The cutting out/cutting down alcohol thread (part 7)

SimIsOnTheUp

brokepaolo wrote: »

I read into DROs but it looked like I wouldn't qualify because I earn enough money to cover the minimum payments towards my debts(mainly roll-over fees for dreaded payday loans). There's no way I would be able to afford to pay the payday loans off with just one month's salary because they amount to more than £3000 in total, then I have an old loan of £3.5k that I have defaulted on for more than 10 years(I literally ran away from it to the point where I'd convinced myself it was forgotten - which of course it wasn't), then I have a Lloyds TSB bank account which went overdrawn beyond the £250 limit, they charged fees upon fees upon more fees to the point where it now stands at something ludicrous like £1400 overdrawn! and last but not least, I once had a credit card which racked up to £800 before it got cancelled and passed on to a collections agency who now deny that they are handling the case anymore and that I should find out from Amex who is dealing with it(I need to get that sorted actually, lazy me!).

I haven't actually started my DMP yet because I'm scared stiff of the drastic effect it will have. I simply cannot imagine such a large portion of my income just vanishing each month(almost 70% of my income would end up going on my DMP, my rent + bills alone). It feels almost wrong for me to have agreed to it, but what else can I do?

Paul,

Unless going Bankrupt is going to affect your job, then I would seriously consider it.

From what you've posted in the past, you're renting right?

You deserve to have a Life!

Your DMP doesn't sound sustainable long term, and there's the concern, that the stress will lead you back to the booze.

Maybe have a chat with the CAB about what Bankruptcy would involve?

SimIsOnTheUp

Those b loody PayDay loans should be banned.

I owe The Money Shop £500 mate, and I feel for ya, 'cos had I been working, I'd probably have been tempted to 'roll them over'.

They want people to be trapped in that cycle.

brokepaolo

SimIsOnTheUp wrote: »

Paul,

Unless going Bankrupt is going to affect your job, then I would seriously consider it.

From what you've posted in the past, you're renting right?

You deserve to have a Life!

Your DMP doesn't sound sustainable long term, and there's the concern, that the stress will lead you back to the booze.

Maybe have a chat with the CAB about what Bankruptcy would involve?

Yes, I'm renting.

and yes, I deserve to have a life, I suppose. I certainly want to have one and you're right, the stress of the DMP is too much to bear and I haven't even started it, but if I were to declare myself bankrupt, would I not need to still pay some part of my salary to my creditors.

My credit rating is almost certainly !!!!ed right now and I'm under no illusion that even if i were to successfully get through my DMP, that my history would still remain a factor.

I've been dilly-dallying for a while now over whether or not the DMP option is right for me, each time I think about committing to it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I think about how impossible it would be to get through it.

A close friend of mine declared herself bankrupt 2 years ago, she moved away from Bristol, started university, worked in a restaurant and now she's living in London, continuing her course, working in another much nicer restaurant and she's just booked herself a holiday to Sweden.

That's what I'd like to do but under a DMP, even a bus ride to Weston-Super-Mere would go down as a reckless expense!

I'm going to have to have a rethink and make an appointment with the CAB, I think.

thanks folks for your suggestions, plenty of food for thought..

SimIsOnTheUp

DEBTMONKEY1A wrote: »

Hi Sim....glad you're sounding so upbeat today! Once your DRO is sorted it's all a new start! Have you managed to persuade your G/F to use the £500 for a dirty weekend by the sea yet (!!!) Hello to everyone else as well! My AF days have been....ahem ....very few. Still-new month tomorrow! Am currently staving off a gout attack in my left big toe (another unfortunate bi-product of drinking!!) BUT I now have my own 'herbal' cure that stops it in its tracks in 1 day ! Beleive me...full blown gout is the most painfull thing EVER & can last up to 2 weeks-rendering you unable to walk (or walk in extreme pain!). As soon as I get a 'twinge' (tingle in the toe or knee!!) I take 1 x vitamin c+quertecin tablet/1 x devils claw tablet/1x celery seed tablet+ 1 pint water-HOURLY....within a few hours the tingle has gone & it does not progress...!!

Hope all of you are ok!

