The 1st day of the rest of my life - Upwards i hope

Jellybellybean

Ok here goes, writing is not my strong point, it takes me a long time but it does help clear head and i hope keep me feeling possitive and motivated, i posted on the wannaby board yesterday for the 1st time and have started to feel like i am going to lose my home. I cant let myself think that way, not before i have given everything my best shot.
i am going to write my most important debts 1st, then write what i aim to do today and tomorrow. But please feel free to add any pointers and or different advice.
Most Important
Nat West mortgage £79,000 - payments £900 per month
i am in arrears with this by 3 months + the last 2 months i have only paid £500 not £900
Nat West overdraft £18,000
They have called in the overdraft and on Friday i got a 15 day notice of possession procceedings for both of the above.
What i have done so far
Spoken to National debtline because i was paying my mortgage amount of £900 into Nat West account each month and instead of paying my mortgage with it as they always had done the just deducted it from the overdraft - so i got into arrears without realizing - national debtline advised me to pay the next payment direct into mortgage account which i have done but i could only manage £500, i wrote to Nat West asking for help and for them to come to an arrangment with me. i offered to pay £500 a month + £50 a month off my overdraft. - no reply. just more letters telling me to get my act together and pay the arrears, also letters telling me to pay the £18,000 overdraft.
Next Credit Cards
Virgin - £6,000
Nat West - £6,000
Cap1 - £3,000
What i have done so far
Again as advised by national debtline i wrote to them all explaining the situation and asking if they would accept a token monthly payment of £1 - no reply from any to this just more bring this up to date or else letters
Others
Water rates - £500
Domestic rates - £800
Done so far - wrote to them explaining and asked them to accept £50 a month, the both said yes so i have been keeping to that.
HSBC
credit card £5,000 - i pay £120 per month direct debit - no arrears but paying minimum each month so going nowhere.
loan £3,000 - i pay £140 per month direct debit - no arrears
Today to do
Write letters to Virgin, Cap1 and Nat West Credit Cards - not sure what to write so would be glad of advice please
Write another letter to Nat West about overdraft and mortgage - i have been promised £500 a month from family to cover my mortgage so i need to ask if they will accept this + £50 off my overdraft - do you think they will accept? not sure how to word the letter, this is the most important and frightening one.
Tomorrow
Contact HSBC to make appointment - i have always paid them on time but with my situation as it is now the credit card is a struggle to pay, this money should be paid off my mortgage - i am hoping they will reduce the interestor maybe add it to my loan so the interest will be less - do you think they will?
Long term hope - i need this to keep me focused - in five years i hope to have paid off my HSBC loan and all my credit cards - be back up to date with my mortgage, for my health to have improved so i can get back to work.
Well i think thats it for now - any feedback i would be more than glad of.

SueP19

No feedback just a huge Hi from the Diary board

and ................Good Luck :T

Jellybellybean

Thank you Sue
Just picked up some mail from next door - i have no letterbox, i have had a letter from MBNA - Virgin, they have made me an offer and im unsure what to do, it says the following -
We may be able to accept the following, subject to terms and conditions :B - im not sure what those are?????
1, reduced payment plan, i may be able to stop all interest and fees, on the understanding that payments made will clear the outstanding balance within a 5 year period
2, partial settlement of approx £2500. if you are able to make an offer against this full debt then i will consider charging off the remainder, the account will be registered as a partial settlement on your credit file at the credit reference bureau.
not really sure what any of this means or which way to go - ant advice please????

EssexHebridean

Hi JBB, and welcome to DFW.

Firs thing, and most important for the purpose of this board - you need to do an SOA and get it posted here. Go to http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html and then use the button to format it for MSE - post it here and people will be able to advise you on where you might be able to make some savings.

So far as the possession proceedings are concerned - have you been given a hearing date or is the letter you have a notice that in 15 days they will start to take proceedings against you? If you have a date, then you need to more heaven and earth to get your mortgage account up to date by the tijme of that hearing as that limits their options somewhat (I am assuming you are in the UK?).

If you are having your salary paid into your Natwest account you need to stop that immediately - get another account set up if you can and have your salary paid into there - distribute funds from there directly to your mortgage account. NatWest are G1ts with a capital "G" - my OH had no end of problems with them a few years back, which could have been reduced drastically if they'd been of a mind to be at all helpful.

Remember - your mortgage and Council tax are priority debts, then heat, light and water. What is the value of your home? Remember that if you are in negative equity and NW repossess you will still be liable for any shortfall.....not trying to scare you, just stating the facts as they are.

The offer from Virgin in excellent - except that no way are you going to be able to find £2500 to accept it in time. Unless you win the lottery, which you won't, because you can't afford to be buying tickets right now . You need to get your figures in order first via an SOA and then work out if their 5 year offer is workable.....I suspect it might be as things are rarely as bad as they seem. If it is, and you do accept it, you must make sure you keep up the payments though.

Good luck - and remember, you've done the hardest bit now by firstly facing up to the situation and secondly coming on here and telling us about it - people can help you now.

