am on a virtual hamster wheel and want to get off

ceegee

That is such a sad story. But rest assured that everyone here will do whatever they can to support you, help you and point you in the right direction. There are also lots of free debt help organisations such as the Consumer Credit Counselling Service and National Debtline and, of course, the Citizens' Advice Bureau. There are links to those organisations on this site somewhere, but I'm blowed if I can see them at the moment! Hopefully, someone will oblige!

If you are to beat this debt, then you must maximise your income and minimise your outgoings to free up whatever you can towards reducing the debt.Your debts must also be prioritised as some carry heavier penalties than others as I am sure you know!

Do please post details of all your financial incomings and outgoings, plus a list of your debts stating what rates of interest you are paying on them. It might seem a daunting task, but it is the next step. When you've done that, you will have taken two good steps towards sorting this out! :money:

Having re-read this, I sound like a right old bossy boots! :eek:

Little_Miss_Winner

Hello, :hello:

Another member of the mse Army lining up for duty here too.

We will beat this, don't worry, hugs and reassurance too, echo everything everyone else has said.

love
pot
x

worndownmum

Thanks everyone I was half afraid to come back,I thought everyone would be screaming at me but to be fair it's nothing that I havn't said to myself over the years.

This is my soa so far as I can make out.
mortgage: 3 sub accounts.
mortgage1 = £12614.00 @ 6.05% £133.83 mth
mortgage2 =£3156.00 @ 6.05% £29.31 mth
standard variable rate
mortgage3 = £10782.00 @5.25% £95.31 mth / tracker repayment fixed until nov 2007.
Loans:
Homeloan Lloyds £217.00 mth dont know apr or balance until tomorrow when I ring them.
paragon loan £776 @17% £56.52 mth /been paying this for 9 years and shudder to think of how much it cost me, the original loan was only £3,300

Credit cards:
2 lloyds cards (me) 1 trustcard Limit is £9,600 / balance £900 min payment £30 + 1 mastercard £500 limit balance £270 min payment £5.00
I dont know apr but it says on my statement 1.632% for purchases +for cash.
1 Tesco card: limit 1,000 / balance £1036 @14.08 % (me)
Husbands cards: both Lloyds again, master card £9,000 /balance £1,743.32
Min payment £35/ 1 Trustcard £500 limit / balance £390 min payment £8.00
1.632% for purchases + for cash.
Credit union £2,000 at £85 mth dont know this balance either until tomorrow.

Insurances attached to the mortgage/home loans = scottish widows 1@£24.18 +1@£35.23
Then the everday bills for the home:
Gas / £36.mth
Electricity £15 week more like £10 as I pay by meter I put £20 in every 10/12 days.
Council tax /£77 mth.
Water rates £27.52 mth.
Home phone usually £28 per 3 mths but was high this time £66 as my father was ill and had to keep in touch wih my sister a lot.
Aol £24.99 mth.
Mobiles £20 month between us.
Sky £8.00 mth.
House + contents insurance = £23.41 Lloyds again.
Hsa health insurance £17 mth ( I need this due to medical condition, sorry I cant explain as I will be identified if I elaborate sp!)
car+van insurances £365 year approx. van for work, my R reg corsa as my work is 12 miles away and no bus service. my husbands car is second hand mitsibushi not running at moment as needs too much work doing on it.
£38 mth for various catalogue bills.
Tv Licence £10.50 mth.
Gym membership £24 mth ( health related again as it keeps me mobile)
Husbands contacts £12 mth.
£30 week for petrol.
Food etc total £400 mth this includes £35 week for my cigarettes ( have set date to quit next monday, should have been this monday but I am not in the right frame of mind yet as Im too stressed)
I would hate to try and fail I dont think I could handle another dissapointment, I feel I will have a better chance once I get my head sorted by next monday.
We dont go out so buy the odd bottle of vodka or brandy and have a quiet drink in evenings.
Clothes hair etc dont enter into it for last few years, but when the grey gets too obvious I buy a home colour and do it myself.
I have 2 £20 axa sunlife savings policys which finish in 20012.
The surrender value is nil or I would have gotten rid a long time ago.
I also have £2,000 in shares which mature in june this year this will go to reduce the outgoings again.

