Can Somebody Help Me?

KrazyKate

Hi Everyone,

I have been reading bits from this board all day and wondered if anone can help me.

At the moment I have the following debts.

Halifax CC £711
Ikano Store Card £250
Capital 1 CC £600

I also have regular house bills, an overdraft, 1 more CC (but am under limit and have a small Minimum payment), catalogue, Car Finance and a Loan.

I am able to afford to pay everything each month, but on the 3 cards listed above, i am struggling to make the minimum payments and am over the credit limits on all of them.

This is mainly due to my partner losing his job in Oct 08 and then getting a new one soon after but taking a £400pcm paycut to take it.

He pays the rent and does the food Shop, he has his own car finance and owes his mum some money which he pays her weekly aswell. I pay the other household bills, Gas,Electric etc.

I spoke to Halifax Credit card team and they said to write in with a SOA and then providing this proved I only had the £30 I say I have to pay them each month, they would freeze the interest and charges, allow me to pay them £30 for 12 months, stop the letters and calls, then review in 12 months.

I am really happy with this and have made a SOA to post off to them. I was wondering though as I am struggling with the Ikano and the Capital 1 card, whether I am able to send a similar letter to them and ask them if they would consider the same?

I'm not sure if this has to be offered to you, which is what Halifax did, or whether you can request it off your own back?

Any help would be appreciated.

KrazyKate x

Tixy

hi Kate

You can request that all of your creditors do this - I'll post a template letter you could use in a sec.

Have you ever posted your statement of affairs on here? if not it might be worth doing that first so we can advise if there is anything they will disallow when working out what you can afford.

You need to be careful though that any creditor who you don't make the proper minimum payment to could decide to issue you with a default which will affect your credit rating for 6years.

Also if your current account /overdraft is also with halifax they are allowed to offset money you owe to the card from your current account, and they may recall your overdraft so you might be better to set up a new account elsewhere first so that your wages are protected.

Edit - here is a template letter you could use as a starting point http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=21654579&postcount=50 (you might need to edit it if you are not actually seeking advice from one of the debt charities).

KrazyKate

Thanks Tixy,

Ill give them a try, I haven't posted a SOA up before, I will try and do this asap.

My overdraft is also with halifax but I didn't know they could/would do this!

If I did have my wages paid in to another bank account, and just kept paying them their £30 a month for the O/D fees while trying to pay bits off here and there would this be ok, or if I started having my wages paid somewhere else, would they demand I pay the O/D back in full immediatly?

Kate

GeorgieFTB

Yeah Halifax might get a little shirty and remove your overdraft but that would be better than having your wages off-set.

Post your SOA and some v bright people will be along to tell you where you can cut back so you can pay off the debts faster and I know there is a calculator that will tell you your debt free day, again someone will post the link...

Then welcome to the [STRIKE]mad house[/STRIKE]... forums, look at the old style board for ideas to cut food bills and there are plenty of challenges to get involved with.

See you around
Georgie

KrazyKate

Monthly Budget Summary

Amount(£)

Total monthly income

1,187

Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans)

697

Available for debt repayments

490

UNsecured debt repayments

528

Amount short for making debt repayments

-38

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Amount(£)

Total Assets (things you own)

0

Total Secured & HP Debt

-0

Total Unsecured Debt

-0

Net Assets

0

Household Information
Number of adults in household

2

Number of children in household

0

Number of cars owned

1

Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details
Income

Amount(£)

Monthly income after tax

1187

Partners monthly income

0

Benefits

0

Other income

0

Total monthly income

1187

Expenses

Amount(£)

Mortgage

0

Secured/HP loan payments

232

Rent

0

Management charge (leasehold property)

0

Council tax

86

Electricity

25

Gas

25

Oil

0

Water Rates

20

Telephone (land line)

13

Mobile phone

135

TV Licence

30

Satellite/Cable TV

0

Internet services

0

Groceries etc.

66

Clothing

0

Petrol/diesel

0

Road tax

0

Car Insurance

65

Car maintenance (including MOT)

0

Car Parking

0

Other travel

0

Childcare/nursery

0

Other child related expenses

0

Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)

0

Pet Insurance/Vet bills

0

Buildings Insurance

0

Contents Insurance

0

Life Assurance

0

Other Insurance

0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc.)

0

Haircuts

0

Entertainment

0

Holiday

0

Emergency Fund

0

Total monthly expenses

697

Secured & HP Debt Description

Debt(£)

Monthly(£)

APR(%)

Mortgage

0

(0)

0

Hire Purchase (HP) Debt

0

(232)

0

Secured & HP Debt totals

0

-

-

Unsecured Debt Description

Debt(£)

Monthly(£)

APR(%)

Loan

0

282

0

Halifax CC

0

50

0

Vanquis CC

0

11

0

Littlewoods

0

85

0

O/Draft

0

30

0

Ikano

0

20

0

Capital 1 CC

0

50

0

Unsecured Debt totals

0

528

-

Asset Description

Value (£)

Cash

0

House Value (Gross)

0

Shares and bonds

0

Car(s)

0

Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc)

0

Total Assets

0

But, I don’t pay the full Minimum to Halifax CC , Capital 1 or Ikano. I pay £30,£30 and £20 Respectively so that would take my Overall to -£78. I know my mobile bills seem massive ( which they are, but it does cover my mobile broadband as well) but that is 4 Contracts worth. Please be gentle! I know I shouldn't have taken them but I did.

Kate

beanielou

Is your mobile really £135?
If so you need to cut it down.
The other thing that you really need to watch for is that you are likely to be seen as giving some creditors preferential treatment by paying them the correct amount due each m,onth while paying others reduced amounts.