Scottish DAS

Polly_Wolly_Doodle

Hi everyone,

I'm posting as it's the weekend and our local CAB is closed.
I've been trying to get a handle on our finances for a couple of years and am now at the point of requesting a meeting at CAB to look at the DAS route.

It has come to a head as after months of cutting back and ebaying everything that moves we have no more room to manouver and this month we will be about £300-£500 short before food.

We have 12 credit cards between us and what i'm wondering is do i just not pay them this month? We have never missed a payment or defaulted in any way and whilst i'd thought we could dig ourselves out of this i now know we can't.

Also should we open a new current a/c before the bleep hits the fan, existing current a/c has a big overdraft and a linked cc?

Finally will our two loans, one secured one personal be included in a DAS?
Oh another question, we changed our mortgage to interest only to try and cope, should that be changed back to repayment before we go into a DAS or do we not get a choice? If interest rates go up (should that be when) is the DAS adjusted?

Sorry for such a disjointed post, just feeling very dazed and confused having thought we could manage:(

Thanks.

Miss_Poohs

I seem to remember a secured debt cant be included in a DAS.

My husbands DAS has been running for almost 3yrs now, so perhaps the rules may have changed since then.

Once a DAS has been set up you have to apply for a variation to change it - but it is possible and not cast in stone.

My husbands DAS was set up through our local authority welfare rights office - very good they were too.

Polly_Wolly_Doodle

Thanks Miss P,
i think it's just cos it's the weekend and i'm panicking.
I have a load of payments coming out on the 1st to ccs and i think i should cancel them and try the £1 each strategy with a letter or email?
Unfortunately our od on our current account is with RBS and we have two ccs with them and a mint card too, so until we can get everything moved to a new current account i think i'll need to pay those minimums.

Any suggestions of which bank to go to and should we still have a joint account or should we have individual ones as well? All the banks seem to do basic fee free accounts and all have internet banking and a debit card. Looks like the Co-op supply a chequebook too.

Thanks,
PWD.