Is consolidation the answer?

dizzypink

RAS- We went through the CCCS web site, we havent spoken to them on the phone. Assumes the iformation would be the same.

RAS

Hi

You really do need to make you budget balance and then reduce it some more to start reducing your debt. Being a bit mean here, but it givs you a few ideas.

dizzypink wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1988
Partners monthly income after tax....... 721
Benefits................................ 243
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2952

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1121
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 132
Electricity............................. 75 - these are both highish - can you check whether you are in credit? Go round and turn off everything except the fridge and freezer and see what sort of daily usage that involves. reduce all other usage.
Gas..................................... 75these are both highish - if you heat water, turn the thermostat down to 60 degrees and keep the heating lower over the winter. Consider reducing baths, change to showers etc.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 13 - could you get a cheapr package for you communications? other people pay £30 for bundles?
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 10.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 13
Internet Services....................... 13
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 - given your situation, you need to cut this. head over to the money saving old stly board and aim to cut £50 this month and another next month.
Clothing................................ 50 - sign up for freecycle.org
Petrol/diesel........................... 80 - How many cars, how much mileage do you really need it?
Road tax................................ 14
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 25
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 65 - do you need this in it current format. Check with comparison sites and see if you can get cheaper term insurance and swap via www.quidco.com
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60 - you need to cut this back. freecycle and homemades?
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 2477.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 185000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 187500

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 153000...(1121).....6
Total secured debts........... 153000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco Card.....................7362......223.......17.5
Mint...........................4000......90........14
Barclaycard....................7640......159.......6.75
A&L Overdraft..................2000......0.........6
HSBC Overdraft.................3300......0.........18
M&S............................3821......95........18.9
Total unsecured debts..........28123.....567.......-

Can either of you get a low life balance transfer to lear out one of more of the most expensive cards?

You need to hit the most expensive debt first - what can you sell to make money to start cutting the debt back?

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,952
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,477.5
Available for debt repayments........... 474.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 567
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -92.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 187,500
Total Secured debt...................... -153,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -28,123
Net Assets.............................. 6,377

dizzypink

Thanks Ras- we are gointo to hit the budget again to see how lean we can trim it. Will post an update.

RAS

And do talk to CCCS. They can help you sort things out, just they are very busy.

dizzypink

I will do...just finding it very overwhelming at the moment. Need to get a grip, it aint gonna solve itself.

chevalier

I agree with RAS ref the cutting back, but also you need the family on board too. Ie I know it is warm now, but come the autumn/winter, only have the heating on at say 19degrees, and wear jumpers etc.

The other thing to be thinking about is say CCCS have said that a DMP with them will take 11 years to pay off, well yes that is the case NOW. But you will get pay rises, more hours, overtime, maybe even sadly, bequests, that you can put towards increasing your DMP repayments so that the Debt Free Date WILL move forwards. Also when you have been on a DMP for a few years, you may find that some creditors will take full and final payments which are much less than the total still owed, just to get some money in a chunk rather than continuing to be drip fed it.

best of luck
chev

dizzypink

Thanks Chev. Hubby is more on board with this than ever before.

The sad thing is this isnt the first time we have been this badly in debt, but before we have always had the option of just adding to the mortgage. This has always been done without thought to how we were living.

The part I am most scared about with the DMP is having people chasing us. Do they still send out the baillifs, things like that.

We havent gone for the secured loan yet, thanks to all you guys really.
We are looking today to do a un secured loan that will reduce the repmts each month, but this may only cover some of the debt.

Hubby is going to speak to his parents to see if they can help. I know he hates the thought but we dont have room to be too proud now. They might even be in a position to help with some.

We are already on Freecycle trying to get as much as we can that way but we need to have another go at the budget later. Not so teary today so I can at least face it.:D

RAS

Dizzy

You may get some DCAs being a pain in the short-term, but going for a secured loan will only put off the evil day and get you even further in debt unless you can get that budget balanced.

What you need to do is remember that DCAs do not hae the right to ring you - if you demand that they remove your telephone number then they are breaking the Data Protection Act if they fail to do this.

They are required by the OFT Guidelines to deal with your nominee, in this case CCCS and they are not allowed to bully you into paying more then you can afford.

Now they will try and ignore all these rules, so it is about you and OH boning up on your rights before things hit the fan and being firm with them. They may also suggest that they can send bailiffs, bankrupt you etc, but these are scare tactics and you will find that almost always they are done over the phone because the DCA knows that if they put them in writing the OFT and trading Standards would take action and they could lose their licence or be fined.

In practice if they get really nasty and go to court, as long as you turn up to defend the case, you will be told to pay what you can afford each month, which will be very much what you are already paying through the DMP. As long as you keep up those payments, then the DCA cannot go back to court to ask permission to send bailiffs out.

dancingfairy

Satelite/cable tv- you can't really afford this £15 a month - can you go freeview?
Food - definitely head over to MoneySavingOldStyle for help and advice on the food.

ANY_CHANCE

Well done for tackling your debt

I just had a quick read through your thread

i know its often not easy but you will feel better when you have everything under control

I dont know if anyone has mentioned reclaiming bank charges Payment protection etc

Are you on interest only mortgage?

make sure you dont take on any more debt to pay other debts