Help needed

jamieT_3

ive got a credit card with lloyds tsb and mbna ive got about £6000 on each of them and as i have been out of work since dec 08 am finding almost impossible to pay them as close to loosing home ect, is there anyway of freezing the interest or coming to an agreement with them or wipeing some of the debt?? please help

Nargleblast

Whatever action you decide to take, you will first need to sit down and write down all details of your monthly income and expenditure, because anyone you go to for advice will want to know your full financial position, including the credit card companies. Why not try posting a Statement of Affairs on here (SOA link will be somewhere on the forums home page, or someone might post it here for you.) Do that, and maybe people will suggest some ways of cutting back and stretching the money you have got coming in. That will be a start.

GeorgeUK

Wiping some of the debt - i would say probably not.

Have you tried contacting CCCS or Payplan? They may be able to help you set up a reduced repayment plan to your creditors. It may be easier to get charges and interest frozen using these compnies rather than on your own.

These are not priority debts - your mortgage and utility bills are (as well as food etc).

Have you posted up a statement of affairs? We may be able to spot some areas in which you can make savings and a SOA will be required to send to the charities or the banks.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

jamieT_3

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................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 550
Benefits................................ 430
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 980
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 765
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 155
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 25
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 25
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 14
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 50
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1517

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 151200

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 155000...(765)......5.99
Secured Debt.................. 7500.....(155)......12
Total secured & HP debts...... 162500....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................6500......135.......15
credit card....................6900......120.......12
loan...........................2000......56........11
overdraft......................6000......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........21400.....311.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 980
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,517
Available for debt repayments........... -537
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 311
Amount short for making debt repayments. -848
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 151,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -162,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,400
Net Assets.............................. -32,700
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

talana

OK, as George said above, mortgage, utilities, council tax, food are your priority bills. Forget about trying to pay the loans and credit cards at the moment, I'm afraid you simply haven't got the money.
I'm sure others can give you some good advice how to proceed from here on in.

As you're aware though, your income at the moment doesn't even begin to cover your basic monthly expenditure. Basically your options are:
- Sell your house rapidly and clear all your debts that way
- Get yourself another income, any income, as soon as possible. You can't afford to be fussy here, anything will do.

I'm sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but otherwise you need to cut back your expenses by £537 per month to break even, which simply doesn't look possible unless you're not going to eat.

gettingbetter

jamieT 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................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 550
Benefits................................ 430
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 980
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 765
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 155
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 25
Electricity............................. 60

---

this is high are you in arrreas
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 60

---

this again is high are you on contract ot PAYG
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 200

---

is good but could be lowered go over to os board
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 25
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15

---

do you need this
Buildings insurance..................... 14
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 50

---

have you tried shoping around -- quidco -- i pay 10 pm for me
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1517

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 151200

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 155000...(765)......5.99
Secured Debt.................. 7500.....(155)......12
Total secured & HP debts...... 162500....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................6500......135.......15
credit card....................6900......120.......12
loan...........................2000......56........11
overdraft......................6000......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........21400.....311.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 980
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,517
Available for debt repayments........... -537
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 311
Amount short for making debt repayments. -848
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 151,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -162,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,400
Net Assets.............................. -32,700
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

hi

i am no expert
just a few things i picked up on

keep posting the real expert will be along soon

kas xx

Tixy

Well as you will be aware you have a large defecit each month.

Are you on a repayment mortgage or interest only? Could you look to switch to interest only? Have you looked into whether you are eligible for help with your mortgage from the government due to having lost your job. (can't remember the name of the new scheme).

Are you sure you are getting all the benefits you can. Check out entitledto website.
Can you partner increase their hours at all.

You need to cut down on anything not essential - satellite TV, cut groceries down by buying store brand and meal planning. Life assurance is a really high figure- do you have existing medial conditions (if either of you smoke perfect reason to stop)

You haven't included road tax or car maintenance? Could you manage without a car for a bit?

Suggest you speak to one of the debt charities urgently.

GeorgeUK

Do any of your debts have payment protection insurance? If so, they should be notified that you are no longer in employment so that they can start paying out.

Are you claiming all the benefits you are entitled to? Are you getting JSA? Any housing benefit?

Mortgage................................ 765
Is this interest only or repayment?

Council tax............................. 25
This is very low??

Electricity............................. 60
Check the comparison sites to see if you are getting the best deal (uswitch, moneysupermarket).

Mobile phone............................ 60
PAYG?

Telephone (land line)................... 20
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 20
Is this a package deal?

Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Have a look at the old style board for meal plan ideas and cooking in bulk.

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 14
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 50
Again, check the comparison sites to see if you are getting the best deal.

talana

Taken in isolation, each point you guys make about cutting back on non-essentials and making sure you have the best deals on things is perfectly valid and perfectly sensible.

However the scale of the op's deficit is such that a more important change is surely needed here than simply cutting back. To put it in perspective, the op's monthly income of £980 currently covers the mortgage, secured loan repayment and electriciy bill only.
Everything else takes him into deficit.

By all means cut back where possible, but only extra income in whatever form (including benefits) is going to solve the problem.

GeorgeUK

For CCCS and Payplan to be able to assist, it is usually required that you have funds available to repay your creditors with. As this is clearly not the case it is essential that you make sure all the benefits you are entitled to are being claimed.

If there are any extras that you can cut out or reduce, that would definately help in getting more funds available.

I would make sure what PPI the mortgage, creditcards and loans have. They may be able to make payments on these for about a year if you have been paying for it.

jamieT_3

hi many thanks for all the input at the moment i have ppi on my secured loan and thats it as i never took ppi on anything else as never really thought i needed to and being self employed not alot of them will pay out,
the benefits i get are working tax credits and family tax credits and jsa have said they will help towards the mortgage as its interest only but will only help with £300 of it per month so this doesnt really help as im 2months in arrears and cant afford to pay it each month as partners wages pay shopping electric and debts that she has so theres not alot left ive looked for work everywhere but no joy, my house is in negative equity so cant even sell that, im trying to find ways to wipe my credit cards ect but dont no how to go about this