in deep, deep trouble

bumblebee87_2

the £0 i have put on rent arrears is because we dont know what we will be paying once we have been to court.

at the moment we are paying about £30 over our rent a month, we need them to be able to see that we want to pay the arrears off, other debts have taken a back seat

sarriep

First thing Bumblebee - this site is a Godsend so do keep posting and reading! It changed my life coming on here and seeking advice!

I agree that you must look at your priority debts first. Before you go to court try and have your affairs in order with a repayment plan so you can show you are trying to sort out your situation. With your unsecured debts try offering token payments for the time being. They may not be happy but your priority debts MUST be paid first. Rent, council tax, water, gas, electricity and food are your most important bills to pay!

It may be worth contacting one of the free debt advice charities. We went to CCCS who have been invaluable in helping us to get sorted. ( www.cccs.co.uk ) If you go onto their website and fill in the debt remedy form you will get good idea of what is right for you. We ended up starting a Debt Management Plan with them which so far has meant many of the loans/ credit cards/ finance companies we owe money to have stopped or reduced interest and have agreed to accept lower monthly payments.

Try not to worry too juch about the court date. As a previous poster said, you should consider mentioning your mum's death as a reason why things have been more difficult. At the end of the day your local council will not want to evict you as long as you are showing that you are trying to pay back what you owe!

Best wishes and keep posting!
Sx

halight

Hi and welcome,

Well done for posting and telling us about yourself.
You have now take the first step in takeing control of your debts.
The people on here are really great and thay know loads of stuff that will really help you.
Read what thay say and be strong and try to do what thay advise.
You will get through this and you will smile and enjoy life you ph and you baby.

All the very best and good luck

TotallyBroke

bumblebee87 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 770
Benefits................................ 436
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1206
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 300
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 84Ring and see if you can spread this over the next four months. Ask them to spread next year over 12 months
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34Is this paid over 10 if so ask if you can do the same as council
Telephone (land line)................... 36This is still too high. Installation costs approx £120 so should only be adding £10 to an £11 line rental line.
Mobile phone............................ 75With this contracts there should no calls on landline apart from occasional 0845/0870 number. Ring them and ask them to consider lowering to a lower price plan. They may only lower one level but it could save you £10 on each phone
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15See if you can get this in with line rental for phone.
Groceries etc. ......................... 170Not high but try meal planning a bit better. Once nappies gone will be less
Clothing................................ 20This has to stop for all of you for a while. Get them as presents
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60Can this be cut down at all. Maybe 1 bus and walk instead of 2buses. Or season ticket which is cheaper
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 40What is this?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 895

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

No Secured Debt
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds TSB Loan................2500......110.......0
monument CC....................1000......40........0
&more CC.......................1500......45........16.9
provident......................600.......60........0
rent arrears...................1400......0.........0
Littlewoods catalogue..........3000......150.......0
Total unsecured debts..........10000.....405.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,206
Expenses (including secured debts)...... 895
Available for debt repayments........... 311
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 405
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -94
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,000
Net Assets.............................. -10,000
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

Your provident loan is definitely not 0% it is 189% probably. After you have paid rent arrears and council tax (if you have it). You have to put every spare penny towards this provident loan. You are only paying about £13 off the debt the rest is interest!!!!!!! out of your £60

If you can save £14 on council tax, £6 water, £10 line rental, £25 mobiles, £15 internet, £20 groceries (at least you can save more), £20 clothes = £96 and will put you on the right road.
Can you consider getting a part time job at a local pub/night club for a while. It's minimum wage but the shifts are usually 4 - 6 hours so you would only have to do 2 nights so benefits are not affected. It would be an extra £40 a week so would definitely help you a lot. 3 months of this and the provident loan is paid off. One tip for bar work if someone offers to buy you a drink. Say thanks but don't take the drink. Instead get their change from the round and take out £2 (or the exact price of the drink you would have had) chuck it in a glass behind the bar you could end up with a tenner coming up to christmas each shift.

Good luck

bumblebee87_2

the childrens expenses is nappies/wipes i wasnt sure where to put that.

im confident i can get the grocery bill down quite a lot after spending a few hours looking at the moneysaving old style board

i will get oh to ring bt as they are charging us £14 pm for phone calls, we never make this many though, so hopefully they will put our DD down

mobiles - i will be changing my tarriff down, but cant do OH's as he uses almost all of his allowance each month

travel is mostly me, as we live 6/7 miles away form anyone we know, its a case of relying on buses. £60 is not every month, so that can be cut down, probably by half.

thanks TB

moo_cow

Hi bumble, so sorry for your loss. It's easy to lose track of things during times of bereavement. BUT, don't panic! the guys on here are wonderful. They have already given you great advice and will continue to do so. stay strong and re the court business, do explain about your loss. It's been a difficult time for you and they will realise this.


totally broke has offered some great advice and yes, do see about getting your contract down to a lesser rate. explain your situation. my hubby had his reduced to a lower package (down to £20 per month). Even if they don't offer you a fantastic reduction, anything is better than nothing.
with regard to the PROVIDENT loan. I can see why you put this as 0%. I too have provvy debts and although the interest is around 189% the interest is front loaded so paying this up early would only give you pennies. I had one on 50wks and paid up after 29 weeks. all I got back was 55p. I had another I paid up within 6 weeks and got back about £15 of the £120 interest they had charged me. The problem with the provident is that whilst they are still knocking your door for money they're still a temptation. so do go ahead and get rid of ASAP. they have been a millstone around my neck.

GOOD LUCK bumble.

hugs too x

LittleEmms

Dear Bumble

Loss is a terrible thing. My spending spiralled over the last 3 years, and I didn't lose a parent, just very close family friends. They were both young though and it gives you a sense of 'well who cares what I spend, you're only here once'.

Something I would recommend along with the sorting the debts is asking for some counselling in terms of your loss. It was so sudden, I really feel for you. You may not be ready yet - I wasn't for 6 months, but I would recommmend it. It wasn't scary - I wasn't laying on one of those beds with a person in a white coat (straight jacket waiting) or anything... it was just talking to someone who was completely impartial.

My reason for advising is when I saw 'spendaholics' a few times, quite a lot of spending habits can be attributed to some sort of grief and in your case it sounds like you weren't in this position before.

Just something to consider - big hugs xxx :grouphug:

P.S Feel free to PM me if you want to xx

bumblebee87_2

i was referred for counselling and i went to my first session, it just wasnt for me, the woman was wierd, really morbid, and seemed fixated on getting me to describe what my mum looked like in her coffin!

needless to say, i didnt go back

LittleEmms

Hi Bumble

I'm sorry to hear that - that's the sort of rubbish counselling I think isn't right.... same as friend who lost her husband was offered, and right at the beginning when I think things are still too raw (and that lady was a strange one too)

Maybe it just worked for me, as it wasn't immediate family and I had a nice lady. All I would say is don't rule it out for the future - maybe even if its way down the line, and obviously not some weirdo (which it sounds like she was) Potentially a good friend, or someone you feel comfortable with to talk to when you need it. Sounds like you have a diamond in your partner though and I'm sure he's supporting you well.

Hugs xx

edinburgher

Just dropping in to wish you all the best and let you know that there's another friendly face hoping you do well.

Sorry counselling wasn't for you - I suppose some people get a lot of benefit from it, but a lot of it does sound somewhat like mumbo-jumbo.