HELP !!! Pay Plan or Baines & Enrst, DMP or Bankruptcy

boarbaboon

Hi Everyone

Just wanted some advice. I recently signed up with Baines and Ernst in thier debt management plan. I now wish i had done more research as i didnt relize that their 'intial fee' is 2 months payments which for me is nearly £500 and i havent been totally happy with the service as now they have my money i dont get any updates any calls nothing on how its all going.

Does anyone have any good storys or advice about B&E?
What are the advantages of paying somebody?

While the creditors were calling me to ask for payment one talked about using a 'free company called payplan, but payplan have said they are actully funded by the credit card companies so wouldnt this make them just a little biased?
Also when speaking to payplan they asked if i had ever thought of going bankrupt instead of continuing with a DMP, which has now got me really confused?

Should i stick with B&E or change to payplan?

Should i stick with a DMP or go Bankrupt?

By the way i am over £35,000 in debt

nembot

I would advise to never go with a debt management company that charges you money, there are organisations out there that provide exactly the same service for free.

Stick around, sure someone else more experienced on the matter can advise further.

Tixy

Hi
B &E in particular have a pretty bad rep on this site, and paid for DMPs are never recommended. The commercial companies will tell you that they will deal with your DMP better/faster/more professional than a charity but the evidence from people who have used them generally suggests otherwise.

Payplan, although not officially recommended by MSE do do free DMPs, similar to the charities.

As to what option is best for you, and whether bankruptcy would be feasible, I would suggest 3 things
1) post up a statement of affairs for people on here to see what your full position is. http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
2) fill in the CCCS debt remedy tool - that will give you an idea as to what option they think it suitable for you (although its obviously only a computer generated opinion.
3) contact one of the recommended charities https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2077631

After all those you should be in a better position to make a decision.

boarbaboon

Hi Tixy thanks for the advice heres what the statement of affairs come up with. Also CCCS suggests i take a IVA or if not DMP. I added my income on my contracted 47 hour week with, 20 hours overtime in the month was this the right thing to do?

Also bit more debt than i thought:(:(

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 340
Rent.................................... 500
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 17
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 90
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 9
Entertainment........................... 8
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 10
medical................................. 14
meals at work........................... 35
Total monthly expenses.................. 1833


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


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 3000.....(120)......0<
Family Repayment...............15000....(220)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 18000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC Loan......................23000.....370.......7
virgin credit card.............7500......100.......15
post office loan...............4000......100.......15
Total unsecured debts..........34500.....570.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,833
Available for debt repayments........... 267
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 570
Amount short for making debt repayments. -303

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -18,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -34,500
Net Assets.............................. -52,500

Created using the SOA calculator at .
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Opera browser.

Deep_In_Debt

your groceries look high - how many is this for?

Also, can you reduce your mobile phone - PAYG?

Meals at work - can you take packed lunch?

As others have said, advoid fee charging dmp companies - they will offer advice in their interests and not yours and the monthly fee you are paying them could be going to clearing your debts.

Good luck.

Ames

boarbaboon wrote: »

Hi Tixy thanks for the advice heres what the statement of affairs come up with. Also CCCS suggests i take a IVA or if not DMP. I added my income on my contracted 47 hour week with, 20 hours overtime in the month was this the right thing to do?

Also bit more debt than i thought:(:(

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2100 if you've included this with overtime you need to change it to just the basic pay, unless overtime is guaranteed and you do it every month.
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 340 What's this secured on if you don't own a house?
Rent.................................... 500
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50 These two seem high, I live in a one bed all electric and pay £33 a month, and I've just had a cheque for £30 cos I'm in credit. Make sure you put a jumper on before the heating, use energy saving bulbs, don't have a tumble dryer etc. Little things really do make a huge difference.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 50 ouch! Cut this down as soon as you're out of contract, between house phone and mobile I only spend about £30.
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 :eek: I live on my own and due to disability I can't cook from scratch and I spend between 100 and 120 a month, the usual amount for one is £60 a month, so you can cut this right down.
Clothing................................ 17 Not too bad, but you could cut down to about a tenner for a few months, use ebay, charity shops and car boot sales to get bargains.
Petrol/diesel........................... 120 Make sure you're driving efficiently, there's an article somewhere on this site but I'm rubbish at finding them.
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 90 :eek:I'm assuming you're under 25 at this price? When it comes to renewal time then make sure you shop around and get cashback.
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 You should have something here
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 10 What's this for?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 9
Entertainment........................... 8
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 10 This is your emergency.
medical................................. 14 What's this? Would a pre pay certificate be cheaper, if it's prescriptions?
meals at work........................... 35 On top of spending £300 on food this is ridiculous, take a sandwich and a bottle of squash or something.
Total monthly expenses.................. 1833


