Completely lost, very long post - need a lot of advice/direction

TottalyLost wrote: »

Sorry if this long post is going to bore you to death but I feel so tottaly utterly lost and need some (any) advice and some kind of direction...

It is going to look/sound relly bad but I am going to be 100% honest here.

*********************

Last time I checked I had about 35k debts (loans, credit cards etc etc - several places). I had a DMP with CCCS to pay £500 per month which I broke about a year ago as I went off long term sickness from work (stress, signed off by my GP) and was on half pay. I was not in contact with CCCS for all that time.

At this moment I am not even sure who my debts are with as I believe they have been "passed on" several times by now. Or how much are they as I believe interests/fines were added. I have not opened any letter since I broke my arrangement with CCCS - in fact I have shredded and thrown away every single one that came to me from creditors and/or CCCS.

Today I have got a postcard type of thing with "We will be vising you in the w/c 15th June, if this is inconveninet please call..." I am not going to call and I will not be at home, if I am - I am not planning to open the door/let anyone in (1st floor flat with an intercom).

I need to get my head round to what to do about all this and try to get out of this mess and desperately need help from you here on the Forum - before I call CCCS again after the weekend.

My current financial situation is:

Salary - 41k per year
Accomodation - 2 bed council flat with a rent of £340 per month and another £60 per month I pay towards rent arreas (about £1500 to pay)
I do own a car, have no "assets" apart from usual, normal furniture/telly/cooker etc
Myself and my daughter who just turned 19 and is finishing her A levels right now, off to Uni (not sure if local or away from home yet - to be decided at UCAS clearance on 20th August)
We also have a large dog and a cat (costly but part of family and not going nowhere "to save money")

I am not going to list my bills here at this point but will list some questions that hopefully someone will be able to answer for me?


1) How do I find out where my debts are now/who are they with 9passed on to by original creditors) and how mucg are they (including possible fines etc)? You could try getting your credit files from experian and equifax, they should show your debts.

2) What do I do if someoen turns up at my door? tell them to go away. Unless they are bailiffs (which would mean you've ignored court papers and have had a ccj against you and refuse to pay) If they are just doorstep debt collectors then they have no rights.. bailiffs are a different matter but if you get your credit files these should show if there's been any ccj's.

3) If I broke 1 DMP with CCCS - would they allow me to set up another with them? As I said this was due to being off work long term, stress at work related (nearly a year , 6 months of wchich I was on half pay, went back to work on 1st March this year)? Would the creditors accept this? Would CCCS accept me to set up another DMP with them? You can ask.. not sure what their policy is. If not you could try national debtline, CAB or payplan if you are going the DMP route

4) Would BR be a better option then DMP? If you cannot service your debts and are technically insolvent then you can go BR. You'll need to list your full I&E to see what you can afford.

5) My daughter being 19 and living at home or at University campus - would she still class as depandant (Child Benefit will finish in September this year I believe) and would I be able to include her expenses (which ones?) in my Expenditure? My income is taken into acount in her "Student Finance" application and grant reduced due to it regardless of the fact if she lives at home or not during her studies so I wonder? I think she would be included in your expense but not 100% sure

6) I have pulled out of my company pension few years ago, would like to rejoin - is this classed as an expense for BR or DMP purpose? It will take about a month or 2 to show back on my payslip so how do I deal with that? I can only answer from a BR's point of view.. a company pension is allowed as long as you aren't making additional volantary contributions

7) I have absolutely nothing in terms of letters/ref numbers etc etc relating to my debts as at a moment of total depresson I have shredded all and went in denial pretending they did not exist. start with your credit files and go from there..

8) Where on earth do I start ? see above

Thanks a lot for reading, hopefully someone can point me out in the right direction.....

Oh - and last, very important thing - where can I find some guide figures of what expenses are allowed/likely to be accepted for a family of 2 (myself and my 19 yo daughter) living in a 2 bedroom flat, I mean cost of gas and electric (currently paying 80 per month for gas and £50 per month for electric, same every month for a year to even out between summer and winter), food, clothes etc etc? look at some of the posts with SoA in the title and you should find some guidance, or put dowwn some numbers here and see what people say .. you can use http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Also are any pets expenses allowed? As I work full time I pay £150 per month for dog walker lunchtime as I am out of the house for 9 hours per day, £40 for insurance for both dog and cat, another £80 per month for food for dog and cat and cat litter..... there are allowances but no idea what they are.. can't help here.. soz

TottalyLost wrote: »

TIgerfeet - thanks a lot for that.

I have just kind of copied/pasted from my spreedsheet and the SOA looks more less like this:

Monthly Income (after tax) £2,450.00 (that does nto include pension deductions so will be a bit less, not sure how much till I rejoin)
Benefits £ 80.00 Child Benefit - ending September 2009
Total Income £2,530.00



Rent £ 360.00 Water included
Council Tax £ 95.00
Electricity £ 50.00
Gas £ 80.00 bit high for 2 people
Telephone (land line) £ 40.00
Mobile Phone £ 40.00£20
TV Licence £ 12.00
Satellite/Cable TV £ 18.00 not allowed
Internet Services £ 12.00
Groceries etc. £ 400.00
Clothing £ 100.00
Travel - public transport £ 160.00
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.) £ 35.00 £20
Pet Insurance/Vet bills £ 40.00 Dog and cat £20
Dog walker £ 150.00 5 days per week for an hour lunchtime not allowed
Dog/cat food/litter £ 80.00 not allowed
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.) £ 10.00 not usually allowed
Haircuts £ 10.00
Entertainment £ 20.00 not allowed
Holiday £ 20.00
Household Emergency Fund (e.g. for repairs) £ 15.00 not usually allowed
Cigarettes £ 150.00 def not allowed

£1,897.00

I have done this as for bc. Not sure you would be allowed as much as you have put on a DMP either. Try the CCC's debt remedy,,that might give you an idea of allowances for a DMP.Dx


Balance £ 633.00



Balance - child benefit £ 553.00


Any advice on how to juggle thos figures?

To be honest I am thinking more DMP then BR but if BR is a better option for me....

With BR it seems (correct me if I am wrong) that after 3 years one can get back to semi normal life.

With DMP - even with a say 5 year plan, there is no guarantee that the debtors will write the rest of debts off after the end of 5 years on DMP? So it seems never ending?with a DMP you pay a reduced amount for up to 15 yrs,and an IVA is for 5 years .

I know it all looks pretty good above in terms of possible repeyements but please keep in mind I was on half pay for 6 months so still trying to slowly pay back money borrowed here and there to make ends meet at the time - not as rosy in terms of real "surplus income".

I do not own a hous so have no insurance bills etc, I do not own a car so no car expenses, live in London so public transort is expensive, the above is for myself and my 19 yo daughter.

When you say "find it somewhere else" - what do you mean please? Extra job? But then that income would again be taken into consideration for either DMP or BR?

Thanks again.[/
I have done this as for bc. Not sure you would be allowed as much as you have put on a DMP either. Try the CCC's debt remedy,,that might give you an idea of allowances for a DMP.Dx