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Need some advice please on unmanagable debt

Posted this yesterday on the debt free wannabe thread, but thought a would post it here as well as I might get differant advice (I hope that that's alright!!)

Hi first post on this forum

I need some help as I'm finding it hard to pay my debts, infact have missed two months of payments and am getting harrassed by my creditors. It is starting to effect my relatinship with my girlfriend as I am becoming snappy and if am not careful I think it will start to affect my health.

I've got about £35kish of unsecurred debt and not really any assets apart from my car which is worth under a grand and I need it for work.

Just after any advice please of what I should do. Did do that debtremedy thing on the CCCS website but its a bit pants as it wont let you put all of your outgoings in it.

Have attached my SOA below

Once again any advice will be greatly received!!

P.S. Is there any template letters a could send to my creditors to allow me a bit of breathing space??





Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1350
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1350

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 100
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 1194


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 300
Car(s).................................. 600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 900

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Nationwide Credit Car..........10089.....454.......0
Nationwide Loan................11165.....250.......0
Nationwide Overdraft...........1300......0.........0
AA Car Loan....................12000.....400.......0
Asda Credit Card...............600.......0.........0
Very...........................120.......8........ .0
Total unsecured debts..........35274.....1112......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,350
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,194
Available for debt repayments........... 156
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,112
Amount short for making debt repayments. -956

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -35,274
Net Assets.............................. -34,374

Comments

  • IF
    IF Posts: 34,349 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Hi and welcome Needshelp, First of all I would contact one of the following debt charities:-

    Consumer Credit Counselling Service - Website: CCCS Telephone: 0800 138 1111
    National Debtline - Website: National Debtline Telephone: 0808 808 4000
    Citizens Advice Bureau - Website: Citizens Advice or visit your local CAB centre (find nearest)

    Please try these they don't charge and are impartial, try at least two.

    See what they advice and any help they can offer you, as it is hard to say until you are considering bankrupcy.

    Best wishes
    If...x
    "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride"
  • skylight
    skylight Posts: 10,716 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Home Insurance Hacker!
    There are no templates to gain breathing space; it doesn't exist! There are letters to ask for help/offer nominal payments etc but these just seem to encourage creditors to chase you harder. Even if you made an acceptable payment agreement some creditors would chase for more. So although letters are a great way to start taking some control back for yourself, they cannot really improve the situation.

    It would be best if you called CCCS or Payplan and discuss your situation with them.


    From a BR point of view, your SOA:
    Monthly Expense Details
    Mortgage................................ 0
    Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
    Rent.................................... 400
    Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
    Council tax............................. 0 You must pay some council tax??
    Electricity............................. 40
    Gas..................................... 40
    Oil..................................... 0
    Water rates............................. 20
    Telephone (land line)................... 0
    Mobile phone............................ 100 Far too high. £40 combo for this and landline is acceptable (if no landline £40 on own is ok).
    TV Licence.............................. 10 13
    Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
    Internet Services....................... 25 Wont be permitted unless you have children and this amount is too high anyway.
    Groceries etc. ......................... 150 Could up to £190
    Clothing................................ 30 £40
    Petrol/diesel........................... 160 Do you have reciepts/back this up? It probably wont be asked but is a little high. Mind you, with the fuel rises it's not going to go down, is it??!
    Road tax................................ 20
    Car Insurance........................... 75 Thats high for a naff car.
    Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
    Car parking............................. 10
    Other travel............................ 0
    Childcare/nursery....................... 0
    Other child related expenses............ 0
    Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14 Optical? Glasses or contact lenses?
    Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
    Buildings insurance..................... 0
    Contents insurance...................... 0 You should have contents insurance. Always! Get some.
    Life assurance ......................... 0
    Other insurance......................... 0
    Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20 Not permitted.
    Haircuts................................ 10 15
    Entertainment........................... 20 Not permitted either.
    Holiday................................. 0 Surprisingly, these are allowed so £30
    Emergency fund.......................... 20 Not permitted either!
    Total monthly expenses.................. 1194

    You could add - Union fees? Dry Cleaning?


    The OR will look at your outgoings and decide whats acceptable. Then, if there is any surplus you will pay 50% of that surplus towards your BR for a maximum of 36 months (amount is variable according to circumstances; goes up if you get a pay-rise and stops if you are unemployed).
  • skylight wrote: »
    There are no templates to gain breathing space; it doesn't exist! There are letters to ask for help/offer nominal payments etc but these just seem to encourage creditors to chase you harder. Even if you made an acceptable payment agreement some creditors would chase for more. So although letters are a great way to start taking some control back for yourself, they cannot really improve the situation.

