A New House For Her , A Rugby Shirt For Me

andy1886

I've viewed the board for several years now , not really getting involved in posting , just reading about best deals on credit cards etc . 18 months ago I had debt but it was manageable by tarting cards when new deals came around . Last May I decided to pay off someone elses' debts and agreed a pay back plan and timescale so to avoid any problems for myself . Guess what ? This person did not pay me back , let alone keep to the agreed timescale , leading to me needing to borrow extra funds to get me through the remainder of 2009 . At the beginning of this year I tried again to juggle my debts and apply for new cards but my applications were refused and I begun missing payments as interest was accruing onto my debts . I again turned to this board for advice and in April I had my Lightbulb moment and contacted the CCCS . Through this it was decided a DMP was the way forward for myself so in May I begun my DMP owing £18 000 to 7 creditors paying £160 a month . I am still receiving communication from my creditors regarding not paying their minimum payments but am ignoring these letters but at the moment I havenot received anything worse than that .
I think my Debt Free Date is 2020 :eek: so this diary is to help me through the following decade and to keep me on track when the going gets tough . I am hoping to reduce the date though because I have a car loan finishing in April 2011 ( although my tax credit overpayments will probably be chased up for by then ) , which gives me an extra £100 a month , then in November 2012 I come off my current mortgage agreement so hopefully I can go on to a lower rate of interest and increase my payments then , plus in April 2013 I finish paying off the first part of my mortgage so again I will have £100 extra to go towards my DMP .
The reward and goal for clearing the debt is to move house and start again fresh , debt free , once allowed a mortgage , living within our means and the OH wants a new build so that is my goal , oh and the rugby shirt is for myself as long as I lose my excess weight ( about 8 stones ) !!!!
I will therefore be using this diary updating weekly / monthly to keep myself going until the DMP is paid off .

Mags30

So glad you decided to join in. Good luck:)

andy1886

Thank you , it is the support of people like you that will get me there .

andy1886

Santander statement arrived and although they still want me to pay the shortfall for the missed payments / minimum payments they have stopped the interest on the debt .
Starting to do proper budgets today to keep everything up to date and try and squeeze extra funds onto the DMP .

andy1886

Car repairs yesterday - £100 for wheel bearings and fixing reverse lights plus £35 for a new tyre .
Had to be done but another tough month ahead now , struggling already .

andy1886

Mobile phone bill through today - stayed within my minutes and texts .

GeorgeUK

Hi Andy

Have you looked to see if you can go through the courts to get your money back from that person?

Might also be worth checking to see if you have PPI that can be reclaimed.

Good luck with this - glad you're getting it sorted.

andy1886

It is a family member so I don't really want to go down that route . It is the final nail in the coffin though that shows me what that person is really like , I am now just concentrating on getting my financial situation in order and not worrying about anyone else .
I did not take out any PPI on any account , don't know if that was foolish or not ?
I have received 2 letters informing me that 2 creditors have rejected the amounts they are getting each month . There is a possibility these firms , MBNA and First Direct , will pass the debts on to a debt agency . I don't like the sound of this but the letters from the CCCS were reassuring , it sounds like I just inform the CCCS of these companies and they pay them instead . Do they accept the amount I can pay each month or do they try to threaten , put pressure on me to pay more ?

andy1886

Well more car problems this week . I have been running the car with very little petrol in it for a few weeks now and on Tuesday night put a fiver in to get me through the next day . As I started the car back up a warning light came on the dashboard so upon getting home I looked up what it meant . According to my manual it is the EPG light ??? Anyway on Wednesday morning I started the car up to see what happens , all ok , light still on and loads of white smoke coming out of the exhaust . I drove it to work and rang my garage who said could be head gasket or something minor to do with dirt in petrol and smoke just burning it off plus cold weather and rain . I'm not off work until Monday so I will take it to him then so he can put it on the scanner to see what the fault is .
If I remember rightly , head gasket is a major job and costly although someone at work told me yesterday to look at my oil cap and if it is my head gasket there will be a load of gunge under it . I looked and it looks normal so I am hoping it is only a minor problem .
Got home last night to find a letter from a debt agency demanding full payment for my debt to First Direct . Obviously I can't pay so on Monday I will ring CCCS to ask for information and give them the details and ask whether I should speak to the debt agency myself .

GeorgeUK

Andy, are you in Scotland or England? Just want to clarify as there are slightly different financial supports that you may be able to use. DAS may be an option if in Scotland.

Just keep sending the letters to CCCS - hopefully things will calm down soon on the threatening letter front. Are you getting phone calls? There are templates on the board that you can send to get these stopped.

Don't know anything about cars, but hope it isn't too expensive. Have the CCCS allowed you an emergency fund in your budget?

andy1886

GeorgeUK wrote: »

Andy, are you in Scotland or England? Just want to clarify as there are slightly different financial supports that you may be able to use. DAS may be an option if in Scotland.

Just keep sending the letters to CCCS - hopefully things will calm down soon on the threatening letter front. Are you getting phone calls? There are templates on the board that you can send to get these stopped.

Don't know anything about cars, but hope it isn't too expensive. Have the CCCS allowed you an emergency fund in your budget?

I am in England , as of yet I haven't received any phone calls but am expecting this to happen . on the plus side I don't get home from work until 10pm so they will struggle to talk to me anyway . No I have no emergency fund in my budget so every month is a proper struggle and these car troubles really are causing me sleepless nights . I am just glad I have the backing of the CCCS who are very reassuring when I ring them which I will be doing tomorrow .