Need some advice please

chops05

I've been lurking on this board for some time and I would like your advice on what I should do.

I was working full time until 2 years ago when I left to have a baby. Since then I have got myself into a bit of a debt problem. I have gone back to work part time (20 hours per week) but both mine and my other halfs income seem to be eaten up by our debts as soon as we get paid and its a struggle to even find £20 to do some shopping!

We owe about £15,000 on various credit cards, loans, catalogues and overdraft. We haven't defaulted on any payments yet but we are struggling to make minimum payments to keep our heads above water. :mad:

I have been looking at contacting CCCS or Payplan and I wanted to know what your experience is of these companies and are they very helpful.

The whole situation is beginning to get me down now and its playing on my mind so much that I cant sleep properly! Yes, I know I have only got myself to blame and I wish I had something to show for the money I have spent but it's been spent on things like car insurance, food shopping and necessitys for our daughter.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. :T

Sarah

ukrodgers

I am new to this whole thing as well but my wife and I were doing the same and were spiralling out of control just before christmas.
I did the same as you and read a lot on this site before making the step and I rang CCCS. They were everything and more that you have read on this site. They were helpful and it was the best thing I did.
They went through a budget with me and always called back when they said they would. I wish I had rang them sooner, but there you go, experience is something you only get just after you need it.
I rang Payplan as well and they were just the same they were polite and helpful as well and I never felt that they judged me. I eventually plumped for the Payplan route and I am feeling 100% better than I did. I had built it all up in my mind how bad it was going to be and my imagination had run riot. So when I called them it was nothing like I had expected.
I am no expert but my advice would be to get together all your paperwork and call them. I am SO glad I did and I hope you will be too.
I sleep at night now and no longer wake up wondering how I am going to mug Peter to pay Paul.
I hope this helps.

homer_j_3

Have a read of some of the other threads in the debt free wannabe section there seems to be a lot of praise for these people. There role is to help the people like yourself and I am guessing that if you try and speak to your debtors yourself you may not get the same benefit that you may receive if you let professionals do the negotiation for you in reducing payments.

It is unacceptable to be living the way you are but at least you havent defaulted yet and its always more welcomed if you go to them before the defaults start happening.

Sorry I cant be of more help

scottishspendaholic

Hi chops05,

I'm afraid I can't offer any practical support as I don't have any experience of these companies - but I just wanted to say that I'm thinking of you and things will get better...

scottishspendaholic x

chops05

Thanks for your replies, they have been most reassuring.

I'm going to give CCCS and Payplan a call and see if they can help me.

ms_london

chops05 wrote:

Thanks for your replies, they have been most reassuring.

I'm going to give CCCS and Payplan a call and see if they can help me.

Hey there.

I know that sometimes it takes a while before you can see/get your telephone interview with the above, so if you want to post your SOA (statement of affairs) on here (which is exactly what the above will ask for, so it helps to be prepared) then perhaps we can advise you on where to save some money, or at least re-organise your finances!! At least this will put your mind at rest whilst you are waiting to see CCCS/Payplan.

Even if its a case of going through your debts and making a list of exactly how much you owe to whom, your balance, APR and minimum repayment!! It will make things clearer in your mind!!

Let us know how you get on - you are definately not alone though.

xx

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi Chops 05,

Welcome to MSE, well done for taking positive steps to get your finances back under control.

You need to post all your incomings and out goings here and a break down of the debts, rate of interest, length of term left on the loan.

Once members can see what your income is, what your bills are e.g rent, food,telephone etc etc and what your debts are.

They can then see the overall picture of your current financial situation and make positive suggestions.

Good Luck !

