The Spikes' debt diary

OneSpike

Well as I've said in our SOA, Nathaniel doesn't want me to post details of our debt, but it's lossanlossanloassanloss :eek: Things have got out of hand and this huge debt has accrued over the last five years for a variety of reasons. On Monday we sent letters to all our creditors saying that we couldn't make our payments for the next three months, and then we'd write again before the end of that time with a repayment proposal. At the moment we're doing all this on our own - don't think Nat's too keen to get the debt repayment charities on our side just yet.

Since sending the letters we've had a few phone calls, all from Egg so far. I was a complete wuss and froze with the phone in my hand (someone else answered and passed it to me, telling me who it was) and by the time I had the courage to put it to my ear they'd hung up. Nat's just happened to answer to them since and he's always told them they should write. The letters we've had have all been to do with cancelling our DDs (did that before sending the letters) - Nat reckons they won't really start jumping up and down til they've tried to take a payment and nothing's happened. Between us we have 12 loans and cc's across 10 companies :eek: We're NEVER EVER going to use credit ever again, but together with Nat changing current accounts as our existing ones are unusable we don't have a bank account atm as his new ones takes a couple of weeks to become fully operational - debit card, cheque book etc. I'm sure they have their reasons :rolleyes: We're hoping to travel down to see a terminally ill relative shortly and Nat has to fly to a business meeting and now we don't have the cc's to fall back on for these things it feels very different.

On the upside, he's going to this meeting as an existing customer is very keen to buy more services from him and has budgetted for it already, woohoo! :j It hasn't happened yet though so although I'm delighted (as much for Nat's self-esteem as anything as he runs his company very well but is lacking on the sales/marketing side) I'm not counting on it. Between us we had a great idea the other night, and he's put it to the guy we had in mind and he also thinks it's fantastic and will work well for both of us, so again all to the good but until results and money start rolling in they remain just nice prospects! Whatever happens now we get this debt paid off as well as we can, pare down expenditure even further and hide from the phone, I guess! I've felt surprisingly contented the last couple of days, just have to work round the lack of cash, but then that's why we're all here!

moozie_2

Hello there and well done for facing it all

I understand you don't wish to post your details of your debt on here - although I don't agree with it. There are some great, experienced chaps on here that could offer good advice, if you let them.

Anyway, if you are writing to creditors, it is best to offer token payments, even if it's £1 each to show that you are trying to sort it out and that you are stil committed to paying them back but can't afford more at present.

Good luck and keep posting

Mrs_Sparkle

Good luck! Having a debt diary helps. I'm also doing it by myself rather than use a debt repayment charity so you'll get lots of support from me.

Tell Nat we wouldn't dream of judging if you want to share the total amount but if you'd rather keep it private we understand that too. Good luck!

OneSpike

Mrs_Sparkle wrote:

Good luck! Having a debt diary helps. I'm also doing it by myself rather than use a debt repayment charity so you'll get lots of support from me.

Tell Nat we wouldn't dream of judging if you want to share the total amount but if you'd rather keep it private we understand that too. Good luck!

If it was just me I would post the details, but Nat's concerned it makes us identifiable (obviously he's not called Nat - it's as in 'Nathaniel sits on a spike and I sit on Nathaniel. TWO spikes would be an extravagence!'). I can say it's £80k+ and none of it's mortgage. We've been meeting our repayments but one client has said it will give notice (although hasn't actually done so yet) which will translate to a £700 a month drop in income. It's made us face up to things as even without a £700 drop we were struggling, so in a way it's done us a favour. Gosh how's that for determination to look on the bright side LOL!

