Hey - just a little advice needed.

[Mrmantusa]

Hi guys, been looking at loads of threads in here regarding debt etc, all good stuff and great to see the amount of genuinely helpful people here.

Basically, I think I've hit my limit with my debt. I have unsecured debt to two creditors totalling £24,000. They are as follows;

Lloyds tsb loan: £18,340 monthly payment: £384
Lloyds tsb overdraft: £3000 monthly interest and fee: £40
Barclaycard: £3000: monthly payment: £65

I got made redundant at Xmas 2011, but luckily found a job pretty much straight away, however my salary went from £28,500 to £15,500 - which its still at. I managed to get rid of some debts using my redundancy money (including a hp financed car). My outgoings total approx £1000 and my net monthly pay is £1092 approx. it leaves me with that £92 to clothe (I haven't bought new clothes for about a year lol) and feed myself. Some months I've earned a bonus which has been great but there's no overtime nor bonus opportunity available anymore so it leaves me facing trouble.

I'm 30 years of age, and have been in debt to lloyds tsb for 12 years, slowly spiralling to this point. Years of living well above my means has hit me hard, I've just recently split from my long term partner and literally have nothing. I'm now at the point where I need to rid myself of debt and start over. I must add that I have never missed a payment to any creditor in my entire time having credit, so this is all very new to me.

What I'm after here is this: will lloyds tsb be willing to freeze the interest on the overdraft and loan, therefore freeing up an amount of money to help me with living costs whilst gradually reducing my debt to them? That's all I'd need to be honest, I'd continue to pay barclaycard as normal as the interest rate is only 5.9% whereas the loan is 13.9%. I've looked at iva and bankruptcy as I have no assets other than my battered old car but its quite confusing.

I really don't know what to do. Any advice out there?

Thank you.

MM.

[Tixy]

Hi MM and welcome to the forum.

I would think in your circumstances it would be worth talking to one of the debt advice charities and possibly considering a DMP.

Is the £100 outgoings figure including your debt repayments? It might be worth completing a statement of affairs and posting the results on here - it may help people suggest ways you can free up money somewhere (such as by getting things cheaper / finding cheaper suppliers / shops etc). And peope will be able to see whether a DMP is suitable for you in your situation.

The SoA calculator is here - http://www.stoozing.com/msoc/soacalc.php

Info on debt advice charities here - IMPORTANT - Where to seek professional impartial advice about your debts.

[crushed00]

Originally Posted by Mrmantusa

Lloyds tsb loan: £18,340 monthly payment: £384
Lloyds tsb overdraft: £3000 monthly interest and fee: £40




.

Someone else now suffering and fearing their future because of this bank.. I honestly feel for you. I have no advice to give, but I know others will. Good luck to you at the start of your long road to been debt free.

[Snagggles]

Originally Posted by Tixy

I would think in your circumstances it would be worth talking to one of the debt advice charities and possibly considering a DMP.

I second this. One thing to bear in mind is that either by working with one of the debt charities, or by negotiating yourself, you will probably be able to reduce your monthly payments to more manageable levels. Paying less than your contracted amounts is likely to affect your credit file and make obtaining further credit more difficult for a few years, but you can't live on £92 a month, and with your outgoings the way you are, it's unlikely you'd get any sort of high street lending anyway.

As Tixy also said though, if you want to post you SOA, we could try to make suggestions for reducing your outgoings so you can free up more money each month.