getting on top of my debts

duckysdebt

I hope someone can help please, im not new to mse but not a regular poster so please be gentle!!

I am really struggling in a sea of debts and looking through all my finances to try and get ahead a little.

I had a unfair bank charges claim going on with rbs, they offered me £700 last year as a gesture of goodwill, though i was expecting somewhere nearer £2500, ive since asked for the case to be reviewed and tried the hardship route but the rbs have wrote and told me as since the november oft ruling i can no longer get anything further, has anyone had any success in claiming since that court case or should i chuck the towel in with that one

I have an egg card which i took out before 2007 and think i may have been paying for ppi. Ive sent egg a letter asking for a copy of my cca, so hoping this might lead so something. Ive read a lot of threads on here about egg and people trying to claim against them, again wondered if anyone had any success in claiming back ppi or in proving their cca was unenforceable

sorry for the long post, im at my wits end with my financial situation and feel like its one step forward and five back all the time, any advice really would be appreciated as would success stories to motivate me

downnotout

In the mean time why not fill out a statement of affairs and let some of the more helpful members of this forum work out where you are financially. Good luck ducky!

duckysdebt

soe as follows:





Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0

Total monthly income.................... 1400

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 385

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 175

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 81

Electricity............................. 20

Gas..................................... 80

Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 20

TV Licence.............................. 18

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 60

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 140

Road tax................................ 20

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50

Car parking............................. 10

Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 21

Buildings insurance..................... 11

Contents insurance...................... 8

Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
british gas boiler cover................ 13

mortgage protection policy.............. 38

virgin media/tv/intenet/phone........... 30
owe parents (for bailing me out)........ 100

bank charges(alternates approx £20 - £30pm). 25

Total monthly expenses.................. 1390[/b]

Assets
Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 109000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 6700

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 115700

Secured & HP Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 109000...(385)......0

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6700.....(175)......9.9

Total secured & HP debts...... 115700....-.........-
Unsecured Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card 1..................2000......55........NaN

credit card 2..................6800......165.......NaN

credit card 3..................2000......80........NaN

Total unsecured debts..........10800.....300.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,400

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,390

Available for debt repayments........... 10

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 300

Amount short for making debt repayments. -290

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 115,700

Total HP & Secured debt................. -115,700

Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,800

Net Assets.............................. -10,800

WASHER

duckysdebt wrote: »

soe as follows:





Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0

Total monthly income.................... 1400

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 385

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 175

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 81

Electricity............................. 20

Gas..................................... 80:eek: Are you sure this is correct? Does this include arrears

Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30 - high for one person each month

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 20

TV Licence.............................. 18

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 60

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 140

Road tax................................ 20

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50

Car parking............................. 10

Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 21

Buildings insurance..................... 11

Contents insurance...................... 8

Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
british gas boiler cover................ 13 - Do you really need this?

mortgage protection policy.............. 38

virgin media/tv/intenet/phone........... 30
owe parents (for bailing me out)........ 100

bank charges(alternates approx £20 - £30pm). 25

Total monthly expenses.................. 1390[/b]

Assets
Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 109000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 6700

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 115700

Secured & HP Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 109000...(385)......0

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6700.....(175)......9.9

Total secured & HP debts...... 115700....-.........-
Unsecured Debts

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card 1..................2000......55........NaN

credit card 2..................6800......165.......NaN

credit card 3..................2000......80........NaN

Total unsecured debts..........10800.....300.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,400

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,390

Available for debt repayments........... 10

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 300

Amount short for making debt repayments. -290

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 115,700

Total HP & Secured debt................. -115,700

Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,800

Net Assets.............................. -10,800

I have added comments in above, you are £290 short each month, therefore my advice would be to contact a debt charity, like the CCCS. I cannot see how you can make up that shortfall unless you can get a lodger in.

WASHER.x.

duckysdebt

cold damp house= gas on a lot in winter, averaged the sum out to reach a monthly figure, cancelled the boiler cover a few days ago, dont need that again till the winter and no spare room for lodger, id have to pay someone to live in this cold place!! thanks for looking, trying to find second job, life should not be THIS hard!!

podperson

Hi ducky,

If you have asked for the bank charges claim to be reviewed as a hardship case then just have to wait on it, I believe they do have quite strict guidelines as to what they class as 'hardship' but some of going through. Do you have any charges on the credit cards? These are classed as totally different to bank charges and therefore can still be claimed.

