First Step Finance LTD

Debt Reduction Programme

Our Debt Reduction Programme works differently to all but a few debt solutions companies. The main reason for this is we are a financial litigation company as much as we are a debt solutions company.

We have a 4 stage process, each part is designed to enable our advisers to understand your needs and work with you to create a programme that is right for you.

1. The first stage is to determine your creditors and how much you are currently paying to them.
2. The second stage is to correctly quantify your level of debt. This is never the debt you think you are in. Because we are a financial litigation company as well as a debt solutions company we can establish how much of your debt can be legally challenged or written off leaving you with far less than you think.
3. The third stage is to register the debts as disputed with all your creditors and start the process of legally challenging all agreements. This will leave your creditors absolutely no choice other than to leave you alone until the dispute has been resolved.
4. The fourth stage is to take a fraction of the money you are currently paying monthly to your creditors and start you off on an affordable monthly savings plan to clear your debts. The average debt management plan from most debt solutions companies is approximately 12 years. We can prove that our average clients are out of debt within 10-24 months.

To use an example.
Mr and Mrs Adams from Exeter came to us in November 2007 with over £23000 of debt with 7 creditors and were paying out nearly £1700 per month. They were also £3800 behind with their mortgage.

Their creditors were:	Owing:
• I Group for their mortgage.	£3800
• Blackhorse for loan number 1	£5400
• Welcome Finance for loan number 2	£4600
• Swift loans for loan number 3	£2600
• Capitol One for credit card number 1	£2700
• Egg card for credit card number 2	£2400
• Marshall Ward for catalogue debt number 1	£900
• JD Williams catalogue debt number 2	£700

The Adams’s had already contacted a well-known debt solution company a month before contacting us who had already completed stage 1 and lessened their monthly outlay from £1700 to £380. This is the monthly amount the couple could afford to pay their creditors.

However because the payment was so low in relation to the debt, little or none of the interest had been frozen or stopped so the debt would keep growing until the Adams’s were in a position to pay the debt off. Even if that takes 11 years or longer.

We now come to stage 2 of our process and established their true debt. After investigation we found that we could claim, refund or write off:

• £1104 from I Group for late penalty charges levied on the mortgage account, which are unenforceable, and recoverable by law.
• £1952 from Blackhorse for mis-selling a Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policy, which is recoverable by law.
• £1652 from Welcome Finance for mis-selling a Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policy, withholding secret commissions and late penalty charges which are recoverable by law.
• £3950 from Swift Loans for mis-selling a Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policy and withholding secret commissions which are recoverable by law and because the credit agreement was wrongfully written we wrote off the balance of the loan.
• £623 from Capitol One credit card for late penalty charges levied on the account which are unenforceable, and recoverable by law.
• £523 from Egg card for late penalty charges levied on the account which are unenforceable, and recoverable by law.
• £900 from Marshall Ward for not having an enforceable agreement.
• £700 from JD Williams for not having an enforceable agreement.

Stage 3 is to register and initiate all claims with creditors, and insist that all interest be frozen and all contact with our clients cease as all debts are in dispute. Creditors have to agree because legally they have no choice. This takes an average of 5-8 months to complete all claims and acquire all payments from creditors. In this example we had written off £10054 of the debt they owed. That’s equal to nearly 44% of the debt being taken away.

During this time the Adams’s were completing stage 4 by paying the £380 per month into a savings plan and had saved up nearly £2000. We added this to the money we had acquired and came to settlement figures on all but two of the debts. Moreover by November 2008 the Adams’s will be debt free.

You will not have to deal with creditors yourself and any letters you may receive, you simply forward on to us.

To start your Debt Reduction Programme, follow this link.