Best things in life are free.

chops05

I have just spoken to CCCS and they are sending me a debt pack so I look forward to receiving that! I didn't realise that certain items like gym subscription and paying for my contact lenses should be paid before paying my creditors! there's me worrying that i've got to cancel my contact lenses and be totally blind for the next 10 years!!! :eek:

As suggested, here is our monthly outgoings:

Household bills
rent £630
gas £25
electric £20
council tax £67
water £30
phone £32
home insurance £14
pet insurance £14
shopping (for me, other half & 2 year old daughter) £250
Petrol (2 cars) £170
contact lenses £33
new pair of glasses £25 (only for the next 10 months)
gym £45 (please dont tell me to cancel it as its the only hobby I have!)
Car insurance £60
car tax £35
toddler group £5
cigarettes (other half smokes and wont give up!!!) £70
total £1511

Debts
Loan I pay £157 per month with £6000 left to pay (it was £6,700 but phoned last week to check outstanding balance). Not sure of interest rate but it was taken out through Abbey National
Sofa £22 for next 2.5 years
Next direct £180 outstanding I pay about £10 pm
Kays £500 outstanding paying about £70 pm
Egg card £1000 balance pay about £50 pm (15% intereste rate)
Mint card £6300 outstanding pay £150 pm (16% intereste rate)
Tesco card £600 outstainding pay £20 pm (15% intereste rate)
overdraft £700 - not paid anything off this for ages

joint income £1600
I get child benefit and CTC which comes to £100 pm

I usually pay the debts and bills first and whatever is left over we use for shopping and petrol. I'm robbing Peter to pay Paul and its just not working anymore!!! :mad:

I'm really angry with myself by letting it all get out of hand so I hope you can point me in the right direction :rolleyes:

dinkylou

Chops05,

£33 per month for contact lenses is extortionate!!

Try https://www.visiondirect.co.uk they have all the same brands as opticians but far cheaper.
I get my eye tests done at the opticians and buy lenses online for about £5 per month - huge difference.

ms_london

Household bills



Rent £630
Gas £25
Electric £20
Council tax £67
Water £30
car tax £35 Is this how much you save each month towards car tax?
phone £32 Mobile or home phone? Could you get a better deal?
home insurance £14 Could you get a better deal?
pet insurance £14 Could you get a better deal?
Car insurance £60 Could you get a better deal?

contact lenses £33 Could you get a better deal?
Petrol (2 cars) £170 Could you cut back on petrol or even manage without 1 car?



TOTAL £1130



INCOME £1700



REMAINDER £570



Basically, the above items are essentials. And after these have been paid you are left with £570 per month.



Out of these you also need to budget for food. You put a figure for £250 a month, however, I feel that this could be cut down. Check out the Old Style Board for ideas on how to shop frugally & make your own food.



If you allow for £200 a month (although it could probably be cut back to less than this), this allows you £370 to pay your debts (see table below)..



However, you say that the gym costs you £45 a month, cigarettes for your OH £70 a month which now decreases your total amount to throw at your debts to £255.



Fair enough that you keep your gym/cigarettes, IF you can trim your budget elsewhere (i.e. cut the food shopping down further, or see if you can get better deals on the above, car insurance etc etc), but otherwise I am not sure that the CCCS will see cigarettes or even the gym as “essentials” or necessary expenditure. Perhaps if you could even get your OH to spend only £45 on cigarettes (the same it costs you for the gym), at least this would be “fair” and you could still save a bit of money.


Debts





(did have a pretty table to insert, but it wouldnt let me!!!!!)


If you have £255 a month to throw at your debts, then you will need to renegotiate your monthly repayments with your creditors. It is unlikely that the Abbey will settle for a smaller repayment, but your other creditors should allow this. The parts I’ve highlighted in pink – could you find out this information for us?? You will need to split £255 a month between the creditors above (including your Overdraft), the fairest way is to pro-rata it on the amount you owe them/interest rate etc. I believe there is a link to a website that can do this for you???? Can someone help???



Once one creditor has been cleared, you can throw the money you were paying to them to your next creditor – this is known as snowballing.



Let me know what you think.



Ms_London xx

chops05

I did try looking at this before DinkyLou but my eyes are so bad that I could ony get the lenses I wear from my optician. I'm going to have a surf and see if I can find it cheaper as the last time I looked was a few years ago now!

thanks for the help :rotfl: