enough faffing, i need to make a decision

homealone_2

i have been on here plenty recently, or so it seems, and am so grateful for all your advice. but the time has come to make a decision of which road i am going to go down. i have driven myself crazy trying to figure out what will give me the best result and have driven myself to distraction. if i post the pros and cons of all options could someone please number crunch for me? i cant bear to spend one more hour crying and worrying so here goes- please be gentle with me as i am aware i may be in a lot better position than some, things looked a lot bleaker to me when my husband first left but now that i get full housing benefit, help with council tax bill when that arrives and £90 a week child tax credit i am in a lot better position than most and even better han first thought myself. the facts are that i owe £15,500 to the inland revenue but thats with hardship team for the moment so no monthly outlay there. but they will be reviewing it every couple of months i have a £8900 loan with halifax £191 monthly who will not come to any arrangement with me for a reduced settlement. similar for lloyds bank who i have credit card with for £6500 which is £140 a month and £400 on an m & s account and maybe £1000 of others bits outstanding, monthly totalling approx £50. my assets are £3000 isa and approx £4500 in shares. i had an accident with a bus last year that i may receive some compensation from a car on mobility and house rented from housing association. it appears after talking to many agencies that i have a surplus of £500 approx.
choice 1 offered by CCCS a debt management plan of £509 per month for 3 years, could keep my assets and would take care of inland revenue here and now so it would not turn up at some other point in time demanding allsorts.
choice 2 bankruptcy, would lose all my assets and any potential money from compensation and would probably need to give them approx £375 per month on an IPA for 3 years if their charts are anything to go by and as £15,500 money owed is due to tax overpayments they could still try and get some money at a later date (not 100% sure of this)
choice 3 with the extra benefit help i now get i go back to making my normal monthly payments to halifax and lloyds totalling £350 a month approx. sell one of the shares worth £800 and pay off all little bits hanging about catalogues etc i keep my assets and any other compensation i may get, and plod along until either the inland revenue start asking for money or such time that it no longer seems viable. by which time you never know but the inland revenue may reduce or with some luck write off, am only overpaid £8000 that i can see so still contesting the other half. also £3000 of this husband is responsible for so if correct would be £12000 approx. which if they dont write off and it then becomes impossible to pay i could then take up one of the options above
what do you all think?? which will give me the most to use on stuff not covered on gr soa? which is long term better for me? am only 2 months behind with payments at the moment and any money i am behind with for priority debts has already been incorporated into direct debits that i have set up?? well thats me, which way do i go???

Merry_Gentry

Hi homealone. I read your thread and wanted to answer. I really don't know what is the best thing for you to do, and I think a lot of people will have the same response.

You could have ten people respond 'go for bankruptcy', but only you can decide what is the best thing for you and your family.

I guess I didn't want to read and not respond. Good luck.

homealone_2

Merry_Gentry wrote: »

Hi homealone. I read your thread and wanted to answer. I really don't know what is the best thing for you to do, and I think a lot of people will have the same response.

You could have ten people respond 'go for bankruptcy', but only you can decide what is the best thing for you and your family.

I guess I didn't want to read and not respond. Good luck.

thanks, i see what your saying was just hoping financially one option would stand out more than another

sieve

Looking at the figures the total is around £24,800 after paying off what you can using your ISA and shares - is the DMP giving you any full & final discounts? Because over 36 months the monthly payment to settle a debt that size is just shy of £700. Or am I missing something? Four years works out at £516 which is closer to your original figure but that doesn't give you any savings or shares buffer. I'd also cash in your shares as if the company went down the toilet, you would lose your £4.5k, which you really cannot afford to do in the situation...

I would go with a payment plan if you can - if the surplus is correct, you could clear it in as good as 4 years without having to go through BR or anything too complicated.

fc123

homealone wrote: »

i have been on here plenty recently, or so it seems, and am so grateful for all your advice. but the time has come to make a decision of which road i am going to go down. i have driven myself crazy trying to figure out what will give me the best result and have driven myself to distraction. if i post the pros and cons of all options could someone please number crunch for me? i cant bear to spend one more hour crying and worrying so here goes- please be gentle with me as i am aware i may be in a lot better position than some, things looked a lot bleaker to me when my husband first left but now that i get full housing benefit, help with council tax bill when that arrives and £90 a week child tax credit i am in a lot better position than most and even better han first thought myself.

the facts are that i owe £15,500 to the inland revenue but thats with hardship team for the moment so no monthly outlay there. but they will be reviewing it every couple of months i have a £8900 loan with halifax £191 monthly who will not come to any arrangement with me for a reduced settlement. similar for lloyds bank who i have credit card with for £6500 which is £140 a month and £400 on an m & s account and maybe £1000 of others bits outstanding, monthly totalling approx £50. my assets are £3000 isa and approx £4500 in shares. i had an accident with a bus last year that i may receive some compensation from a car on mobility and house rented from housing association. it appears after talking to many agencies that i have a surplus of £500 approx.

