At my wits end

macpep1

Hello everyone and thanks for being patient, I am new to this so hope I have put this on the correct board. I am currently in the early stages of a Debt Management Plan, they are going to try for a Trust Deed, my problem is the Royal Bank of Scotland. The company that are dealing with our debt are currently paying money into our overdraft account, but the bank are then doing and "inter branch payment" as if they are sending this back and the description on the statement says CQ Not Processed and then they are charging us £30 each (its not a joint account, 2 single accounts) on top of that we are getting a £28 charge for being over the overdraft and then interest of around £15 so its working out to be around £150 a month in total. I have been crying my eyes out tonight, I have never been in this situation before. My husband had a terrible car accident in February and was out of action for 4 months, he was lucky to be alive. I work in construction and my hours have been cut as a money saving excercise, also have an 8 yr old and 2 yr old so paying afortune in childminding fees as well, feel as if we are going round in circles, one overdraft which was 900.00 is now 1184.00 due to charges and the other which was 1000.00 is now at 1047.00 but will both be 75.00 on top of that after 5th October and debt co is paying under 10.00 per month. I am so sorry for the long post but even if we had to sell our house we would be no better off and I am at my wits end, my daughter needs new shoes for school (she walks on tiptoes) and I don't have the money for them I am so ashamed

hallsy85

Hi macpep, and welcome to the forums.

Sorry to hear of your situation, but with the help and support of your friends and family, as well as everyone here, you'll get through it, don't worry! I know it seems tough right now, but putting plans in place and organising things helps no end, and certainly makes things seem more manageable.

In order to give you a hand, you'll need to work out your State of Affairs (SOA for short). You can find the calculator here - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html - fill it out then click the MoneySavingExpert bit at the bottom - you'll be able to post that code in here then. Once the members have this, they can help see where you can cut down and make savings, as well as advise you on what to do.

I hope you stay positive and keep your head up - admitting there's an issue is the first problem, and from there on you can get to grips dealing with it. People on here are extremely supportive and friendly, so don't feel ashamed - lots of us are in the same boat!

Best of luck to you

macpep1

:TThanks so much for your post, I will do a SOA just now, I know exactly what I owe and what I spend lol!!! Hopefully the link will go through ok

macpep1

I filled out the SOA but when tried to post it it said as I was a newbie I wasn't allowed to put a link in??

macpep1

Don't know what I was doing wrong last night, here it is (Am currently paying £388 month to my DMP)

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3483
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 132
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3615
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 517
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 642
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 133
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 100
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 55
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 18
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 140
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 644
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 46
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 3231

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 100000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 11000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 111000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 79000....(517)......0
Secured Debt.................. 15000....(247)......0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 13965....(395)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 107965....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
RBS Loan.......................13000.....377.......0
RBS Credit Card................4600......130.......0
RBS Style Card.................180.......20........0
Next...........................860.......60........0
Capital One....................3600......110.......0
RBS Overdraft..................1048......15........0
RBS Overdraft..................1184......15........0
Total unsecured debts..........24472.....727.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,615
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,231
Available for debt repayments........... 384
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 727
Amount short for making debt repayments. -343
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 111,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -107,965
Total Unsecured debt.................... -24,472
Net Assets.............................. -7,472

dancingfairy

Hi Macpep1. I have gone through your SOA and put a few comments in for you:
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 517
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 642
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 133
Electricity............................. 100 these seem really high - can you switch company or tariff? are you paying back arrears?
Gas..................................... 100 see above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 no water bill? that's handy
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 55 how many mobiles is this for? maybe you could try and drop down a tariff for each movbile.
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 18
Groceries etc. ......................... 500 this seems a tad high - try MoneySavingOldStyle and see if you can save here.
Clothing................................ 100 every month? eeek - what are you buying? can this be cut down a little?
Petrol/diesel........................... 140
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 644
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 46 is this the cheapest you can get and does it do what you want it to do?
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 3231

Well your expenses come to 3231 and there's room for some savings there - how much are you paying on the DMP?
Are you getting childcare vouchers through work - you pay for them before you get taxed so it works out cheaper- although you need to check as it can affect some benefits - child tax credits I think? now your hours have been cut and OH is out of work do you need so much childcare? can a relative or friend look after them 1/2 nights a week till you get home? As childcare is takng up a lot of you income.
Don't worry about selling your house - you haven't got to that yet and no one's sugesting that it is necessary.
Also please make sure you have gone through a free agency - CCCS or National Debtline or your local CAB and not some company that will charge you and not necessarily give you the best advice.

