Can you settle my debts immediately… please?

With increasing numbers of Brits turning to debt management companies for help, the question we encounter most is ‘Please, please, please can you wipe out my debts as soon as possible?’

99% of the time the answer is “No” and at Lewis Alexander we believe that our responsibility is to set our customers on the journey to a stable long-term financial existence.  Therefore, rather than starting with a solution we like to start by understanding the personal circumstances of each of our clients.

By completing a thorough financial healthcheck with any prospective new debt management client, we are then in a much better position to offer debt advice and debt solutions to best help our clients.  Typically, we find that the most common solutions are:

(1) Entering into a long-term or short term debt management plan

• Where we negotiate with your creditors on your behalf
• Potentially stop interest accruing on your debt – this is not guaranteed!
• Agree reduced debt management repayment plans over an agreed period of time

(2) Re-structuring debt payments for our clients

• Where we discuss with your creditors the current debt repayment amounts, term of loan/debt & the interest rate
• Agree new terms that are more preferable to you if possible
• Potentially change the debt solution that you are using

(3) Arranging partial settlements for outstanding debts

• Where we negotiate with your creditors to encourage them to accept a reduced repayment, by way of one lump sum usually known as a short settlement or settlement in full and final.
• Ensure that any agreement is acceptable to all parties

(4) Entering into an IVA

• Whilst some of our competitors consider this to be the ‘first debt solution’ we prefer to use this as a debt solution of last resort.
• An IVA is a formal agreement where you come to an arrangement with creditors you owe money to, to make reduced repayments towards the total amount of your debt in order to pay off a percentage of what you owe over a set period of time, usually 60 months.

The choice of debt solution depends solely on the individual circumstances of our clients, but each of these options take time to negotiate, agree and formalise. The only true option that leads to immediately sorting out debt as soon as possible, is the 100% (or very near) repayment of all of your debt. Which, if we are being honest may have made you less likely to have called Lewis Alexander to access our expertise in helping ordinary people, like you, who are in debt!

The one thing that we can promise to do instantly, in all cases, is to identify a solution that best suits you.  Should our service not be what you need we will try and refer you to a company or organisation that is better placed to help you.  For many people who are in debt they would ideally like everything sorted using the wave of a magic wand, however, this does not happen but the feeling that their situation is being managed professionally is enough to take away a large percentage of the pressure of being in debt.

• Our free from a landline personal debt helpline is available by calling 0800 018 6868.

We believe that by providing easy access to our advice means that we are better equipped to start working on your personal solution as soon as possible should you qualify for any debt solutions that we can offer.

So, if you find yourself in personal debt and need some help to turn your personal finances around then call us on 0800 018 6868 now.  Whilst we can’t promise instant debt clearance solutions, we do promise to work hard for clients and to look after your best interests.

• Call us today and see if we can help you to start to relieve some of the stress of being in debt.
• Our number again is 0800 018 6868.

They tend to just see the headline figures – forgetting that a fair chunk of this salary disappears to the taxman.

Recent rounds of redundancies have hit higher earners just as much as lower earners – and there is the age old adage that one tends to spend all of what one earns!

So when redundancies kick in, there isn’t always the large pot of reserves that others might imagine.

It’s quite easy to do, that headline rate of £100k is reduced to somewhere closer to £60k after taxes and National Insurance is paid.  This still leaves a healthy £5k per month to spend, but by the time that the mortgage and bills are paid on the £ ½ million house there isn’t really a lot left… particularly after the wife has been out shopping as well!

When you initially broke the news about the job, whilst you had expected a rough ride from friends, there was the hope that your beloved might be a little more understanding, but sadly this was the latest in a long line of ‘mistakes’ that you had been responsible for (shouldn’t you have guessed?), so now the pressure is on to find a replacement job to keep the family in the lifestyle to which they had become accustomed.

Now unlike families who live on a more ‘modest’ budget, when your outgoings total £4,000 each month, the savings pot you had been building up disappears at an alarming rate.  Sure, you had intended to save more but what with the cost of private school and extra curricular activities it just did not happen.

Looking for a £100k job can take a little while as, unsurprisingly, they tend not to grow on trees.  In times of recession there also tends to be less movement in the senior management sector so you are looking into a difficult market.

Three months after your initial redundancy, you decide that the time has come to look for some slightly less senior roles, but soon realise that you are seen to be over-qualified and are looked over for interviews.  With six months passing you decide to get involved with a friends business on a self-employed basis, simply to help cash-flow as the debts are starting to rack up!