I've picked up from this board that a token payment is a good idea, so we'll make that change once we've heard back from all the banks, shows willing I guess. In the meantime we've had a great time this evening spending the $1.30 Nat had in his online music account :dance:

lynsayjane

good luck with it all and keep us informed on how you get on.

is 'nat' taking part in posting too? maybe if he saw what it was like on here and how open and helpful everyone is he'd be happier to open up about the debts to see if we could help more. to be honest i should probably take a little leaf out of his book, i think i tell too much! :rotfl:

Mrs_Sparkle

OneSpike wrote:

If it was just me I would post the details, but Nat's concerned it makes us identifiable (obviously he's not called Nat - it's as in 'Nathaniel sits on a spike and I sit on Nathaniel. TWO spikes would be an extravagence!'). I can say it's £80k+ and none of it's mortgage. We've been meeting our repayments but one client has said it will give notice (although hasn't actually done so yet) which will translate to a £700 a month drop in income. It's made us face up to things as even without a £700 drop we were struggling, so in a way it's done us a favour. Gosh how's that for determination to look on the bright side LOL!

I've picked up from this board that a token payment is a good idea, so we'll make that change once we've heard back from all the banks, shows willing I guess. In the meantime we've had a great time this evening spending the $1.30 Nat had in his online music account :dance:

Confession: my name's not really Mrs Sparkle. Wish it was though- that'd be quite cool I too have very good reasons to stay anonymous but I'm sure I've slipped up a few times... I've already been recognised once by someone I know on a different forum!

OneSpike

Monday Monday... Nathaniel had several letters this morning from his creditors, but yet again it's just banks getting their knickers in a twist about cancelling direct debits and not really paying attention to what we said in our letters to them. Thank goodness no calls over the weekend.

This morning I sorted out getting Tax Credits and Child Benefit paid into Nathaniels' new current account, and changed the gas and electricity direct debits to come out of that account. There are no dirdebs to loan or card companies from that account, they're on the old account which is horrendously OD to the point of being unusable. Needless to say there's no OD facility on the new account! Now I have to change my Accidental Death Insurance to come off the new account. Having just got the wills sorted out the last thing I want is to sod up the cover that gives me peace of mind. Nat has to wait a week or so til he gets a debit card and cheque book which is a pain, but we don't get paid til Friday so they wouldn't be much use to us just yet anyway I guess.

On the upside the car is now listed on eBay and we've had some cash offers already, but I dislike the pressure people are trying to place on us so we're treading cautiously just now. I hate it when people try to get you to sell off eBay - no can do! I've got a couple of DVDs to list and one of DD's tops is for sale too so it feels like things are going in the right direction. We have to buy a new car with the money from the old one but we're going for something cheaper to run. My two job apps are in, it's a sunny day and I have 'new house' and 'new baby' candles to make for friends this afternoon so it's all fairly today.

James&Shell

Hope it all goes well for you,

Verbatim

Sound like you have enough determination and optimism for 2.

Hope you get the new account and dds sorted without probs.

Conrad

Have you considered Bankcruptcy?

My Brother and separetly his GF went Bankcrupt for £30000 each. All very simple and they had it written into the contract that it was a full and final instrument so future assets are safe.

Didnt go through any third parties.

Fast forward - its been 2 years since they went Bankcrupt and I they are now buying first home with a 90% mortgage with SALT finance (no income proof) on a rate of 6.65% fixed 3 yr with no tie - in after.
They feel Bankcruptcy was the best thing that ever happened. They went from paying out hundreds per week to zero at the stroke of a pen.

Dont take no for an answer, it really is this easy.

BTW, none of thier personal assest were ceased as this would have left them destitute.

OneSpike

Conrad wrote:

Have you considered Bankcruptcy?

My Brother and separetly his GF went Bankcrupt for £30000 each. All very simple and they had it written into the contract that it was a full and final instrument so future assets are safe.

Didnt go through any third parties.

Fast forward - its been 2 years since they went Bankcrupt and I they are now buying first home with a 90% mortgage with SALT finance (no income proof) on a rate of 6.65% fixed 3 yr with no tie - in after.
They feel Bankcruptcy was the best thing that ever happened. They went from paying out hundreds per week to zero at the stroke of a pen.

Dont take no for an answer, it really is this easy.

BTW, none of thier personal assest were ceased as this would have left them destitute.

We considered it only to discount it, for business reasons. Nathaniel's a director of his own company, and bankrupcy would have played havoc with that. But considering it has at least brought us to this position to facing the debts and taking action, so it was a stepping-stone. Really pleased to hear your brother's situation has turned out so well.