Hello Leanne and welcome to the forum.

Would you mind confirming a couple of details for us that will help us to provide relevant information for you?

Firstly could you confirm whether or not your home is jointly owned.

Secondly could you let us know, of the ?ú50000 unsecured debt, how much is in your name, how much is in your husband's name and how much is joint debt.

The house is jointly owned, and ?ú33,000 of the unsecured debt is in my name.The other ?ú17,000 is in my husbands name.

Hi there

You wouldn't lose the house as such, but you would need to pay over the equity in the house as this is regarded as an asset. However as the equity is the same as the debt, then this would not appear to be an ideal solution for you.

Mark

So does this mean we could have to do a debt management programme then. Sorry i'm abit confused we tried to get a remortgage and were refused what can you suggest for us? Please help i'm at the end of my tether.

Hi mammybuck

Could you let me know roughly how much you could afford each month in total. This will give me a rough idea of timescale etc for each option.

Mark

We think we could manage about ?ú500 because that would still leave us with money for the utilities and mortgage payments. We have a car on hp would that get consolidated too or would we still have to pay that aswell?

Hello Leanne,

When thinking about how much you can afford towards the debt each month you need to first think about everything that you need to pay out for each month. This includes obvious things like mortgage, council tax, utility bills etc and also travel, food, clothing and so on.

The amount left over is termed "disposable income" and is the basis upon which several different types of debt solution are worked out.

Let us know your best guess and we will be in a better position to let you know all of the options available to you both. It may be that different options are a better fit for each of you due to the difference in individual debt levels.

Hi Leanne,

I think we were writing at the same time!

If the loan for the car is definately HP it should be included as part of the essential expenditure as it cannot be included in a Scottish Trust Deed or other types of debt solution.

Ok thanks for your swift reply. We have now thought that ?ú400 would be manageable but dont know if that would be enough for the companies to accept what do you advise?

Hi Leanne

I think you may need to look at the DAS scheme or possibly a Trust Deed for you and DAS for your husband.

Could you advise me what your net income is and what your husband's is and I can run through some figures and ideas.

Mark

Mark

Hi Mark thanks for your reply. My husband earns roughly ?ú1,000. from his job and he gets a military pension of ?ú365 per month (both after tax) I earn ?ú900 and then get tax credits of ?ú513 per month (both after tax) Can I just ask what is a DAS? I've not heard of it before.

Hi Leanne

DAS is the Debt Arrangement Scheme run by Money Advice Agencies. It is a scheme where you agree a monthly payment to creditors to pay the debts in full. It freezes interest and stops legal action by creditors. It also excludes the house as an asset, so the house should be safe.

On the current figures, you could pay ?ú500 over an 8 year period which could clear debts in full. My thinking was that as the market improves, you may be able to get a remortgage at some point in the future and pay off the balance early.

Hope this helps (a bit)

Mark

Thankyou that is really helpful advice. How do we go about getting that set up? Does the ?ú500 come from both of us? (making ?ú1000 a month) or is that between us? Sorry to keep asking loads of questions but I need to be sure I understand it all fully. Thankyou and have a Happy New Year.

Hi Leanne

No probs. The DAS Scheme is set up by local CAB offices. If you check the internet for Money Advice Scotland, that should provide the link to the nearest office.

The ?ú500 was total, not each. Generally you are looking at a formal arrangement which will stop interest, otherwise the ?ú500p/m would be swallowed up on interest alone.

Any other questions, advice etc, please feel free to ask.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Mark