How to deal with my debts? Help needed

Hurtyhead10 · 11 February 2018 at 5:05PM

Hi all,

I’m new to this so please be nice and any questions of more info you need just ask.

Basically I am in a dmp at the moment with the following debt outlined below with the relevant companies as well as owing family money.

Sunny £950
118 Money £8000 (loan of £3500 but they wouldn’t stop any interest or charges so has. And is spiralling)
Piggy bank £1400
Drafty (credit resource solutions) £2500
Apfin £400

I really struggle with my debts and a lot of them were down to a manic spree with my bipolar. I also suffer with both epilepsy and severe depression and I’m often suicidal as to what to do with these debts.

I really don’t know what to do and have looked in to settlement figures etc but it all becomes to much. Any advice on any additional steps to take or reduce the debt would be much appreciated

Thanks

Pixie5740 · 11 February 2018 at 5:14PM

Hurtyhead10 wrote: »

Hi all,

I’m new to this so please be nice and any questions of more info you need just ask.

Basically I am in a dmp at the moment with the following debt outlined below with the relevant companies as well as owing family money.

Sunny £950
118 Money £8000 (loan of £3500 but they wouldn’t stop any interest or charges so has. And is spiralling)
Piggy bank £1400
Drafty (credit resource solutions) £2500
Apfin £400

I really struggle with my debts and a lot of them were down to a manic spree with my bipolar. I also suffer with both epilepsy and severe depression and I’m often suicidal as to what to do with these debts.

I really don’t know what to do and have looked in to settlement figures etc but it all becomes to much. Any advice on any additional steps to take or reduce the debt would be much appreciated

Thanks

A good starting point is completing a statement of affairs and posting it on the forum for suggestions on how to manage your budget.

Who is managing your DMP? You? A debt charity?

sourcrates · 11 February 2018 at 6:18PM

We need to see an SOA to give appropriate advice.

Other statutory available options are :

Bankruptcy

IVA (individual voluntary arrangement)

DRO (debt relief order)

Depends on your circumstances.

pennystretcher · 12 February 2018 at 8:45PM

Take a deep breath and complete the SOA - http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php and post here so that we can see what you can do with your current financials or if bankruptcy would be a better option.

Please do not think your situation is unusual - there are plenty of stories here in MSE that are likely to be much worse than yours. You may have realised that there is a lot of work to be done, but bear with us. We'll do everything we can to get you out of this.

To start with, give yourself a hug - you have asked for help and we'll do our best to give it to you. This is your lightbulb moment (LBM) and you have taken the first huge step and asked for help.

Hurtyhead10 · 13 February 2018 at 12:52AM

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies it means a lot, please see the fine although it is a bit vague I currently pay £50 a month to stepchange to give my creditors.

nthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1600

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 700
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 80
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc)....
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1310

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
118 money......................8500......0.........0
Sunny..........................1000......0.........0
Piggybank......................1250......0.........0
Drafty.........................2600......0.........0
Apfin..........................400.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........13750.....0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,600
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,310
Available for debt repayments........... 290
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 290

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,750
Net Assets.............................. -13,750

EssexHebridean · 13 February 2018 at 1:01PM

I'll comment in red as usual but to clarify the debt below is NOT additional to the DMP -
correct?

Hurtyhead10 wrote: »

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies it means a lot, please see the fine although it is a bit vague I currently pay £50 a month to stepchange to give my creditors.

nthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1600

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 700 This is quite high - any chance of a move to somewhere or taking in a lodger with the agreement of your landlord?
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0 Ahh OK bills all inc in rent? that makes the rent slightly more reasonable!
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40 Is this in contract? If not or approaching the end then look to switch to SIM only
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150 Just for you? You can trim this a bit
Clothing................................ 50 This is high - stop and think whether you need what you're thinking of buying or whether you just want it, and if the latter, whether you want it enough to justify spending on it.
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 10 Paid monthly? If so switch to paying annually as they charge a premium for monthly payments.
Car Insurance........................... 80 Ouchy this is steep - use comparison sites to check you're not over paying.
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 You need something here - start saving a sum monthly to cover the servicing, depreciative and MOT related costs and also to pay that road tax as an annual when it's due for renewal.
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc)....
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 This is highly unlikely to be included in your rent so double check and make sure you get something in place if not.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 Nothing? Never? not even for your nearest and dearest?
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 150
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 Look to save £500 in here.
Total monthly expenses.................. 1310

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
118 money......................8500......0.........0
Sunny..........................1000......0.........0
Piggybank......................1250......0.........0
Drafty.........................2600......0.........0
Apfin..........................400.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........13750.....0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,600
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,310
Available for debt repayments........... 290
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 290 well that's good isn;t it! Do you actually have that left each month?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,750
Net Assets.............................. -13,750

Not so bad - that surplus though - do you actually have it or does it disappear? if the latter make finding it your focus as that's nearly £3k a year that you need to account for.

What's your aim here - to save up to offer full and final settlements on the debt in time? It certainly looks like that would be achievable for you. Otherwise you could go back to Stepchange with a view to increasing the payment on the DMP to get things cleared a bit quicker while still perhaps putting some money aside for F&F's?

National_Debtline · 13 February 2018 at 1:25PM

Hello Hurtyhead and welcome to the forum.

How much debt do you owe your family, and what are the current repayment terms (if any)? I can fully understand any desire to ensure they are getting repaid, but it's hard to offer definitive advice on your options without having this extra info for context.

Dennis
@natdebtline

smdabs · 13 February 2018 at 6:10PM

I would imagine that with StepChange already being involved they will have developed repayment plans with the lenders and hopefully the (abysmal) interest has been frozen.

Have you considered lodging formal complaints, either directly with the lenders or via the Financial Ombudsman?
As a financial service, regardless of whether they are a large financial institute or a pay day loan company, they have a duty to assess the circumstances of their customers prior to agreeing to any borrowing in order for them to be (as far as they can be) 'responsible' lenders. This includes careful consideration to lending money to people presenting symptoms of mental health issues.
If I were you, I would be talking to the FOS about your situation as soon as possible, or if necessary, asking StepChange to assist you in doing so.

Having previously worked for numerous banks in their complaint departments dealing (and dealing directly with the FOS), I can tell you that we are specifically trained in identifying signs of mental health issues along with numerous other categories of 'vulnerability' to ensure we, by the very least, do not make a customer's circumstances any worse, even if that means declining an application for a loan.

How to deal with my debts? Help needed

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