Hope the gout is easing DM.

Please go steady with the booze, as my mate has gout, which was brought on by years of heavy drinking - again, in his toe, as well as his knee.

He now has to walk with a crutch, due to the pain becoming unbearable, when walking.

He's diabetic, he has epilepsy, depression, anxiety, on top of the gout..

He still drinks. Due to him carrying on with the boozing, his gout became worse.

I love him to bits, but he's 42, and looks 52

Re - the DRO, I haven't decided 100% on this yet, as it's a biggy. Am going to make a balanced decision by the end of the week.

Take it easy,

Sim.

DEBTMONKEY1A

Brokepaulo....no if you go BR & ON PAPER (remember the allowences that are given are generous so you can 'inflate' say your food costs to the maximum allowed) you have less than £100 left after all 'expenses' then you PAY NOTHING to the official receiver (who is in charge of paying your creditors)...if you regularly have over £100 a month left over then you pay a small proportion of that for 3 years.

As soon as you go BR your debts ARE NO LONGER YOURS...the official receiver deals with it. Brokepaulo-any old debts (from when you ahem 'moved'...(!) i did this a lot) are written off completely...it would be a good clean start for you! The DRO is fairly new but acheives the same-why not get some advice from say CCCS or CAB?

Brokepaulo....get advice from TWO different agencies as above...also if you can make sure on paper your income is LESS than £100 a month then maximum is 1 year-early dishcharge is very likely though & you could be free from Bankruptcy in SIX MONTHS! Also look at the link I posted to Sim on an earlier post to 'ask the expert'-he literally was a lifesaver for me & G/F with BR...he can probably e-mail you all the maximum financial allowences the official receiver will need....so you can tweak your figures to keep under the magic '£100 a month left over or less' figure...& its not unknown (& you would not be penalised for it !) to...ahem...take out another moneyshop loan to pay the Bankruptcy fees....(!)....if your credit ratings f****d anyway I'd just go BR especially as you're renting & on a low-income...just my thoughts ayway!

Sim....your call re: DRO but if the experts advise it I'D DO IT! Why put yourself through the stress of it all!

brokepaolo

DEBTMONKEY1A wrote: »

Brokepaulo....no if you go BR & ON PAPER (remember the allowences that are given are generous so you can 'inflate' say your food costs to the maximum allowed) you have less than £100 left after all 'expenses' then you PAY NOTHING to the official receiver (who is in charge of paying your creditors)...if you regularly have over £100 a month left over then you pay a small proportion of that for 3 years.

As soon as you go BR your debts ARE NO LONGER YOURS...the official receiver deals with it. Brokepaulo-any old debts (from when you ahem 'moved'...(!) i did this a lot) are written off completely...it would be a good clean start for you! The DRO is fairly new but acheives the same-why not get some advice from say CCCS or CAB?

Sim....your call re: DRO but if the experts advise it I'D DO IT! Why put yourself through the stress of it all!

sounds like an ideal solution, almost too ideal.

That's all I want, a fresh start. I made some very poor decisions and got sucked into a spiral of debt by companies who depends on such a spiral existing. I don't blame them, they're not breaking the law but they made it easy for me to get into an untenable position and now they are laying the blame entirely at my feet. Had I asked them for a £500 the first time I borrowed, I would have been turned down, so why do they think that after 3 months of steadily increasing my borrowing from them that I am worthy of that amount then?

Because I'm the fool, because they got me where they wanted me and now they're playing hardball, it's sickening but at the same time oh, so predictable.

I'll have a good think and book myself an appointment at the CAB. I can't really just go to the drop-in centre as there's always a massive queue right round the building and guess where my office is? yep, right opposite the CAB's office and I think it would be difficult for me to explain my being there to any passing colleagues.

Another thing that worries me about going bankrupt is what effect it would have on my current tenancy agreement. I underwent a credit check by the estate agents to assure the tenancy and I assume they wouldn't look too kindly on my bankruptcy, would they?

And what if I were to move? could I still rent a place if I were to provide a guarantor?

