What a mess :(

Carrera74

Firstly apologies if this is in the wrong place!

I have been coming on this site for a couple of months now and have finally sat down to work my sorry state of affairs out. I have got myself into a terrible mess with borrowing over the last 12 years or so. I have had loans and cards then bigger loans to pay the cards and then used the damn cards again so I have finally plucked up the courage to work out exactly how much I owe. It makes me feel sick – a grand total of £34,600. I still can’t believe I have let myself get into this much debt I had become an expert at ignoring it even getting my statement online so I could choose whether to see them or not but the last couple of months have been hard as I’m up to the limit on my cards and even when I pay the minimum amount they are not going anywhere.

Here’s a SOA (think it’s done right) to show how bad it is

Incomings

Wage 950.00
Family Allowance 100.00
Partners rent 450.00
1200.00

Outgoings

Mortgage 450.00
Electricity 25.00
Gas 34.00
Phone 30.00
Water 25.00
Charity 10.00
House Insurance 35.00
Life Insurance 42.00
Food 150.00
Petrol 60.00
Egg Loan 308.00 (7.7% - £16195 outstanding, last payment Oct 2011)
Egg Loan 2 141.00 (12.2% £2461 outstanding, last payment Jan 2008)
Egg card 60.00 (15.9% £2992.00 outstanding)
TSB card 60.00 (?% £3198.00 outstanding)
Sainsburys loan 198.00 (£6360.00 outstanding, last payment 2.5 years away)
£1630

I am approx. £430 down each month and I can’t see a way out apart from using the equity in my home. I have applied for 2 credit cards to swap the balances from my cards to try and stop myself going into the red every month but only have £500 on Amazon and the Barclaycard limit is £4000 so I’m going to put my TSB onto that one.

My mortgage with the Halifax is £63,500 but has £37,000 equity in it. I am struggling to make ends meet each month so plan to remortgage and use the equity or get a further advance with the Halifax. I can’t decide which one to go for. I know I will lose my home (and sanity) if I carry on the way I am so I need to sort this out once and for all. Luckily I have a very understanding partner who wants to help me and support me but I want to pay this off myself as it is my debt not his. Although knowing he is there supporting me has helped me no end.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I know I will end up paying more interest in the long run but I need to get my head out of water before I drown

Thanks in advance for any advice.

iwanttosave_2

I am no help to you on the cards ect but as for the donation to charity, could you not stop that until you are better on your feet. Charity begins at home as they say, and maybe you could find a good deed to do everyweek instead of that donation.

Your gas and elcetricity seem high, I spend about £35 a month total on these and thats with prepaid meters.

Also how many does your food budget feed? If its for 4 or more people then its not too bad but I feed a family of 4, includung nappies, wipes and cleaning stuff for £30-35 a week.

Do you really need the life assurance? Is it for the morgage? Maybe shop around and see if you can get it cheaper.

bootcampbilly

I make your incomings as £1,500.

As iwanttosave has said, shop around to see if you can get your gas / electricity / insurance cheaper.

And I'm sure I've read something about moving your mortgage - maybe someone else could advise on that

£150 seems excessive for food. Can you not prepare large volumes of meals and freeze them? so that your only spending £150 every other week / month

Carrera74

iwanttosave wrote:

I am no help to you on the cards ect but as for the donation to charity, could you not stop that until you are better on your feet. Charity begins at home as they say, and maybe you could find a good deed to do everyweek instead of that donation.

Your gas and elcetricity seem high, I spend about £35 a month total on these and thats with prepaid meters.

Also how many does your food budget feed? If its for 4 or more people then its not too bad but I feed a family of 4, includung nappies, wipes and cleaning stuff for £30-35 a week.

Do you really need the life assurance? Is it for the morgage? Maybe shop around and see if you can get it cheaper.

Hi

Yes I know what you mean about the donation but it's to Cancer Research and I've always paid it. Maybe I should do the good deed til I get straight.

Food budget is for 4 including my cat. That includes toiletries etc too. I've started being really careful when shopping and make sure we all take sandwiches every day to work/school to save.

I may try another company for the electricity/gas, worth a try!

