is there anything more I can do?

Animar86 · 29 June 2016 at 1:46PM

Hi everyone, firstly I would like to thank everyone in advance for any help and advice you can give me.

To let you all know my debt situation. Over several years I slowly got into debt due to bad money management and being young and dumb. I currently have £4700 with a debt consolidation company. Sort of wish I hadn't done it now but at the time it was a good option.

I am currently paying £100 a month (which works out as £70 to debtors after the company has taken their fee) as it is all I can afford unless I chop and change my budget a little but I am not sure what to cut down on at present.

I am also paying £200 to my dad as he took out a loan on my behalf to enable me to get a new car (it was needed I had a 2000 plate car that needed a new ecu as well as other things so it would cost more than the car to pass the MOT)

I have been signed off work since January with severe anxiety (partly caused by money) so now my income is very low. Roughly £1100 as aposed to £2000+ before I was signed off.

I am living with my parents at the moment due to my anxiety and even though this means my out goings are cheaper it still comes to around £600 per month as I am having to pay for a storage bin to hold all my stuff.

What I am really after is some good budgeting tips to help me pay off my debt a bit quicker and also build up savings as I currently don't have any and I am wanting to move back out of my parents house before too long.

The other real issue I am having is that being on benefits I receive money every 28 days so the actual date of payment is always different but obviously the date I pay my bills is always constant (1st of the month etc) I just cannot get my head around this so even though I can work out roughly £400/£500 expendable income it never actually shows up that way. Does anyone have this and if so how do you cope!?!

Luvplacebo · 29 June 2016 at 2:26PM

No real help, but how long are you living with your parents for? If its more than a few months then is it worth thinking about selling what's in storage and buying it again when you move out? If you're there for several months then you may end up paying more to store things than you would pay to buy them again.

DCFC79 · 29 June 2016 at 2:43PM

The dmp was a good option and still is, sounds like it was the only option.

sourcrates · 29 June 2016 at 2:45PM

Do you qualify for a debt relief order ?

Stepchange are a recognised intermediary, have a look on there website.

You shouldn't be paying anyone for a DMP either !!!

National_Debtline · 29 June 2016 at 6:14PM

Hi Animar86 and welcome to MSE,

If you were to post your SOA I think people can be even more helpful. From what you have said so far your living expenses are £600 - does this include the £200 to your dad for the loan? How long it left to run on that arrangement? You also mentioned storage costs for furniture - a good way to calculate if this is worth it to consider the following; How long will you be living at home? What much does the storage cost you? What do you have in storage?

As an example, if you have items in storage that would cost you less than £1000 to replace but you are paying £200per month to store them and plan to live with your parents for more than 5 months it would be more cost effective to sell the items and replace them when you move. (I have used easy figures as an example - but you get the idea).

You also mentioned that you have £400-£500 expendable income per month but your DMP is only £100, it sounds as though you could increase your DMP payments. Sourcrates is right that you should not pay anyone for a DMP, there are free providers out there, so even if you can't pay anymore than the £100 at least all of your payments will come of the debt and there is no management fee - that will speed things up a bit.

And finally, a DRO is unlikely to be a good idea if your car is worth more than £1000 or if you have more than £50pcm disposable money - which you sound like you do based on your payments to your DMP and dad. Lots of things that you could tweak here though - post a SOA and you will get even more tips. Good luck,

Laura
@natdebtline

is there anything more I can do?

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