as quickly as possible. Once they are gone, you can increase payments to the larger lender.

Best Regards, Simon

Hello,

How much do you think that you could afford towards the debts each month or week?

There are various options depending on the position that you are in.

Barclays agreed to me paying £2 a month for 6 months so that debt isnt quite as urgent as the others,

LDC (on behalf of Orange) have told me if I don't pay in full by third of April they will take legal action against me.

HFC Bank have said that if I don't pay the arrears and everything else owed within two weeks they will take me to court as well.

Capital one offered to let me pay £2 a month for 6 months but they didn't tell me when it was to start and when I didn't pay they said the arrangement was off [V]

Nationwide wouldn't even entertain the idea of reduced monthly payments to clear my account.

Hope the information helps with helping me find advice...Thanks

Hi ... just wanted to say welcome to the Forum, to every problem there is a solution. It really is so worrying that so many youngsters are finding themselves in this position nowadays and, in my opinion, is the result of unethical lending.

I hope that pushing your post to the top of the Forum will get you some good advice [:)]

Take care

Debbie

Thank you Debbie.

I'm really at my wits end, I dont know what powers the companies have with regards to sending bailiffs round and stuff and its really starting to worry me.

to you £2500 is alot of money - to us here on the IVA forum if only that's all we owed!

Have you got and relatives or close friends that could lend you this £2500 to pay off what you owe - then you could rip up the cards and concentrate on paying them back each month instead of your creditors.

Unfortunately an IVA is not an option for you, a debt management plan may be - but your best bet in my opinion is to ask the "bank of mum and dad" and give them the assurances that you know what you have done is stupid but you have learnt by it - just now need the chance to clear and move on.

Keep positive - something will sort its self out.

8 down 52 to go!

Welcome to the forum - it's a great place to get good advice, even though your debt is too low to qualify.

I'm heartened to see that there's a youngster out there that isn't burying their head in the sand and hoping it will go away. It doesn't and ignoring it makes it worse.

Well done to you for trying to do something now.

As Lulu says, things will sort themselves out - try not to panic. It may be worth trying to make an appointment with your local Citizens Advice Bureau to see what they can help with.

Good luck - it WILL all come right in the end.

hi there

I am glad you are trying to sort out your problems now before they get worse as it can turn into a vicious circle of borrowing to pay off credit and it just gets worse.
I would suggest contacting the CAB or maybe try the Consumer credit counselling service (cccs) as they will be able to give you free advice. Or Andrew from Brightoak has a very good reputation on the forum for debt management plans.

There will be a solution to your problem and creditors can be ver aggressive but if you can't afford to pay you can't afford to pay and they should be happy you are offering reduced payments.
Also £2500 might not sound like a lot to some of us on here but its all relative to your own situation and I am sure when you can't afford to pay it feels like a million pounds!

Good luck
Emma

Hi urbanbushmonkey -

Have you consulted some agencies to look for an additional part-time job? All the larger towns / cities have stacks of them offering temp work. I remember way back when I was young I always used to do some night-time / weekend bar or factory work to help increase my income. I know even today in my local town there are at least 6 agencies desperate for short-term staff. you might not like the job - but paying off debts is far more important. If you do - say 16 hours extra per week - 2 evenings and a Saturday or Sunday - that should bring you in at least £70 per week or therabouts.

In ayear that would more than pay off your debts of £2500 - and while you are earning you are not spending!!!

Nothing worse than sitting at home worrying about debts - far better to get out on the job hunt and earn some extra income.

Good Luck.

It might be worth trying to change the credit cards to 0% interest ones if the deals are still out there.