Wanting to repair credit history

upsykimsy

Hi, I was wondering if you guys could offer me some advice please.

A bad relationship which ended 2 years ago has left me in some debt. Part of it is the result of me being young and foolish, part of it was due to him knowing how to manipulate me. Over the years, he was financially controlling of me (he would take control of my wages, which, as barmaid, were low) and give me an allowance out of this.

During this time, he also talked me into taking out a mobile phone contract for him, in my name, which he had promised to pay off himself.He ran up a bill of £100 one month, which he refused to pay. At the moment, it stands as a £474 default on my Equifax credit report. I also defaulted on my own contract with T-Mobile, which now stands as a debt of £381 with a debt collectors.

I also have an instance of a default with Avon (I owe them £175 from when he stole the balance from me, after I went self employed... My inability to repay the bill meant I had to leave Avon) and a default of £112 with Barclays. Up until last month, I had a £207 debt with Virgin Media which he had rung up in my name, after I'd left the address, but had been unable to cancel the contract as I was 2 months into the contract. He had agreed to pay it off, and against my better judgement, I trusted him. I had made a phonecall to Virgin in December '09, to change the account to his name, but it appears for whatever reason this was not done. I've since paid this off.

I was wondering, what is the best way to go about clearing this debt? Where do I start? I know some of these are small amounts, and would be able to clear some in one go with my next student loan payment. However, I don't want to run the risk of believing I can financially pay it all off in one go when I can't, so would be greatly helpful if anyone has any advice on how to go about planning these repayments?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hannah_10

It's good that you're ready to start paying back the debts. It's also good that you have seen your credit files to be able to know for sure what debts are listed on there to know there are no surprises lurking. Your next step is to work out what you can honestly afford to pay and write to your creditors offerring to either set up a standing order to pay with or send a cheque each month. How you work out what you can truly afford is to do an SOA. If you post it here we will have a look at it for you and see if we can save you any money too. http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html (click the format for MSE button)

RedTulip

Oh my goodness upsykimsy, your story sounds so similar to mine - its an awful situation to be in, I know.

Hannah is right, do an soa and see what you have left over after everything is paid, and from that write to the creditors and get the payment plan sorted out.

Post up your soa, that link Hannah gave is brill (just used it tonight myself) and people can then help advise on ways to save a bit more cash too and hopefully get your debts cleared quicker.

Hope it all works out

Edit : should probably point out that my 'similar situation' was over 3 years ago and not with my current, wonderful, partner

upsykimsy

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1028
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 87.96
Other income............................ 236
Total monthly income.................... 1351.96

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 65
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 15
Telephone (land line)................... 23
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 25
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 21.25
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 468
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1237.25


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Avon Debt......................175.......175.......0
Debt Collectors................381.......381.......0
Virgin Mobile..................474.......474.......0
Barclays Overdraft ............112.......112.......0
Total unsecured debts..........1142......1142......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,351.96
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,237.25
Available for debt repayments........... 114.71
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,142
Amount short for making debt repayments. -1,027.29

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,142
Net Assets.............................. -1,142

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

OK, the debt repayments are to be negotiated.

Somehow, my credit expert report is appearing as clear with the exception of two searches and "linked" addresses. It's equifax which is showing everything.

upsykimsy

RedTulip wrote: »

Oh my goodness upsykimsy, your story sounds so similar to mine - its an awful situation to be in, I know.

Hannah is right, do an soa and see what you have left over after everything is paid, and from that write to the creditors and get the payment plan sorted out.

Post up your soa, that link Hannah gave is brill (just used it tonight myself) and people can then help advise on ways to save a bit more cash too and hopefully get your debts cleared quicker.

Hope it all works out

Edit : should probably point out that my 'similar situation' was over 3 years ago and not with my current, wonderful, partner

Aye, my "situation" ended 2 years ago... Somehow, when I confronted him about the Virgin Media debt with a request for him to repay it (he pays no child support) he accused me of "wrecking" his life again...

Luckily, I've gained a lot of wisdom (and a fair old dose of cynicism) as a result of the 4 years I was with him. But, I'll get through this.

krycek985

Are all your correct addresses on your credit expert/experian report ?

My Equifax report showed a default and my experian didnt until I updated my addresses and it suddenly appeared a few days later.

upsykimsy

krycek985 wrote: »

Are all your correct addresses on your credit expert/experian report ?

My Equifax report showed a default and my experian didnt until I updated my addresses and it suddenly appeared a few days later.

I only updated my experian today, so that is probably why. thank you.

Hannah_10

Your income is low, your childcare is high and you aren't getting much in benefits. Are you sure you're on everything you're entitled to? Use the benefit checker here to be sure.

The good news is your SOA looks realistic, you have £114 suplus a month and a total debt of just £1142 so you could be debt-free quite quickly. Here's how you would proportionally break it down...

Avon Debt at £175 is 15% of your debt so you offer them 15% of your available cash which is £17.10
Debt Collectors at £381 is 33% of your debt so they get offered £38
Virgin Mobile at £474 is 42% of your debt so they get offered £47.50
Barclays Overdraft at £112 is 10% ofyour debt so they get offered £11.40

upsykimsy

Hannah_10 wrote: »

Your income is low, your childcare is high and you aren't getting much in benefits. Are you sure you're on everything you're entitled to? Use the benefit checker here to be sure.

The good news is your SOA looks realistic, you have £114 suplus a month and a total debt of just £1142 so you could be debt-free quite quickly. Here's how you would proportionally break it down...

Avon Debt at £175 is 15% of your debt so you offer them 15% of your available cash which is £17.10
Debt Collectors at £381 is 33% of your debt so they get offered £38
Virgin Mobile at £474 is 42% of your debt so they get offered £47.50
Barclays Overdraft at £112 is 10% ofyour debt so they get offered £11.40

I know the benefits thing is skew-whiffy as a student. The benefit's I've included are Child benefit and CTC in the other.My childcare works out to £108 pw, for 30 hours. , but this is partly subsidised by a Childcare Grant, which gets paid directly to me through the students loan company. For this reason, I've included the CCG as income, and left the childcare at actual costs.As I'm a) not working and b) in receipt of the CCG, I'm not entitled to help from tax credits for childcare. He starts receiving reduced costs for childcare from after Easter.

I don't pay council tax, as I'm exempt as a student, (double checked on that)

The offers you suggested sound reasonable and manageable. Thank you :T

Hannah_10

Thanks, it makes a lot more sense now.

I were you I'd let persuing the ex for payback drop and be glad he's at arms length now. Let the CSA chase him for child support (they can if you ask them to) and you just let him crash onwards taking his own life downhill as he goes. The important thing is it is his life, it's not yours or your childs, which he is spoilling by being an idiot. Your number 1 priority is of course the little one, followed by a proper education. If you can pull off single parenthood and study this far even then you don't need him. I'm not saying ban him from all contact with little one if he asks for it, I'm just saying- let sleeping dogs lie... As far away as possible if said sleeping dog is thoroughly incontinent. It's only money. Money is not worth the stress. Take my word for that.