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Case 1797 Name
- Mr Tony Marsland New Legal Arrangement - All Creditors agreed to one lower monthly repayment of £350.00 payable for 60 months. All ongoing interest charges cancelled. Plus £13,707.54 legally written off. The new lower repayment was agreed by the creditors based on affordability. Taking into account account all the ongoing living costs, including mortgage, housekeeping, utilities, children's expenses, car costs, personal expenses etc. Steve King
Here is my story. It was a wet Saturday afternoon. I had taken my two children Claire (aged 6) and Hannah (aged 8) to the local supermarket to buy the weekly shopping. We trekked up and down the aisles loading the trolley until it nearly overflowed. We queued at the checkout. Then I started to unload the trolley, the girls busily did the packing. I gave my Visa card to the checkout girl and she swiped it through the machine. We waited and waited. To my horror the girl said "I am sorry sir, but this card has been refused". I quickly gave her my Master card. Again we waited... And then the immortal words "I am sorry sir, but this card has been refused as well". I stared blankly, completely stunned. Suddenly little Claire, took her purse out of her coat, emptied her pocket money onto the counter and said "Daddy would this help?" I drove home in a somewhat distressed state. The girls were as good as gold hopefully believing my excuse that I had 'forgotten' my money. I decided to sort everything out - once and for all. I have a small study in the spare room. I opened the drawers of my desk, and took out all the credit card statements, bank statements, loan agreements, reminder letters, red letters, the unopened letters (including the ones telling me the credit cards had been stopped). I added everything up. It totalled £34,707.54. For whatever reason I wasn't entirely shocked. The figure just sort of sank in. I worked out all the monthly repayments - £1387.28. I talked to my wife, Jayne. We both knew things were bad, but somehow had hoped everything might get better. In fact Jayne had been far more worried than me (I just hadn't realised the full horror of it all). Now I understood why she was doing extra hours at work as well as cutting back on the housekeeping. However, despite all the economies we could make, there was no way on earth we could afford these repayments. We talked about how the debts had built up. Twice in the last 7 years I had been made redundant. Each time it took months to get another job. My new job is more secure but the salary is a lot less. During all this Jayne had been off work for sometime after a knee operation. We had not recklessly borrowed money (but with interest charges it certainly adds up) I suppose we had just tried to keep everything going. The mortgage, household costs etc. We did have a couple of short holidays (but we always booked last minute bargains). We gave the girls birthday parties. The car needed various overhauls. And there were several expensive house repairs. The only real extravagance we could remember, was a new 'designer ' dress for Jayne, a suit for me and a special candlelit dinner to celebrate my 'new' job. However, wherever the money went it was now gone. We were deeply in debt. We couldn't possibly borrow anymore. We were in a dreadful financial mess. Jayne showed me an Ad she had cut out from one of the papers for King & Company. You know the one 'legally reduce your debts with your creditors permission'. She mentioned that a few weeks previously she had seen what she thought was a similar Ad and actually phoned up. It turned out that particular company were offering a different service. Some kind of personal 'deal' where they would try and re-negotiate with creditors. We would have to pay them back over 15 - 18 years with interest. It wasn't a legal agreement and creditors could "change their minds". Jayne felt it all seemed a bit vague and uncertain. Anyway, we definitely needed some help. So I phoned King & Co. and spoke to Steve King. I told him the whole financial situation. Steve was very reassuring and fully explained the solution and how it would work for us. I was amazed. Apparently, all the unsecured creditors would be grouped together into a new private legal Arrangement. All the reasons behind the debts are explained. The creditors see the total amount owed. They realise just how impossible it is for us to make the repayments . Rather than increase their costs by taking all the credit control, debt collector and legal actions against us - because despite all this we still could not pay them. So as an alternative and to save costs they are willing to accept a lower payment which is possible for us to make. In essence, we would pay one affordable payment each month, covering all the creditors. The interest charges are stopped (as there is no point in increasing our debts). They would not ask us for the debts to be paid back in full. We would pay for 60 months, the creditors then cancel the balance of the debt. This will save them