unsure where to turn next!

debtstruggle

Hi there,
Not too sure how to start this thread off so I'm just going to dive straight in.

I am in debt, probably about £5000 of debt, should be less than this by now though to be honest.

I started a DMP plan with the CCCS in July last year.

My creditors are argos card, littlewoods catalogue, next directory, mutual clothing, aqua and vanquis.
I think thats all of them.

I've been paying my £105 per month religiously since the plan started.

My problem now is, I've been living with family up until now but I need my own place.

Me and my partner are expecting a baby in March.
I only earn £550 per month and she earns about £400 per month which will drop when she goes on maternity, after paying for the bills to run a house, plus the rent, plus the CCCS payment and things like council tax, gas and electric, water, tv license etc we will be in a heavy minus figure.

I'm really unsure what to do next, I am a bit worried about going to the council with this to try and get help, mainly because I don't know the procedure.

I work every hour I can at the moment but my wage is so poor it makes hardly any difference.

At the moment, after we pay the CCCS and pay something to the people we are staying with, there is probably around £100 per month left over which is spent on petrol to get to work and food for us to eat.

I am kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place with this, I have no idea where to turn as if I stop paying the CCCS, I'm going to get hit with defaults and court letters and get even deeper in to the hole I'm in than I am now.

Thats about all I have to say at the moment.

Hope someone can help with some advice.

Cheers.

bottleofred

Hi,

The best thing to do would be to contact the CCCS and explain what is going on. You should also consider posting your Statement of Affairs to see if you can get help/advice in how to save more cash. http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Hopefully someone else can provide additional advice

debtstruggle

Here it is:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 550
Partners monthly income after tax....... 400
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 950

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 150
Management charge (leasehold property).. 105
Council tax............................. 30
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 10
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 10
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 100
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 20
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 9
Car Insurance........................... 63
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 6
Car parking............................. 15
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......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 683


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
car............................3000......150.......0
studio catalogue...............250.......15........0
Total unsecured debts..........3250......165.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 950
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 683
Available for debt repayments........... 267
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 165
Amount left after debt repayments....... 102

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,250
Net Assets.............................. -3,250

debtstruggle

I must have missed something out somewhere there, it says there is £102 left at the end of everything, there definately isn't when I pay everyone

Doomcow

im rubbish at this, but will post to give you a bump

looks to me like the mobile phone (£100/month) is huge... tried PAYG Tesco lite - mega cheap calls / txts (8ppm / 4pptxt)

Wish i could be more helpful all i can suggest is get applying for higher paid jobs - dont hold back because "i dont want to xyz" (what about labouring work - good money, but hard work!) - remember your expenses are going up, but income going down - a balance that you are aware must be resolved!

until such a time, good luck! sorry i cant be of more help!

Angyles

debtstruggle wrote: »

Here it is:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 550
Partners monthly income after tax....... 400
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 950

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 150
Management charge (leasehold property).. 105
Council tax............................. 30
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 10
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 10
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 100 You might want to look at PAYG for now.
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 20 Is this correct? Not enough for two people a month!
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 9
Car Insurance........................... 63
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 6
Car parking............................. 15
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 Nothing here?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0 Nothing at all?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 683


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
car............................3000......150.......0
studio catalogue...............250.......15........0
Total unsecured debts..........3250......165.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 950
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 683
Available for debt repayments........... 267
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 165
Amount left after debt repayments....... 102

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,250
Net Assets.............................. -3,250

Just a few questions above? However everything seems pretty tight!

The_Moo

Your wage is so low, are you earning at least minimum wage? Are you entitled to tax credits? You may be entitled to help with council tax or rent.

I know nothing about housing policy but once your baby arrives I would have thought you as a family would be considered a priority for housing assistance from local authority.

chevalier

I was thinking the same thing. You don't seem to be on the minimum wage. What is your hourly rate? Will you get maternity pay when your OH goes on maternity leave? Why don't either of you get working tax credits?With your wages so low I would imagine you would be entitled to council tax and housing benefit. Have you looked at housing association houses as generally their rent is less?

Can you retrain in the evenings to be able to earn more money? What about a second job? I can't believe even bar work would be this little money....

You could both sign up to be mystery shoppers. And there are survey sites like bounty.com that are looking for pregnant mum, as well as general survey sites. The money takes a while to accumulate but it does help in the end.

Assuming you do get a place together. Don't think you have to go mad on furnishing it. Put wanted adds on your local freecycle and freegle groups. People often give away decent furniture because it is too much hassle to list on ebay.

Talking of ebay is there anything you can sell to start saving to wards the rental deposit? If not, is there not a rental deposit scheme that you can apply for if you are on low wages?
good luck
chev

MFWannabe

debtstruggle wrote: »

Here it is:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 550
Partners monthly income after tax....... 400
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 950

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 150
Management charge (leasehold property).. 105
Council tax............................. 30
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 10
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 10
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 100 - This is huge; drastically cut down to a minimum package or go payg
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20 - If this is a house share; is this you share of satellite? If so is this correct as multiroon is only £10 per month
Internet Services....................... 20 - Again is this shared?
Groceries etc. ......................... 20 - This is very low; is this correct?
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 9
Car Insurance........................... 63 - This is high; check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 6
Car parking............................. 15
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......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 683


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
car............................3000......150.......0
studio catalogue...............250.......15........0
Total unsecured debts..........3250......165.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 950
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 683
Available for debt repayments........... 267
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 165
Amount left after debt repayments....... 102

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,250
Net Assets.............................. -3,250

Hi
I have added some comments above. As others have said what is your hourly rate? Are you definitely getting at least minimum wage?
check to see if you are entitled to any benefits.
You definitely need to get rid of that huge mobile phone bill.