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0You've got car costs above so surely there should be something here?
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 3000.....(120)......0<
Family Repayment...............15000....(220)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 18000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC Loan......................23000.....370.......7
virgin credit card.............7500......100.......15
post office loan...............4000......100.......15
Total unsecured debts..........34500.....570.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,833
Available for debt repayments........... 267
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 570
Amount short for making debt repayments. -303

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -18,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -34,500
Net Assets.............................. -52,500

Created using the SOA calculator at .
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Opera browser.

It's not going to be impossible to pick up your shortfall, if you cut back on the mobile and food you can easily save £230, and you can pick up the rest on odd bits here and there. A DMP might be something to look at because it's going to be hard to reduce the balances significantly. I'm not sure why Payplan suggested br, I guess it's because the debt is so high, but I don't think that's really necessary. How long will it be before your car insurance reduces? Mine went down by about £50 a month when I hit 25, from £87 to £37, which'll make a big difference.

The big drawback to any plan is the family debt, you wont be allowed to pay that in a DMP or bankruptcy, so you'd have to increase your allowances here and there to give you some free money to pay that with, unless you can leave off paying it for a few years.

Sorry if some of my comments seem harsh.

immoral_angeluk

Ames. £60 for food? Is that realistic? I know people are here are all about cutting everything down but long term that might not be feasible unless the OP made some MASSIVE cutbacks in her household shopping.
The British Bankers Association(with the money advice trust) trigger figures set the level of housekeeping for one person (without disability or special dietary requirements) at £280 with extra amount for other people in the household... basically that's the 'guideline' figure than Mr Joe UK Average is expected to spend on food/toiletries and anything above this is likely to be queried. Anything below this and creditors would not be able to query it. There are also other allowances for travel, telephone and 'other spending' too.

I hope that doesn't sound patronising.. not my intention :eek: Just giving the 'official' view as to what's allowable

In my experience most single people I've had and done financial statements for have been comfortable around the £100-£150 mark for their household shopping.

DarkConvict

The £60 figure has started to appear alot after a few members have been able to achieve it or even less. £60 is a tough figure but is possible. A more realistic figure for those wanting to cut back for 1 person is probably £100-120.
Although though economies of scale makes the £60 is easier to reach, such as a family of 4 for £280-£300 is suitable.

MrsTinks

Immoral - the difference between the figure you qoute and what Ames is on about is that your is about IVA and BR figures and what they allow - not what CAN be acchieved... It's damage limitation really... It all depends on if the OP wants to try and do damage limitation or if they are happy with the end result of an IVA or going BR... If you need to cut back to avoid those - either for a DMP or to get back on track with minimum payments then £60 is possible at a push and £200 is plain frivilous.
If you are going for say BR then the allowed amount is far far higher than what you can actually comfortably manage on... In fact people have come off DMPs and gone BR and commented that they have a LOT more money each month for food etc - the trade off is that you will be marked as BR and have to declare you are a discharged BR for an awful long time

OP - You can easily cut back to meet your financial obligations if you want - whatever you do then ditch B&E - whether you go with Payplan or CCCs etc then a lot of these charities are funded by donations from the large financial institutions. If you're dealign with a charity then this really doesn't matter - contributors have no say in policies etc of a charity - I've dealt with setting up a charity and I can assure you the charities commission are possibly THE most picky and strickt organisation to deal with! If anyone suspected a bank etc of interfering with a charity or it's running they would be on them like a tonne of bricks. The financial organisations do it for selfish reasons obviously - they want their money back. However it's in their interest to help because most people want to pay back, but struggle with managing how to - in other cases it's best to have them go BR because the debt is unrecoverable. If so then it is a waste of their money to chase it and if you are BR then they can draw a line in the sand... ok that's very very simplistic but you get my point

fermi

MrsTine wrote: »

Immoral - the difference between the figure you qoute and what Ames is on about is that your is about IVA and BR figures and what they allow

No. The "trigger figures" from the Money Advice Trust are not the same ones by the OR in bankruptcy, let alone any that an IVA company may 'make up'.

msgnomey

We used payplan and they were brilliant
OH had a nervous breakdown in effect and lost his job, we had debts of about £25K and they were efficient, thorough and supportive (especially the first guy I talked to who helped set up the original plan- he made me realise that there was light at the end of the very long dark tunnel)
and we didn't pay them a penny
Good luck