choice 1 offered by CCCS a debt management plan of £509 per month for 3 years, could keep my assets and would take care of inland revenue here and now so it would not turn up at some other point in time demanding allsorts.

choice 2 bankruptcy, would lose all my assets and any potential money from compensation and would probably need to give them approx £375 per month on an IPA for 3 years if their charts are anything to go by and as £15,500 money owed is due to tax overpayments they could still try and get some money at a later date (not 100% sure of this)

choice 3 with the extra benefit help i now get i go back to making my normal monthly payments to halifax and lloyds totalling £350 a month approx. sell one of the shares worth £800 and pay off all little bits hanging about catalogues etc i keep my assets and any other compensation i may get, and plod along until either the inland revenue start asking for money or such time that it no longer seems viable.
by which time you never know but the inland revenue may reduce or with some luck write off, am only overpaid £8000 that i can see so still contesting the other half. also £3000 of this husband is responsible for so if correct would be £12000 approx. which if they dont write off and it then becomes impossible to pay i could then take up one of the options above


what do you all think?? which will give me the most to use on stuff not covered on gr soa? which is long term better for me? am only 2 months behind with payments at the moment and any money i am behind with for priority debts has already been incorporated into direct debits that i have set up?? well thats me, which way do i go???

You could post an SOA on debt free wannabee board to see if anyone there can juggle your income against your expenses.

If you have a surplus of £500pcm, then it may be possible to make a budget and pay down the outstanding debts??

When we reduced our outgoings, it was amaxing how much money we saved on all the little things yet didn't really affect our 'quality of life' much at all soon added up.

Old Style board is great too for housekeeping savings.

Sorry can't be of more help.,

peachyprice

Ok, one thing I don't understand, if your normal payments are £350 why CCCS are offering a DMP of £509? Is that to incorporate HMRC, even though you don't know how much it is?

You're sitting on £7500 which will clear your Lloyds, M&S and small debts completetly, which will leave you only £191 to pay to Halifax. If you have a surplus of £509 this leaves you £318 to play with as and when HMRC come up with a figure.

To be honest with you, I think you're over complicating matters, you have savings that will get you out of a pickle, but are reluctant to give them up, but if you do you will be in a position to save again.

spenderblender

I agree with Peachy, its no use sitting on one amount of money that could be cashed in while paying high interset rates on money owed out.

homealone_2

sieve wrote: »

Looking at the figures the total is around £24,800 after paying off what you can using your ISA and shares - is the DMP giving you any full & final discounts? Because over 36 months the monthly payment to settle a debt that size is just shy of £700. Or am I missing something? Four years works out at £516 which is closer to your original figure but that doesn't give you any savings or shares buffer. I'd also cash in your shares as if the company went down the toilet, you would lose your £4.5k, which you really cannot afford to do in the situation...

I would go with a payment plan if you can - if the surplus is correct, you could clear it in as good as 4 years without having to go through BR or anything too complicated.

but with payment plan would be paying £500 a month but just making normal monthly payments will only be paying £350 but then i guess it would rid me of inland revenue- oh god there i go again throwing everything up in air again!!

peachyprice

But you don't know how much you owe HMRC or when you'll have to start paying. By the time they sort it out you may well have paid off the majority of your debts.

I don't see how CCCS are going to pay £159 to HMRC when they don't know how much you owe them, or even if it will be written off.

homealone_2

peachyprice wrote: »

Ok, one thing I don't understand, if your normal payments are £350 why CCCS are offering a DMP of £509? Is that to incorporate HMRC, even though you don't know how much it is? yes, because they said they will come after me eventually so might as well start paying now

You're sitting on £7500 which will clear your Lloyds, M&S and small debts completetly, which will leave you only £191 to pay to Halifax. If you have a surplus of £509 this leaves you £318 to play with as and when HMRC come up with a figure. this makes perfect sense now you have written it down, i think i just needed a fresh pair of eyes to see it, would it be best to pay all of lloyds and small bits or half the money from assests between both big companies so that when hmrc does do a review i will be paying both still or do you think it doesnt matter

To be honest with you, I think you're over complicating matters, you have savings that will get you out of a pickle, but are reluctant to give them up, but if you do you will be in a position to save again.

i think the problem with me may have been that i was reluctant to pay them all myself as they were not even my debts, husband had run them up. but going bankrupt just to avoid paying whole thing myself was not very sensible.

Sunny_Bear

I would do as peachy says, cash in your shares and ISA and get the Lloyds loan, M&S and all the little bits paid off. That then leaves you with the Halifax, which is an easily manageable payment, and you may even be able to save a bit as you go along which means that you'll have some money for HMRC when they come to sort it out.

BR is only something you should do as a last resort, it effects your credit for many years and I really think you have other options to try first. If you go BR you will loose the shares and ISA money anyway so why not use those first and see if you can manage.

I think you should post up a SOA with you new income and mortgae/rent, plus you debts and I'm sure that with your income you could manage this without BR!

Hope that helps!