1. How much will I have to pay?

We will prepare a financial statement and come up with an affordable monthly payment that will meet your individual means.

2. What do you do?

A Debt Management Programme is way of helping people who are finding it difficult to meet their debts. We will deal with difficult phone calls and letters from your creditors (organisations that you owe money to). We will negotiate with these creditors to give you the best possible interest rates and repayment terms; although we cannot guarantee that they will agree to this. You will then make one simple monthly payment to ourselves and we will make payments to your creditors on your behalf.

3. How do I know I am getting the best advice?

Thornton Shepherd Associates are licensed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to carry on the business of consumer credit, credit brokerage, debt adjusting and debt counselling. As such, any advice we give must be ethical, professional and logical. We are also covered by the Data Protection Act, to ensure client confidentiality.

4. Can this be a joint arrangement with my partner?

Yes. Joint income and expenditure will have to be shown.

5. What is the charge for this service?

As most of our work for you will be done at the start, we will retain the first payment to cover our costs in implementing your programme (i.e. it will not be used to pay your creditors). Once the programme is set up, you will pay the single affordable payment every month which we will use to pay your creditors. This monthly payment includes our fixed management fee of £30.00.

6. Will this affect my credit rating?

If you have a debt problem it is likely that your credit rating will already be affected. Creditors will register your account as being in default if you are unable to meet the original terms of the agreement. This will be noted on your credit reference file and the information will normally be held on file for a period of 6 years. This may affect your ability to get credit during that time. Reducing payments to your creditors can extend the time it will take to fully repay the debt.

7. Do I need to change my bank account?

If you stay with a bank where you have credit facilities like an overdraft, loan or even a credit card, they may collect the money you owe them if any is paid into the account with them. Your programme will be designed to make payments to each of your creditors. If your bank takes their full payment, you may not be able to make reasonable payments to your other creditors. So, you should think about opening another account with a bank where you have no debts. This will give you control over your money and make sure all your creditors get fair payments.

8. Do I need to cancel my direct debits?

When you are happy with the terms of your programme and want to go ahead, we recommend you cancel all other payment arrangements made with the creditors on your Debt Management Programme. Be careful not to cancel any other payments that are not on your programme. The effect of us retaining your first monthly payment and the time taken to distribute your second payment will initially lead to arrears with your creditors unless you also maintain their payments in full. Therefore we recommend, where affordable, that at least a nominal payment is made to each creditor during this initial period.

9. What if I can't keep up my repayments?

When agreeing your new monthly payments to your creditors we help to ensure that it is a realistic and affordable payment. Therefore it is vitally important to ensure there are sufficient funds available when the standing order/payment date is arranged. In the event of non payment, we will be unable to pay your creditors and this could result in them terminating the agreements we have made on your behalf. This could lead to your payments being increased back to the original contractual payments or even demanding complete repayment. It is therefore imperative that your payments are made each month. Should anything unforeseen happen, you should contact us immediately so that we can advise what you need to do.

10. How do I know my debts are being paid?

Once we receive up to date balances from your creditors, a personalised financial statement will be prepared with pro rata offers based on the amount owed to each creditor. We will issue you with a monthly statement each time a payment has been made on your behalf. Additionally, you will still receive statements from your creditors.

11. Is this a loan?

NO. We rearrange the debts you already have into smaller payments that you can afford. You should be aware though that by doing this you may have to pay more interest in the long term, although we negotiate to reduce or freeze interest rates, although we can not guarantee this.

12. Do I need to send any ID?

No, this is not necessary.

13. What do I do next?

To help us reduce your monthly payments to a single, affordable amount, simply complete the enclosed confidential information and return it in the FREEPOST envelope provided.

14. Cancelling the Agreement

You may cancel your agreement with us and receive a full refund up to 14 days after the programme has been instigated. Thereafter, any cancellation will result in Thornton Shepherd retaining the full fee (your first payment).