help!!

offy

hi i have completed the cccs debt remedy form online and spoken with cccs who were very helpful. however the pack i got back couldnt really help as i dont have anything to offer the creditors!

i have completed a SOA at make sense of cards;

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 605
Benefits................................ 446
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1051
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 519
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 116
Electricity............................. 89
Gas..................................... 29
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 16
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 53
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 32
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 140
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 34
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 44
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25
Total monthly expenses.................. 1409

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 140000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 107000...(519)......0
Total secured debts........... 107000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................25........5.........0
Credit card....................3296......75........0
Credit card....................525.......27........0
Overdraft......................101.......6.........0
Overdraft......................18........1.........0
Loan...........................12996.6...499.......0
Store card.....................157.......7.........0
Store card.....................187.......16........0
Credit card....................4106.89...89.42.....0
Credit card....................2081.6....62........0
Total unsecured debts..........23494.09..787.42....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,051
Expenses (including secured debts)...... 1,409
Available for debt repayments........... -358
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 787.42
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -1,145.42
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 140,000
Total Secured debt...................... -107,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,494.09
Net Assets.............................. 9,505.91
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

What i have done so far;

Contacted the mortgage company they have deferred for 1 month and they have sent me a letter with an offer of an interest only mortgage at the figure i have put in above (i have not accepted this yet, but dont see i have a choice as this would reduce my current payment of £722) the £519 would include a £60 payment for the next 12 months to clear the arrears of this month

contacted council tax to ask for an amount to pay over the next 3 months to clear by end of march ( i have left in at the full monthly amount for now i owe them £232 for this year) i have also applied for CT benefit

contacted tax credits to see if there is any help there and i am waiting on the forms to be sent to me.

contacted car finance company, and asked them about help, they are looking at a take back and sale of the car, they believe that i will still owe them something but cannot onfirm it until they take it back and sell it. (i have not included this on here, as it is still uncertain what they will want and when. (i owe £16000 in payments over the next 33 months at £482 a month) not in arrears until 11/12

Contacted loan company they have asked me to pay £50 at the end of the month as a token payment to stop the debt being moved on.

i have not contacted the creditcards or store cards or overdrafts yet as not sure what to say to them, given that i cant even cover the priorities!! all the cridit cards are now either late or due this week.

im really after some help on what should the next steps be, as i cant see me reducing my monthly spend by £360 and still being able to live.

i cant offer anything to creditors as there isnt anything to offer them.

i am glad that i havnt gone past the value of the house in terms of clearing down, (currently assuming we can achieve a realistic price) and we are happy to sell up to clear the debts, as we realise we have to clear them, but this wont fix the immediate problems i have, especially with priorities for living.

bit of a mess really.

RAS

Hi

You need to speak urgently to one of the debt charities http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

I would suggest putting your income and circumstances into www.entitledto.com to get an idea of what benefits you can get.

Your expenditure has got to be less than your income, so something has to change.

And you have to stop spending on your cards now.

With respect to the car is it HP or a car loan. This affects your legal liabilites and you need advice before you return it.

offy

Thanks RAS, The car is on HP,

Horace

Can you not ebay the stuff that you have bought on your credit cards? Sell things that you no longer use and no longer wear - don't buy anything new.

Keep a spending diary and note everything down - the odd newspaper, magazine, lunch at work etc. It all adds up. See you can reduce your grocery bill by looking at the moneysaving oldstyle board for menu plans.

Can your wife/partner not get a part time job?

Cut up all the store cards and credit cards. Write to your creditors and explain the situation and offer a token payment every month.

TotallyBroke

offy wrote: »

hi i have completed the cccs debt remedy form online and spoken with cccs who were very helpful. however the pack i got back couldnt really help as i dont have anything to offer the creditors!

i have completed a SOA at make sense of cards;

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 605
Benefits................................ 446
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1051
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 519
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 116
Electricity............................. 89This is quite high. Try a comparison site and see if it can be reduced
Gas..................................... 29
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40Is this paid over 10 months if so see if you can spread over 12
Telephone (land line)................... 16
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240How many is this feeding. Meal plan and only buy cheaper products
Clothing................................ 53Do you have to spend this much that's £600 a year!!!!
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 32
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 140What is this for?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 34
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 44
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25
Total monthly expenses.................. 1409

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 140000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 107000...(519)......0
Total secured debts........... 107000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................25........5.........0
Credit card....................3296......75........0
Credit card....................525.......27........0
Overdraft......................101.......6.........0
Overdraft......................18........1.........0
Loan...........................12996.6...499.......0
Store card.....................157.......7.........0
Store card.....................187.......16........0
Credit card....................4106.89...89.42.....0
Credit card....................2081.6....62........0
Total unsecured debts..........23494.09..787.42....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,051
Expenses (including secured debts)...... 1,409
Available for debt repayments........... -358
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 787.42
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -1,145.42
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 140,000
Total Secured debt...................... -107,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,494.09
Net Assets.............................. 9,505.91
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

What i have done so far;

Contacted the mortgage company they have deferred for 1 month and they have sent me a letter with an offer of an interest only mortgage at the figure i have put in above (i have not accepted this yet, but dont see i have a choice as this would reduce my current payment of £722) the £519 would include a £60 payment for the next 12 months to clear the arrears of this month

contacted council tax to ask for an amount to pay over the next 3 months to clear by end of march ( i have left in at the full monthly amount for now i owe them £232 for this year) i have also applied for CT benefit

contacted tax credits to see if there is any help there and i am waiting on the forms to be sent to me.