And the insurance - I have an endowment policy that I pay into for my daughter, £6.50 a month and the remainder is for the house insurance.

doelani

Well done for posting nad the important thing to remember is not to panic. It's great that you have realised you need help. Have you contacted CCCS or Payplan? I think you need to speak to somone like that to get help.

Can I ask how many people in your home? You have put down partner rent....can your partner not contibute more? Are the debts all in your name? Also I see you have put down petrol but no money for Car Tax or Car MOT or repairs.

Also think very carefully about borrowing more money against your house and turning this unsecured debt into secured debt.

Good luck

Carrera74

bootcampbilly wrote:

I make your incomings as £1,500.

As iwanttosave has said, shop around to see if you can get your gas / electricity / insurance cheaper.

And I'm sure I've read something about moving your mortgage - maybe someone else could advise on that

£150 seems excessive for food. Can you not prepare large volumes of meals and freeze them? so that your only spending £150 every other week / month

No wonder I'm in such a mess! Thank you for spotting that - it's made me feel a little bit better! Tried to amend it but for some reason it won't let me.

I thought the £150 wasn't too bad, bearing in mind I used to spend £100 per week. I'll look into doing that too, thanks.

iwanttosave_2

Carrera74 wrote:

Hi

Yes I know what you mean about the donation but it's to Cancer Research and I've always paid it. Maybe I should do the good deed til I get straight.

Food budget is for 4 including my cat. That includes toiletries etc too. I've started being really careful when shopping and make sure we all take sandwiches every day to work/school to save.

I may try another company for the electricity/gas, worth a try!

And the insurance - I have an endowment policy that I pay into for my daughter, £6.50 a month and the remainder is for the house insurance.

I think a good deed would be great, and make you feel good as well

Food budget seems ok them if it feeds 4 and the puddy cat, but maybe also have a little browse of the old style board here where you can find cheap ways of cleaning or making meal planners so you have little wastage of food and so basically your getting your moneys worth.

For gas/elec you can try uswitch here to compare different tariffs in your area.

And the endownment bit just went over my head I dont have a clue on things like that, but sit tight and someone will be along to help you with those

Carrera74

doelani wrote:

Well done for posting nad the important thing to remember is not to panic. It's great that you have realised you need help. Have you contacted CCCS or Payplan? I think you need to speak to somone like that to get help.

Can I ask how many people in your home? You have put down partner rent....can your partner not contibute more? Are the debts all in your name? Also I see you have put down petrol but no money for Car Tax or Car MOT or repairs.

Also think very carefully about borrowing more money against your house and turning this unsecured debt into secured debt.

Good luck

Hi

I was wary of contacting CCCS or Payplan in case it affected my credit score, although it's going to go down the pan anyway at this rate.

There are 4 of us at home - me, my partner and my 2 children from a previous relationship. He gives me half of his wage each month to help out and also helps with bus fares for the kids, uniforms etc. I feel awful he helps as much as he does and couldn't ask him for more money. I have been onto the CSA for the last 3 years for maintenance but still waiting....

In the past I have put any car work on the credit card or used my overdraft.

Just remembered TV licence too - I'm sure there's quite a few of other little things I pay for that I've forgotten.

leni

I think 150 is a good amount, I spend 200-250 on 2 of us a month :eek:

and we still have take aways etc:o

iwanttosave_2

Sorry also another thing, have you checked that you are getting evrthing you are entitled to? We earn a bit more than you do (with 2 kids under 7) and we get £78 child tax credit a week, £19 working tax and £28ish child benefit) and also a few quid of housing benefit, last I heard they can help with morgages.

Check here to make sure that you are getting all the tax credits you should be getting http://www.entitledto.co.uk/

lynzpower

Hi and welcome

For someone with debt to income rate as you are, I think payplan or CCCS would be able to look at a DMP for you. MY ADVICE IS DO NOT SECURE THE DEBT ON YOUR HOME. Its practically impossible to get out of. Also if property prices fall which they may well do, ( looking increasingly likely, with the massive rises) you will be in negative equity, your life changes adn you want to sell, you will owe the bank any difference between what you get for the house adn what you owe them.

In the meanwhile, I suggest generating as much extra income as you can, by selling what you can, earning more every which way. But the bottom line is if you are. Are you entitled to tax credits? Investigate this

Do call CCCS or Payplan the nos at the top of the page x