All My Debts...Pls Be Gentle With Me

pixie1

Ok her goes, I posted here a few days ago and since then Ive collated my balances, contacted the natational debt helpline and this morning Ive spoken to the CCCS and have an appointment tomorrow morning with them.

Im ideal solution to all this is for the cccs to arrange a payplan for my with all my creditors and arrange for the interest to be frozen. IVA or banruptsy isnt an option for me. Also I still havent told my husband about this and please dont go on about that, only i know how he will react and now really isnt a good time. I will however address this problem in the future but only once Im in control.

The CCCS said that they only time they are unable to help someone is when they can not afford £5 to each of their creditors, I can do this so I really hope they are the answer. They also said that if they advised me to have an IVA and i refused even if it was the best option for me, they would still do a payplan on my behalf. Icant believe how easy it was to speak to them, the gentleman i spoke to was very friendly and kind.

I have also been advised to get a very basic bank account so that my overdraft can be classed as a debt too, so ive just applied for a natwest step account, i just hope i dont get turned down

OK this is a bit of a mess and there isnt anyway to cut back really but hey I may aswell share it

Income
1300.00

Secured Debt (which will continue to be paid in full)
Bal - unsure Payment £365.38

Unsecured Debts
IF loan Bal - £9767.12 payments £211.88
HSBC Visa - £2578.32 payments £80
Goldfish - £2424.19 - They have accepted £10 per month, I sorted this myself and have to say they were very helpful. No interest for 12 months and then we look at increasing the payments.
Littlewoods visa - £3600.00 payments £70
Bank of Scotland - £4102.45 payments £300 - awful interest - horrid account!
MBNA - £4169.86 payments £90
Barclays - £1935.52 payments £45
Morgan Stanley - £1962.50 payments £75
Halifax Visa - £8775.75 payments £100
Egg - £4632.90 payments £90
Halifax Overdraft - £669.95 about £6 per month
Next - £646.00 payments £55
BHS - £258.30 payments £8
Freemans - £89.00 payments £10

Outgoings
Petrol - £60
Water - £15
Telephone - £18
Mobile - £25 (will change to payg in june when my contract is up)
Food - £250 (amount suggested by Nat Debt) + £2 per day as I buy lunch at work (amount suggested by Nat Debt) but i will be taking my own lunch in from now on.
Clothes - £10 (amount suggested by Nat Debt)
Birthdays and emergencys - £20 (amount suggested by Nat Debt)
Contacts and perscriptions - £20 (amount suggested by Nat Debt)


As you can see I dont pay towards very much at all regards to the household, I am meant to put food on the table though and right now I have to wait for cc payments to clear before I can do this. Its very hand to mouth - no joke intended! So if the CCCS can allow me £250 for food with the help of the OS board and careful meal planning I actually think I will for the first time ever.....I may be able to save some money!!

I have really addressed my spending habits, I know where I want to get to and what I have to do to ge there. All my cards have been cut up and if i can find the web addy for the pre-paid visa card Im going to get on eof those as I too have to book trains for work.

Is there anything Ive missed of my fin statement that i need to remember to put on? I dont pay car insurance as i have a company car, I dont have any children, just a Kitty and I dont get any benefits.

Thanks for reading (if you got this far) I feel much better for just writing it all down.

I am REALLY fragile right now so please be kind with your comments.

Thanks

Conor_3

You know where the problem lies and you really need to get that sorted. That is probably more important than the money issues. After all, he's hardly likely to not buy food and starve himself if you don't is he? Until you get things sorted out with the other half, you're not going to get anywhere.

Your credit rating IS going to be affected as it is going to show defaults on every payment. It WILL affect your husbands and I think that him finding out is unavoidable. You're just fooling yourself if you think he won't.

mariannemarlow

hello.

just wanted to say well done in facing your debts.

there are some lovely people here that will be able to help with the budgeting stuff

i have an appointment with CCCS tomorrow morning myself!

take care
m

pixie1

Conor wrote:

You know where the problem lies and you really need to get that sorted. That is probably more important than the money issues. After all, he's hardly likely to not buy food and starve himself if you don't is he? Until you get things sorted out with the other half, you're not going to get anywhere.

Your credit rating IS going to be affected as it is going to show defaults on every payment. It WILL affect your husbands and I think that him finding out is unavoidable. You're just fooling yourself if you think he won't.

IM NOT FOOLING MYSELF I HAVE CLEARLY SAID I WILL ADDRESS THIS ISSUE BUY NOW ISNT THE TIME.

