Feel numb...

mother_hen_2

I've just come off the phone from CCCS - after completing their online form it seems we are in deficit by about £600 a month. Basically, they have advised we need to reduce our monthly costs (not helped when NR fixed rate ended) and increase our income. Even if we managed to do it the guy said for an IVA the companies are not accepting 25p in the pound payback - they are insisting on minimum of 40p. Devistated how did we get in such a mess - I feel scared and sick and don't know what to do. I thought the CCCS would help but it doesn't feel like it at the moment.

MrsTinks

Have you posted your SOA on here for the folks to have a look at? CCCS are usually pertty good but they do have guidelines on what you need to live... we all know that we can usually find holes in that
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html in case you don't have the link!

lunar

I rang cccs before i joined up to the site and was initially told i would prob need to look at bankruptcy. after following this site and all the advicei fount i made lots of cuts and have halved my debt. it can be really scary at first but you will get loads of help on here if you keep on posting. Facing up to the situation is always the hardest step to take in this.

Hopeful1

Hi Motherhen.

Don't give up yet - post up your details as others have suggested and see what thoughts others have. Other people can often see things we miss ourselves.

18 months ago realised i had more debt than i'd thought and realised why i was struggling so much. Through this site and the consumer action group i now have it all pretty much under control.

I took a long hard look at my spending, reclaimed charges on bank accs, loans and credit cards and also sent off credit agreement requests which bought me some time with those companies that couldn't provide one. I haven't avoided any debt but the all the things i've done have helped me to regain some order and control over my life.

I wish you the very best

mother_hen_2

thankyou for your kind words - I can't face posting SOA yet even writting this is a struggle.
I have reclaimed charges last year so that option is not there, I don't understand the credit agreement request bit? It really feels like BR is the only option.. I wish I could try and stay in my home but its not looking good.

mother_hen_2

Does anyone know where I could find a pro-forma for writting to my debtors and offering them a payment - CCCS said I should do that and include a payment of £1 to them all on a postal order.
thankyou

cat4772

Mother hen

first of all grab a coffee (or tea), then when you're a bit calmer look into preparing a SOA as Mrs Tine suggested. Yes, it's scary to see it in black and white but when the DFW crowd look at it you'll be amazed at where savings can be made (I was when I did mine first a couple of years ago).

Once you can see the bottom line and people have suggested more cost effective survival methods, then it's time to look at ad-hoc spending. I keep a spending diary for this and it really helps to see that a magazine, drink and chocolate bar soon add up to a significant amount of money!

Join some of the challenges to help reduce outgoings even further.

Good luck.

Cat.x

TotallyBrassic

When I rang cccs a few weeks back, my original income/expenditure didn't leave enough to go on a dmp...I persevered on the phone to the advisor, and we jiggled everything around enough for us to have enough by £1 to go on the dmp!!!! lol, I wasn't coming off the phone to them till we sorted it.

So have a think about posting that soa, if the savings can be found they will, and it may make a huge difference to cccs appraisal of your situation.

Best of luck with it all,

xx

mother_hen_2

Well done you on standing your ground re the dmp.
Sadly I think we wouldn't get away with a £1 towards our debts,.. credit cards and overdrafts alone £118,000 not counting the mortgage!

fermi

mother_hen wrote: »

Does anyone know where I could find a pro-forma for writting to my debtors and offering them a payment - CCCS said I should do that and include a payment of £1 to them all on a postal order.
thankyou

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/forms/token_no_offer.php

Your address

Date:

To:

Dear Sir/Madam

Re Account No/Reference No:- 4563210025897412

Since making that above agreement with you, our circumstances have changed.

We cannot now afford to agreed monthly payments because ... [your paragraph added here]

We enclose a Personal Budget sheet which shows our total income from all sources, and the total outgoings of our household. As you can see we have no money left to make offers of payment to my creditors.

In view of our circumstances, would you please accept [no payment/a token payment] at present to be reviewed in six months. If interest or other charges are being added to the account, we would be grateful if you would freeze these so our debt does not increase.

Should my circumstances improve we will contact you again.

Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.



Mr A N Other

MrsTinks

mother_hen wrote: »

Well done you on standing your ground re the dmp.
Sadly I think we wouldn't get away with a £1 towards our debts,.. credit cards and overdrafts alone £118,000 not counting the mortgage!

That figure is relative to income - but without the SOA we really can't tell you if going bankrupt is the way forward - people have come back from huge debts that make my hair curl and I'm sure you can too... if you can't then you can't but giving up before trying isn't going to help.
The sooner you post your SOA the sooner we can get cracking on it And i bet once we've had a look and you look at it in black and white you will actually be able to sleep properly tonight...