Karnevil SOA - tentative first steps

karnevil

Hi all, I have today contacted CCCS to make an appointment with a debt counsellor to try and get back on track. I found the site through the consumeractiongroup . I don't think I am hugely in debt in comparrison to some of you on here, although I could be in denial !
Having started proceedings against my bank for refund of charges, I feel more confident about dealing with the big creditors and realise I am the one who should be in control not them.
I'll read some more on this site, and will post more when I have had my appointment on Thursday afternoon. CCCS were brilliant on the phone this morning so I feel quite confident about going forward.
Thanks x

Broken_hearted

Well done and good luck in sorting out your debts

domesticgoddess

Hi welcome, I went through the same thing myself last month with the CCCS, cried a lot but made my first payment to them this month and feel free even tho it is going to take me a long long time to be debt free. I found that going through my budget was fine and my budget is very very liveable, so don't feel too much pain, the best thing is I don't feel obliged to needlessly spend like I used to and am in control finally. One thing that really cheesed me off is the realisation that I had the snowball effect happen with me, with charges etc and am planning to tackle my old bank.

Have you opened a new bank account yet?

Hope all goes well, the first step is the hardest, I found that the CCCS were really good and so non-judgemental, they also listened to me a grown woman of nearly 40 with 3 kids cry down the phone.

All the best and welcome

karnevil

Thanks guys. I have opened a new account and havent set up any DD's on it apart from the mortgage. I'm writing to the council tax and water guys this morning as recommended by CCCS and actually I am quite looking forward to seeing exactly what I owe to whom and making a start to clear some, if not ALL, of the debt off. I have three children too and as they start school they need money for school dinners, trips and photos, which I am really struggling to find at the moment which is silly. My youngest starts school in september, and I have been getting payments for childcare from the child tax credit people up unitl now, and my mum has been paying for his nursery fees for me to help out, so I'll effectively be losing £70 a week in september which is very scary - also my other half has just got a company car (no option to say no thanks!) so I believe we'll be losing more from WFTC too. (we shared a car before so once the youngest is at school we can sell that one) but the amount you have to fill in on the tax credits form is about double the amount we had paid for our own car, and they take that as part of your income. My other half also gets taxed more for having the car.

We have a number of loans etc from a while back, we moved house to be near to the childrens school and our mortgage shot up from about 550 to 750 a month, which is why I think we are in trouble now. I think I have had my head in the sand too long (not opening letters, not answering the telephone etc) and its all built up around me, and I need to get something sorted before it all comes crashing down.

I'll stop waffling on now - When I have done my budget plan with CCCS I'll post the basics on here, and try and help out others too as I go through the process.

karnevil

Yay ! :j Had appointment call with cccs this afternoon - feel so much better !

They are sending me all my details in the post so I can set up my DMP, but I should be clear in 5 years of everything, and be able to pay my mortage, council tax, water, bills and EAT ! from doing the figures I only have £170 a month to pay my creditors ( and one of them is demanding £525 a month ! :mad: )..

Quite excited now....

Shall I post my current SOA on this thread ?

Annie_Fanny

Yes feel free. You could always edit the title of the thread to say SOA included using the advanced editing button.

A

karnevil

I will update this when I get my info from CCCS in more detail.

His Salary £1300
C/T Credit & W/T Credit £440
Child Ben £160.00

Total :- £1900

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortage £715.00
C/T £109
Gas dont have any
Electric £50.00
Water £48.00
Food £320.00
Car Ins £34.00
Petrol £120.00 (take son to nursery until Sept 11 miles away)
House buildings&contents £32.00
Phone £25.00
Internet £29.99 (need broadband for own business)
Clothing: £50 (childrens shoes/school stuffs/and grown ups)
Car expenses: £20 (tax/mot etc)
Presents (hadn't thought of this till cccs): £30 (family,kids partys &xmas)
Nursery: £63 (may finish in sept)
School Dinners: £60
Pets: £12

Total Outgoings= £1,654.99

difference: £246.99 (the cccs made it £178 so I think i have missed something out but he was pretty over comprehensive on my budget IMHO)

Debts ....

CC1 - 292.43 18.9%
CC2 - 283.49 ?%
CC3: 1285.03 ?%
O/D 1: 291.85 (od limit 280)
O/D 2: 300.00 (od limit 300)
loan1: 2332.74 with d/c
loan2: 600
loan3: 4674
loan4: was 199 gone up to 525 !!!! in 5 months with charges (I WILL FIGHT)
WFTC overpayment last year: 1900 - have to start paying in oct - used it to pay some balance of CC3.
HIS mum(holiday loan) £500

scary bit
Total £12984.00 :eek:

Summary of Me: Me, Husband and 3 children - 2 at primary, 1 at nursery school.
From September I wont have as high petrol cost/no nursery fees - but conversley will lose about £77 a week from WFTC.

karnevil

Quick querie re CCCS debt management plan

If I do go for this (they will use £178 month to pay off debts on CC's and LOANS over 5 years) - if I should get any 'windfalls' Can I still use it to pay a chunk off of the balances or would this affect the reduced payments they are going to set up ?

Annie_Fanny

Just a few things:

You can definately get broadband cheaper - shop around or firstly ring your current provider and say that you may leave - they will usually reduce the package.

Instead of forking out for school dinners could you make packed lunches? Would save you at least £500 a year!

A

domesticgoddess

I asked the CCCS about this as I sometimes get a bonus from work, they said I could pay extra, but if i regularly paid extra then they would have to re-do my budget to account for this as creditors might start to question their payments. So I am also in a quandry as I know that I am getting a bonus this month, do I pay extra on my debt or put it aside for a RD. Well my car has some damage and ,my excess is £200 so that is where most of the money will be going, the rest I have decided to save for xmas for the kids. It won't be much but at least when the time comes I won't over spend (in theory)

It is down to your own circumstances, paying off extra on your debt IMO is always a good thing to do, but if you do it too often then your budget will be re-done.

HTH

Glad all went well with the CCCS, aren't they jolly nice people

karnevil

Thanks for your reply - They do seem do be excellent - they know what they are talking about - shut you up well when you're waffling about something you shouldnt be worried about, and generally make you feel like it the cc companys and loan companys who are the baddies rather than you !

I thought I could probably manage it on my own - but I have been so bad in the past - and I am such a scaredy cat when it comes to phoning people - I would surely mess it up - I feel so good knowing I will just have one payment to make each month and its all taken care of for me ! If I have any problems i can just talk to one person at cccs instead of going round the houses with each company.

I'm claiming against my bank at the mo for my charges so hopefully I will win and I can use the money they have taken (and helped put me in debt in the first place!) to pay some of the balance off the cc's. It will only be a One off so I am GOING to use is wisely. I'll check it out with cccs first tho.

Tasks for TODAY:
+++Call Water and Council tax people and arrange a new direct debit payment for them.
+++Call other direct debit companys and get them set up on my new bank account.
or I might write to them !