Ideas and Support needed to help clear debts.....

Tixy

You would be able to open a new basic bank account with a bank account - these are available to anyone, some even to people who are bankrupt. There are no credit checks as there is no overdraft. This is a list of basic bank accounts on the market - you specifically have to ask for a BASIC account though otherwise they will try to sell you a 'normal' account.
http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/bank_accounts.pdf (co-op cashminder seems popular on DFW as is the nationwide one) Ideally choose a bank you don't owe any money to currently.

If you haven't already then I would recommend you get internet banking for your exisiting account and any new ones you create.

With regards to CCCs or Payplan - while you don't know who to repay then they probably can't help a great deal, if and when you start to hear from creditors and if they all want high repayments then one of the organisations might be able to help you.

terra_ferma

Hello
I normally get paid monthly, but last year I was on an interim contract for about 6 months and it was very very complicated with money. I will not go into the complications of switching itself, but I too used two different accounts.

Most of my monthly DD come out of the joint account I have with my partner.
What I did was to calculate all the monthly outgoing, convert them into weekly sums (multiply by 12, divide by 52, although it's not the technically accurate system used by accountants as some years have 53 weeks.....) and pay these into the joint account.

Where I paid by standing order from my own account, which I could control better, like additional money to my credit card, savings etc, I changed them to weekly using the same calculation).

mum2one

Just borrowed your original SOA - theres method in my madness!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1136 I get paid every Friday, which doesn't help when trying to work out bills etc....
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 400 This is Child Benefit and Tax Credits
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1536
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 320 Also paid weekly, it's £77 pw, but I pay £80 to make the figures easier
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 68
Electricity............................. 30 This is a prepayment meter
Gas..................................... 30 This is also a prepayment meter
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 64 I know this seems expensive, but I have a Sim Only card for my brother atm, (he pays £34)
TV Licence.............................. 39 This is quarterly
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 44.5
Internet Services....................... 24.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 180
Clothing................................ 30 I don't save this for clothes, I buy as and when I need them
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 10 Again, I don't save, I buy when due
Car Insurance........................... 49 Inc breakdown
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30 I don't save this
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 100
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 8.99
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12.55
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30 I don't save this,
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 57
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1243.03

---

As you said you get paid weeekly (friday), but from your figures you did your figures as monthly, but what I've done is
the original figure x 12 (months) / 52 (weeks), to break everything down to a weekly budget.
(rounded up or down to the £1.00)

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Weekly Income Details
Weekly income after tax................ 262.00
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits...(weekly...................... 92.00
Other income............................ 0
Total weekly income.................... 354.00
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 77
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 16 (based on you paying £68 per month 12 months)
Electricity............................. 7 This is a prepayment meter
Gas..................................... 7 This is also a prepayment meter
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 7
Telephone (land line)................... 3.50
Mobile phone............................ 15 I know this seems expensive, but I have a Sim Only card for my brother atm, (he pays £34)I've based that on the full £64 amonth, incase your brother didn't pay and u have to - ur covered,if it does pay every month -urs be £7.00, an extra £8 for the debt pot.
TV Licence.............................. 3
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 11
Internet Services....................... 6
Groceries etc. ......................... 42
Clothing................................ 7
Petrol/diesel........................... 16
Road tax................................ 3
Car Insurance........................... 11 Inc breakdown
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 7
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 23
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 2
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 3
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 7
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 13
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total weekly expenses.................. £286.50

Weekly Income - £354.00
Weekly Spends - £286.50

Difference - £67.50 spare

Debts - Open Uni £30 per month - £7.00 per week
New balance £60.50 - debt repayment.

Suggestions-
Car Insurance
-renewal,1st port of call Quidco, go through each company, use your correct details, (yes theres cash back, but don't let that sway you, as I treat cashback as a bonus).
-then compare other sites
Hopefully if you have earnt no claims pay the extra to protect them - pays for itself in long run.

Groceries-
Look at doing a list
Meal Planning
Bulk cooking - meals in Freezer
Downgrade a brand eg, Premium to brand, brand to Supermarket own brand, own brand to value.
Don't do all the changes at once, introduce gradually, some you might not downgrade, but even if you downgrade 1 level

Internet
I was paying £24.99 per month for my internet, rang up asked for MAC code (if you swopped supplier you give them that), asked why I wanted to change,said far to expensive, admittadly got free phone calls (bar mobiles, unlimited internet access, unlimited downloads, basically total freedom), result - they reduced my bill to £6.99 per month, exactly the same as I had before.
Note - If you get given the Mac code, don't worry, leave it till next day, ring again, chances your be offered a better deal, "its called customer retention"

Mobile Phone-
if your on contract, consider sim only, go through Quidco - get cash back.

