Personal Debt
Step 1 Assessing the Client’s Situation
• Making a list of all your debts and highlighting ones that need immediate attention
• Have some already gone legal; are others about to go legal?
• Is your ESB, Gas or Phone Bill in arrears – if they’re not looked after you could be cut off?
• Some debts are more important than others, i.e. Mortgage arrears, Rent arrears, fines &
maintenance payments - these are priority debts
•
Have you any Hire Purchase Agreements – you do not own your car until
the last repayment is made, if you fall into arrears the car can be
repossessed
• Do you have any Court Fines – non payment might result in a Jail term
•
You will probably have some form of Secondary Debts, which usually will
not involve any security, i.e. Bank Overdraft, Credit Cards, Personal
Loans, Catalogue Accounts
Step 2 Budget Plan/Standard Financial Statement
• If you are looking for an interest only or reduced repayments on your Homeloan or
Mortgage, every Bank now requires the completion of a Standard Financial Statement and we will help you to complete this
• Establishing Monthly Income versus Monthly Outgoings
• You will be able to see what you can afford to offer to those who you owe money to, as per your list of debts
• What’s available to pay arrears and any other debts?
• A Budget Plan is a critical part of the overall plan to solve your debt problems
•
Your Budget Plan is personal to your circumstances so it is very
important that all your income and expenses are included - you should
check to see if you are claiming all available tax credits, social
welfare entitlements, whether there is loan insurance on some of your
borrowings or can you rent a room, etc.
• Look at
your outgoings and see if there are any particular expenses that you
could reduce, i.e. ESB, Phone, Sky TV or have you checked to make sure
you have the most
competitive Health Insurance, Life Insurance etc.
Step 3 Payment Plan - Debt Plan
•
If after completing your Budget Plan it is evident that you do not have
sufficient income to cover your existing monthly repayments and
outgoings, then a Payment/Debt Plan will be required
• We will review your debts under 2 headings - Priority & Secondary Debts
•
We will work out a Payment Plan based on the Monthly Budget to address
all Priority & Secondary Debts with agreed monthly payments being
made to all creditors
• Your Priority Creditors will be given
preferential treatment so that your house isn’t repossessed, you aren’t
evicted or your ESB/GAS/Phone is not cut off
• It is important to
ensure that all creditors receive some level of
repayment on a monthly basis, as to ignore a creditor may result in
legal action being taken
• We negotiate with your individual
creditors with the aid of your Budget Plan to work out a suitable
monthly repayment, one which is within your means to pay going forward
Step 4 Payment Plan - Debt Plan
• Set up separate Bank Account to make monthly budgeted repayments
• Stick to the Plan
•
Regular contact with your Creditors is crucial - if there’s been a
change to your circumstances they should know immediately, as they will
be more open to adjusting the payment plan if warned in advance
• All communication with your creditors should be in writing and a copy of all correspondence should be kept in a safe place
• If you feel under pressure or stressed - you should seek help immediately - don’t bottle it up
