Handing back the keys and starting over?

bazzais

I am not an expert but when I was in debt I was protected under the consumer credit act. Both your loans are unsecured so you only have to pay back 'what you can afford' and the people you owe money to have to accept your offer as they are breaking the law by not accepting it.

Here is a Income and Expenditure form I found:-
http://www.debt24.co.uk/income-expenditure-form-free.htm

The best thing to do is probably phone whoever the people you have the loans with and tell them your situation tell them that you cant afford to pay them the full repayments and are going to fill out this form so that you can pay back all you creditors at an even level and to the best of your ability.

When I went to see CAB when I had all my debts I was told to stop paying all my debts straight away and start paying my real bills like heating and water and to phone my creditors and ask them to send me a Income and Expenditure Form.

I also explained to my creditors that I wanted the accounts frozen and them not to incur any interest as if there was interest it would be more than my offer of payment making it no point paying. I told them if that was the case they could take me to court. They dont like taking it to court as it costs money and all the courts can do is look at 'what you can afford' so they end up being paid at the same rate.

My debts were £5000 to egg car, £3000 to barclaycard and a barclays overdraft of £8000

They all froze my accounts and accepted terms that would have taken 230 years for me to pay them off in total. Eventually as my cashflow changed I upped my payments and slowly paid them off.

I would def go see CAB though for any real advise.

Ta

Baz

geoffky

if your car is worth less than 1k you probably can keep the car if you go bankrupt...

barnaby-bear

northern_worrier wrote: »

Any other advice would be appreciated as I'm not sure what else I can do.

Post on DFW board?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1098807

fiodyl

you should definatl be getting more than £150 a month in tax credits especially if you have a baby under 1 year old.

Id take a gues and say you should be geting roughly £350ish every 4 weeks plus £75 child benefit aswell.

Give tax credits a ring to check they are paying you correctly and also find ot if you can get any help with the council tax bill by ringing the councils benefit dept.

With any luck if tax credits have been underpaying you will get a lump sum that can be used to reduce your debts.

pickledpink

Hello Northernworrier,

The £12,000 debt is an unsecured loan and if you're only left with £2 a month to pay them then they have to accept it by law. The Credit Consumer Council (CCC) will be able to advise and help you (they a free charity).

If you're worried about your car (and no court action has been taken against you as yet) you are well within your rights to sell your car to your partner/relative or a friend for any amount you choose (even £20!) and driving it as a named driver.;)

Jacks_xxx

:wave: Hey sweetie,

At the moment you and your wife are stuck in "panicking and can't see a way out mode" (I've been THERE! :eek: )

Martin The moneysaving EXPERT always says that he's never seen a debt problem that couldn't be solved.

My first bit of advice is to get all your facts and figures straight. Write down exactly what you've got coming in and going out.

On the Debt Free Wannabe board we call this a Statement of Affairs or SOA and if you post it on that board people wil make suggestions for ways you can cut expenses or get better deals.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76&page=2&order=desc

Call CCCS who will give you unbiased factual advice and their only agenda is to help.

http://www.cccs.co.uk/contact/contact.aspx

There is a wait for detailed appointments at the money so in the meantime fill out their Debt Remedy tool. It will help you get all the info together ready for the indepth chat and give you an idea of what your options might be.

https://www.cccs.co.uk/debtremedy/(S(knlew2e0uyv4mi55453zfci2))/start.aspx?hp=7

Two years ago we owed £97,600 not inc our mortgage and now we owe about £6k due to the fab advice given on this site and a restructuring of our mindset rather than our finances.

I know it's hard to focus right now and I know my hubby was resistant to this idea for ages, but if you go through your monthy expenses and check online for better deals and switch you can save loads of £££.

And if you can join up at the Quidco website you can very often get cash payments just for switching suppliers.

Martin is saying to stay put for gas and leccy at the moment but big savings can usually be made on your insurances for example. (My hubby finally caved in to my nagging and switched his car insurance saving £400! :eek: )

The food bill can often be reined in a little, and all the savings add up until all of a sudden you're not up !!!!!! creek any more!

There's a thread on moneysaving Old Style where we all try and keep our grocery spending down called the Grocery Challenge:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=33

If your wife could get a weekend job one day a week, or do some childminding, babysitting, mystery shopping or eBaying the combination of slighly bigger income plus slighly smaller expenses suddenly makes things look loads better. :j

Have a :coffee: and start getting to grips with it all - and you'll feel more in control and less desperate and helpless I promise.

Big hugs,

Love Jacks xxx

rachnbri

Actually as Jacksxxx says childminding could be a great idea to bring more money into your household. It's not an easy job by any means and there are days when I don't know how my childminder copes but she says she loves it and can't imagine doing anything else. I also know from what I pay her that she must be earning a reasonable amount!!

If your OH feels that it is something she could do then your local children's information service can help her to get registered and with her advertising etc and she'd be able to work and earn money without having to fork out for childcare for your little one.

Trollfever

Advice from CAB about debt and benefits:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/

macaque_2

Would this mean I would lose my car etc, as I need that for getting my baby around.

How big is this baby?

Jacks_xxx

Somehow I forgot to say:

Check these out. Martin says if your family income is less than £66,350 you might be entitled to more than you're getting.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/benefits-check?gclid=CJbSgJ-CkpUCFR0nEAodGVM9hA


http://entitledto.co.uk/

Love Jacks xxx