baines and ernst

Baines & Ernst are the biggest Debt management company in the UK.
Impressive huh? One of my mates enlisted their help as he found himself in a situation where his sleep was affected, he worried constantly, he had used all his credit cards to the limit and got loans to have a nice life...It all started when his long term partner ditched him for a bloke with more money and a better job, but hey thats another story...
He felt down and wanted to cheer himself up and he had 2 credit cards with £1000 on each to spend...Clothes quickly ensured he reached his limit and he called up for a higher limit and got it, he applied online at night for further credit cards and got them...he had a decent job...holidays added to the cards and the new ones quickly reached limits and even got extended...he never missed a payment..
Overall in 2 years he had £18,000 in credit to 4 major companies, names withheld...He kept going out to dinner with every girl he met to impress and thus his ready cash was spent every month, he stopped a few payments here and there to allow him the payments to be used as cash...
He decided to change jobs and in doing so managed to have a period in his life where 2 months he would have little cash flow...and the proverbial hit the fan in a big way...The letters started coming in and he placed them neatly in the bin...worst mistake...
when he got paid again he decided to treat himself again to cheer himself up...Sleep was now becomning an issue and he would call friends at all times of the day and night, his work was affected as he was thinking about his debt...pressure made him ill for a few weeks...sick pay made his salary even lower and less chance of paying any creditors that month too...
Then he bought a tabloid one day and noticed the advert for Baines and Ernst...His problems then started after months of confidence with B&E....A debt management company exists essentially to as the title says manage debt, which means that they negotiate a lower monthly payment figure with your creditors, they ensure that the mortgage is paid firstly and everyone is given a percentage of your income which you can afford to give..
The money you can give is all calculated out with your earnings and outgoings/allowances...They in the majority of cases contact your creditors and deal with them directly and you just sit back and relax...and B&E create Voluntary arrangements with your creditors which means they tell a creditor you are having trouble and will pay them a set amount from the B&E account you have set up...
You pay B&E an agreed amount which is then divided to the creditors and a monthly fee to B&E for their trouble...Here is some figures you may find interesting :
For a £397 payment per month for a debt of £18,000...creditors with varying amounts and interest rates, he had one creditor who after interest was calculated every month he effectively paid £10 to the account...think how many years £3000 would take to pay off...Of the 4 creditors he had the total he paid to them was £300...for a £18000 debt, cool or what? If you got a good memory you would notice that he paid £397...Yep £97 every month as a fee to B&E, how many months was it taking to pay off? I worked it out with him and gave up after 10 Years...interest was still to be paid...
So after looking at the figures a few months after enlisting B&E's help he realised that he was in a further spiral, he was not allowed any further debt whilst with B&E, his first payment of £397 would be lost if he withdrew from the programme, his creditors could decide at any time that they were not happy with the arrangement and indeed he started getting a letter from one of his creditors telling him they did not wish to deal with B&E and that Legal action would be taken against him...he passed the letters to B&E as agreed but they kept coming every month although he paid his £397...His credit status seemed to be in a state which would never be repaired...So what made him join Baines & Ernst?
The advert stated :One fixed monthly payment to cover all your debts, Solve your debt regardless of credit status, stop worrying about your debt, reduce payments by up to 75% per month...giving you cash to spend on living expenses...Not a loan or bankruptcy...
So he was hooked, and when he realised that he could have done all the things Baines and Ernst do himself and saved the £97 per month and given it to his creditors he was very unhappy which is when he told me of his problems...What can you do?
Well if you contact your creditors yourself it shows them you are living up to your problems and that you want to pay them...they ARE very understanding if you contact them directly...The local citizens advice bureau gives free advice on this problem, which give you best advice and not what would make them the most money...
The main thing you need to do is face up to your problems and speak to someone, whether it be a friend or family member they can and will think objectively for you without being bogged down with depression on the amounts you owe...After paying for just over a year he stopped paying B&E and spoke to his creditors directly, most accepted the same payments and he had an extra £97 to go round them every month, true he did lose his initial payment of £397 but he has now sorted out himself and is working in a positive manner to pay of his debts...
Baines and Ernst state they satisy 9 out of 10 clients...so maybe some have better figures that I have not seen...Last week he told me that he got a letter from B&E telling him that he qualified for a Trust deed to be set up...Why was this not the initial solution to his debt problem?
This involves a payment of around £200 into a trust and after 3 years the debt is written off and is legally binding if 75% of the creditors agree...he is going to contact them again...How much more money can they make from him? Answers on a postcard please...Did you know that Baines and Ernst were prosecuted this year for using MIcrosoft Office which was without a licence and they have appeared on the BBC watchdog programme