Keep posting and I'm sure others will be around later with some ideas and suggestions for you.
Good Luck
df

macpep1

Thanks for your reply,
Electric & Gas - This is my monthly Direct Debit, not in arrears, and I switch everything off and only have the heating on for a few hours in the day, obviously more in winter, also line dry or hang washing up around the house rather than tumble dry. I am on a "fixed tarriff" Perhaps worth looknig to see if I can get cheaper, currently with EDF.

Water bill is included with the monthly council tax charge.

This is for 2 mobiles and it was on an 18 month contract on each, got pulled in by the "free laptop" on one and "free 32 tv" on the other. Will be going on a cheaper tarriff as soon as the contract is up.

Groceries, I will look at, just never seem to be out the supermarket, my kids and hubby eat me out of house and home, if I am honest I prefer home cooking rather than frozen but I have to use frozen stuff at times, I make a lot of batches of stuff and freeze them, will have a look at the site you suggested, thanks.

I guess for clothing, that is a tad high, I probably would cut that in half, my daughter goes through a pair of shoes a month for school, sounds mad but she walks on her tiptoes, she has been to physio and had splints and everything on but its a bad habit she has had since she staretd walking and this results in her shoes "flapping" she has only been back at school since August and I have already glued her shoes twice!

Life Insurance, we were previously paying about 70 a month but got this cheaper quote, its so that if anything happens to any of us the mortgage would be paid off, my husband is classed as "high risk" as he is a freight train driver.

We are going to call the Debt Management company as we have had £150 in charges and interest added on to the overdrafts, looks as if the cheque they sent to the RBS has bounced??!!! As the statement says CQ not processed which I assume to be cheque.

I am currently paying £388 to my DMP, my OH is now back at work and my hours have only been cut by 4 hours a week but that works out at just over £100 a month, so childcare is necessary, MY OH's family all work full time and my mum is a full time carer to my sister who was left brain damaged after a car accident so we really don't have anyone to look after the wee one, my DD goes into my sister in laws shop after schoool to wait for me to save me paying after school care.

dancingfairy

Not sure what is going on with RBS there -sounds a pain anyway.
Would also make sure you get some free advice - I am not sure whether you are with a fee charging company and they do like to push IVA's in England as it makes them more money so they may be trying to sell you a trust deed.
I don't know anything about Trust Deeds but I think you may find 1 or 2 threads on them on here although they don't seem that common.
Best of Luck
df

macpep1

Well the company I am with are called Promise, they have been really good so far, and I think the Trust Deed is much the same as Englands IVA? I would be debt free in 3 years and there is no charge for it and all the money I pay into the Trust Deed goes towards the debt. I did try cccs and send letters etc off myself to creditors but was getting nowhere.

dancingfairy

I found this website which is part of the scottish government and goes through trust deeds and bankruptcy etc and is obviously for people in Scotland.
Probably best have a read through and check out the relevant sections
http://www.aib.gov.uk/
Best of Luck
df

Obviously it is not the same as Englands Iva but in England if an IVA fails then you get made bankrupt, also I beleive it would stay on your credit file for some considerable time afterwards after the 3 years (another 6?) , and I'm not sure whether you have to pay anything at the end of it or release any equity so I would look at it very carefully.
df

macpep1

Thank you so much for your help. You have been great. I don't mind if it would stay on my record to be honest, although at some point I would like to think that I could obtain credit again but if not then I would just need to save for it!! As far as I am aware your house is valued at the start of the plan and doesn't change throughout, in the current market, I don't think my house would be valued at any more than 100k and with the mortgage and secured loan totalling 95k . At the end of the plan if you have equity then I think you have to release that but I will look at the link you sent me and read up on it. I have saw a few posts on here for a DAS, whats the difference between that and a DMP? Excuse my ignorance!