Ellie's DF Diary

Intergalactic_Floozie

In that case, I would be probably tempted to hold on and see if there is chance of redundancy money but a job isn't worth making yourself poorly over :-)

Ellieseleven

Going through all the threads on this forum it has been obvious that in order to go through with a DMP I need to move my bank account as I have debts with them but I feel a sense of loyalty that I have been with them for 20 years etc. etc. In that time I have always paid my bills on time and never incurred bank charges.

Now that we are experiencing financial problems what a turn-around!!

To add to our woes, someone has used my account details to top up their mobile!!:mad: This resulted in the bank blocking my account which took three weeks to resolve and in that time they were really unhelpful... so my loyalty was starting to wane.

Yesterday, I received a bank statement and have been charged £70 for two transactions (the result of the mobile phone top up). I rang the bank to explain but was told that I need to ensure that I have sufficient funds in my account etc. I gave up trying to speak to this person as it was obvious that they didn't understand what I was saying.

Anyway I went through my statement and the £70 was due to my account going 30 pence over my overdraft!!!!

I think that I can safely say that my loyalty to this bank is diminishing pretty fast so I'm just going to move to a basic accountand stop feeling guilty!!!

Ellieseleven

Had a letter back from MBNA today asking for details of all our incomings and outgoings and a list of all our creditors. They want me to ring them but I would rather write so that I have a record.

My heart is thumping but I know that I have to sort this all out as I feel so stressed out and am not concentrating on my job or anything.

I need some courage to face this but keep stalling!!!!!

Ellieseleven

I have spent all morning trying to compose my next letter to MBNA outlining income and expenditure and what we owe to all our creditors. It's difficult to work out what we have left over to pay our debts as OH's business is up and down so much i.e. nothing last week, £390 the week before, nothing for two weeks prior to this etc. - then need to take his overheads for the business which gives us about £90 for the month (LOL or is that manic LOL!!)

I haven't moved our bank account yet because I don't know what our position will be regarding our business account.

I need to write a list and cross off when this is done, too many things going round in my head so need to keep focused and stop collapsing into a heap every time I think of our situation.

This morning we both said that we feel like walking away from everything - but we've got nowhere to walk to. I have never been in this position where I can't pay my bills and it is devouring my life!!!!

Positive thoughts, positive thoughts, positive thoughts........... it's not working!!

Ellieseleven

I have today rung the CCCS who say that I can do a DMP even though OH is self-employed as I am the main wage earner. Still not sure whether to do this or go it alone???

I have now finished my letter to MBNA and also have written to Virgin & Barclaycard as we had no money to send them this month and Barclaycard have rung 9 times today so far!! (not answered the phone to them though - we have caller id). Sending token payments of £30 each for now as OH has some work on this week.

I'm on holiday from next week so need to:

open a new bank account
write to our other creditors

I feel that I am coping a little better than of late where I have just been a wreck and unable to cope with any of this, it's so alien to me!!:o

Ellieseleven

I have had a meeting with my pensions advisor that was quite interesting!

I have 3 pensions, one which is frozen, one from an old company which I have still been paying into and one with my existing company. I have been advised to transfer the one from my old company which I am still paying into my existing company's - this will free up £50 per month but my advisor also mentioned taking 25% now as I am over 50.

This would give me a sizeable chunk which I could then throw at my credit card debt. This looks like a good solution as I would still have a decent pension pot and it would also help us in our current situation.

Ellieseleven

As part of my contract at work I am unable to take on extra work i.e. a part time job and I don't get paid overtime (many weeks I work 60+ hours!!) - but we need to raise some money to keep us going until OH's business picks up.

I've been done the Ebay route and sold everything that I could in the house! - I have been racking my brain as to what I could do next that won't affect my contract at work and then I had it!!.... I make jewellery as a hobby and have got quite a stash so last night I had a party at my neighbours house and made £135 WooHoo!!!:T - better get busy making lots more:o

Ellieseleven

Recently I have been unable to control the bladder behind my eyes and find that I am crying over the slightest thing. This has led me to breakdown in front of parents and whilst I have not told them the extent of my debt they do know that we are struggling due to lack of work for OH. My parents help me so much anyway but they have offered us more money to see us through until my pension comes through which is a massive relief and will help us enormously.... what would we do without them??

So things are looking up at the moment and I have even plucked up the courage to ring MBNA to explain our situation!!

If the last 6 months has taught me anything it has made it clear that we must get rid of our credit card debt and I will now be doing everything that I can to reduce the amount that we owe. We are still not out of the woods but by releasing my pension it will give us a cushion to get through the winter:p

So this is our To Do list:

[STRIKE]
Cut up credit cards Done
[/STRIKE]
Release money from pension
Snowball our debts starting with the most expensive
Live within our means

Ellieseleven

Just when you think that things might be getting a bit better something else comes and bites you on the !!!!!! OH managed to get some plastering work and a job laying a patio up to christmas, oh good we thought! Wrong!! - patio was 3 days in when snow came so work stopped on that, oh well, move onto plastering - take wallpaper off wall and plaster drops off as is knackered. Job is now much bigger than originally planned but cannot get finished due to how much snow and ice there is on the roads!

So no money, too many bills and now the water pipes are frozen so no water!

Oh, and my pension release fund which was originally 7-10 days at beginning of Jan is now sometime in Feb

So at the moment I am sitting here feeling grubby and dirty as I can't wash properly and wondering whether any of it is worth it and what's the point of it all??

Ellieseleven

Oh and I forgot, MBNA is now chasing me at work... just what I need!! I have explained our situation and I am making token payments of £50 per month until my lump sum comes through so god knows why they are ringing work!!!!!!!