OK, confession time

loobyloo1980

Ok, confession time. Things have slipped and I am now crawling back with my tail between my legs to get back on the straight and narrow. I think you could say I'm having my 2nd :idea: moment. We are no further in debt than we were at the worst part, but we are slowly creeping back that way and we really need to do something about it and fast. My husband has been trying to apply for a loan this week to consolidate our debts as we are struggling to make the payments and know that a smaller payment to a single company would be much easier for us to handle. However, because of past credit problems no one wants to touch us with a barge pole (and I know deep down that is a good thing and definitely for the best in the long term). So we are now looking seriously at finding someone to manage it all for us. On a previous post I mentioned one company (advance money management) who have contacted us already and gave us a sum they could reduce our outgoings to. I want to do it through a reputable place though, and for free obviously, so if anyone has any recommendations that would be fab.

One question though about using debt management plans - we have had defaults in the past and they are holding us back now. We have got some current credit that we have managed to keep up to date since defaulting on older things. If we now join a management plan, will our current credit agreements go into default just the same? As much as I want to get rid of the debt, I don't want to make our credit rating any worse with further defaults as we really want to get a mortgage in the next 5 years or so. Our defaults are now 4years old, and I think they expire after 6 years don't they???

So my question really is do we go for a debt plan or do we continue paying what we are???

southernscouser

Ok, firstly you only want to enter into a DMP with Paypa or The CCCS. The other one you mentioned are almost certain to charge you for their service and to be honest their service is often sub-standard. They only care about cashing in on you. The two I mentioned are registered charities and are absolutely free!

If you do enter a DMP you will almost certainly get defaults from all your creditors. However these will only remain on you file for 6 years from issue. Uoi said you hope to get a mortgage in 5 years! You could use that extra year to save up for a bigger deposit?

If you can't afford to keep up with your minimum payments now you will only end up relying on the credit cards which means undoing all your hard work and ending up in even more debt! :doh:

If you post a full SOA we may be able to help you cut things back so you can afford your payments!

loobyloo1980

southernscouser wrote:

Ok, firstly you only want to enter into a DMP with Paypa or The CCCS. The other one you mentioned are almost certain to charge you for their service and to be honest their service is often sub-standard. They only care about cashing in on you. The two I mentioned are registered charities and are absolutely free!

If you do enter a DMP you will almost certainly get defaults from all your creditors. However these will only remain on you file for 6 years from issue. Uoi said you hope to get a mortgage in 5 years! You could use that extra year to save up for a bigger deposit?

If you can't afford to keep up with your minimum payments now you will only end up relying on the credit cards which means undoing all your hard work and ending up in even more debt! :doh:

If you post a full SOA we may be able to help you cut things back so you can afford your payments!

Thanks for your reply. I really would like to avoid further defaults at all costs so I will attempt a current SOA and see whether it is just a case of re-shuffling things around. We can just afford what we are paying at the moment, but I find it very hard sticking to things rigidly. Will be back in a mo with a SOA. You guys have helped me once before, I'm relying on you to do it all again :T

Hobsch

I joined Payplan and they were very helpful. I had a second bank account with First direct and a First Direct Visa - I did not tell Paypal about the Visa card and there has been no problems with that.
You need a bank account ideally so Payplan were happy I had the FD account. FD were fine with it. The FD visa has kept going, and always have kept it paid up to date.

dawn2dusk

Hi LL 1980, can't offer much advice apart from go CCS or payplan,they do not charge. Pease do not go to any one that charges. My future son in law phoned one of these companies that offer loans and when the phone bill came in,it cost nearly 30 quid on these two phone calls. So angry that these immoral companies will stoop so low- taking money from people already in desperate situations.Take care[IMG]http://angry facel[/IMG]

loobyloo1980

Ok here it comes .... the sad truth of it all ......

Monthly Income

£970 husband's guaranteed net wages
£163.50 child benefit
£300 child maintenance
£395.63 child tax credits until March 07 when the baby element expires

Total = £1829.13

Monthly outgoings

£400 rent
£73.66 council tax
£25.14 water rates
£35 electricity
£30 gas
£10.99 TV Licence
£21 SKY
£15 Phone BT line rental
£13 Phone Homecall call charges
£17.99 broadband with wanadoo
£10 specsavers contact lenses
£4.95 Life insurance
£14.81 home contents insurance
£61.72 car insurance
£60 petrol
£300 housekeeping
£6.50 prescriptions

