uh oh - Im in trouble! Help?!

Mrs_Ryan

Hi everyone...

I posted my SOA a little while ago and got some really good advice... things looked to be picking up but they've just gone downhill since then :mad: I paid off one of my payday loans and was planning to pay off the other two but unfortunately circumstances conspired against me and today I got a letter from Lowell about an old store card debt that has caught up with me :eek: it isnt much but truth is, Im seriously struggling now. Im living off my payday loan which isnt good :rolleyes: All my catalogues bar three are now in arrears.. oh dear.
The only light on the horizon is I have a debt with Lowell which is due to be paid up next month, and a short-term managed overdraft with NatWest which will be finished in May. I dont know what I can suggest to Lowell though... Im caught between a rock and a hard place as I cant afford to pay them anything until the HSBC account finishes but I doubt they will wait, somehow

Anyone any ideas???

Heres my new SOA...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 934
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 934
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 20
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 40
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 160

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Littlewoods....................725.......117.......0
Citi Mastercard................750.......25........31.9
Ambrose Wilson.................625.......41........29.9
Pounds Till Payday.............300.......389.......0 (NOT KNOWN)
Lowell (New Look)..............214.......0.........0
Evans Storecard................500.......20........29.9
Lowell (HSBC)..................150.......52........0
NatWest........................195.......65........0
Money Shop.....................250.......40........34
Brilliant Gift Shop............300.......20........29.9
Viva La Diva...................400.......30........29.9
Fashion World..................400.......30........29.9
Simply Be......................400.......30........29.9
Shoe Tailor....................500.......35........29.9
Total unsecured debts..........5709......894.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 934
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 160
Available for debt repayments........... 774
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 894
Amount short for making debt repayments. -120
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,709
Net Assets.............................. -5,709
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

chevalier

sorry but what about your OH wage and stuff? if that is the only money you have coming in then surely you should be entitiled to working tax credit, council tax benefit? So I think the first step is to do a joint SOA, and realise that you need to tackle these debts as a family
chev

fairydiamond

I might be wrong but it looks like they keep finances seperate, there is no mortgage/rent or council tax on the SOA, as well as car insurance, etc.

webitha

wow that is a lot of catalogues, it looks like youu bought a lot of clothes etc, well can you ebay some to raise some cash????

justruth

You say that you already have a debt that is nearly paid off with Lowell, and that they are the agency for the new/old debt. My advice would be to talk to them, explaining that you really are already stuggling and that you cannot afford to pay any more off. Ask if you can continue to make the same payment to them that you already make once this debt is cleared, see if they will wait that long. It may work.

As for the short fall each month, it looks like this is due to the pay day loans. and as such will not be a long term problem. If this is the case then give it a final push. Do you really need to buy clothes this month? If so thats £20 (I'm not saying every month, just working on the assumption that one good month would 'sort you out a bit').

Ebay away anything that you can, is it possible that your minimum payments on your credit accounts are slighlty lower than those shown? If so if you only made the very minimum for the month how much would that free up?

As you are already in a bad credit situation, would it not be worth starting a DMP? Even one which you arrange yourself giving payments you can afford? If you write the letters with token payments, and then as soon as you get the Natwest cleared you can increase the repayments.

Running_man

See you are paying £60 per month just for telephone.This is alot.And why do you have to spend £20 per month on clothes?Go a few month without -use the clothes you already have.

elaina79

Go for pre pay mobile at £10 per month. Ditch the clothes and the entertainment for a while and that will save £60 already. Try selling some of the stuff that you have brought that you dont need. With this extra cash put it on the highest APR debt which is Money shop. If you are already paying them £40 per month then this along with the £60 means you can pay them £100 so in 2 and a bit months it will be paid off. The £40 then that you used to pay them can go to the next highest APR debt which is your Citi mastercard. If you can manage to use the original £60 and the £40 from your money shop debt along with the £25 you are paying towards the mastercard you can pay off £125 to them each month. When that is paid off then move to the next debt and so on.

Mrs_Ryan

Hi everyone...

yes, ur right FD, finances are totally separate. He pays everything - mortgage, council tax, water, gas, electricity, Sky... and the car insurance, tax etc, the car is his, I dont drive. thats what his wages go on. Not entitled to any tax credits or anything, combined wages are too high but OH gets DLA. These debts are all mine, and OH is deeply disapproving - his attitude is my debt, my problem. Fair enough, it is my problem.
Not all the catalogues were used to buy clothes - I stupidly bought all my Xmas presents through them - thats why Im in trouble. I have wardrobes full of clothes - I really dont need any more! I just put something in - could quite easily go without. However, I need a new pair of shoes for work every 6 months and I have problems with my feet so I cant wear cheap ones - so that 20 a month technically is spent 4 months out of 12.
They are all the absolute minimum payments already - the NatWest and Lowell ones are crippling me but they have said they cannot accept anything less. But, like I said, they will be finished very soon anyway, and the NatWest managed overdraft is all charges so Im gonna reclaim when its paid off. I sell loads on Amazon but dont use Ebay - I got defrauded on there and it was a pain to sort out so ebaying is out of the question, Im afraid.
Im already on PAYG - I've cut the usage from 70 to 30 a month, and I really cant go any lower than that. Due to the shifts I work I use my mobile a lot, Im already on a really good tarriff with Vodafone so cant really do much about that. The house phone is part of a package - OH pays Sky and internet, I pay for the phone - line rental is 10 per month, but I use it if Im at home and need to ring OH or mum on the mobile - (theyre both disabled so quite often I do) which is cheaper than using mobile.
I was intending to pay off the Money Shop this month but that isnt going to be possible now, (I was supposed ot be getting some enhancements this month that I wont get till April) so may give that a go next month.
Thanks everyone - help much appreciated!

LilacPixie

the debt letter you have received from Lowel, how about sending them the 'prove it' letter. Firstly just to make sure it really is your debt and secondly to buy yourself a little time.

If you call mobiles alot possible one of the sim only mobile contracts would be better for you than using land line.

fairydiamond

I once dealt with Lowell for my boyfriend, they were rats! So I sympathise. However they really should accept less if thats all you have.

TurnaroundSue

I would definitely go for a sim only card - my ds has one with Vodafone and he has 600 minutes and unlimited texts for £20 pm. No contract - it is a 30 day notice sim. Also if you go through quidco or one of the other cashback sites you can get cashback. Not sure how much at the moment, but I got £90 back at Christmas. You need to keep it going for 4 months before you actually get the cash, but that is more than paying the £20 per month subscription.