i've got a debt problem and need help!

DVardysShadow

OK, it is looking a lot better now. Small error on assets - you have a house with a value - include it at full value, even though you have a mortgage, because you are including the mortgage. Transfer this through to the Personal Balance Sheet summary and it won't look so bad.

At this stage, I would say you probably have a reasonably accurate SoA. And you have moved from being a good candidate for bankruptcy to being somewhere in the range for an IVA or a DMP. £300/month to get things back on track is however a bit too much to find from your current expenditure. A lodger would make a heck of a difference.

And what can you tell us about your credit? Is it cards or loans? If it is loans, how much longer do they have to run?

scheisse_strasse

Ok so starting to get there I think DVardysShadow i've adjusted the house value although that i'm pretty sure is in negative equity as one on the same street is up for less than I paid for mine, as for the debts there as follows:

FD is a loan still got 41 payments on that
clydesdale is loan not even started paying for yet due to start Nov this year for 48 months
egg credit card
overdraft

Think that covers it so hit me with the bad news then!!

dancingfairy

Hi - if you're looking to buy a house with your girlfriend - could she move in and help out with some of the costs? it might be better than a lodger?
Alternatively perhaps you could rent somewhere and look at renting out your house? I don't know if this would be feasible or move in with your girlfriend and rent your house out?
Just throwing ideas around here.
Good Luck
df

scheisse_strasse

dancingfairy wrote: »

Hi - if you're looking to buy a house with your girlfriend - could she move in and help out with some of the costs? it might be better than a lodger?
Alternatively perhaps you could rent somewhere and look at renting out your house? I don't know if this would be feasible or move in with your girlfriend and rent your house out?
Just throwing ideas around here.
Good Luck
df

We've looked at this unfortunately our mortgage companies won't play ball i'm tied in till 2012 and they won't let me rent out the house even though i've tried to show them how much better i would be but they won't listen thats part of the reason i find myself here in this situation and my partners locked into her mortgage for another year and her mortgage company won't allow her to let its a farse but that seems to be the way!!

niccatw

With regards to the second job, I've a full time job, am studying for a post grad and have a second job. It depends what's out there in your area. I do Fri/Sat sleepovers every other weekend. Yes, it's a killer. Yes, I'd rather not. But needs must I'm afraid.

With regards to the lodger... I wouldn't have coped without. However my lodger was some-one I knew a little bit. We previously worked together so I knew he was reliable but I also didn't know him well enough to ruin a good friendship if it turned out to be a huge misktake!

I set his rent at just under the going rate, hoping he might stick around a bit longer than normal... he has! He's also a student so I deal with the council tax and all that. That's probably the most difficult thing (dealing with the council who get very jobsworthy about whether they'll deal with me or him when we are proving he is a student every year).

The Shelter website has loads of info and I drafted a tenancy agreement from one of their templates. I didn't take a deposit as I figured I probably wouldn't have it to give to him if he moved out! And because he's actually lodging with me, I doubt he's trash the place while I was looking on, even if he did want to!

I'm in the same situ with dietary requirements too. When I'm organised, forward planning and cooking from scratch, I find it easier to keep within budget. When I'm being a lazy moo and buying things ready made or not doing shopping lists or changing my mind because I have a notion to have something else, then I find it impossible to keep my budget to £80!

And you need to keep the bike! You clearly love it!

Good luck

dancingfairy

Hmm - I'm guessing that discounts taking a mortgage holiday for a while then as well?
I would definitely look into your contents and house insurance - o.k perhaps you could save 30 pounds there but it all helps.
I'm wondering whether a credit union can help you out? whether they can lend you approx 5,000 at a better rate than your clydesdale loan? At the moment you are 255 a month short of balancing. You may be able to make that up by doing a part time job (maybe one night a week in a shop or something? or a saturday job?), getting a better loan, saving on the house insurance etc - o.k nothing on it's own is probably going to get you to balance but it's worth looking at everything.
The lodger option is looking good from a financial point of view at least.
Oh - presumably you have Jan and Feb as Council Tax free months?

Let's face it the most logical options here are:
1) a dmp
or
2) a lodger
although you probably can make it work through a combination of everything.
Good Luck

df
Edit: Another thought - your travel to see your OH and family is costing you 170 a month - is it worth SORNing your bike for a while and national expressing/bussing/training etc to go see your family and friends? Would this work out cheaper than 170 a month?
Oh and when shopping around for home insurance/contents insurance go thorugh a cahsback site as well for extra money.

pennypusher

Hi, Can your girlfriend move in with you and sell her house? Also are you able to get a 0% balance transfer credit card. Can you ring your mobile phone provider and say you can't afford to pay, perhaps they will let you drop a tarriff, sometimes they do if you ask them.

Your Buildings and Contents Insurance cover seems high, when they are due for renewal check the comparison sites. Also you could reduce your Groceries bill with a little work.

DVardysShadow

scheisse_strasse wrote: »

Ok so starting to get there I think DVardysShadow i've adjusted the house value although that i'm pretty sure is in negative equity as one on the same street is up for less than I paid for mine, as for the debts there as follows:

FD is a loan still got 41 payments on that
clydesdale is loan not even started paying for yet due to start Nov this year for 48 months
egg credit card
overdraft

Think that covers it so hit me with the bad news then!!

Unfortunate you have so much in loans and so little on cards. Clydesdale is absolutely horrendous - you do realise that your APR means you will pay £12288 over 4 years for a loan of £5950. OK, this is spilt milk, no use crying over it, but you need to realise that more credit is actually pushing you further into the mire rather than helping.

It is important to get the house value included correctly. When your SoA showed you were £120,000 odd in debt, it was a nonsense, a random number. But now it shows you are in debt to £24,908 this is a fair reflection of your situation - you are 19 months salary in debt. Anything over 6 months is a problem and 12 months is painful. More so on a lowish salary. I think you are realising that your situation is serious - it is desperate and you must do whatever it takes to cut your expenses and raise your income. There is not a lot you can do about your debt - although I am wondering where the loan form Clydesdale has gone.

scheisse_strasse wrote: »

We've looked at this unfortunately our mortgage companies won't play ball i'm tied in till 2012 and they won't let me rent out the house even though i've tried to show them how much better i would be but they won't listen thats part of the reason i find myself here in this situation and my partners locked into her mortgage for another year and her mortgage company won't allow her to let its a farse but that seems to be the way!!

With a net debt of £24,908, there is not a lot you bring to the partnership financially. You are in negative equity, so you will not be allowed to sell your house unless you have savings to cover the difference between the sale price and the mortgage - but if you had savings...

And I am reluctant to suggest that your gf sells up - because rescuing you from debt is not a good way to go. If you cannot find the income to cover the loans, you need to go to one of the free debt charities ASAP or consider defaulting on 1 or more loans. If you are going down that path, it will affect your credit record for 6 years - best avoided altogether, but if it is going to come, the quicker you do it the quicker it comes off your record.

scheisse_strasse

Hi thanks for your comments the clydesdale thing relates to a distance learning course i'm doing which one day may get me a much better paid job but i have to live in the now.