contacted car finance company, and asked them about help, they are looking at a take back and sale of the car, they believe that i will still owe them something but cannot onfirm it until they take it back and sell it. (i have not included this on here, as it is still uncertain what they will want and when. (i owe £16000 in payments over the next 33 months at £482 a month) not in arrears until 11/12

Contacted loan company they have asked me to pay £50 at the end of the month as a token payment to stop the debt being moved on.

i have not contacted the creditcards or store cards or overdrafts yet as not sure what to say to them, given that i cant even cover the priorities!! all the cridit cards are now either late or due this week.

im really after some help on what should the next steps be, as i cant see me reducing my monthly spend by £360 and still being able to live.

i cant offer anything to creditors as there isnt anything to offer them.

i am glad that i havnt gone past the value of the house in terms of clearing down, (currently assuming we can achieve a realistic price) and we are happy to sell up to clear the debts, as we realise we have to clear them, but this wont fix the immediate problems i have, especially with priorities for living.

bit of a mess really.

I have written a few things in blue

offy

According to entitled to,

tax credits at the level i am getting will stay the same. (£10 a week)
Council tax benefit will cover full council tax. so a saving of £232 assuming i dont have to pay the arrears for this month?

thanks horace yes we have already started selling off some stuff, although the majority of debt is just plain old living beyond our means for the last 8 years, with nothing to show for it in terms of assets and then borriwing to pay off our borrowed money etc unfortunately i was part of the borrow it, have it now mindset (not using this as an excuse as the problem is ours alone we didnt have to borrow, but we were impatient, and impulsive with our spending and didnt have a saving ethic.) and using a card for things like fuel/expenses etc.

it doesnt help that the company i was a part of owed me 4.5k in expenses (a small sum in comparison to the unsecured debt of 23k i know!!) when it went down, however, the debt fault still lies with us, and as i said we are happy to sell to clear, but really want to get through the acute problems of the next 3 to 6 months, whilst we work towrds this.

offy

TotallyBroke wrote: »

I have written a few things in blue

the electric is currently £350 in credit as i have rung them in the last half hour to try to stop a direct debit, i guess this is why its in credit, as £89 on a DD is obviously too much!!

the gas is also actually £115 in credit, although they did say that this was normal going into winter as the bills would be higher.

The water rates is on a SO over 12 months and we are on a meter.

the groceries is on a family of 4 as we have 2 kids 8 and 9

the clothing is again for the 4 of us, and includes school uniform etc.

the other related expenses are horseriding and tennis lessons for the kids each month, we are going to talk to the grandparents to see if we can get some help from them, or these are likely to be cancelled shortly i think.

Dex

Hi Offy,

all the suggestions I would make have been made already by others so just wanted to wish you luck, I know it feels really rough at the moment but acknowledging it and trying to do something about it it a step in the direction of getting all this sorted out.

The people on here are very supportive and have been in all sorts of situations.

Good luck

Dex

TotallyBroke

offy wrote: »

the electric is currently £350 in credit as i have rung them in the last half hour to try to stop a direct debit, i guess this is why its in credit, as £89 on a DD is obviously too much!!

the gas is also actually £115 in credit, although they did say that this was normal going into winter as the bills would be higher.

Reduce the direct debit on the electric and ask them for the money back. You could clear 2/3 debts with that.

offy wrote: »

the groceries is on a family of 4 as we have 2 kids 8 and 9

This can still be cut back. For the rest of this week use up every thing in the freezer and cupboards. Only buy bread and milk. After this week do a meal plan and only buy the things you need and own label version.

offy wrote: »

the clothing is again for the 4 of us, and includes school uniform etc.

This is still a lot new complete uniform once a year = £200 for both. Maybe a second pair of shoes in the year £80 = £280 a year = 25 per month.
I'm sure you and partner could go a year without new clothes. Or get them for birthday/xmas

offy wrote: »

the other related expenses are horseriding and tennis lessons for the kids each month, we are going to talk to the grandparents to see if we can get some help from them, or these are likely to be cancelled shortly i think.

As hard as this is, yes it does have to be cut down. OR Maybe the children could do jobs for grandparents/home/neighbours etc to earn the money to pay towards these themselves.

offy

TotallyBroke wrote: »

Reduce the direct debit on the electric and ask them for the money back. You could clear 2/3 debts with that.

agreed yes i will.

This can still be cut back. For the rest of this week use up every thing in the freezer and cupboards. Only buy bread and milk. After this week do a meal plan and only buy the things you need and own label version.

we will look at this in detail.


This is still a lot new complete uniform once a year = £200 for both. Maybe a second pair of shoes in the year £80 = £280 a year = 25 per month.
I'm sure you and partner could go a year without new clothes. Or get them for birthday/xmas

yeah again agreed we need to review what we need and when for the coming months, if anything

As hard as this is, yes it does have to be cut down. OR Maybe the children could do jobs for grandparents/home/neighbours etc to earn the money to pay towards these themselves.

the family route is the first one to be explored, so we will try that first, indeed making them work for it is definately worthwhile, i would like to start them in the habit of saving though, so i reckon we are due a sit down discussion with them very quickly.

TotallyBroke

It is a fantastic idea to get them saving. If they washed grandparents car and got paid £5. They should put £2.50 into savings and £2.50 towards the next tennis lesson/horse riding.
They could also make their own money by having a toy clearout. You could do a lawn sale especially coming up to christmas. Get them to decide what toys to sell. Get them to make posters for lamp posts. Get them to clean them up so they look fantastic (remove the biro name from woody's foot lol) and away you go. They can either spend the money on something they do want (that they didn't get from Father Christmas ~ because money is tight) or can save it up to go towards new tennis racquet or riding boots.
Do have the chat and expalin that things are getting more expensive and so the family may have to cut back on lots of things.