    It would be best if you called CCCS or Payplan and discuss your situation with them.


    From a BR point of view, your SOA:
    Monthly Expense Details
    Mortgage................................ 0
    Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
    Rent.................................... 400
    Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
    Council tax............................. 0 You must pay some council tax?? Live with parents so don't pay any. On my days off of work I stay with my gf who doesn't pay CT as she's on JS, although I do pay half of her rent.
    Electricity............................. 40
    Gas..................................... 40
    Oil..................................... 0
    Water rates............................. 20
    Telephone (land line)................... 0
    Mobile phone............................ 100 Far too high. £40 combo for this and landline is acceptable (if no landline £40 on own is ok).
    My phone is about £35 pm if a don't go over my limit. Plus I also pay for my gf phone, though she isn't bothered about it, so if I did go bankrupt I could just add that on to one of the creditors couldn't I?!!!

    TV Licence.............................. 10 13
    Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
    Internet Services....................... 25 Wont be permitted unless you have children and this amount is too high anyway.
    Groceries etc. ......................... 150 Could up to £190 Thanks for that!! Thought £150 might have been too high
    Clothing................................ 30 £40
    Petrol/diesel........................... 160 Do you have reciepts/back this up? It probably wont be asked but is a little high. Mind you, with the fuel rises it's not going to go down, is it??! My gf lives 100 miles away so I have to drive up every week
    Road tax................................ 20
    Car Insurance........................... 75 Thats high for a naff car. Changed my car halfway through the insurance period so that's probably why. Will have 5yrs NCD in August. I also use all of the comarison sites.
    Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
    Car parking............................. 10
    Other travel............................ 0
    Childcare/nursery....................... 0
    Other child related expenses............ 0
    Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14 Optical? Glasses or contact lenses? Glasses
    Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
    Buildings insurance..................... 0
    Contents insurance...................... 0 You should have contents insurance. Always! Get some. Not really got anything of any value
    Life assurance ......................... 0
    Other insurance......................... 0
    Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20 Not permitted. Ok
    Haircuts................................ 10 15
    Entertainment........................... 20 Not permitted either.
    Holiday................................. 0 Surprisingly, these are allowed so £30
    Emergency fund.......................... 20 Not permitted either!
    Total monthly expenses.................. 1194

    You could add - Union fees? Dry Cleaning? Can you add dry cleaning if you don't get it done, or would you have to show any proof?? Union fees come direct out of my wage, so can I still add them??


    The OR will look at your outgoings and decide whats acceptable. Then, if there is any surplus you will pay 50% of that surplus towards your BR for a maximum of 36 months (amount is variable according to circumstances; goes up if you get a pay-rise and stops if you are unemployed).

    What wold happen say if you took a pay decrease? Would it be frowned upon as am wanting to relocate to be near my gf. Thanks for the help so far!!!
  • dojoman
    dojoman Posts: 12,027 Forumite
    Needshelp wrote: »
    What wold happen say if you took a pay decrease? Would it be frowned upon as am wanting to relocate to be near my gf. Thanks for the help so far!!!

    That is not a problem.
    :pB&SC No. 298
    Life`s Tragedy is that we get OLD too soon
    and WISE too late!
  • Hi Needshelp, I'd only advise you to be in touch with the CCCS and get professional advice so that you come into some form of debt management plan with your creditors. You should however bear in mind that it takes a while to speak to the debt advisor to put you in a plan so you need to write to your creditors that you are seeking professional advice from CCCS and will take a little while for to be in a position to make future payments and make it clear that you're struggling financially, as i can see. I found cccs very helpful & useful and they put me on a plan 12 months ago and i have not missed a payment since.
  • dojoman
    dojoman Posts: 12,027 Forumite
    If you are going to talk to any of the debt charities the links are below, I personally would talk to at least 2 of them,

    https://www.cccs.co.uk/
    https://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/
    https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
    :pB&SC No. 298
    Life`s Tragedy is that we get OLD too soon
    and WISE too late!
  • Did email Nationwide and they've sent me out a income/expenditure form to fill in

    Anyone got any advice/tips or anything I should bear in mind when filling it in

    Cheers
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