Now my incoming money is as follows but will be hard to guess my husbands.
my take home pay is £750 pm.
My husband might have £400 this week then nothing for 3 weeks.
He has had £1300 since the 9th december but nothing to come since then due to either rain or snow or both.
Last monday he was on the motorway and his exhaust came off, this cost £238 paid for with credit card as no cash.
Now the van is sorted and He has a chest infection because he worked out in the awful rain up to his waist in muddy water for 4 days just so he could finish this job and get paid, he came off the ferry with a raging temperature and im afraid that is when I lost it and said enough is enough.
We have equity in the house but with no proof of income we are stuck with Lloyds for the moment as they can see money going into our account and dont need them.
Thanks for this everyone. :T
I will no doubt be adding to this list of bills again when I have time to think as this has worn me out today.

tomstickland

Well done on posting all of that, I read it all and sympathise with your situation.
You've done the decent thing and paid off as much as you can at each opportunity.
What you need to do now is collect together a picture of where you are at. Exactly how much do you owe, how much do you bring in per month and how much do you spend each month?

worndownmum

right quick answers to everyone as my head is spinning!!!
My husband lives for his work, I think if he had to choose between me and it he would have a tough time choosing, he has been a brickie since 15 yrs old as have all the men in his family for about 4 generations its just he didn't inherit any of the others business sense bless him he is just too soft and has been taken in many a time with sob stories over the years.
Only one son at home who pays £25 week lodge this goes towards the pc and internet connection, 2 daughters living with partners.
I cannot get a better job as I am not qualified for anything else and my employers are very good to me when my health takes a dive and I am off work for months on end.
I have been with them for 14 years as was part time for years and full time now for about 5.
The insurance I dont think I can stop them as this covers the bank if we cant pay ? I think it was a condition of the loans that the insurance comes too.

benjamin_4

Your three mortgage accounts look to have fairly low balances. Is there not something you can do to release some equity from your home?

I would also not write off the possiblity of getting some of the PPI cancelled on some of the loans. I'm not an expert but I'm sure I've read on here that only granting a loan if you agree to PPI isn't officially allowed. Have a good search on the boards regarding this.

worndownmum

Hi ben,I know we have loads of equity but because of no proof of income for my husband I am stuck with tsb for everything as they dont ask for proof of income we have been with them for 24 years and have always met our payments with them.
The same goes for the credit cards,we did look at maxing the two big cards leaving us with 2 £9,000 balances and paying everything off and then getting balance transfers to bring the interest down but when it came to the question about what our income was we were stumped as to what to put in case they asked for accounts etc.

This is why we are in such a mess, we could clobber these debts if we shuffled them around like everyone on here are doing but we have no proof of income.
I desperatly want to put an end to my husband working in Ireland and declaring himself as earning in britain but we dont have the money up front to do it yet.
I am so afraid that he will go to prison for tax evasion it is making me ill.
I did think of maxing the cards and using this for the tax but if it took too long to sort out I would then have to find the payments for these two cards which has taken forever to get down this low.
Another option was to go to Lloyds and tell them we have the option of moving our mortgage to another bank and what could they offer us but if they called our bluff we would be in a right pickle as no one would give me a mortgage on my income alone.
We have thought of all ways and just dont see any way out of this.

The truth is because we were in such a mess we just excepted whatever Lloyds were willing to give us each time we got deeper in debt as we had no option.
I also suspect that they know my husband isnt keeping accounts and are giving us the highest apr's they have, knowing we are desperate, they know the money is safe because we have equity in the house should it all go pear shaped.
Thanks for the suggestions everybody maybe someone will come up with an option we havn't thought of yet!!!!!!!!!!!please.

robnye

you wont need proof of income to shuffle the debts......

One you have contacted Lloyds/paragon about the loans and what interest and balances are, you will have a couple of options

You need to confirm annual interest rates for all of the credit cards
The mastercard/trustcard interest rate look like 19.5% apr (ie 1.632 *12)
Once all interest rates are confirmed, then clarify which credit card has the lowest interest rate (hopefully it is the trustcard one (your one), then you should balance transfer the loans (if they are the highest interest rates to it. (if there is enough credit)

You could give mastercard a call and ask for it to increase your credit limit – this is only of use if the interest rate is lower than the loans. You could also ask about special interest deals ie life of balance….. low interest rate for ever……

You have the same credit cards each….. couldn’t you change to having a joint card – ie 2 cards one account…….

