How much debt am i in ?

waveydave

Seems odd saying it but i dont actually know how much debt im in.

I know its a fair whack as we are getting letters left right and centre every other day but untill recently we have just been burying our heads and trying to ignore it

Anyway bit of back ground info - Married 10 years ago, brought a wicked house for a quarter of what it was worth due to it being a repossesion from the previous peeps. So with us paying a low mortgage and both me and my wife being in well paid full time employment we got a couple of credit cards, store cards etc - and it sort of grew from there - robbing from peter to give to paul if we were short one month - missing a payment here and there so we could have a romantic weekend away

four years ago we had a child and during pregnancy my wife was really ill. I gave up work earlier than expected as it was touch and go at times and my boss wouldnt let me have any leave to be with her. this culminated in matertinity pay and then sickness pay from her wages being the only family income untill she returned to work when my son was about 6 months old. Sooo a big gap of almost a year when no debts got paid, mortgage fell behind etc.

Anyway to cut a long story short - She returned to work, i stayed at home looking after my son and the debt situation didnt get any better as we were so far behind.

NOW we are starting to think we need to get this sorted. We have made the first steps in finding a new mortgage lender and sorting that mess out But people are still chasing us for CC and Store card debts, small loans etc and due to the fact that LLoyds bank Sells CC debt to X debt recovery agency, and they sell it on to another one and so on and so forth we have got to the stage where letters drop on the door and we havent a clue what the original debt was for and to be honest we havent much of a clue what money we owe to who

so - is there any way of finding this out ? any advice of info would be appreciated. Hopefully this will start the recovery so too speak

Oh and sorry for waffling on - havent a clue why ive told you all that but a problem shared and all that malarkey lol

CLAPTON

first step is getting copies of your credit records from all three CRAs.

these will list (most or all of) your debts and their status.

LizD_2

Your best bet is to gather all your bills, then sort them into Credit Cards, Store Cards etc. These should have your balances on them, which you can add to work out your total debt.

If you've got more credit than you can remember, go to https://www.experian.co.uk and sign up for their free credit report trial, this will give you a list of your creditors. If you are missing bills, ring the companies and ask for your balance. Equifax also offer a similar service, each credit agencies does not list all your creditors, so you'll need to check both.

The next step is to post a list of ALL income and outgoings (an SOA). We'll all be able to suggest savings you could make if you're struggling with repayments.

You can also use a snowball calculator (on the Motley Fool website) to work out your debt-free date. Basically, you throw the most money at your highest interest debt to clear that, then the next highest interest, and so on and so forth. In the meantime, you're making minimum payments on the rest.

Good luck and well done for deciding to sort this out!

Glitterari

Do you have original paper work and letters from the debts.

You've taken the hardest step now - admitting that you need help to us lot here - an you will get it.

First things first we need a SOA (see southern scouser's sticky at the top) and we can move from there.

c X

Mizz_Pink

Clapton means Experian and Equifax they cost about £2 each and will show all the info you need I think. I dont know of the 3rd.

Then eventually you need to a Statement of Affairs listing you income and outgoings, to make this accurate look at your bank statements and start and spending diary to show up where you cash and debit card purchases go.

Well done for starting the ball rolling.

Glitterari

call credit is the 3rd

Psykicpup

I know exactly what you mean - been there done that!
1, sort all the letters into piles by company
2, check that all the letters from one Company have the same ref & bill amount - if they dont sort those into two or three piles too (it not unknown for two seperate companies to sell your debt to the same collection company)
3, now call those companies & ASK what was the original debt for - they should have this on record but may need to write or call you back - its not always on the operatives screen.
4, note next the Company name the origanl debt - ie So&So solutions = BT or whatever
5, make a preliminary offer of repayment by DD or Standing Order - below what you can afford with a proviso of reviewing say in 3 - 6 months time. I founs most places would accept £25 this way.
6, Use that 3 months to swot up here & come back to them with a more realistic offer if your original was low - I wish I had known about this one lol

CLAPTON

just to summarise
the first three are the three credit record agencies and the forth is a freebie site but only works in some geographical locations :

http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/index.html

https://www.econsumer.equifax.co.uk/consumer/uk/sitepage.ehtml?forward=gb_elearning_credit14

http://www.callcredit.plc.uk/corporate_scripts/consumer_creditreport.asp

http://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk/


also for details of SoA ..statement of affairs

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

waveydave

Cheers everyone

Was just about to do the experian one online when it mentioned you need to fill in your CC details - chance would be a fine thing lol

We have kept just about every letter we have recieved in the past 4 years - 2 drawers absolutely stacked full of them( with a good percentage being unopened ) so that should be a good place to start

will give me something to do tonight

Thanks again

jamminjamaica

good luck and start taking control of YOUR debt. sit down and calculate exactly what you owe. and stop spending.

Glitterari

Get a cuppa, get comfy and start opening those envelopes and put them into piles for each debt.


GOOD LUCK!