Please help, totally confused, don't know what to do or who to ask...

mboy_2

Hello

Just to introduce myself quickly, I'm Mark and I managed to get myself in a fair bit of debt a few years back, something which I was managing to deal with reasonably well until about 2 years ago.

I got made redundant from my job back in Nov 2008, and it took me until the end of April 2009 before I managed to get another job, and I fell quite some way behind with some payments. The next job was well paid, and I started paying the payments again, but that only lasted 6 months before again I was unlucky and got made redundant (BOTH companies had overbudgeted and had to tighten their purse strings unexpectedly, each time making several of us redundant). Anyway... From Nov 2009 until the end of Feb 2010 I was again on Jobseeker's allowance, until I got back into work in a new job that didn't pay quite as well as before, but was still ok. Stuck with that job for 4 months, it bored the hell out of me, got headhunted by another company who I joined about 6 weeks ago, and really enjoying the job, so all is looking up on that front.

Anyway. As you can imagine, almost 9 months in total on jobseekers allowance inside the last 2 years gave my finances a battering, and I ended up borrowing money off my best mate just to be able to eat. Once I'd paid him back obviously I thought about trying to get back on the case with sorting out my creditors, but at this point they're just sending me final payment letters now, as it has been a while. Suppose I shouldn't have buried my head in the sand, but I was that depressed I didn't know what to do.

Sum total of my debts are...

Egg Loan: £5200 approx
Capital One Credit Card: £4200 approx
Virgin Credit Card: £1600 approx
Nat West Overdraft: £1500-2000 approx

In addition to these, I have the following debts that I wish to contest as I feel I don't owe them anything...

Debt Collection agency 1: £1000 approx for a £60 parking fine (that I paid, albeit late cos I got it whilst I was unemployed)... They've knocked on my door 3 or 4 times when I've not been in, and are trying to charge me £200 a time for the privilege! I AM IN DEBT !!!!!!! This is criminal...
Debt Collection agency 2: £200 approx for Vodafone bills. I cancelled my Vodafone account (or so I thought) a couple of years ago, moved over to O2, noticed a DD had come out of my account still a few months ago, so made sure the DD was cancelled too. Now they want some money from me!!!

Anyway... PLEASE HELP!

Have been to my Bank (Nat West) to speak to them about a loan, but it seems my credit rating is just slightly too low because I have defaulted on a few payments. In fairness, Nat West have been really good to me on several occasions, and not charged me for going over my overdraft limit a few times, so I'm quite pleased with them and would like to retain my account with them.

But what are my other options? And what would you do?

Should also mention that have had an offer from Virgin to pay approx 50% of what I owe them in one go to clear the account. Great, but I don't have £800 spare sadly...

Oh, and after doing a quick budgeting exercise, I estimate that I can afford to pay back £400-450 each month in total right now, based on my current wage. My wage should be going up in a couple of months too, by perhaps £100-150 a month, so that could of course go towards paying off the debt too.

All advice gratefully appreciated.

zppp

mboy wrote: »

Hello

Just to introduce myself quickly, I'm Mark and I managed to get myself in a fair bit of debt a few years back, something which I was managing to deal with reasonably well until about 2 years ago.

I got made redundant from my job back in Nov 2008, and it took me until the end of April 2009 before I managed to get another job, and I fell quite some way behind with some payments. The next job was well paid, and I started paying the payments again, but that only lasted 6 months before again I was unlucky and got made redundant (BOTH companies had overbudgeted and had to tighten their purse strings unexpectedly, each time making several of us redundant). Anyway... From Nov 2009 until the end of Feb 2010 I was again on Jobseeker's allowance, until I got back into work in a new job that didn't pay quite as well as before, but was still ok. Stuck with that job for 4 months, it bored the hell out of me, got headhunted by another company who I joined about 6 weeks ago, and really enjoying the job, so all is looking up on that front.

Anyway. As you can imagine, almost 9 months in total on jobseekers allowance inside the last 2 years gave my finances a battering, and I ended up borrowing money off my best mate just to be able to eat. Once I'd paid him back obviously I thought about trying to get back on the case with sorting out my creditors, but at this point they're just sending me final payment letters now, as it has been a while. Suppose I shouldn't have buried my head in the sand, but I was that depressed I didn't know what to do.

Sum total of my debts are...

Egg Loan: £5200 approx
Capital One Credit Card: £4200 approx
Virgin Credit Card: £1600 approx
Nat West Overdraft: £1500-2000 approx

In addition to these, I have the following debts that I wish to contest as I feel I don't owe them anything...

Debt Collection agency 1: £1000 approx for a £60 parking fine (that I paid, albeit late cos I got it whilst I was unemployed)... They've knocked on my door 3 or 4 times when I've not been in, and are trying to charge me £200 a time for the privilege! I AM IN DEBT !!!!!!! This is criminal...
Debt Collection agency 2: £200 approx for Vodafone bills. I cancelled my Vodafone account (or so I thought) a couple of years ago, moved over to O2, noticed a DD had come out of my account still a few months ago, so made sure the DD was cancelled too. Now they want some money from me!!!

Anyway... PLEASE HELP!

Have been to my Bank (Nat West) to speak to them about a loan, but it seems my credit rating is just slightly too low because I have defaulted on a few payments. In fairness, Nat West have been really good to me on several occasions, and not charged me for going over my overdraft limit a few times, so I'm quite pleased with them and would like to retain my account with them.

But what are my other options? And what would you do?

Should also mention that have had an offer from Virgin to pay approx 50% of what I owe them in one go to clear the account. Great, but I don't have £800 spare sadly...

Oh, and after doing a quick budgeting exercise, I estimate that I can afford to pay back £400-450 each month in total right now, based on my current wage. My wage should be going up in a couple of months too, by perhaps £100-150 a month, so that could of course go towards paying off the debt too.

All advice gratefully appreciated.

I suggest you contact Citizen's Advice immediately for a debt emergency appointment. They will write to your creditors to get an agreement for repayments baed on your statment of affairs. This will hopefully also reduce the amount of interest you pay etc.

Re the parking ticket, this needs particular attention as you have bailiffs trying to get into your property.

mboy_2

OK thanks, will make that my first point of call.

Assuming I should steer clear of anybody charging a monthly fee to manage my debts for me?

DarkConvict

oh yes.

For debt advice here is the list of the right people to talk to - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2077631

life_in_termoil

Hi Mboy
I manage my own DMP and found the CAB website a great help. I used their budget planner and template letters (it even tells you how much you can pay per debt.

You can find the web page HERE

Good luck with your debt free journey.

Ive subscribed so I can see how your doing.

Ive found that keeping a spending diary really does helpbut you have to write down every single penny you spend. It really is an eye opener.

CouponWoman

mboy wrote: »

OK thanks, will make that my first point of call.

Assuming I should steer clear of anybody charging a monthly fee to manage my debts for me?

Never ever, use one of these agencies, you would be throwing money down the drain if you do.

There are free services available so that any money you can pay goes off the debt, and does not line the pockets of these kind of firms.

In my last job at a solicitors part of my job was giving debt management advice, free of charge. I had loads of clients and the very best thing to do is prioritise your debts, get interest charges stopped where possible, and make offers, even if a low amount, to repay to keep the creditors off your back. Once you make an agreement, you must stick to it.

Any debt where court action, or bailiffs are involved, sort first. If you dispute the debt deal with this asap.

Good luck