administration costs which could have gone on for decades. And they can claim company tax benefits on the debts they have written off. Steve did mention the legislation works best if we did not have any savings, investments, or significant equity in our house. We had no problems there. It was also important to show creditors we would pay a monthly figure which we could genuinely afford. Again we were more than willing to do that. It all sounded almost too good to be true. But what choice did we have but to find out? Steve sent us all the back-up information (it was by reading the letters in the information pack that convinced us to go ahead. This is why I have written this rather long letter to help you decide). A consultation was arranged for Jayne and I to meet one of King & Co's specialist accountants who would legally put our Arrangement in place. Steve and his support staff helped us organise all the information. Full creditor details, Income and Expenditure, letters to send to creditors (explaining what was happening). Throughout the whole process we received all the help, assistance and total support we needed. The Accountants were brilliant. Very professional and understanding. Obviously very experienced. They knew exactly how to present our proposal to our creditors in the best way possible. During the preparation we were able to refer all our creditors directly to the accountants. This lifted the pressure and stress immediately which was a great relief to us both. We were surprised that the creditors were willing to pay the major portion of the legal costs (of course the Arrangement is also for their benefit as well as ours). Our share of the costs were paid in affordable stages as the legal work was being done. The Accountants handled everything for us. The proposal, all the legal and court work (the court work is done privately, we didn't have to go to court, the accountants organised it all for us). A date was set for the creditors meeting when the decisions would be made. The meeting was held at the Accountants offices. Both Jayne and I were a bit nervous. However, the senior manager in charge of our case was very calm and confident. The creditors themselves never attend the meetings. They 'vote' by post or send another firm of accountants to vote on their behalf. We needed 75% of the votes in our favour. At our meeting one voting accountant was there representing several of our creditors. He was formal but pleasant. He understood our financial problems and the reasons why we were making an Arrangement and that the creditors accepted. It was very evident from the conversation that he had a high regard for our Accountants. The vast majority of our other creditors also voted in favour. Our new legal Arrangement was now accepted! The result is our total debt payment has been legally reduced from £1387.28 to £350.00 per month. There are no more interest charges. No legal actions. And everything finishes in 5 years. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders. We can actually start to live again without all the fear and worry. Jayne can sleep at night. I feel so much happier knowing all the mortgage, household and family costs can be paid without massive debt repayments on top. We can look after the girls and plan their future. Looking back, we probably had no choice but to borrow more and more money. But now it will not be a constant financial struggle going on every month for the rest of our lives. I know that King & Co. and all their Accountants do hundreds of these Arrangements every year. And I am sure they realise the incredible difference it makes to peoples lives. But my guess is there are many families who would also greatly benefit, but for whatever reason do not take the necessary action. To be honest at the very beginning we did have doubts if it could work for us. We both felt that somehow you are supposed to 'suffer' if you are in debt. You have to pay the price (even if you can't pay the debts!). Years of misery, non stop phone calls, threats demands and court summonses from creditors. Even bankruptcy with all the publicity (if that had happened we would both have lost our jobs). Very fortunately as everyone pointed out to us there is absolutely no advantage to anyone if we did let the whole thing crash. Again this is why I have written this letter. To tell you about our experience. To show you that you are not alone with debts. And to let you know there is a perfectly legal way to reduce them. Your creditors can appreciate the problem and see that no matter what they could do, you can't pay if the income is just not there. But you will pay an affordable amount. Best of all it doesn't go on forever! At least find out if all this can be applied to your situation. If it does, then like us, you can be assured that you have found the very best, experienced, caring and successful people who can put it all together for you. Yours sincerely Tony Marsland Crowthorne Case 2077 Name
- Jan & Derek Buckingham The
new lower repayment was fully agreed by the creditors based on affordability.
