Desperate for Advice, Huge Debt killing us

dram_2

Hi All,

First post on this forum, but been reading it a long time now.
My Wife and I have very large personal debts. Mostly in joint names.
Including but not limited too:-
£25K aa financial, passed onto blair oliver scott (£260/month arrangment)
£15K aa finaincial, again passed onto same (£168/month arrangment)
£8K halifax CC, again with same company. (£130/month arrangment)
£2200 store cards (£90/month arrangment)
£1000 approx in catalogues. (£50/month arrangment)
£2000 to provident (call to house weekly) (paying £60/week)
£1500 overdraft HSBC (trying to bring it down slowly, 1500 agreed)

Amazingly up to date with all priority debts inc, rent council tax, water, gas, electric, car insurance etc etc.

We earn good money, I earn about £1800+ monthly as salaried engineer full time. And we also earn £320 weekly as foster carers.

Christmas has killed us again financially, spent what we had to on the kids and living.

Considering contacting CCCS or Payplan to ease our living situation.
We are living in private rented accomodation and know the landlord who seems very fair.

Worried about ending up in court and having CCJ's against us.
Know our credit rating has been fried, thats the least of my worried.
Both of us loosing sleep and continually stressed about finances.

Wondering whats the point of working anymore, pay going in and disapearing would be better off on the dole.....

Any thoughts would be welcomed and all advice taken, we are desperate!

Kind Regards

Dram

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Hiya - Firstly, the debts that have been passed over - have you written to them to try and lower the payments?

Can you post an SOA to see if theres any changes that can be made to your out goings?

Me xx

slummymummyof3

Can you post a SOA with all of your outgoings etc so we can see where else you may be able to trim back?

dram_2

Hi there,

Thanks for prompt responses appreciate people taking the time to reply.

Income

salary £1800
Fostering £1260
Child benefit £120
Total income £3180

Outgoings

Rent £550
Coucil Tax £190
Gas £120
Electric £90
Water £50
TV License £18
Car Insurance £85 (high due to ban 4yrs ago)
Life Insurance £20
Sky TV £40 (high due to multiroom as birthday present for daughter)
Broadband £22
Mobiles £100 (3 contracts in total wife, mine + 17yr olds)
Telephone (Land Line) £15
Petrol £250 (very high as 72mile commute and need 7 seater car)
Groceries £430
Entertainment £100 (one chineese a week and odd day trip)
Incidentals inc Car maint £200

Outgoings not inc debt's £2280

Made voluntary agreements with creditors outlined payments above in first post.

Payments to B.O.S initially started off as "reschedule amounts" but due to high level of borrowing and credit rating going down the pan they would not reschedule.

As we are £1500 overdrawn pay going in and disapearing, paying monthly payments to creditors using overdraft and bank canceled all direct debits and standing orders in Nov due to poor behaviour on current account.

Regards

Dram

firestronaut

dram wrote: »

Hi there,

Thanks for prompt responses appreciate people taking the time to reply.

Income

salary £1800
Fostering £1260
Child benefit £120
Total income £3180

Outgoings

Rent £550
Coucil Tax £190
Gas £120 this seems really high. you can easily find ways to reduce your bill and shop around for the cheapest deal.
Electric £90 see above
Water £50 are you on a meter? £50 a month on water is really high. if you are, find way to reduce it (taking showers not baths, putting a brick in the back of your toilet so it doesnt fill as much
TV License £18
Car Insurance £85 (high due to ban 4yrs ago)
Life Insurance £20
Sky TV £40 (high due to multiroom as birthday present for daughter) are you on a basic package for this?
Broadband £22 shop around for a cheaper deal, or combine it with your sky.
Mobiles £100 (3 contracts in total wife, mine + 17yr olds) even with three contracts, this seems high. ask your network providers for a cheaper tariff
Telephone (Land Line) £15 is a landline really needed with everyone having a mobile?
Petrol £250 (very high as 72mile commute and need 7 seater car) walk or use public transport at least once a week.
Groceries £430 this can VERY easily be reduced. I live in a house with 4 adults and 2 children and we dont spend this much. buy cheaper brands and plan meals.
Entertainment £100 (one chineese a week and odd day trip) entertainment is important, but going to place that are free on your trips out will help this
Incidentals inc Car maint £200

Outgoings not inc debt's £2280

Made voluntary agreements with creditors outlined payments above in first post.