Regarding the bank account, am guessing it is overdrawn since you are getting charges every month? Have you spoken to the bank about closing it down and working out a repayment plan to pay off what is owing on it? Not ideal but could at least stop the charges from being never ending and then open a basic bank account elsewhere for your bills to come out of.

Could I check, are you paying your parents back £100 a month for money they lent you? Do they need this back urgently or there any chance they might be able to let you off for a few months while you try and things sorted out?
Also worth speaking to CCCS or Payplan and see if they can sort out a dmp or something to make reduced payments to your debts (you can do this yourself with templates if you would rather but often the charities have more luck with getting your debtors to agree to low payments or to freeze interest).

Good luck with it

duckysdebt

thanks podperson for your advice, yeah been looking at the dmp route but it doesnt sound like id be any better off as they allow nothing to live on at the end (not that im doing much living now....existing....just about would be best description!!) besides which it can take years to clear the debts. I know a lot of people fancy the idea of writing off debts but call me old fashioned i have the view that i got myself into debt by over borrowing so its up to me to pay it back. I suppose im like most on here by coping well with repayments of things then bam something goes wrong and before you know it your outgoings are more than your income and the financial institutions start runbbing their hands together with fees and threats blah blah

Im gutted that the bank couldnt review my bank charges claim, it actually gets me a bit peed off when i read how some people have got more than they asked for, or have received shed loads from every card/bank they ever had, seems a little unjustified that they can continually get into debt after debt and be rewarded with high payouts, where as with me, ive always kept on time with things and kept my head above water just to have the door shut in my face for the one bank account. After reading a few other folks soa's on here i started to wonder if it best that i got myself up the duff, then on benefits....as apposed to working 40 hour weeks to come home to a big box telly and cheap asda meals for one ...gosh just realised how much im ranting!! do apologise!!

Yeah i try my best to pay parents back, they do let me pay as and when im a bit more flush, so i dont have them breathing down my neck, its a bit embarrasing admitting that once again ive hit hard times, so i try best not to show the strain, bless them they are fantastic but im so ashamed at my age of already being a huge failure, let alone admit im poverty stricken!!

Theres always the lotto....one can dream hey

thanks for getting back to me

ducksdebt

stevieb1

duckysdebt wrote: »

cold damp house= gas on a lot in winter, averaged the sum out to reach a monthly figure, cancelled the boiler cover a few days ago, dont need that again till the winter and no spare room for lodger, id have to pay someone to live in this cold place!! thanks for looking, trying to find second job, life should not be THIS hard!!

my house is the same! what i ended up doing over winter was setting the heating on relatively low, but wearing thick jumpers indoors. admittedly when it dropped to -11 outside the heating was turned up.

things i found helped shutting internal doors seemed to keep it warmer throughout, putting those old funky draft excluders round the bottoms of the doors also helped considerably.

stevieb1

in addition check with your energy company .. some are/were doing free loft/wall insulation for certain benefits/low income ...

dancingfairy

I'm not sure why you feel that a dmp won't help you? None of your expenses are unreasonable - apart from the gas/electric is huge and food is too low.
Exlcuding the bank charges and your parents this would then leave you with 80 ish pounds to split between your creditors (indcluding your parents and the overdraft and your other debts).
Paying your parents is all well and good but it is at the expense of your other creditors - who are more likely to kick up a fuss and charge loads of interest and take you to court than your parents are. I think it would be fairer if you split the 'spare money' betwen everyone.
There are no magic answers - if you won't do a dmp, then basically you will need to consider a dro or bankruptcy I guess if you can't increase your income as there really doesn't seem to be any way to cut back on your expenses.
df

duckysdebt

stevieb1 wrote: »

in addition check with your energy company .. some are/were doing free loft/wall insulation for certain benefits/low income ...

thanks, but as i work full time and am single with no dependents, im not entitled to benefits/grants, i have checked several times on martins grants grabber questionairre thingy, just praying we dont have another winter like last year this year..... i lived in my dressing gown with a duvet wrapped round me in the bedroom all winter when i wasnt working.....wasnt a pretty site nor would i wish to spend another winter that way hehe...jees i sound about 94 talking about the costly implications of cold winters!!! :rotfl: