Facing my debts

mistymoomoo

Good afternoon all

For some reason today was the day I woke up and am facing up to my debts. They are not massive, but big enough to make a negative impact on my life.

So... debt by debt..

Sky Credit Card. I owe them £1060.29. I made a £20 payment over the phone this morning and they have agreed that I can pay £10 a month for next 6 months and they will not put any further charges or interest on the account.

Next Store Card. I owe a total of £1367.56 (£340.61 in arrears) and on speaking to them I have arranged paid £25 over the phone and have agreed to £79 per month for next 3 months to be reviewed.

I owed Tesco £27.82 which i called and cleared over the phone.

My other biggie is mortgage. Not been paid since last September and having spoken to Northern Rock this morning the house will either be repossessed or is being signed over to my ex husband (who stopped paying it but in joint names) There is not much I can do until I know what direction this will take but intend to tackle when I can.

I also have a £100 overdraft with my bank which comes with the account. When i get paid on 24th July I am going to ask bank to remove the facility.

I feel good that I have made a proactive gesture instead of burying myself not being able to afford everything, and already on my first day have cleared one debt. I know its trivial at just under £30, but thats one less thing for me to worry about.

Wish me luck. Ill try and report on my progress

Thanks for reading
MMM

LeeSouthEast

Welcome aboard, and congratulations on facing up. That's the hardest part! I'm sure others will be along shortly.

mummy2mygirls

hello and goodluck!! Well done for having your light bulb moment!!
Would be reall good if you could do a soa and list all your outgoings and incomings etc - ppl will be able to show you ways to save a little (there is a link in one of the threads...) and is good to seewhat you can afford etc. Well done on clearing the tesco debt - feel really good to clear a debt and is a great way to start.

With the mortgage - im no sure what to suggest, its important to have somewhere to live though so might be a good idea to try sort this out first?? im sure someone who knows more will come along soon

Good luck x

mummy2mygirls

here is a link to the soa http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
x

Tixy

Hi as others have said a financial statement of affairs (SOA) should give you some idea of your position and where all your money is going. Use the link in the post above to make sure you include everything. Is there a particular reason why you haven't been paying the mortgage (e.g. have you been made redundant or similar) if so there is a government scheme which can help people - although you may not have time to sort it as it sounds like they have already moved to reposession stage.

It might be worth gathering together all the paperwork relating to the mortgage and speaking to an advisor at citizens advice or I think Shelter may help with repossesions. (you could look on their website for some info http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repossession )

Is the mortgage in joint names? Are you in negative equity with the house?

Good luck on facing up to things and if you have any questions do ask on here as someone is likely to be able to help.

mistymoomoo

Thanks for advice. I shall look at SOA this afternoon.

Reason mortgage is not being paid as it was £1300 a month. When I left my husband (or raher kicked him out but thats a whole other story!) we agreed to pay 50% each. Agreed with NR this is what was happening. I made my payment in the August but ex did not make his. He didnt make his in Sept either. NR said that because the full amount was not being paid even if I paid my 50% the account would still be in arrears and they would take action to repossess the house. We only had the house for 2 years and had a 125% mortgage from NR.... Now the house is in negative equity and nothing been paid at all since my 50% sept payment. For safety reasons (violent ex) I and my daughter had to leave the house in October last year and it remains empty now. We have somewhere to live and are settled, but its taken a while to get to this point. Now I can look at income and outcome I can also look at where I can save.

Tixy

I'm not an expert but I think you may be better to hand back the keys rather than wait for repossesion as then you may incur fees on top of the negative equity. They will expect you to repay the negative equity amount once the house is sold. They should let you do this over a period of time. Ideally you and your ex need to pay back 50% of the shortfall each but if he fails to do this I believe they will come after you for the whole amount. I would definatley try and get some specialist advice as to how to reduce the amount you will have to repay.

Glad to hear you and your daughter are settled elsewhere and if ex was violent then good on you for getting out of the relationship.

mistymoomoo

Thanks Tixy. I did not realise that handing back the keys was a option. I have been given a number of someone that could possibly advise me so will see what he says. There is already a court order and the next step is repossession. Ex wanted to take my name off mortgage and move back in with his new bit of stuff, which is fine by me, and NR said they sent forms to him in June. He has not contacted me to sign them though which NR said I need to do.

Il let you know how it pans out.