Debts bite you on the butt.

twisterfreak

Hi. This is great to be able to air my problems with people in the same boat, and among some experts who are here to help, but not judge. Thats excellent.
OK. I have defaulted on credit cards, loans, car loans, HP for a long time and it never really bothered me before.
It meant i got nice things and never had to pay them back.(Sorry, but i want to be honest)
I laughed at the letters that got sent to me. Some of them go back absolutely years.
Anyway i'm 36, three children and getting married next year. I work full time, and last week something hit home.
I applied for a mobile phone, kind of knowing full well id never get one.
Well, i was wrong. A smart looking Motorola Razor(?) turned up, with my free PSP on its way. Things were looking good.
It was only £25 per month.
Better just point out that i pay all of my bills every month without fail.
It's just the old debts that are my concern.
Anyway back to the story. Feeling very clever and all styled up with my new mobile. I even managed to set up a cool ringtone. (pathetic
But there was no service. OK i thought. It says it could take 24 hours.
Next day still no service.
I telephoned dialaphone to enquire and they told me that O2 had refused my application and could i pop the phone and the free gifts back in the bag they would send, thanks very much. I was gutted. Yup my debts bit me on the !!!!!!.
I thought, this can't go on. I have to sort something out.
OK, i don't smoke, i don't go out much, but never have a lot of money left over each month when i get paid.
Where do i stand with these debts and what should i do? I want to clear my record but i owe a lot of money.
What are the laws about owing money etc?
This is not the life i want for my children, and i don't want them to make the same mistakes as me.
Thanks you if you have read this, and i hope you could offer some support and guidance.

Darren

OberonSH

Hey, well welcome to the boards. You need to post a full SOA (see sticky at the top of the board telling you how to do this) so we can all take a gander and see if we can't save you some money on your bills. You also need to think about ways of maximising your income.

Have you thought about applying for your credit record and seeing exactly what's on there? I believe ccjs etc are 'dropped off' after 6 years, and you say some of these debts are very old.

Keep a spending diary from tomorrow so you can see where your £20 from the cash machine is going - it all adds up and you'll probably be amazed.

twisterfreak

HI there. Thanks for the quick reply and advice. Do you know, its odd, because for the last six years i never carried money. I just gave it to my partner.
We are both guilty of frittering away money, and honestly the biggest problem is take aways. I decided last week that if i made any extra money mending computers i was going to put it in my wallet. I'm so used to not buying anything these days, money will just stay in my wallet. (well i hope so)
OK here is my attempt at a SOA.

Monthly. Income.
My Wages - £1034
Benefits - £606

Monthly Outgoing
Rent - £328
Council Tax - £114
Catalogue - £90
Internet - 25.99
Sky Digital - 42.50
Telephone - £60 (average)
NPower Gas - £30
NPower Electric - £32
Direct Line Car Insurance - 24.16
TV License - £21.08
Bristol Wessex Water - £22
Bournemouth Water - £18.89
Interest on overdraft - £16
Kids school dinners - £89

Food is done in dribs and drabs.
My partner smokes. Tried a million ways to help her stop.

My overdraft is £2150 and i'm always right on it all the time.

I don't know exactly what my debts are as i have binned the letters for ages.
I will find out somehow.
Barclaycard, and Citibank are the two credit card companies.
I owe Sky about £80 (another account)
£1750 to a friend (hurts me like hell)
The rest i'll find out.

Thanks again.
Just writing this has made me wonder just where the heck all our money goes.

twisterfreak

Yup, just landline. No mobiles here apart from a pay as you go which i put credit on about twice a year.

Mobiles who needs em......boooohooo

MCBIRNIE25

Monthly. Income.
My Wages - £1034
Benefits - £606

Monthly Outgoing
Rent - £328
Council Tax - £114
Catalogue - £90
Internet - 25.99 see entry for phone talk talk broadband is free, if you get the 21.99 month package with unlimited calls, or try bulldog .com, an award winiing broadband for under a tenner.
Sky Digital - 42.50 ( Get rid of this, buy freeview)
Telephone - £60 (average) (this is high, check around for best deal, i get talk talk phone, with unlimited landline calls, broadband and line rental 21.99 a month
NPower Gas - £30 ( Is this the best deal? Check relevant thread.)
NPower Electric - £32 (As above)
Direct Line Car Insurance - 24.16
TV License - £21.08
Bristol Wessex Water - £22 why 2 lots of water? Would a water meter be cheaper?
Bournemouth Water - £18.89
Interest on overdraft - £16
Kids school dinners - £89 pfffffttttt packed lunches from now on.

Food is done in dribs and drabs. Plan meals in advance, and check old style thread.
My partner smokes. Tried a million ways to help her stop.

My overdraft is £2150 and i'm always right on it all the time.

I don't know exactly what my debts are as i have binned the letters for ages.
I will find out somehow.
Barclaycard, and Citibank are the two credit card companies.
I owe Sky about £80 (another account)
£1750 to a friend (hurts me like hell)
The rest i'll find out.

Thanks again.
Just writing this has made me wonder just where the heck all our money goes.

Have a good one anyways and well done for posting. Other more experienced bods will pop along soon.

Montymoo_2

TV License - £21.08

why so high?

twisterfreak

Hi. One of the water bills is for sewerage.
The TV license is payable over 6 months i think.
I've changed to British Gas for Electric and Gas so hope thats cheaper.
Will get my mac code from Nildram and sign up for Talk Talk.
My partner and i have been talking and she is also fed up with it all.
So if any of you guys have plans that could be printed out to help us plan and budget we'd be eternally grateful.
Any help welcome
Thanks you all.
Darren

beanielou

Depending on how old these 'old' debts are ? , they may be out of time.
As suggested prev get your credit file & check the situation

sanfrancisco

twisterfreak wrote:

So if any of you guys have plans that could be printed out to help us plan and budget we'd be eternally grateful.

try this...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1089226742,17582,#planner

OberonSH

Morning, don;t have anythng to add to the above except go through the house and ebay/amazon anything that isn't nailed down. You are about to embark on a new lifestyle, my friend, and I suggest gettting rid of al the junk and 'stuff' you don't need. It will also help clear off a debt or two.

I have an idea to stop your partner smoking. Add up what she spends on the fags, and show her what it costs over the year. I'd be surprised if this alone didn't clear your debts!

jen_jen_2

food in dribs and drabs - you need to set a figure and stick to it. put cash aside just for this purpose including take aways then you can see how much the take away eats into the monthly/weekly budget.

take aways - set yourself a target like only one take away a week, so the week starts on sunday and you are only allowed one (obviously if you have less than this already make it one a month) it really focuses your mind and makes you think well if i can only have one which one is the nicest and the less attractive options will fall away. Ive not had a mcdonalds in about 2 years and pizza is only about once every 2 months now.

just to clarify, why do you pay sewage to one water board and water to another - seems very odd, may be worth investigating ad 40 quid a month is a lot for water.