• Before you know it, there is little headroom left on the credit cards and you are starting to get some difficult phone calls from creditors regarding unpaid bills.  It really shouldn’t have come to this, but there now seems no way out…

• Help, however, is at hand.

At Lewis Alexander, our dedicated debt management specialists are uniquely placed to provide professional advice, guidance and ultimately provide solutions to your debt problems.  Our advisors deal with your situation in the strictest of confidence and work out what options may be available to you.

• You can call us free 24 hours a day using 0800 018 6868.

With asset-rich customers there are often more options than you may think, and a couple of well-placed sales of valuable items (that antique painting you never really liked) and potentially a secured loan or debt management plan can help set you on the road to financial recovery.  We can talk through your situation, listen to the concerns you have and start working on a solution with your creditors that takes the stress and pressure away from you, meaning you can focus on developing your income and spending time with your family.

As long as you have a regular source of income and the thought of putting in some hard work to turn your situation is something that you are prepared for then we can help!

• Call 0800 018 6868, our advisors usually help people find a route to a more stable financial life.
• Remember our advisors are trained and will deal with your situation in the strictest of confidence.

Call free today!

You set off with considerable enthusiasm for a new start, a reasonable lump sum, a chat with your partner promising that it will ‘all be ok’ and within weeks you are starting to wish that the redundancy letter you thought would bring a new direction to your life had actually landed on someone else’s desk. 

• You are not alone!

This is a surprisingly common scenario facing thousands of working and middle class families across the country who found that they were subject to downsizing by their employer to cope with the global downturn in economic fortune.

This of course has meant a significant reduction in household income for these families.  Whilst this reduction in income is survivable for most families for one or two months, the moment that it pushes five and six months it really starts to pose a problem.

For months three and four, the life savings start to disappear, before the kid’s university funds and finally the Christmas budget goes and before you know it, you are starting to miss payments on the credit card bills and the car finance etc.

With the job market the way it is, it can be hard to get any job at the moment, let alone a job that pays the same as the one you used to hold.  So, as the month’s creep past and the savings have been eroded, it is understandable that keeping up with the rent or the mortgage becomes more important than keeping up with the Jones’.

• There are options open to people in this position and quite often things are considerably more flexible than you might think.

First up should always come a full frank review of your household budget.  Detailing the complete list of current incomings and outgoings can often be a combination of emotions.  For many it reveals that the monthly list of regular payments far exceeds the expected amount.  For others it shows that the scale of the ‘nice to have’ expenses – those that really aren’t essential to everyday living.  It may also be a cause for upset as you realise the scale of the problem that you are faced with.

However, once you have completed step one, you are ready to move forward and look to the future for you and your family.  Having understood the scale of the problem, it is much easier to then look for appropriate solutions to combat these issues.

Prior to looking at a debt plan or any sort of further loan, it is sensible to discuss your newly found knowledge with existing lenders.  Having discovered the extent of your financial situation, it may be that existing lenders can restructure your payments.  Extending the term to repay the funds, reducing the monthly payments temporarily, or converting the loan to ‘interest only’ are all options that could be explored.

• If you have already missed some key points in time, then this may not be possible and one free call to Lewis Alexander on 0800 018 6868 will help you to understand the best options for you.
• We start by conducting a free financial health check, which ensures that we understand your financial situation, so that we can offer the solution that suits you best.

As industry experts in debt management solutions and services, we are ideally placed to understand your unique situation and then rather than sell you a plan that may not be suitable, we work to deliver a plan that best helps you move forward in your work and personal life.

We find that our clients respect us more for being honest with them and genuinely helping them with their individual circumstances, rather than pressure selling a specific solution.

We don’t charge any up-front fees for our financial health check (our continued services are chargeable should you proceed) and make sure that you understand all the implications of the debt plan you may approve following the completion of your financial healthcheck.

• If you want to talk to one of our advisors in absolute confidence, call us FREE on 0800 018 6868.

For those who have used our services, Lewis Alexander is a name that people have learnt to trust to help them start to, or clear, personal debt problems.

Prepare a list of questions that will help you identify if they are trust worthy and reputable, how can you be sure you can trust the actual comparison web site itself.

• Who is doing the homework on the debt management companies being compared and how often is the information updated?

Lewis Alexander was approached by a service claiming to be a debt management company comparison website for people confused by debt, they offered us the opportunity to pay them to be listed on their site, we asked them why we should pay to be compared for the consumers best deal, they could not answer our question so we did not advertise with them.