Payments to B.O.S initially started off as "reschedule amounts" but due to high level of borrowing and credit rating going down the pan they would not reschedule.

As we are £1500 overdrawn pay going in and disapearing, paying monthly payments to creditors using overdraft and bank canceled all direct debits and standing orders in Nov due to poor behaviour on current account.

Regards

Dram

Hope this helps.

niksyg

Hi, just a thought on the mobiles situation to maybe free up a little cash...

OH and I have a business account with O2 (not self employed but it doesn't matter) and we get 800 mins to share, unlimited texts, free calls to 10 landlines between us and free calls to each other and other O2 mobiles...all for £25 a month.

As you are paying for 3 contracts it would make sense to put them on a 'shared' contract if you can, especially as you then have free calls to each other.

Also, I'd say get rid of the Sky Multiroom or whatever it is as that £40 is a lot over a year to spend on TV (in my books anyway)...surely a freeview box is enough and is a one off spend??? (by the way, I don't have a telly so I may be totally off on this...I see it as a luxury that can't be afforded at the moment!!)

Can you possibly open a new bank account for your salary to go into, and then pay debts out of it, making sure it stays in the plus? That way you get a psychological boost from actually having some money in an account and you can more readily see where you are with overdrafts on other accounts, as they are sort of 'frozen' as you won't be using that account, and can start paying them off as if a CC or other debt. I did that a year ago, as my overdraft was eating my salary and having a different account which was always in the plus was so helpful, and I managed to get rid of over £1200 debt last year, which on a low salary with high rent was a pretty good start.

I hope that helps a little, good luck Dram!

slummymummyof3

Not sure how the bank with the overdraft would like you not paying your salary into the account with the overdraft.

Have a look at the cash back sites for cash back on gas and electric, life insurance etc - topcashback.co.uk, cashbackkings.com and quidco.com.

Have you had your life insurance a number of years as it seems very expensive - prices have come down a lot in the last few years.

Can you get a better combined package on landline, broadband and tv?

Do you have Aldi or Lidl nearby as that would make a huge difference to your grocery bill and the stuff is great quality.

tiff

We have a combined package with Virgin, the XL package which inclues broadband, phone line and cable tv. All calls to 01 and 02 numbers are free all the time and our monthly bill comes to around £50 a month all in.

We both just changed to contract mobiles with virgin for £8.50 a month 100 mins and 100 texts, with an extra 100 virgin to virgin. Thats less than the £10 a month each top up we were doing on payg.

DVardysShadow

Looking at your SOA and your schedule of debts, it looks like you might have a few hundred disappearing between the cracks somewhere, otherwise you would not have an ongoing issue with your overdraft.

I suggest you do a full SoA, using http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html, which will give you a lot more to think about and will hopefully help you work out where all of your money is going

Only once you understand where and how all of it goes will it become worth identifying where to cut back. If you curt back while some still disappears through the cracks, all you will do is create more funds which can slip away unnoticed!

dram_2

WOW! Talk about an active forum... Thanks so much everyone for the helpfull tips and advice. Yes I think maybe a second bank account would be a great idea, maybe even leaving the salary go into the overdrawn one but setting up a standing order to remove a few hundred pounds on pay day to another. Try and maintain a positive balance in this and pay debt with the second account one at a time. Money disapearing through the cracks does sound like whats happening. When we religiously add up all the outgoings its always difficult to see how we are struggling so much. Public transport not possible its 36 miles each way to work way off the beaten track. Wife does walk everywhere though school run is a mile+ walk each way. I think 2010 definitely has to be a make or break year for us and inward reflection on things we see as essentials but other people make do without! Thanks for the advice all, ill keep you posted how we get on.... Fingers Crossed.

waterwatcher

I urge you to talk to your supervising social worker from the fostering team about your situation, the stress etc in house due to financial difficulties can not be beneficial for the young people you are caring for. Dont be concerned that the children will be moved from your care as I am sure that this is not in their interests. However you have undertaken to care for vulnerable young people and as such I am sure you wish to prioritise their well being. Please dont take this as a personal criticism or a criticism of your care as I am not doing that, just want to make sure you are getting all the support you need as I know fostering is not an easy task at times!