Advice needed please :(

Loretta

Conrad wrote:

Sarah, I dont usually visit this part of the forum but felt I had to reply.

I run my own mortgage brokers and have had 15 years experience, so I come accross similar situations all the time.

I cant give you specific advice but you probably have no alternative than to ditch all the debts via bankcruptcy, apart from the mortgage. Make sure the mortgage is interest only for now.

My youngest brother and his girlfreind separately went bankcrupt recently. They had no mortgage or children yet still found going bankcrupt very easy. They now feel as if they have been reborn! It is highly unlikley if not impossible that you will be thrown on the streets unless you cant maintain the mortgage.

Some people will give you all sorts of doom & gloom scenarios about Bankcruptcy, but I can tell u that even in the past before the 'easier' bankcruptcy rules were introduced (last yr) clients of mine went bankcrupt and guess what; life goes on and all of them went on to be able to obtain credit in the future.

Good luck, sounds like you deserve a bit!

Conrad

I am not sure you are right, if Sarah goes bankrupt she will lose her house as it will be sold to pay everything off, and bankruptcy itself is very expensive.

Sarah is not ready to make any decisions yet, as people have already said, she needs to list all her financial details on here and there will be plenty of people who can help her work out what is best for her, everyone is always so knowledgable and helpful.

Poor Sarah is on her own and panicking, there is nothing worse than financial problems as well as the responsibility she has bringing up the children on her own (their father sounds like he is and will always be completely useless, so no help there) and working full time, to her it is one enormous problem and she does not know where to start and is worrying herself silly about it all and probably not sleeping well.

Sarah, give it a bit of time, someone will come on here who knows how to help you, make that list so you can get the best help and good luck

Sarah1971

Well here goes!
This is my rough monthly income and expenditure:-
Expenditure!
Egg card 67.34
catalogue 100
mobile o2 45
Cherwell Council 95
HSBC Insurance 20.28
HSBC Mortgage 696
TV License 11
Childrens savings accounts 20
hsbc cc 106
GE Capital 28.33
Sky 21
broadband payment 17.99
friends provident life !!!!!! 12
Norwich Union Insurance car 52
CCard A & L 58.55
Shopping/Nappies/milk 400
child minder 450
Hair 25
James Dinners 34
Clothes/shoes/other 100
BT/Tel one 35
Gas 33
Electric 35
Water 17

Total Expenditure 2480

Income!
1300 Working 29 hours a week
110 child allowance
200 maint from ex
450 tax credits

2060 total income

As you can see I'm in a bit of a predicament, but amazingly I have managed to keep up with ALL payments so far as I did have some savings, but this has gone now and I have just had to use £1000 from my A&L credit card to do a transfer to my current account to help me out in the short term! This £1k is included in the above monthly calc, all based on minumum payments!

thanks for all of your help. I'm going to call the CCCS company to get some advice from them also.

Sarah

southernscouser

Sarah, you have a PM.

johannamse

Hey there,

The most important thing you need to do, is to try and get your spending under your expenditure. I am sure this can be done if you reallt put your mind to it. I have made some notes below:

DEBTS:
Egg card 67.34
catalogue 100
hsbc cc 106
GE Capital 28.33
CCard A & L 58.55
HSBC Mortgage 696 - Could you change this to Interest only temporarily?

Cherwell Council 95 – Are you claiming single persons discount?
TV License 11
Childrens savings accounts 20 – Stop paying into this
Sky 21 – Get rid of this
broadband payment 17.99 – there are cheaper ones than this – see board
friends provident life !!!!!! 12 – 2 insurances – are they both necessary
HSBC Insurance 20.28 – 2 insurances – are they both necessary
Norwich Union Insurance car 52
Shopping/Nappies/milk 400 – this could be reduced – see old style board
child minder 450
Hair 25 - STOP
James Dinners 34
Clothes/shoes/other 100 – Can this be reduced?
BT/Tel one 35 – this can be reduced see https://www.call1899.com
Gas 33
Electric 35
Water 17
mobile o2 45 – This is way too much, can you switch

Total Expenditure 2480

Income!
1300 Working 29 hours a week
110 child allowance
200 maint from ex - Could this be increased?
450 tax credits

2060 total income

Combined with trying to get your income under expenditure, I wonder how is your credit score? If you are really serious about getting debt free you could apply for an mbna 0% card, where you only have to pay £5 per mmonth during the 0%. This can be quite a dangerous thing to do, if you are still spending more than you earn, as it will feel like you have more money than you actually do.

I hope this has given you a few ideas. Keep posting. You will get there in the end.

Annie_Fanny

Hey there

I noticed that your child minder costs £450...

Check out this link, from this site, which details a government childcare voucher scheme which can save you money on your child minder costs.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1129566540,79743,

Hope it helps and good luck!

Annie

jen_jen_2

okay, not that bad, you have enough money to pay for all your essentials just not your debts.


HSBC Mortgage 696 -
Cherwell Council 95 –
TV License 11
Sky 21 –
broadband payment 17.99 –
friends provident life !!!!!! 12 – 2 insurances – are they both necessary
Norwich Union Insurance car 52
Shopping/Nappies/milk 400 –
child minder 450
James Dinners 34
Clothes/shoes/other 100 –
BT/Tel one 35 –
Gas 33
Electric 35
Water 17
mobile o2 45 –
total 2053.99 and i think you could make some further savings here eg food, clothes other etc

DEBTS:
Egg card 67.34
catalogue 100
hsbc cc 106
GE Capital 28.33
CCard A & L 58.55

i would suggest a debt management plan, paylink etc with this you ask all creditors to freeze interest etc and pay them whatever is left after your essential expenditure, in this case you have £6 but if you really look at savings you could increase this. Bad points, egg have a reputation of not accepting offers etc, you will get defaults etc and it will be harder to get credit in the future and it will take you along time to clear the debt. however the sooner you start the sooner it will be clear as others on the board have testified. good points you will have a budget and less stress because creditors will have accepted offers and your debt wont be increasing.

brummiebabe

Hi

Well done for posting, you've certainly come to the right place!

Just a few thoughts re: your outgoings... I know I may be duplicating others' posts a little.....

1. Mobile phone - are you tied in to a contract? Pay As You Go is a GREAT idea - I spend around £10 per month & Orange are doing a deal to get 300 free texts per month for that.

2.Sky - has to go!! Get A Freeview box - I know it's not got as many channels but it's a luxury you can't afford if you want to seriously get on top of the debt issue!

3.Car Insurance - seems expensive. Try Esure.com - mine is currently around £25 per month

4. Shopping - I used to spend £400 aswell! Now, with the help of the 'Moneysaving Old Style' board - got it down to £250-280 per month! Try on-line shopping, it helps you to stick to a budget & only buy what you need!!!!

5. James Dinners - I'm presuming this is school dinners - can't you send a packed lunch - much cheaper

6. Clothes/shoes etc - surely you can cut back from £100 per month!! Only buy what the kids actually need not just what you might WANT to get them

7. Childcare costs - Is that for 1 or 2 children? How many hours per week? You can claim nursery vouchers for upto £217 per month of childcare costs - and can use them with a childminder!

8. Can you look for a better mortgage deal?

9. How about applying for 0% on balance transfer cards - see Martin's advice re: current best offers!!

Best of luck with it all!!!!!!! Keep posting!