My first post here

CLAPTON

It seems to me you have the following options:

Option 1: try to meet minimum payments..this requires either cutting by 120 or increasing income. From your SoA i dont think that cutting by 120 is feasible...it fact i think your budget is too tight and you will not be able to sustain even that level over an extended period of time. (years not months). You seem to say that increasing income is not feasible either.

Option 2. Debt Management Program DMP...basically what you are trying to do by yourself.
If you wish to continue with this then you need to do the following

i. review your SoA (increase it ) so its viable long term. (see later for suggested figures)
ii. work out the money available for creditors and prorata the amount that you can afford to each creditor. (ask again if you need this to be explained)
iii. write to each with a copy of your SoA and say thats all you can afford and ask them to suspend interest and charges.
iv. cancel all standing orders / DD to your creditors and send them the payment you have worked out.
v. those that dont agree....doesnot matter as you cannot afford any more just keep sending them your payment.
vi. some will write/phone/complain but no matter
vii. your credit record will of course to trashed.
viii. What can they do, well
a. they can take you to court and the judge will decide whether you can afford more or not..He/she may even reduce the amount. They know this too and will be reluctant to do this but there is no certainty here.
or b. they can apply to make you bankrupt...but you are considering that anyway and if they do it, it will mean they will pay the costs and not you.
ix. if you are going to default on your bank a/c , then open a new account with a bank that you have no current relationship with and make sure all your income / benefits goes into this ...this is URGENT otherwise your bank will raid your income to pay your debts to them and you will be left with nothing...do this now.

x. The following are 'typical ' spending fifures that are s often considered reasonable for your spending
Figures per month:
Food: £126-£168 (1 person)
£207-£276 (couple)
£54-£75 (per child)
THREE FIGURE, single, couple and child all per month
Clothing: £18-£24; £22-£40; £9-£12

School meals/meals at work: £9-£12; £9-£12; £5-£6

School trips/activities: £5 per child

Sports, Hobbies & Entertainment: £15; £20; £10

Sundries & Emergencies: £10; £20; £10

Satellite/cable: £21 (basic package only)

Dentist/opticians: £13; £14

Medicines/prescriptions: £7; £10

Fuel & Parking: £130; £130


Option3 DMP with CCCS or Payplan
Basically what you are try to do but being helped by CCCS or Payplan (both are free).
Phone them and get free advice, you have no commitment unless you want to.

Other Options...IVA or bankruptcy...but at least speak to CCCS or payplan first.

lynsayjane

sweetie, i hate to sound harsh but you are struggling to find the money to feed your kids and pay your bills/debts. the animals have to go. i'm sure you are all attached to them, but you can mayeb get them/others back once your debt free. just finding homes for them would save you £70 a month. thats more than half your shortfall, the rest could be made up from your clothes/food budget quite easily.

as far as travel to the schoools is concerned, is there any chance of relocating nearer? maybe you need ot seriously consider whats better for your kids, going to a better school or having a debt ridden/bankrupt mum?

sorry but thats the main things that strike me from your soa.

Toomuchdebt

I'm going to give payplan a ring on Monday and see what they advise.If they feel bankruptcy would be better for me will they tell me that?
Moving isn't an option really as a lot of places won't take people on benefits and there is a real shortage of houses big enough(me and 4 children).Also most places are furnished and this place was unfurnished so obviously have bought lots of furniture(cheap most of it but still).Also the school area is fairly posh so houses are more expensive than they are here.

Baggiebird1nil

How come OH dosn't contribute more? Don't mean to pry but £50 for 4 kids is he taking the mick? Does he have life insurance? Only joking. Been there myself with 2 kids and OH is rolling in it, nice lifestyle. Still 20 years on it's come back to bite him cos DD is getting married next year and has just realised what a b*****d her Dad was and is now not inviting him to her wedding! Result!

Toomuchdebt

ex dh has the kids 2 nights a week and also is self employed so he could tell CSA what he liked as regards his income

Toomuchdebt

OK I've decided what to do-I'm going to try for 3 months to pay what I owe and bring down my spending on food,clothes etc.I'm going to try and find a much cheaper food for the dog that he hopefully won't be sensitive to.I'm goiing to try and find him cheaper insurance too.I'm going to call and ask if BT can put me on a lower tariff for the internet.I'm going to go to uswitch and see if I can get Gas and Electric cheaper.Over the next few weeks while the girls are awya I'm going to try and walk everywhere so saving petrol.I'm going to make more of an effort with cooking.I'm going to try and do most of my washing at night(cheaper electricity).I'm going to get all the pillows and eiderdowns washed and dried so as the weather gets colder I can put them on the beds to keep us all warmer.I am going to cut all the cards up and keep the pieces in a little bag in case I have to hand them over if I end up going to bankruptcy.I am going to do my shopping at Lidl's once a week when I take the girls to ballet (paid for by their Dad).I will get petrol from tesco-near me and can get Clubcard points on it.When I get my points I will have enough for a week's shopping I hope.The girl's shoes are difficult as they all seem to have awkward shaped feet-E is very narrow but wears an adult size 6.5 so cheaper shoes don't fit her as they are all too wide,O on the other hand wears a size 3 but has very wide feet and a high instep so again cheap shoes are usually too tight on her.the others are similar in that they have high insteps.All the girls have shoes at the moment that fit so I won't need to buy any for a few months,and hopefully can time it to tie in with the sales.The hardest thing will be trying to make the girls understand why they can't have sweets and magazines and this and that and everything else.Most of my spending has been on them not on me and they will struggle I think with me saying "No" all the time.

lynsayjane

do you mind me asking how old your kids are? maybe you said i can't remember. but you should try sitting them down and explaining the situation to them, obviously in laymans terms, just summit like, 'mummy doesnt have much money anymore so for the next few months/year we will have to tighten our belts up a little bit.'

perhaps you can get them to earn any money for sweets they get by doing things in the house to help you, get them all piggie banks off pigsback and thy can learn to save it up to buy what they want. that way your getting a little help and teaching your kids a valuable lesson and hopefully when they grow up they won't follow your money example, or well your old one!

Toomuchdebt

They're 11,8,5 and 3.The eldest 2 should understand but I'm afraid they'll take it the worst What is pigsback?

all_hours

Toomuchdebt,
Have you considered paying a childminder to pick the youngest up and looking after them for a couple of hours so that you could work around school hours? Some nurseries offer school hour rates could you look around at other nurseries near the school?

Have a look at entitledto.co.uk and play around with some figures.

I've just tried it for if you were earning a wage to match your rent - £750 net a month and paying £80 per week for childcare you'd get 11,854.85 in tax credits - it also says you'd still get some housing benefit + you'd have your salary. But you wouldn't get any Council tax benefit. It looks as though you'd be a few hundred better off each month.

Obviously you'd have to think about how this would work out if you include holiday times and possibly paying more childcare or not working over the holidays.

all_hours

Toomuchdebt wrote:

No in Gloucestershire.I queried it last year-it's only for 8 months though not 12 so maybe it works out to the same.

My water company spreads the payments over 8 months - apparently that's the longest the system can set up a payment schedule. If you stick with this your last payment will be in nov or dec - then you'll have a 4 month break where you don't pay the water charge. You could ask them to reschedule the remaining amount over the next 7 months, it will be bring the monthly amount down but then you wouldn't get the break in payments.