£1078.76

Debt payments

£50 Thames Credit for defaulted car finance £4900 o/s 0% interest
£25 Wescot Credit for defaulted credit card £2131 o/s 0% interest
£234 Littlewoods catalogue £1300 o/s 0% interest but 3 months in arrears
£75 Capital One Mastercard credit card £800 o/s ?APR (but its the high APR card) (Minimum payment £40ish) and up to date
£10 Capital One Visa credit card £150 o/s same APR as above up to date and paying more than minimum
£15 Barclaycard Initial £275 o/s ?APR but up to date and paying more than minimum
£20 Monument Visa £450 o/s ?APR but up to date and paying more than minimum
£5 Top Shop card £100 o/s ?APR but up to date
£16 LX Direct card £300 o/s 32.9%APR :eek: up to date
£10 Council for housing benefit o/payment £500 o/s no interest
£20 DSS for income support o/payment £690 o/s no interest

£480

Also owe £272 to NPower for old gas bill offered to pay 4 x £50, 1 x £72 to clear that

Behind with current electric bill £246 but think they have made a mistake with amount so querying it at the moment as meter readings don't tally. Haven't had a gas bill since switching companies so no idea what that will be. Switched to EDF and was supposed to have been put on direct debit duel fuel and it hasn;t happened yet which is causing me a headache now :mad:

Also owe Nanna £690 but not urgent to pay back.

That's all I can think of right now, have I missed anything??

The above outgoings are for a family of 5. I have 3 kids, 6,3 and 7 weeks old. I obviously also need clothing for us all and birthdays and xmas, but never seem to have enough money left to save anything. This is despite on paper having spare money. I know it goes somewhere, but god knows where. I really need to start keeping a spending diary don't I???

BobProperty

loobyloo1980 wrote:

...That's all I can think of right now, have I missed anything??

The above outgoings are for a family of 5. I have 3 kids, 6,3 and 7 weeks old. I obviously also need clothing for us all and birthdays and xmas, but never seem to have enough money left to save anything. This is despite on paper having spare money. I know it goes somewhere, but god knows where. I really need to start keeping a spending diary don't I???

Car tax, repairs, MOT etc.
Your car insurance isn't cheap, is there a good reason?
And yes, you need to keep a diary to find out where the rest of the money goes. Birthdays and Xmas are definitely one area where it's easy to overdo it, and with 5 of you (plus nanna to include?) that's an average of one set of presents a month, which soon adds up.

CLAPTON

yes a spending diary is essential for both you and OH.

plus sit down with OH and think about the next 12 months and what you might spend e.g
any presents in the next 12 months
any xmas expenses in the next 12 months
any clothes / shoes in the next 12 months
car tax, MOT, servicing, repairs, in the next 12 months
any holidays planned
any haircuts, dental
any work lunches/coffees /newpaapers/magazines ?
any school related costs
any children activities
do you ever go out/cinema/treats/pub
birthday party expenses for 3 kids
any new appliances/
DIY
garden


all need adding into the SoA

loobyloo1980

BobProperty wrote:

Car tax, repairs, MOT etc.
Your car insurance isn't cheap, is there a good reason?
And yes, you need to keep a diary to find out where the rest of the money goes. Birthdays and Xmas are definitely one area where it's easy to overdo it, and with 5 of you (plus nanna to include?) that's an average of one set of presents a month, which soon adds up.

Car insurance isn't cheap, but its the cheapest quote we got unfortunately. My husband is the driver and he is only 22 with 6 points on his licence, and no no-claims bonus. I don't drive as yet.

Birthdays and Xmas are a nightmare. It's my eldest daughters birthday this month and we haven't bought her a thing yet.

loobyloo1980

CLAPTON wrote:

yes a spending diary is essential for both you and OH.

plus sit down with OH and think about the next 12 months and what you might spend e.g
any presents in the next 12 months
any xmas expenses in the next 12 months
any clothes / shoes in the next 12 months
car tax, MOT, servicing, repairs, in the next 12 months
any holidays planned
any haircuts, dental
any work lunches/coffees /newpaapers/magazines ?
any school related costs
any children activities
do you ever go out/cinema/treats/pub
birthday party expenses for 3 kids
any new appliances/
DIY
garden


all need adding into the SoA

Now I can see where the spare money may very well drift off to, lol. Car tax is due in July, no school costs as she takes packed lunch. She does go to ballet though which costs us £41 3 times a year. Mum pays for her swimming lessons for us though. We don't go out much at all (3 kids is a nightmare to get childcare for, and I have only just had my baby boy in march). We don't have a garden and dont plan on doing DIY yet. How do you budget for clothes and things like that 12mths in advance??? I never know what we'll need We do occasionally take kids out to places for treats, but not very often as its expensive. thanks for your list

CLAPTON

a problem is as follows
income = 1829
spending= 1079
debts payments= 480
surplus = 271

so where does it go? spending diary may be the answer.
just guess what you will spend on clothes ( and presents ...come on you must buy something for the kids at xmas and birthdays ..add it up and divide by 12 and add it to the SoA)...