Default for £12.76!!!

Jaelor

God, I am so annoyed with myself!!! As you will see from my signature, I have some horrendous debts and haven't yet missed a payment on any and that's not from robbing Peter to pay Paul, but by living very very frugally.

I do, however, have a dread of the bank statement coming through the door so tend not to even open them...or so I thought. It seems, upon opening one out of curiosity, that it wasn't from my bank atall, but from bloody Freemans saying I've defaulted on a payment of £12.76!!! I can't believe it - they don't do direct debit, so I just never ever remember to pay it and I've only got a few quid left to pay.

I am so annoyed with myself - I have a huge loan with First Plus and I'm desperately trying to get to the situation where I can get a normal unsecured loan to pay them off so I can get rid of them, and this ain't gonna help!!!

Is there anything I can do?

ceegee

I don't know if it's a good idea to take out another loan to pay off the existing loan, even if it is going from secured to unsecured. £76244.30 is a lot. Have you sought free and excellent advice from the likes of Consumer Credit Counselling Service, National Debtline or the Citizens' Advice Bureau yet? Links at top of page.

Can you scrape up enough money to pay off the Freemans thing now? If so, give them a ring and tell them you will pay it immediately (and do so!).That would be one irritation out of the way and then you could concentrate on the biggie.

You're going to have to get organised....it is absolutely no good forgetting to pay things......but you know that anyway, don't you Sorting the situation out is going to require hard work, dedication and attention to detail.....even down to the last penny. Give the advice agencies a ring. They are superb.

Oh....nearly forgot....you will also be able to find excellent advice on this website. Spend a few hours trawling through this forum for help and inspiration. Hope you can get started on the road to financial recovery soon. :cool:

ceegee

Also, is there any possibility of you increasing your income by taking on a second job? Living frugally is good, but combined with increasing your income and taking advice from the debt-help agencies is even better!

Every little helps....do you have anything that you can sell via a car boot sale, ebay, advert in local shop window, free local trade-it mags that sort of thing?

A many pronged attack is what is required!!

Jaelor

Hi Ceegee and thanks for your comments - I've spoken to Payplan in the past, but because the vast amount of our debt is secured, they cannot help us. I know replacing one debt with another is what got me into this mess in the first place, but I would love to get rid of First Plus and the permanent threat to the roof over my head - the most stupid mistake I've ever, ever made.

Its a little hard for me to get a second job due to the baby as I'm already working full time, but I am looking into the possibility of cleaning a few evenings a week once I've put him to bed - don't want to spend less time with him than possible. Have been doing Ebay and hubby dabbles in buying and selling and earns us around £30 - £40 every weekend doing car boots.

I know I'm climing Everest at the moment, but I am desperately trying to avoid the bankrupt route as, due to the secured debt, is the only way out of his i.e. can't negotiate payments.

ceegee

Your debt is secured on your home I assume. Any chance of downsizing and using the equity to help with the debts? Any chance of selling (to clear the debt), renting for a while and then starting all over again, with, perhaps "shared ownership" associations? I don't know what these are like but I believe it's a more affordable way to get back on the housing ladder.
Pretty grim, but are there any relatives with big enough houses that you could move in with for a while?

You have said that Payplan cannot help....have you tried the other agencies mentioned? Maybe they have different ways of doing things?

Not helpful, I know, but these secured loan companies want shooting, they really do.

Got to go to work now.Hope some more suggestions and support comes along....I'm sure it will!