Finally plucked up the courage to speak!

pintorino

At the beginning of this year a direct debit to a credit card was returned and my mortgage payment was bounced. This was when the whole house of cards that was my debt suddenly collapsed.

Then came the awful realisation that outgoings hugely outstripped income, and that my partner and I had been living on credit for years. We had managed to amass huge credit card balances, loans and overdrafts totalling such an obscene amount that it still makes me feel physically sick. We only ever paid the minimum monthly payments, had already re-mortgaged as much as we could, and we were terrified.

Desperate for help, I found Martin's site through an internet search, and his advice and the chat forums have been a life-saver.

I contacted the CCCS, who have been amazingly supportive. We are only just in a position to enter into a formal Debt Management Plan with them, but in the meantime we have started the ball rolling by contacting all our creditors and offering reduced payments (using pro-formas provided by the CCCS). Most accepted without reservation, freezing the interest for 6 months in most cases. Three creditors have been appalling, writing increasingly threatening letters, phoning from 7am until 9pm, seven days a week. Having a shoulder to cry on, along with the reassurance that the bailiffs won't come calling, or that we won't lose our house has been a huge relief.

The last few months have been horribly stressful, but we're finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. We have taken a long, hard look at our expenditure and cut back where possible, thanks to advice from this site.

Some of the things we have done so far: We cancelled our Sky subscription, and the box now just operates as a freeview one (saving us £52 per month); we shop on-line for groceries, taking advantage of BOGOFs and offers (it also means we know exactly how much the shopping will cost, and we can compare prices of alternatives); I've become the freebie and coupon Queen; the house and garden used to be lit up like Blackpool, but now lights are never left on in empty rooms, and nothing is left on standby; if I want new clothes, my rule is simple - sell something on ebay to fund it!

It will take us 8 years to be debt-free, and we know that it's going to be hard.

My advice to others in a similar situation is simple:
Work out how much you owe; know how much you spend and make cutbacks where you can; seek help, and don't hide from the truth like we did.

And don't think you'll have to wear sackcloth and ashes, or live on baked beans for the rest of your life - there's always decent wine to be found for under £4 a bottle, and cooking from scratch is a hell of a lot cheaper than ready meals, and tastier!!

*zippy*

Hi Pintorino

Great post, glad its all working out for you.

well done and welcome to DFW

lazy&indebt

Yeah great post - thank you for sharing this with the community

Hello

Well done on getting yourselves sorted! I wish I could convince my OH to switch everything off and not leave on standby!

floridadreamin

Same here Hello, OH thinks nothing of leaving everything on standby. I'm fed up of going round the house switching things off. Well done Pintorino the light at the end of the tunnel must now be getting brighter (Energy saving bulbs of course)