I'm in trouble

nearlyrich

Have you read this?

:money: The aim of this board is a mutual support and guidance for those struggling to get out of problem debts. :money:

If anyone "has a go" you can report abuse by clicking on the triangle in the bottom of the post.

I echo other posters, yes it's scary but the hardest bit is the facing up to it and admitting you have a problem, now you need some solutions and there are some really knowledgable people on this board, some of us have been there.

Start by reading this then post your budget, incomings and outgoings in as much detail as you feel comfortable with, without identifying yourself.
You might get some questions but 99% will be supportive and will try to help.

Hope this helps....:)

skintchick

I'm no good at which debts to deal with first, but I can help a bit with outgoings - so here we are, and remember, my priorities are different to yours, what I think is a luxury may be essential for you and no offence is meant!!


My income 1533
His income approx 1200-2000 (it has been varying a lot)

Household outgoings:

Rent 700 - ouch! Any way you could move somewhere a bit cheaper?
Electricity 41
Gas 30 these two seem high. I pay £35 for both a month with Powergen online. Martin has a new article about switching and you should defo look into this
Sky 49 - Personally, I don't; think anyone needs Sky, and this is excessively expensive! Could you cut this out until you are sorted?
Water 23
BT 47 - again, seems very high. Is htis itnernet as well? I consider that a luxury too! Use the library/work/friend's. But anyway look into switching your phone.
TV licence 11
Content insurance 14
Pet insurance 9 - can you stop this for now? Is it really necessary?
Life insurance 5 - same again.
Magazines 20 - you can't afford this!!
My mobile 50 - Waaaaay too high - my last mobi bill was £2.53!! You need ot cut this down
HSA 30 - ???don;t know what this is
Sky box insurance 7.9 - see above ref Sky - get rid/cut down

My partner's business expenses
Suppliers/rent 800
Train 325 - has he got an annual season ticket? It's upfront money I know but you save loads and get discounts on people travelling with you too
National ins 9
Mobile 70 - I know it's for work, but does he NEED to use it htis much?
Magazines 12 - what are these for??

Debts:
CCCS:
Natwest 17.39 1,459.59
Barclays 99.82 10,334.52
Intelligent finance 118.49 13,395.01
Bank of Scotland 46.30 2,486.28

Others:
Mint 65.00 4,125
Barclays credit card 11.00 425
Capital one credit card 15 296.17
HSBC credit card 47 1,476.72
Co-Op credit card 107 5,268.48
Egg loan 150 10,000
HSBC loan 361 32,447.70
Provident 60 825
Student loans 96.10 3,901.88

HSBC overdraft 600
Barclays overdraft 300

Partner:
HSBC credit card 150 5,000
Capital one credit card 100 3,000

Thank-you.

I calculate that you have coming in £2,733, and debt outgoings are £1,444.10, leaving you £1,289, not counting the overdrafts.

Then you spend £2,252, and that's not counting food, socialising, etc.

So there needs to be some SERIOUS cutting back and sorting out!! Which I'm sure you know.

I don;t think that was much help, but perhsp between us we can come up with something.

Keep hoping xxx

Eager_Elephant

Hi,

Before I delve right into this can you answer a couple of questions:

1) Your partners income, is that actually what the business takes in a month or is this what the business actually pays him?

The way it looks is that if he has a particularly bad month and only makes £1200 then his business expenses each month are more than that so he is running in deficit. What about Tax and National Insurance is that saved in a seperate account?

Can you tell us what the business is/does?

Could he run this as a part time job or hobby and then work elsewhere for a guaranteed salary each month?

Have you approached CCCS hypothetically and asked them what would happen if you took out further credit?

Have you considered bankruptcy? I will give my comments about this in a minute but can you let us know if you work in the finance industry or any job where your contract states you are not allowed to go bankrupt?

Thanks

EE

Northernbird_2

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to go through everything and cut some stuff out.

I know the Sky looks excessive, but we don't go out at all, and we watch and tape the movies etc. We don't go out to dinner or anything, or go to the pub in an evening or weekends, so the cost is basically that.

HSA is a health cash plan, but I'm going to cancel that along with the life and sky box insurance. The pet insurance - I have two cats and if something happened to them I wouldn't be able to afford the vet bills. Earlier this year, one of my cats swallowed something she shouldn't have. Stomach surgery, x-rays and treatment for pancreatitis later....the bills were paid by the insurance company.

Wow about the gas/elec. I was paying 90 to British Gas and thought I'd done well with the saving! I'll give Powergen a go.

The rent is high, but it is the area where we live.

Thank-you - you were a great help.

Northernbird_2

For my partner, it's what he brings in in total. I did actually forget to put in his tax, as he owes the Inland Revenue as well.

