help...what do i do next?

Jacks_xxx

Hello my lovely, :wave:

I'm so sorry that CCCS couldn't do more for you, but if you don't have enough money to make "reasonable" payments on a DMP then they can't put you on one.

The £1 token payments are to keep your creditors off your back for a while but you're right they are not a solution to the problem in the long term.

The basic debt free advice boils down to earn more and or spend less.

If earning more money isn't an option for either of you, and you've already made spending cuts to no avail then perhaps you should look very seriously at bankruptcy as an option?

It's scary stuff and no easy option but many poeple I know say it was preferable to the situation of just not being able to pay your bills. Have a read round on the bankruptcy board and ask some questions. Jenni75 gives a great overview of how it has worked for her family:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=18600369#post18600369

We have been working our @r$es off for over two years to clear our debts and I quite often think we should have gone the bankruptcy route instead.

There's some new legislation coming out called a Debt Relief Order which the CAB seem to know all about so I suggest giving them a call and going to speak to somebody.

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_index/press_20061117.htm

I really hope they can help you hon.

Love Jacks xxx

RAS

Your insurance costs are phenomenal - why do you have mortgage cover (presumably life cover_ and life cover?

What function do these play when you cannot afford to pay your cureent edbts because of the high costs.

Cheap term insurance to cover you both for the mortgage would be less than £20 per month.

TotallyBroke

charliemouse wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1800
Partners monthly income after tax....... 300 This is very low can this not be increased
Benefits................................ 116
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2216

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1075.73 See if you can do this io until you can learn to live within your means. Once you can and are debt free you can then overpay to become mortgage free
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130 Ask them to spread this years one over 12 months.
Electricity............................. 40 Make sure everything is turned off at the plug. See if you can cut back at all
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 77 I'm not sure if this is high or not. But can you consider turning your heating down by a few degrees or reducing the number of hours it is on for.
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 44 This is a lot a month. Line rental is usually £11pm you have to limit any calls you are making to emergency only
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 11.63
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 19.99 Can this be with same landline provider for cheaper
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 You need to cut this back. Meal plan and only buy what you need. Buy cheaper brands especially for cleaning products. Check out old style board
Clothing................................ 31 Only buy clothes as presents from each other. Check out freecycle for childrens clothes
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 32.67
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 This is a bit high at £600 but it could be saved anyway as an emergency fund
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 60
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 24.95 Is there a cheaper way of paying for this
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 100 Are you paying for treatment. If this is just insurance then it is way too high. You are paying more to look after your pets than childcare for your child!
Buildings insurance..................... 53.37 I'm guessing this includes contents insurance but can you find a comparison quote for less
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 28.65 Could this comparison checked for a cheaper quote
Other insurance......................... 257.2 What is this for?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 You will spend something here even if just on child
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2531.19


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 198000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 199000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 181000...(1075.73)..5.65
Total secured & HP debts...... 181000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft joint accou..........6000......100.......0 Is there an arrangement to pay this each month
Egg card - husbands............9353.72...227.......0
Barclaycard- husband..........5346.32...120.......0
MBNA Virgin....................9067.72...107.......0
MBNA - mine....................5058.49...138.6.....0
Overdraft - Husbands...........400.......1.16......0 Again is there an arrangement to pay this
Total unsecured debts..........35226.25..693.76....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,216
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,531.19
Available for debt repayments........... -315.19
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 693.76
Amount short for making debt repayments. -1,008.95

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 199,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -181,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -35,226.25
Net Assets.............................. -17,226.25

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

I know that you are going to say about the dogs - we are already looking at rehoming one of them.

CCCS advised to look for cheaper house insurance. they also advised to possibly cancel Life & critical illness insurance as this would save us money.

Another thing was to change to an interest only mortgage for a short time...although i'm a bit reluctant about doing this.

We have had an estate agent around already this week as we don't think we have much option but to sell the house. but there is not the equity in the house to clear any of the debts - we have a £5000 release fee.

Looking at you soa you could save £200-300 per month. It will not solve your problem but may help. You need to stop your OH having access to any bank accounts and get him to have a lightbulb moment with you.

If you make token payments to your debts now it will free up cash to be able to live within your means for the first time in a while.
You can then work out what debt is costing you the most each month and slowly start to overpay on that.

Can you sell things to make extra cash to throw at the debts.

Well done for posting I pray you can get your OH to have the lightbulb moment. Show him this soa and ask him to help.

Just seen your post about the insurances. You need to stop them especially the dyson one. Sell the dyson get a free hoover from freecycle. If it blows up get another from freecycle and so on. Is your washing machine not included in your contents insurance.
Your life insurance should pay your mortgage if you were critically ill or died. Check because it looks like you are paying way over the odds for the same cover.

Jacks_xxx

charliemouse wrote: »

Car expenses is for mot, servicing & tyres etc.

other insurance breakdown:
Mortgage life & critical illness cover £178.17
unemployment cover £48.74
Washing machine insurance £8.16
Dyson insurance £8.16

I have also just realized i have put in the figure of £60 for childcare this is per week - so should be more than this at £260 pm

Sorry - nipped off to make tea and forgot to tell you that I don't think you can afford all this insurance and that I don't think you need to be paying this huge amount of money every month for adequate cover.

We've got Life and Critical illness for hubby and Income Protection Insurance which pays out £1500 a month and the premiums cost less than £100 combined even though my hubby is an old codger of 50.

Are you paying PPI on any of the debts?

It's my personal view that it's daft ( sorry, I don't mean to be rude but I couldn't think of a better word) to pay money you can't afford for insurance to protect you against theoretical bad things happening in the future - when actual concrete bad things are happening to you right now!

I'm not telling you what to do honey, but definitely think about how much you're paying and if you could get "good enough" cover for less.

Love Jacks xxx

fatbelly

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

There's some new legislation coming out called a Debt Relief Order which the CAB seem to know all about so I suggest giving them a call and going to speak to somebody.

Not available to homeowners.

My advice is to cancel the unnecessary insurances, get expenditure down to match income, go interest only on the mortgage, open new bank accounts if necessary so as to wave goodbye to the overdrafts, pay unsecured creditors £1 per month.

Doesn't write the debt off but allows you to live and gives you some thinking time.

Jacks_xxx

fatbelly wrote: »

Not available to homeowners.

Ooh I didn't know that _ i don't know much about them at all to be honest. Cheers hon!

Love Jacks xxx

narabanekeater

I hope im not reading wrong of prying but if your patners earning 300 a month and childcare is 260 is this person only earning 10 a week through working?

RAS

Plus possibly some WTC but you point is made. How much does it cost them to get to work?

theoretica

Have you double checked you are getting everything you can in the way of help from http://www.entitledto.com/