Just a few questions please...

Moolie

Hi all, I've been a lurker on here for a while and have now reached the time when we have to take action regarding mine and my husband's debt.

All the threads on here have been so helpful in building my confidence but there are a few things I would like to clarify please. We were struggling, but managing, to make minimum payments every month until my husbands overtime was cut in January (we are now about £180 per week down from previously). Up until now we have managed to still pay but this month it is not going to happen. My next payments are due out about 16th April. We filled in a debt remedy with CCCS who said either bankruptcy or a low start DMP (it worked out we had about £270 deficit). We have applied to start the DMP as we are hoping that overtime will come back on at some point (this year) and that I'll manage to get a job also.

Now on to my questions. Firstly, because I may not get the pack in time to send letters out to those creditors that require payment in the next couple of weeks (I have cancelled the DDs by the way) should I send them a letter advising them that I am seeking help or should I sit tight and hope that the CCCS letters arrive in time?

Secondly, should I send CCA letters out (the majority of the debts all started between 1997 and 2003) or should I wait to see if they accept the low payments first?

Thirdly, one of the CCs is from my mortgage company and has an interest rate the same as my mortgage. Will it affect my mortgage in any way if they don’t accept the DMP (or even if they do!)?

Also, I’m worried about the situation regarding my daughter. She is currently in a local private school and I’m worried that we’ll be ‘ordered’ to take her out of there. We currently get 75% of the fees taken off our bill and another amount per term as she came out in the top 10 in her entrance exam. This school is very important to her and us as she is top of the class even in that environment and so we feel that moving her would affect her education. We currently pay about £135 per month towards this school.

Thanks for reading. :A

Karmacat

Moolie - welcome to the boards! I don't have much information for you because I've never been down that route, but I'm just posting to say hi, and to say that it may take a while for knowledgeable people to get to you, because of the big maintenance job being done on the site today.

I *suspect* the answer to your first question is to keep everyone as informed as possible, but I'm really not sure.

When you've been lurking, have you seen references to the SOA, the statement of affairs? It would probably still be a good idea to do one, even tho you're now with the CCCS. There's a huge amount of expertise here (when the site is fully open, lol), all sorts of little shortcuts and helpful tricks that people can tell you about, if they know where you're coming from.

One of those that I'd advise straight away, without knowing anything about your situation, is to keep a spending diary, just a cheap little notebook in your handbag or whatever, so that you can write down every single penny that you spend - you can't have full control over your money until you know where *all* of it is going. And thats what a spending diary, kept for at least two weeks and preferably a month, will tell you.

Best of luck, and keep posting.

Moolie

Thanks for that Karmacat. Will start writing everything down. Shouldn't be too difficult as we barely spend anything.

Don't like to say this but I'm actually looking forward to being able to buy food and petrol with proper money instead of having to wait until there's something spare on one of the credit cards!

CLAPTON

-Impossible to give any real advice without seeing an SOA..

but:
-open a bank a/c with someone you owe no money to and make sure all your income gets paid into it

-If and I say if as I haven't seen your SOA, you are going to do a DMP then yes contact your creditors before you actually default (but after you have shifted your income).

-there are different views on asking for CCAs ..what are you hoping to achieve here?

-the mortgage should be unaffected by the CC.

-as far as your daughter schooling is concerned- they can't force you to stop paying for her education but they can refuse to recognise it as an expense and try to insist you pay more towards your debts... what have CCCS say about this?
If they went to court for a CCJ, the amount you would have to pay would be decided by a judge... I'm not sure how he would treat school fees as they are clearly not essential in the usual sense of the word.

Moolie

Thanks for the reply.

We have applied to open a basic account with Natwest this weekend so hopefully we will be covered there. Don't know what I'm trying to achieve ith the CCA. Just seen alot about people receommding you ask for it but don't know why.

CCCS haven't said anything about education costs. I did an online debt rememdy and nothing got flagged up. I am also a student myself with the OU and so some of the education costs I put down were for an account I have with them. (I am trying to find a 'proper job' though! lol) Another thing about my daughter's school fees is that *when* (lets be positive here) my husband's overtime goes back on and I get a job we will be able to afford all minimum payments as well as the schooling. I am hoping that this lack of money is just a temporary thing.

I can't seem to find much about private education and DMPs etc. I have seen something about not being made to take them out of school if they are near their GCSEs or it would impact them significantly but I can't find anything concrete that I can look at. It's this aspect that's worrying me the most about all this.