Can we please JUST drop the husband issue, this is making me regret ever posting.

ms_london

Income
1300.00



Outgoings
Mortgage - £365.38
Petrol - £60
Water - £15
Telephone - £18
Mobile - £25
Food - £290
Clothes - £10
Birthdays and emergencys - £20
Contacts and prescriptions - £20



Total Outgoings - £823.38



Remainding - £476.62





· Regarding your outgoings – do you pay gas/electric/tv licence/council tax? If so, these need to be included.



· You have a car, so how about MOT/Insurance/TAX/Servicing Repairs – ideally this total amount needs to be divided by 12 and £X saved monthly so that you can afford these costs when they arrive, rather than panicking and resorting to sticking them on plastic.



· Your telephone seems quite high, could you shop around for a better deal?



· Food – how many people is this for? I know you said that this was what National Debtline suggested, but sometimes I don’t think they have a clue!! You already said that you will start taking lunch to work, even £2 is too much – that’s £480 a year!!!



· Clothes, Birthdays & Emergencies, Contacts & Prescriptions – I appreciate that if you have children you might need the clothes budget, but if not, could you go without buying for a few months. Shop in charity shops/ebay/primark – hunt around for bargains. Birthdays & Emergencies, Emergencies fair enough, but again for Birthdays, you will need to hunt around for bargains and perhaps but back on what you spend on each person. Do you wear contacts/have a lot of prescriptions? Could it be worth buying a prescription “season ticket”? Could you shop around for cheaper contact lenses – there are some good deals out there.



Unsecured Debts



IF loan Bal - £9767.12 £211.88
HSBC Visa - £2578.32 £80
Goldfish - £2424.19 - £10 per month (no interest for 12 months)
Littlewoods visa - £3600.00 payments £70
Bank of Scotland - £4102.45 payments £300
MBNA - £4169.86 payments £90
Barclays - £1935.52 payments £45
Morgan Stanley - £1962.50 payments £75
Halifax Visa - £8775.75 payments £100
Egg - £4632.90 payments £90
Halifax Overdraft - £669.95 about £6 per month



Next - £646.00 payments £55
BHS - £258.30 payments £8
Freemans - £89.00 payments £10



· Regarding your debts. Well done on contacting Goldfish and negotiating a repayment with them, no interest for 12 months will really help, and at least that keeps them off your back – it shows it can be done. Creditors prefer you to be up front and honest with them rather than ignoring their calls/letters.



· When are your payments due? Do you pay them by DD? If so I would suggest that you cancel ALL of them (obviously apart from your Mortgage & Regular Outgoings), so that you can have some breathing space and use this time to CALL ALL of your creditors to renegotiate your repayments as you did with Goldfish.



· Please could you find out the APR’s on all of your debts? As your repayments need to be pro-ratered depending on how much you owe to who & what the APR is. I think the website that will help with this is www.whatsthecost.com (it’s a fab site anyway!!).



· The Next & BHS cards need to be cleared asap – as they are likely to be charging you 30% interest. Freemans – do they charge you interest? If so, you need to clear this one quick too. At least then you will be free of 3 creditors, which will be motivating in itself!!



· Once you have agreed with your creditors what you need to be repaying them & for how long (ask them to confirm it in writing & make sure you are organized and know how much you have to pay them and for how long, as some will set up the repayment plan over 3 months, some 6, and perhaps 12 months) – set up a DD with them so that they all leave your account, perhaps on the same day, so you are confident that they have all been paid. Ask them if they can a) reduce your monthly repayment and b) stop any charges or interest – its worth a try!!



General



· Are you married? Single with kids? Or is it just you? Are you claiming all the benefits you are entitled to? If married, does your partner not work/provide an income?



· Do you have anything you could sell on ebay/car boot (when the weather improves)?



Don’t despair – you can do this, and as good as cccs & payplan etc are, they will only be doing what I have mentioned above, plus sometimes it takes a while to get this into action, so if you make the phone calls today, you will feel confident and happy that you have taken the first steps and things are under control!!



Don’t put it off for any longer – it wont be as bad as you think!! There will always be one creditor that is unhelpful, but if you don’t have the money, they cant have it – just be willing to accept them a token payment and hopefully they will come around to the idea that that is all they will be getting!!!



Once you have agreed the repayment – if the letters keep arriving – chances are its just a lack of communication within the organization – one department not knowing that you have agreed to repay £X a month but chasing you for the full amount etc. As I said, just ask for confirmation in writing and you will be fine!!



Are you finances in order? It’s probably a good idea to keep all of your financial paperwork together, preferably filed, shred & destroy old documents/statements that you don’t need, and have one file for each creditor – that makes you feel more organized & motivated too.



Good luck & let us know if there is anything else you need to know.



Ms_London xx

loubie_lou

Pixie, please don't be put off by what connor says. You are here for help and support. This forum is designed not to judge people (well its not meant to be but you do get the odd person).