Jellybellybean

Hi Essex,
Thank you for the reply, no the letter says i have 15 days to reply before they start proceedings, they want me to pay the £18,000 overdraft and im not sure what they want with the mortgage - if its get it up to date or pay it off, the letter isnt clear - they say they want me to phone them to discuss but i was advised to do everything by letter by national debtline, my mortgage is £900 a month, at the moment the most i can pay a month is £500 + £50 off the overdraft, i have sent letters asking them for this and i also asked could they not merge them both so i only had one payment, i have had no reply to my letters.

EssexHebridean

Within reason, you can ignore the overdraft for the moment - the mortgage arrears are where you need to focus. In the long term the NastyWest can get a charging order against your property in relation to the overdraft, but that's not the issue right now. As I said though, without an SOA it's impossible to see where money might be generated to reduce your problems, even if just in the short term to remove the risk of repossession.

I assume you have considered the possibility that repossession and bancruptcy might be your best avenue? Obviously not somewhere you really want to go, but as a last resort it might be worth you doing some research.

kissjenn

What is the house currently worth, what type of mortgage do you have, how long to run etc etc? A lot of this will be on the SOA which as EH has pointed out is needed for people to help you, but some of the specifics won't be.

£900 pm on £79,000 seems high so I assume its repayment over quite a short term depending on the interest rate. If you get us those figures we may be able to suggest some options you may wish to consider.

EssexHebridean

JBB - hope you don't mind me copying this across from your other thread but I've only just found it!

Jellybellybean wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1100
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 900
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1372

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 200000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 79000....(900)......8
Total secured & HP debts...... 79000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
hsbc credit....................5000......130.......0
hsbc loan......................3000......140.......0
nat west credit................6000......140.......0
Total unsecured debts..........14000.....410.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,372
Available for debt repayments........... -272
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 410
Amount short for making debt repayments. -682
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 200,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -79,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,000
Net Assets.............................. 107,000

Can you get the rest of the figures filled in? Car expenses etc - that helps create the full picture. Your monthly incomings are very low - have you checked whether you are entitled to any benefits etc? Seems hard to believe that you wouldn't be TBH. There is equity in your house....what's the market doing round your way? Any chance of being able to sell and move into rented accommodation for the time being until you can get yourselves back on your feet again? You can probably free up at least £50 from your grocery budget - nearer to £100 with a bit of careful shopping and cooking. Clearly though at the moment the sums just don't add up. I assume from your income that one or other of you doesn't work at the current time - is there any chance of this changing? Even on a part time basis it would help.

EssexHebridean

OK - to play with a few figures.....

Jellybellybean wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 Can this be increased at all?
Benefits................................ 0 You need to check your entitlement on this.
Other income............................ 500
Total monthly income.................... 1600
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 900
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 50
Electricity............................. 80 Is this the best deal you can get? Can you swap via Quidco if not?
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 30 see below
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15 Can you combine with your phone and cut costs? TalkTalk are worth a look - they do an essentials phone and boradband package for £18 per month
Groceries etc. ......................... 200You can take this to £100 - see the Old Style board for masses of help and advice on grocery budgetting
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0 Can you supply a figure for this?
Car Insurance........................... 0Can you supply a figure for this?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0what the score re this and contents insurance?
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0

Including the £500 that your family have offered, and allowing for the changes I've made in red (presents, emergency fund and clothing to zero, grocery budget dropped to £100) this should leave £363 over for allocation to token payments for your cards and your loan. Anything left from that MUST go to the mortgage arrears first and foremost. If you can make any savings on your electric, phone etc, then this is all extra to go into the pot. Do you have anything lying about that can be ebayed? CD's you can sell to Music magpie? Old mobiles you can change for cash? You can get £4.50 a time for cashing in mobiles via cashinmyphone through Quidco....

kissjenn

JBB - your SOA doesn't match your post here (apologies if I'm missing something). Where's the £18k overdraft and not all the loans appear to be here or rates arrears etc.

If you really are on 15 days notice you need to get all of this firmed up to understand your true position. Do you have an idea of how you want this to work out - would selling the house buy you a fresh start or would it be terrible?

Jellybellybean

Hi
Wow thanks for bringing that over, sorry, like i explained on the other thread i put the benefit in the wrong box, i dont have a partner it is my son who lives with me, he gives me £75 a week, the £1100 i have for income as i said in the other thread is for incapacity benefit of 300 a month the 500 from family and what my son gives me. i was self employed for over 30 years and because of my getting ill i started to get money trouble, because of my health i ended up closing the business about 2 years ago.
The mortgage is over 15 years and was higher because of me being self employed. the car is my sons so i didnt put any expenses as he sees to that himself. Yes we are changing our internet in the next few weeks and yes i agree about shopping, lots of savings could be made there. i admit i have no insurance. My mum has just made me cry saying i can have her pension for as long as i need it. god i feel low now.
My main worry at the moment is Nat West mortgage, do i have any chance of them accepting lower payments? i just dont think i can maintain £900 a month for long, especially now that they also want the overdraft clearing.