The important thing to remember is that you are doing well, this process will only help to improve it…… if you are not sure about anything….. then ask a question….. there are plenty on here who can/will help, who may also have been through similar situations…….

skintchick

How old is your son? I take it he is working? He should be paying more than £25 a week - that's nothing. You need to charge him nearer a market rate for a room and board and explain to him that you need the money.

I would say that you should cut down your mobile bills, get cheaper internet, cancel Sky, and those will save you a little bit.

House and contents ins is also high - I'm with CIS and it's £120 for both a year.

Can you change gas supplier? It looks a big bill (I pay £35 to Powergen for gas AND leccy a month)

I really think your husband needs to rethink his career and get a reliable job. you are in too much financial trouble for him to be bringing so little in. I know he loves it etc but he needs to get real for the moment - he can always go back to it.

Sorry this is rushed but HTH

worndownmum

Right here I am, sorry about all the whinging I have been doing but it was a feeling sorry for myself day.
No sleep until 5 in the morning and up at 7 and nightmares when I did get to sleep but its all over now.

Can I just say thanks to all you wonderful people who have taken the time to give me advice and can I also say I feel 100% better and more positive now than when I posted my first query.

We had a long chat last night my husband and I and have decided that he is no longer going away to work.
He is going to the job centre tomorrow and seeing what is available for him.

We also called the family, 2 girls + 1 son plus partners together and put our cards on the table so to speak. ( first time ever as we dont think it is right that they should be stressing about us)

There has been a tendency to treat the house as the local takeaway the last few years but it has got to stop as of now.

Even though they have their own homes its always been the habit to stop at mums on the way from work , have food and lounge around until 9/10 and take a few chops/ cornflakes /bread etc on the way out.

I must admit I love it as I didn't have this when I was growing up and always vowed my kids would have a proper homelife.
My kids want to spend time with us whereas I hated being in my dads company( drink = temper)

Anyway back to what I was saying.

In answer to some of the questions I have been asked, I will try to answer them in one go if I can, here goes!!.

my son is 21 earning £65 pw on apprentiship so I think 25pw is about all he can manage, he has a car and girlfriend to keep up.

This is what I have done today:

My house insurance is now £13.87 instead of 23.93 pm. it is still with my original insurer but basic cover ,still protected cover though.

I have applied to put both my cards on 0% balance for 9 mths will find out if they will except me within next few days.

I have got to wait for paragon loans to send my balance and apr in writing, hopefully tomorrow morning.

Credit union had problems with their pc so going in person tomorrow to get details .

Someone asked if I could lower mobile cost but I think £10 each pm is as cheap as I can get payg.

Someone thought my gas bill was high,I havn't actually used them yet as my original bills were £81 pm based on estimates, I had £96.41 back when I changed over to this provider,£36 pm from now on.

Tried to change internet provider but I have to terminate my AOL first and could be 3 weeks without anything and I really need to be on this site to sort myself out ,so when do I do it?.

Sky has been suspended for the last few months as we were having subsidence probs and had to disconnect due to scaffolding etc, only on basic now £8.99, it was 0.79p for last few months.

I think this is all the progress I have made today but it feels ssooo good,I wish I had found this site years ago,We have been going about things completly the wrong way, just throwing money at things willy nilly with no idea of any benefit to the problem.

I have emptied every cupboard in the house in the last few days so I finally know what I actually owe to people.
In fact I found dragon oil shares ( only 117) that my husband had bought for 0.85 each and they are now worth £1.85 I am going to sell them and pay off the highest interest debt.

This still leaves the tax position and this is the most scary out of all of it, I just wish we could start to solve it but I dont know how or where to start.

I have used the snowball calculator and it is amazing, according to that I will be debt free in 20011 but I can't save what I enter, is there anybody here who has a spreadsheet that I can use as it is hard work putting all the info everytime I need to change something.

I am already using martins spread sheet but it hasn't got the option of adding the apr.

Thanks again and I apologise for not getting back sooner but my friends mum died today out of the blue so I have spent this evening with her.
Thanks Jessie