The lesson we can learn from the likes of Direct Line Insurance is that they cannot be found on comparison websites. This is a very large company owned by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, why would they not be on comparison websites if they were so beneficial to them or their customers?

The only way we could see a debt management comparison website working was if it listed every debt management plan available in the country to a consumer at the time of the consumer search, without a total comparison of all debt plans available, how would the consumer know which company offered the best deal?

• They would only be aware of the best deal amongst the companies advertising on the debt comparison site. This is NOT a total comparison!

You should be very careful when taking information and advice on something as important as your personal finances.  A company that specialises in comparing companies is doing just that, you should take financial advice off of a company who specialises in giving financial advice and clearing consumer debt, not just one that tries to compare companies that actually do just that.

If you are confused by debt problems and solutions available to clear debts, you can call our free from a landline debt helpline 24 hours a day in absolute confidence using 0800  018 6868.

• Our trained advisors are waiting for your call!

A lender or loan company makes a decision to lend based on the risk that you personally present to them regarding your ability to repay the credit you are applying for.

Examples of factors that lenders take into account when scoring your application for credit could be some of these that follow;

• Are you working or not?
• If employed is this full time or part time?
• Do state benefits make up 100% of your income?
• Do you have a UK bank account?
• Does your employer pay you in cash?
• Has a bad credit rating affected you from obtaining credit or loans recently from other lenders?
• Will you be able to repay the loan if you suffer a change in circumstance, such as loss of job, split from partner or less hours at work?
• Have you ever been declared Bankrupt, subject to an IVA or Debt Relief Order?

There are many factors that lenders will take into account when deciding to lend money to an individual and you should accept that each lender has different requirements that the proposed customer or client should be able to meet.

• A lender does not have to inform you of how they decide on approving or declining your loan or credit application.

Different loans require people to qualify in differing ways.

For example, a debt consolidation loan could be secured against a home, this would require the individual to usually be a home owner because if they were not, there would be no property for the lender to secure the new loan against should the person fail to repay.

An unsecured loan requires no security but rates of interest are usually higher to balance a lenders risk of loss due to none repayment or an unexpected time delay to recover the money leant.

If you have been refused a loan and then made further applications for credit within a short space of time, you may be surprised to learn that multiple declines for credit within a short period can mark your credit score down further.  This is then an alarm bell to other lenders when they search your credit file to see if they are happy to lend to you because they see all the other lenders declines.

You need to realise that more credit is not usually the best route and by obtaining free financial advice from a trained debt advisor, you will be able to clear your personal debts without another loan!

Debt solutions such as an IVA or Debt Management Plan could assist you.

• Some loan companies will charge you fees for an online loan search – be careful!

Can you really afford to part with another £50 or £60 without a guarantee of a loan? Some companies are making large gains from taking advantage of consumers in a vulnerable financial position.

When you have no other income apart from state benefits, it is hard to get a loan.  People on maternity leave can find it particularly difficult as they have a job but the income is reduced, creating extra risk to the lender.

If you think would benefit from a free telephone consultation with a trained loan advisor who can help you identify your best solution, call Lewis Alexander free using 0800 018 6868, our free from a landline personal debt helpline is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week and all calls are confidential.

• Need Debt Management Help?
• Find Debt Management Questions and Answers!

During the course of our business day, we receive a lot of questions from prospective clients about debt management, how we can help them, how much it costs and the best debt soltuin for them to follow.

As you can imagine, all situations are slightly different and we specialise in helping people from all walks of life, you could be a single parent with a low paying job or even a footballer.  Yes, even they get into these kinds of financial situations and need help with their debt problems. They are fully aware of the quality help a debt management plan can give them should it be needed.

• We have listed a few of the questions below,

One of those often asked questions is – How can a Debt Management Plan help me?

Debt Management Plans can help you if you are struggling and unable to repay consumer debts such as personal loans, credit cards, store cards, bank overdrafts and catalogues etc.  If your income is lower than your outgoings, this will cause you to get further into debt each month.

A Debt Management Company will gather all the information from you regarding all your unsecured debts, your income from wages and any other means including state benefits and then decide with you, how much you are able to repay as one monthly sum to start the pathway to reducing the total indebtedness over time.  One, new and affordable simple monthly payment is arrived at with the client to ensure they are comfortable with meeting that payment.

• The Debt Management Company will then negotiate with the various creditors as to the amount they will each receive monthly.

As you can imagine this involves a fair amount of work and negotiation with the various creditors.

One of the most common types of feedback we receive is that clients are so thankful that we make this process as pain free as possible and we manage to arrange a new debt repayment plan without the clients having to even write one letter.