What you have suggested is good and good luck with the appointment tomorrow and please keep posting

bank_of_slate

Hi again Pixie!

Good to see you back.

You are sounding really positive about getting this sorted which is great.

Try mealplanning as that REALLY helped to get our foodbills down.
....Linda xx

pixie1

ms_london wrote:

Regarding your outgoings – do you pay gas/electric/tv licence/council tax? If so, these need to be included.

No everything else is paid by Hubby

You have a car, so how about MOT/Insurance/TAX/Servicing Repairs – ideally this total amount needs to be divided by 12 and £X saved monthly so that you can afford these costs when they arrive, rather than panicking and resorting to sticking them on plastic.

Its a company car, I only have to pay for petrol.

Your telephone seems quite high, could you shop around for a better deal?

I pay £10 per month to BT and approx 4 to Talk Talk for calls, but Ive noticed my £10 isnt covering the BT side of things, thats why I increased it as I need to pay them a little more.

Food – how many people is this for? I know you said that this was what National Debtline suggested, but sometimes I don’t think they have a clue!! You already said that you will start taking lunch to work, even £2 is too much – that’s £480 a year!!!

There are just the two of us, no children but one cat. I do normally spend approx £3-£4 for lunch at work but I know this wont continue. Home made is the way to go

Clothes, Birthdays & Emergencies, Contacts & Prescriptions – I appreciate that if you have children you might need the clothes budget, but if not, could you go without buying for a few months. Shop in charity shops/ebay/primark – hunt around for bargains. Birthdays & Emergencies, Emergencies fair enough, but again for Birthdays, you will need to hunt around for bargains and perhaps but back on what you spend on each person. Do you wear contacts/have a lot of prescriptions? Could it be worth buying a prescription “season ticket”? Could you shop around for cheaper contact lenses – there are some good deals out there.

These amounts were suggested by the Nat Debt people, I didnt even think about them. I doubt I will actually need to buy any clothes for some time and when I do I will shop for a bargain. I really dont mind that. I do wear contacts and I do a few health problems but not enough (yet) to buy the season ticket but this is something I will concider if things get worse. Thanks for the tip

When are your payments due? Do you pay them by DD? If so I would suggest that you cancel ALL of them (obviously apart from your Mortgage & Regular Outgoings), so that you can have some breathing space and use this time to CALL ALL of your creditors to renegotiate your repayments as you did with Goldfish.

My DD's go out around the 30th, so I will cancel them now although there arent that many I normally send the payment via bill payment on internet banking, but like you said it will give me a little bretahing space.

Please could you find out the APR’s on all of your debts? As your repayments need to be pro-ratered depending on how much you owe to who & what the APR is.

I will do but this may take a while as Im meant to be working today...but I will.

The Next & BHS cards need to be cleared asap – as they are likely to be charging you 30% interest. Freemans – do they charge you interest? If so, you need to clear this one quick too. At least then you will be free of 3 creditors, which will be motivating in itself!!

I agree, if once my payments are sorted I can save I will try and pay off these first. Freemans is interest free until June so I have a little time to sort that one out.


Do you have anything you could sell on ebay/car boot (when the weather improves)?

Ive sold most of my 'good' stuff on ebay already but i am going to have another clear out and get going with that again. Every little bit helps

Don’t despair – you can do this, and as good as cccs & payplan etc are, they will only be doing what I have mentioned above, plus sometimes it takes a while to get this into action, so if you make the phone calls today, you will feel confident and happy that you have taken the first steps and things are under control!!

Thank You :beer:

Are you finances in order?

No all my things are hidden the back of wardrobes and in handbags, but I will start getting organised - I have too!


Thanks for the advice everyone!

Thefunkygibbons

Ms London, that was a great post

Such thought and care are what makes this board great

Pixie - Have you had a look around for anything that can be put on ebay and the proceeds used to pay down debt

Most things such as videos DVDS, even clothes have a value

ms_london

I gather from what other people have said that your hubbie doesnt know of your situation? It's up to you at the end of the day, but I honestly feel that this would be a huge weight off your mind if you did, but I dont know your circumstances, so wont preach!!

It sounds as though you do have your head screwed on - post and let us know what you creditors say - you can do it, you have taken the first step!!

Ms_London xx

ms_london

Thefunkygibbons wrote:

Ms London, that was a great post

Such thought and care are what makes this board great

Pixie - Have you had a look around for anything that can be put on ebay and the proceeds used to pay down debt

Most things such as videos DVDS, even clothes have a value

Not very busy at work today!! :0)

People did the same for me when I was struggling - I just wish there was more I could do to help people.

I saw a huge sign on the tube platform this morning advertising Martin, and this website, was so impressed!! I just wanted to tell everyone to make sure they looked at it :0)

xx