Help Please

Pool

I have never really tried seeking advice on a forum before but here goes.

25 years old - renting a house

I have for various reasons £15K of debts, these are debts from 5-7 years ago and moving out of the family home before being able to completely afford it. The company I then worked for went insolvent meaning I had to take a £10K paycut.

3 years ago I addressed this by entering an IVA which I kept to for 1 1/2 years but was really living on the breadline, couldn't afford anything like clothing-food etc etc

So 1 1/2 years in I stopped paying it siting the fact an IVA wasn't in the best interests of myself and wondered why the solicitors didn't recommend bankruptcy right from the start as I had/have no assets. Then I found out they take a nice cut of an IVA for themselves.

Right, now one of my debts has been purchased by a Company called Wescot who are chasing hard. I don't have the £550 available to declare myself bankrupt and Im just stuck with debts I ran up a long time ago.

I really don't know what to do.

GeorgeUK

Hi Pool

You'll probably get alot more advice later, but for now it might be an idea to post up a statement of affairs (SOA). Just showing your income and expenditure to see if there are any savings that can be made and if you have any funds available to repay any of the debt. There are template letters available here for dealing with the DCA's too.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

I'll pop back later.

Pool

Thank you

Salary £20K

Debts

£8000 Egg Loans - Haven't heard anything for a few years
£5500 HSBC - Referred to Wescot
£1500 Black Horse - Haven't heard anything for a few years

Expenditure that I can think of thus far

Rent £550
Council Tax £80
Water £30
Electricity £30
Gas £30
TV License £11
Phone Line £11
Broadband £10
Contents Ins £15
Car Ins £30
Food £100
Petrol £100
Car Upkeep (Tax/MOT/Service) £35

My IVA was £300 PCM

firestronaut

does that mini-SOA include things like cigarettes if you smoke, DVD rentals, snacks, clothes, shopping sprees, new shoes, etc etc.

It just looks like a list of essential payments to me, and nothing more.

Pool

firestronaut wrote: »

does that mini-SOA include things like cigarettes if you smoke, DVD rentals, snacks, clothes, shopping sprees, new shoes, etc etc.

It just looks like a list of essential payments to me, and nothing more.

It does not include any of those things

I am basically back on my feet, haven't been over-drawn for 18 months and I just don't want to be dragged back to hell (of my own making I know)

firestronaut

If you do any of those things, you should add them to your SOA.
If you don't, then good on you, just be careful not to wear yourself down.

pink_numbers

those need to be included too, use the link georgeUK has given you so you don't miss out on any of the spends you actually have.

Pool

Okay I have apparently £19 available for repayment!!

What I do know is that I do go right to the limit ie within £5 of my zero Overdraft limit

GeorgeUK

Egg, HSBC and Black Horse - do you have copies of the credit agreements for the loans and cards? You may want to look at some of the CCA threads on the board for these, but not overdrafts.

In short, loans and creditcards taken out before 6th April 2007 must have certain prescribed terms on the customer credit agreement (CCA) for the agreement to be enforcable. If ALL the terms are not there, the debt will still exist, but you may be able to argue that the debt is unenforcable. There are alot of threads that go into detail on this - here's a quote from a judgement on this though.

Wilson v First County Trust Ltd [2001] EWCA Civ 633

In effect, the creditor – by failing to ensure that he obtained a document signed by the debtor which contained all the prescribed terms – must (in the light of the provisions in sections 65(1) and 127(3) of the 1974 Act) be taken to have made a voluntary disposition, or gift, of the loan monies to the debtor. The creditor had chosen to part with the monies in circumstances in which it was never entitled to have them repaid;

Might be worth looking into.

As for your budget, you can format the SOA for MSE and paste it up here if you like. Otherwise, a few of the main points that are most often raised:

If paying council tax over 10 months, can you ask to pay it over 12?

Utilities - check your meters and phone in with the correct readings. If you have a surplus request this be paid back to you and your bill reduced. Check the comparison sites such as moneysupermarket and uswitch to find the best deal.

Same goes for your insurances

Cook in bulk and freeze meals - have a look at the oldstyle board for mealplan ideas.

You say it's been a while since you last paid towards the debts - after 6 years the debts may become statute barred but it sounds like you would need to wait another 4.5 years as you acknowledged the debt via the IVA.

Were you paying payment protection insurance on the loan? If so you should look to see if it was missold and if you can claim it back.

For the house that you owned - take a look to see if it was in the correct council tax banding. If not reclaim.

Not sure how you feel about reclaiming bank charges, but that and the others are covered here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

savingmummy

If you put up your full SOA it will help you and these guys and girls to advise.
I did mine today and i got a shock - i could turn this stressful issue around in a flash.
Be completely honest, write down exactly your outgoings even down to the £`s and p`s.
Goodluck

Pool

Summary

Monthly Budget SummaryAmount(£)
Total monthly income1,300
Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans)1,250
Available for debt repayments50
UNsecured debt repayments0
Amount left after debt repayments50

Personal Balance Sheet SummaryAmount(£)
Total Assets (things you own)1,500
Total Secured & HP Debt-0
Total Unsecured Debt-15,000Net Assets-13,500
Household Information

Number of adults in household 1
Number of children in household
Number of cars owned 1
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

IncomeAmount(£)
Monthly income after tax1300
Partners monthly income0
Benefits0Other income0
Total monthly income1300

ExpensesAmount(£)
Mortgage0Secured/HP loan payments0
Rent550
Management charge (leasehold property)0
Council tax80
Electricity30
Gas30
Oil0
Water Rates30
Telephone (land line)11
Mobile phone40
TV Licence12
Satellite/Cable TV0
Internet services10
Groceries etc.100
Clothing30
Petrol/diesel100
Road tax12
Car Insurance45
Car maintenance (including MOT)25
Car Parking0
Other travel40
Childcare/nursery0
Other child related expenses0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)14
Pet Insurance/Vet bills0
Buildings Insurance0
Contents Insurance13
Life Assurance0
Other Insurance0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.)20
Haircuts8
Entertainment25
Holiday25
Emergency Fund0
Total monthly expenses1250

Secured & HP Debt DescriptionDebt(£)Monthly(£)APR(%)Mortgage0(0) 0Secured & HP Debt totals0- -

Unsecured Debt DescriptionDebt(£)Monthly(£)APR(%)EGG LOAN800000HSBC OVERDRAFT + LOAN550000BLACK HORSE LOAN150000Unsecured Debt totals150000-

Asset DescriptionValue (£)Cash0House Value (Gross)0Shares and bonds0Car(s)1500Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc) 0Total Assets1500