It is possible to arrange all this yourself, but imagine just for a moment how much time energy and cost would be involved in the process if you were trying to deal directly with your creditors.

• A client who is already in financial trouble is less likely to be able to cope with such situations as well as trying to negotiate the best terms possible.

Yes, it’s true that a debt management plan will cost you a small amount each month, payable as part of the payment plan and usually included within your monthly payment but the cost is negligible when you consider the many aspects involved in arranging a structured repayment plan yourself.

• One needs to peek into the management side of a plan to see what is involved and appreciate the complex negotiations a reputable debt management company undertakes on behalf of a client.

Once a sensible monthly payment is agreed, the debt help provider will normally distribute your payments monthly on your behalf to your creditors on a pro-rata basis, minus the costs of the plan.

• A second question we receive is;

Do I need to pay any legal fees and Do I need to put my property up as security?

The answer to that question is NO in both cases!

A Debt Management Plan is not a legally binding agreement and therefore no legal fees are involved.  If you have a property, this will not be needed for security when entering into an informal debt management plan.

What you will also find is that once a fair payment plan is arrived at, most creditors are very flexible in their attitude towards a debtor.  This is very probably due to the fact that many lenders or loan companies look at it with the attitude that the person involved has taken the positive steps to approach a Debt Management Company and made efforts to re negotiate their debts.

• This is a very positive move!

They can also be very flexible depending on your track record of repayments.

You must bear in mind that under normal circumstances, debt management plans usually do not deal with but do take into account any secured loans such as mortgages or court fines and any tax arrears. These debts are normally budgeted for within your expenditure part of debt management plans financial statement.

For impartial advice on how a Debt Management Plan can help you right now, contact Lewis Alexander and ask to speak to a personal debt counsellor for free advice.

Professional debt companies like Lewis Alexander understand what people are going through and are willing to offer assistance that allows you to cope in these difficult circumstances.  We will help you review all your finances in private and make a suggestion for a positive solution.

Lewis Alexander Financial Management, offer a first class personal Debt Management Servicenationwide throughout the UK. We are based in Trafford Park, Manchester and we have helped thousands of people in our history.

We have in house specialists who concentrate on debt management and personal debt and loan consolidation and we have been looking after a great number of our clients for many years now.

Call Lewis Alexander on their personal debt helpline using 0800 018 6868, our lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and your call is free.

For most people that live in Scotland, the differences between debt solutions that are available in England compared to those in Scotland can be some what confusing to say the least.  If you have previously taken advice from debt agencies and are still struggling to understand the various options available to clear your debts as a Scottish resident, please read this blog post further as we believe this will help you.

• Trust Deed

Most people are now familiar with the term IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement), for those that are not, it is a legal agreement between you and your creditors in England ONLY, and is a form of Insolvency that allows you to pay back an amount of the money you owe within a set or fixed period of time, usually 60 months or 5 years.  The remainder of what you owe that has not been repaid is then written off by your creditors leaving you debt free.

• The Trust Deed, is very simply the Scottish alternative to the IVA in England.  The difference is that in Scotland, the Trust Deed lasts for 36 months, not 60 months like an IVA in England.

Creditors are not duty bound to agree to Trust Deeds as they do need to make sure that they are obtaining a satisfactory percentage of the total debt to be repaid.  This is not always possible when the clients circumstances are investigated as the client sometimes does not have enough disposable income (the money left over after essential bills and living costs) each month to meet the financial repayments, in this case the client can then consider a debt management plan or Bankruptcy.

• YOU SHOULD NOT APPLY FOR ANY FURTHER CREDIT ONCE ACCEPTED ONTO A TRUST DEED!

A Trustee will manage your Protected Trust Deed for you and Trust Deeds can only become protected if certain requirements are met by the individual, if the Trust Deed becomes protected, your creditors cannot take legal action against you and the interest or charges on your personal debt will become frozen.

You will NOT be charged to enter a Trust Deed arrangement, your creditors are responsible for paying your Trustee out of the contributions you make whilst the agreement is in place.

• Bankruptcy in Scotland is sometimes referred to by some as Sequestration

Sequestration involves removing or seizing a persons belongings or assets, to a value of the debt owed with a view to being of financial benefit to the creditor owed the money or in some cases this can be for monies owed to the Scottish state.

Laws in Scotland that appertain to personal debt and finance agreements can vary based on what type of agreement you have signed and with which company or lender.  For an exact definition of different legal agreements, you should without question consider speaking with a Scottish Insolvency Practitioner or solicitor.