I'm seriously struggling to enjoy living where I do now. I share with three people, none of whom know of my financial predicament and I'm at least 4 years older than all of them. To be honest, I've had enough of sharing, it does my head in. I desperately want to live on my own and I've seen places advertised which would only cost me about £100 more than I'm currently paying, probably £150 more with the added bills, but that's a price worth paying for some space to myself.

wouldn't my going bankrupt sound off a deafening alarm to any prospective landlord?

yellowmonkey

Hi BP

Whatever you decide get Advice from CAB/CCCS/etc. With CCCS you can do a debt remedy online that helped me when I made my decision..Hang on a sec.


https://debtremedy.cccs.co.uk/start.aspx



I started a DMP and was with it for 2 years before i went BR. To be honest I struggled and I thought "do I want to pay this off for the next 15 years or take the quick route and go BR" I must stress that BR was right for ME and every case is different. I had no assets and it has sorted me out no end. The Payment the DM1 mentions is an IPA that lasts for 3 years if you have a surplus over £99 but I was prepared for that if need be as it would still be better off than 15 years on a DMP. At the risk of going against DM1's advice OR's work off of different allowances a month so be honest with what you really need to get through the month and the SOA is more leniant for BR but I would advise against putting excessive amounts as certain things which are allowed by one OR will not be by another. I was honest with what I needed for me and my family and I did not get an IPA but I would have been prepared to pay one if needed.

Whatever you decide think long and hard as it is not the easy route that some people think and emotionally it is very draining but the result can be ideal for some. Research all you can about BR and how it would effect you. I spent at least 3 months checking/reading eveything I could

Good luck

PS...I lost at golf but only just

DEBTMONKEY1A

The letting agents would not know about the bankruptcy ulness YOU told them....or in a 1 in a million chance they read the bankruptcy notices in the local paper!

As far as moving goes...you could either rent privately (newspaper ads-no credit checks) -or be up-front with the new letting agent-when i was looking for somewhere 2 years ago I told them & they said it would be no problem -although best to wait the 1 year maximum till you are discharged. One letting agent said 'well at least it means you can't get into debt or have any other debt' -which of course is true!

Why not move BEFORE you go BR? Then any potential checks would come back with no BR showing....or as i said rent privately? You probably COULD rent during the 1 year you were BR but would probably need a guarantor. So why not do it BEFORE BR or after the 1 year & be upfront about it or rent privately??

As I said...if ON PAPER you have £100 a month OR LESS left over money (& as I said if you put down the FULL amounts that the offcial receiver will allow it'll greatly help you...for example you can claim 'meals at work'-sandwiches, etc separate to food bills-3 years ago it was £3-50 A DAY-even if you DON'T buy sandwiches...just an example...) once the BR is over you pay NOTHING else...so you could be discharged in as little as SIX MONTHS!

I would post your income/expenditure on that link i gave SIm (or google 'ask the expert+simon wiggins' for great advice-he could probably e-mail you the allowences that the receiver works to (!)) & could advise you on BR.

Best thing i ever did!

If you are still able to get another £500-£700 from the moneyshop etc...I'd get it (maybe 2 weeks or so prior to BR??!) & use it for the fees...some will say thats not ethical but what the hell-the debt will be written off anyway in the BR!

If you do decide to do it feel free to PM me!

EDIT-Echo what YM has said....its quite 'full-on' emotionally-but the 2nd you walk from the court WITH NO DEBTS you think'why did i worry about that??'

Sharing would do my head in as well! May be worth moving NOW as it'll eat your income up a bit & put you under the £99 magic figure-allowing you to possibly if early discharge given be disharged in SIX MONTHS!

69chick

I am going to declare today af plese Miss P as I have not inclination to drink today and nothing in anyway so think that makes me a total of 20 for June which I am quite happy with, especially as apart from my horrific session on 5th June the rest of the days have been very moderate (2-4 units)...so probably my best month for years ...

Sparkles today included I think thats 3 days of the challenge done...

Thanks again for doing such a fab job scoring June Miss P :T and thanks for doing the challenge this week Sparkles :T

Will be back later....

yellowmonkey

69chick wrote: »

Thanks again for doing such a fab job scoring June Miss P :T

Well done Miss P :T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

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