House Ins-
Renewal shop around, it depends on your area etc, but I've just helped a friend reduce her contents insurance like for like cover from £40.00 per month to £4.00 per month (ASDA),
The top 3 I'd search, Asda, AA, Norwich Union, try Quidco for cash back.

Bank accounts-
Consider getting a 2nd account, use the main for money in, the 2nd account for all direct debits, (try Alliance + Leicester - throu Quidco,£100 cashback?)
If you can get the Alliance + Leicester route, open a savings account,(Quidco - cashback),and put any spare/saved money in there, and the yearly expenditure, (mainly car)

Get a notebook - have a page per outgoing,whether its weekly, monthly, yearly expenditure, each expenditure has its set amount, so Petrol allowed £17.00 per week, say by the 4th week, you don't need the £17.00, then put straight into savings account.

---

I know you've estimated your remaining debts at 10k, but are you any closer to getting figures or see if any are statue barred,

In theory without any of the suggested adjustments, you have £60.50 pw,£242.00 4 weekly, so in theory you should be able to manage the debts.

If you went via CCCS, etc, then at least your SOA a starting point.

(hope that helps)xx

FedupofDebt_2

mum2one - wow, that's amazing. Thank you so much for going through this for me. I am going out shortly to buy myself a little notebook so I can start keeping track of outgoings, incomings and things I buy...(missing money!).
I haven't managed to sort out debts, as in amounts yet - I am hoping companies start chasing me soon, so I know who I owe money too.
I am going to go through my credit report after lunch and try and work out if any are statute barred, if so, I will be sending letters out.

I will post again later today, once I've sat down with everything and have some more accurate figures

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
xx

FedupofDebt_2

One quick question : Looking on my credit report atm, one particular debt is with Lowell Financial, it gives a start date of 25th April 2002, Account Status in Default, Last updated on 23rd July 2009, Current balance £0, Opening Balance £1051, Default Date 18th August 2004 - does that mean it's clear? Or that I owe the money? Or that its statute barred....this is harder than it looks
There are more I'm confused over, but I'll put these up after work, easier to talk then....

mum2one

FedupofDebt wrote: »

One quick question : Looking on my credit report atm, one particular debt is with Lowell Financial, it gives a start date of 25th April 2002, Account Status in Default, Last updated on 23rd July 2009, Current balance £0, Opening Balance £1051, Default Date 18th August 2004 - does that mean it's clear? Or that I owe the money? Or that its statute barred....this is harder than it looks
There are more I'm confused over, but I'll put these up after work, easier to talk then....

Hi
Hope you didn't mind me playing around with your figures, just some of mine fortnightly, others 4 weekly, different times of the month, so its fun and games.

I'm not 100% sure on this one (sorry),
the loan started 25th April 2002
default date - 18th Aug 2004 - is there any bank records you might have if that was the last date of contact you'd be liable for the debt, sorry.
There may be someone more knowledgeable than me.

One quick tip - if you contact anyone or you have any documents through the post - that maybe you need to reply to or you contact the company, NEVER NEVER EVER SIGN THE LETTER WITH YOUR SIGNATURE.
the reason being that if you signed, some unreputable company, may get a bit of tracing paper and copy your signature or photo copy your document, and cut + paste.

xx

FedupofDebt_2

Hi mum2one - thanks again for your response, and no I don't mind in the least that you played around with my SoA! Its always good to have another pair of eyes look at things sometimes.

With regards to getting my debts in order..I think I might start a new thread, with everything listed in it - might make it easier to follow, rather than continue on this one...
Hopefully you can come and help me with that one too )
xx

mum2one

Thank you, maybe when you get the totals give you an idea, but in all honestly, you can change the title of your thread.

Just think that be keeping the original thread,its good motivation as you're be able to see how far have you come.

In all honestly in just a short time, u've made a massive leap -
POSITIVIES-
You've done an SOA
Your looking into the debts
You had the postal redirect service
Even after paying all bills - you have money for debt repayment.

A week or so ago - paddling in circles xx