The above is a very basic explanation designed to give you a brief outline of the differences between, debt help in Scotland and that to the rest of the UK.  For a more detailed explanation you can contact our personal debt helpline which is open 24 hours a day.

IVA or Debt Management

The most difficult decision when trying to clear personal debts can be which debt solution to choose after doing all your homework on the options available.

• Debt Management Plans or
• IVA – Individual Voluntary Arrangements
• are usually the two solutions that people have to decide between. When faced with the two options, there are many factors that influence the choice of informal debt management over an IVA and likewise, an IVA over a debt management plan.

It is very important that you understand the differences between these debt solutions, as if you do not, you could easily have the wool pulled over your eyes by a clever and unscrupulous debt advisor that wants to earn extra commission for placing you onto an IVA as opposed to an informal Debt Management Plan.

A professional debt management company such as Lewis Alexander will offer you advice tailored to your personal situation and if you are better suited to a debt management plan rather than personal Insolvency or an IVA, we will tell you, however, you make the final decision based on the debt advice given to you.

It is your choice no one Else’s!

When you are in debt it can feel like everyone else does not understand your particular situation and that you feel that your debt problems are some how different to all others.  This is not true, it is actually a mental stigma associated with being in personal debt, you are not alone and your financial problem is usually pretty much the same as others around you, it is your personal change in circumstance that will differ to other peoples, this is what creates the problem of being in debt in the first place.

Some people split from partners or others suffer a death in the family, others may have hours at work reduce resulting in less income, the list is endless but what is the same is the debt problem that people find themselves with due to being set back financially by the change in circumstance they may have suffered.

The main difference between an IVA and Debt Management Plan (DMP) is that

• An IVA is a legally binding agreement
• A debt management plan is not.

With a debt management plan you can expect to repay much of what you owe.  With an IVA, the debt that is not repaid within a 60 month period is then written off by your creditors, this is agreed at a creditors meeting prior to the IVA commencing.

The IVA will guarantee to freeze any interest or charges being applied to your accounts, a debt management plan will not and it is down to the hard work and efforts put in by your chosen debt management company as to how quickly your debt is reduced, make your selection regarding your chosen debt company or debt service carefully!

• The cost of choosing or selecting the wrong debt company or agency to solve your debt problems can be as high as the interest being applied by your creditors to your accounts.
• The wrong debt company will have no concern on actually getting the job done, they are more concerned with extracting funds from you and fobbing you off with none truths.

For honest, genuine, debt advice and help in the UK, call our free from a landline personal debt helpline today using 0800 018 6868, your personal details are dealt with in absolute confidence and your call is free!

At Lewis Alexander we understand how personal debt problems can impact on your daily life and we offer help and assistance to clear your debts without another loan.  You do NOT need to take on further credit or loans to clear credit card debts or other unsecured credit agreements.

You can start by exploring proven debt solutions such as a Debt Management Plan or IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement).

Debt solutions such as bankruptcy are usually the last to be considered and also the most severe! Please remember that you should not pay debt companies for advice about how to clear personal debts.

There are many different ways of finding free help to clear debts, many sites online will offer information that when put together, gives you a broad but at times detailed explanation of solutions available to clear personal debt.

• Should you really trust the companies you owe money to when looking for help to clear debts?

Help to clear debts in the UK is usually chargeable when you use the services of a debt management company or Insolvency Practitioner that you would be expected to make repayments via a third party, other than when starting one of those two options, no individual should be asking you to part with any money unless you owe it directly to them.

• It is very important that people consider all options available when obtaining help to clear debts!

Apart from the main 4 solutions (debt management plans, bankruptcy, Consolidation loans and Insolvency)  there are no magic ways of wiping out debt, unenforceable credit agreements do exist but not in the numbers that some companies are advertising!

• Debt management should only be entered into with the right company, do your homework!
• An IVA should only be entered into with a licensed insolvency practitioner
• A loan to clear debt should only be taken from a licensed credit broker
• Bankruptcy is entered into through your local county court

Be careful of being charged upfront fees for help to clear debt and services that may not even exist, some companies are charging people for loan applications to clear debts and these people are finding that loans are still not available to them, even though a  fee has been paid!

Should you wish to discuss you personal financial issues with a trained personal debt advisor and simply need help to clear debt, please call our free from a landline personal debt helpline using 0800 018 6868, our staff are UK based, lines are open 24 hours /7 days a week and your call is FREE.  All calls are dealt with in confidence.