His costs vary from month to month depending on the level of work, so if the level of work drops the costs drop as well, though his train travel stays the same, and rent, but supplier costs can vary.

I'd rather not say what type of business it is to be honest. Hope you don't mind. It's not something he can do part-time or as a hobby though.

I work in financial services, and whilst I haven't seen anything specific about bankruptcy, I don't think I would be able to keep my job. I have thought about it, but I want to try and pay it back if I can. I know that it can be the best option for a lot of people, but I want to try and avoid it.

With regards CCCS, when I spoke to PayPlan they said it would be likely they would fail the plan.

Thank-you.

tattooed_lady

Hi Northernbird

Welcome to MSE and well done for posting.

Don't cancel your life insurance, not a good idea in my opinion but maybe see if you can get it cheaper.

Sky has to go!! If you pay Sky £20 they will give you a freesat card (freeview) and that will work out much cheaper. You can always get proper Sky again later. I used to say 'we don't go anywhere/do anything' but with your amount of debt it's not justifiable.

Can the mobiles be changed to PAYG? I use 02, £10 a month with 300 free texts, always have credit left at the end of the month.

You haven't included anything like emergency money, sundries etc, could you give a more detailed breakdown of where the surplus goes after debt/utility/rent payments?

Eager_Elephant

Right, thanks for getting back to me.

Your SOA looks incomplete, what about the following:
Food - unless you don't eat (very moneysaving but not recommended)
Xmas/Birthdays
Holidays
Entertainment
Council Tax
Hair Cuts
Clothes
Emergency money
Any car related expenses?


Let us know some amounts for the above. Having worked out some quick figures, Taking your partners best month you have a combined income of £3533.00, less your expenses listed in your original SOA make £2252.90 which leaves excess income of £1280.10 - only that's not strictly true as you have missed some things off.

Allowing for the above lets say you have excess income before debt repayments of £900.00, your minimum payments on all debts but not overdrafts total £1444.10 so each month you are running in deficit by quite a lot and that is only when your partner has an exceptionally well paid month.

So if we took your debt as it stands today and froze the interest (this could possibly happen but not all at the same time) then with your excess income it would take 107 months which is over 8 years. But what happens if some months are not like the best case scenario - it will take even longer.

Can you live a restricted life for that long?

The above time is only providing that all creditors freeze interest which is not likely for the first six months or so.

I think an IVA might not be such a good idea as your partners income fluctuates so much and if you fail your IVA then the Insolvency Practitioner is duty bound to bankrupt you.

Bankruptcy has to be a last resort as I'm sure that working in the financial industry this could have a big impact on your job.

Do you have a staff welfare officer or helpline that you could ring for advice - remember you do not have to give your name and address.

EE

Northernbird_2

I'm locked into a contract with my mobile, but I'm going to ring and get it down to the lowest tariff and only use if I have to. I'll see what I can do with my phone in March.

At the moment there isn't really any surplus for emergencies etc. We're spending as little as we can during the day and on food. I've started writing stuff down, so I can see where it goes.

I've just gone on to uswitch, and the supplier they recommended should be able to save me 200 a year. I'm waiting for the details and I'm switching!

The life insurance is actually accidental death benefit insurance. Should I keep it?

ffs

Northernbird wrote:

The life insurance is actually accidental death benefit insurance. Should I keep it?

If your life insurance was sold to you rather than a policy you intended to purchase, try getting a few quotes using the insurance info on MSE, it may well save you £10+ per month. The Double Indemnity element of your insurance does sound like a luxury though.

Number_6_3

Northernbird wrote:

I've just gone on to uswitch, and the supplier they recommended should be able to save me 200 a year. I'm waiting for the details and I'm switching!
QUOTE]

If you haven't signed up already through uswitch...go to quidco then sign up through uswitch and they will pay you £5! Not much but every little helps!

quidco uswitch

Its free to join and they've just scrapped the minimum payout

You could get a freeview box for as little as £30. Or the sky one suggested earlier may be a good alternative.

Another possibility would be to try lovefilm or similiar dvd rental service. Again quidco will pay you £13 to try it and its a free trial. quidco lovefilm

Unlimited 1 1 disc 14 Days £9.99
Unlimited 2 2 discs 14 Days £12.99
Unlimited 3 3 discs 14 Days £14.99

Unlike some of the others there is no late fees. Someone else may be able to suggest a better one?

You might want to get your partner to look at tmobile for the calls tmobile business 3000 daytime minutes £15 ex vat Thats to tmobiles, landlines. Vodafone do some good business tariffs as well, I'm sure the other networks do offers. If you can post back with a rough breakdown of the calls. Are they landline, mobile etc.

HTH

R