Taking into account all the ongoing living and business costs. Including
all business expenses and mortgage, housekeeping, utilities, children's
expenses, car costs, personal expenses etc. Mr Steve King I am writing to tell you just how delighted we are now our individual voluntary arrangement is in place. Our problems began over 4 years ago, my husband took early retirement ( he had been the Sales Manager for a national printing company). With the retirement money, all our savings and a bank loan we opened a small printing business. There were two bigger printers nearby. However, with my husbands experience and by offering a better customer service and lower prices we were determined to make a go of it. Believe me we both worked long hard hours, and with all the effort built up a good customer base. We could pay all the overheads, staff costs and were making a small, but growing profit. All was going well until disaster struck in 1997. Within weeks of each other our two major customers went bust - owing us over £17,700. We were told there was no chance of getting any of the money back. It left us completely high and dry. We tried to explain the situation to the bank, asking them to give us a new loan. They were unable to help. And insisted we must stay within our overdraft limit - or else. To make matters worse, one of our printing machines broke down. There was no way we could replace it, (or pay for the repair costs). Somehow, we carried on. We had to let our 2 employees go. Work was still coming in but nothing like enough to make up the £17,700 deficit. As the months went on, we were still working all hours, but trade bills were falling behind and several suppliers would only give us materials on a cash only basis. I do the bookkeeping and accounts for the business and I could see exactly how bad things were. Because of all the business debts there was no income for household costs. We have 3 children and in order to pay the housekeeping - food, clothing and all the other family expenses - I had to use our credit cards. 18 months previously we had taken out 2 loans to pay off the cards (to save on interest charges). But now all the cards were practically back to their limits and the loan payments were badly in arrears. I was terribly worried and felt quite ill about the whole financial situation. I hadn't discussed it with my husband. He tends to 'put his head in the sand' when it come to debt. Anyway he was working as hard as he possibly could trying to bring the money in. It was in desperation that I phoned you. I remember how sympathetic you were. You explained all about the legal arrangement where the debts could be reduced and the unaffordable amounts written off. You sent us all the information and arranged for us to meet one of your recommended accountants. I realised this was our only chance. I really could not take any more pressure from all the creditors. The bank, VAT, Inland Revenue, credit cards, loan companies and all the trade debts. I was trying to pay them as much as I could. But everyday I was getting inundated with phone calls. No sooner had I finished speaking with one credit controller or debt collector when the next one called demanding payments which I just couldn't make. Each day, when the post arrived there were 4 or 5 demands. Several creditors were threatening to take us to court. One trade creditor wrote stating he would petition us for bankruptcy, unless we paid in full. If bankruptcy did take place we would have lost everything we had worked so hard for over the years. Before we met the Accountants you helped me prepare all the information. I couldn't have managed this on my own. Every time I spoke to you I was in a complete state. Each time you were very understanding and step by step everything was put together. The Accountants you chose for us were unbelievably good. They had successfully handled many similar cases to ours. They too were very understanding and professional - and explained exactly how our arrangement would work for us. I was very relieved that our share of the legal fees could be paid in instalments. Everything was organised for us. The best part was being able to refer all the creditors directly to the Accountants. They took away the stress from me, and stopped all the impending court actions. The result is that thanks to the expertise of the Accountants our Arrangement was accepted by our creditors. Our debts of over £46,500 have been greatly reduced. We now pay one monthly payment of £400 for 60 months. The interest and penalty charges have been stopped and the balance of outstanding debt is cancelled. I can hardly believe the difference all this makes. The same creditors who made my life a complete misery and had refused all my efforts of lower payments - all accepted to reduce the payments to make them affordable and to legally write off a high portion of the debts (even the trade supplier who had threatened bankruptcy). I now know that if you have high amounts of debt, it is virtually impossible to deal with it yourself. You must get expert help. Specialist recommended Accountants who know what they are doing and who the creditors approve of. They can legally arrange everything for you. You cannot live with ever increasing debts - it just gets worse and worse. I am pleased to say with all the pressure gone and with a much lower debt repayment our business is doing well. We have been able to fix the broken machine and more work is coming in. My husband still works long hours but now it is worth all the effort. Our family life is much happier, the children no longer have to worry about Mum and Dad. Our eldest daughter starts University next year (she nearly decided not to go) but now we can manage the costs. Again I am so glad I did call you all these weeks ago. Both you and the Accountants did ensure our I.V.A. was successful. My advice to anyone who has serious debts is - don't let it ruin your life. Your debts can be made legally affordable - just let the experts help you. Yours sincerely Jan Buckingham Andover |
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