Struggling to decide

Kazonline

I'm really sorry to be such a nuisance but I'm really struggling to decide what to do for the best.
At the moment I see that my options are as follows

Go onto a DMP
Keep juggling cards

My thoughts on these are as follows.

At the moment I'm having no hassle from my creditors as with a bit of juggling I am managing to pay each month. Somehow I have managed to reduce my balance since August by £315, but I think that is mostly because some things I pay annually IYKWIM.
Going by a budget I drew up with CCCS I only have £30 a month to go towards clearing my debts and as my monthly payments alone are £206 I've no idea how I managed the above! This also means that unless I go onto a DMP my debts will in fact continue to increase (current monthly interest is £143.25)
If I go onto a DMP it's estimated that it will take me 40 years to clear my debts. No doubt going onto the DMP will be the start of a heap of agro from my creditors, and as the repayment period is so long and payments so little I don't hold much faith that they will be willing to accept. My biggest fear is being forced to sell our house - mentally and emotionally I am not as strong as I once was. I'm also aprehensive of ruining my credit scoring mainly because I want to be able to negotiate a good rate when my fixed term is up on my mortgage again. Another consideration is if the car breaks down etc - I couldn't get the children to school if that happened (no public transport that way, and definately not walkable).
The other option of course is to keep juggling the cards.... This involves continuing to spend as little as possible and only putting onto the card what I need to keep available in cash for the monthly payments IYKWIM.
The disadvantage is that my debt continues to increase until I can improve my situation. The advantage being no hassle from creditors, keep a good credit score and having a safety net for emergencies......

I honestly don't have anyone that I can talk to about my worries 'in the flesh' and very much need some help on making my mind up.
I'm supposed to be triming up the house with the boys today, but I can't get my head out of this dilema long enough to make it fun for them.
Please help

whatatwit

Hi Kaz, I take it that you have posted an SOA.

Are your debts mounting each month, or they staying static/dropping slightly.

Are you able to earn any extra money?

Kazonline

whatatwit wrote:

Are your debts mounting each month, or they staying static/dropping slightly.

The honest answer to this is I don't know.
In theory I should be getting deeper into dept, yet since August I have managed to lower my debt. I don't know if this is just a temporary thing because outgoings have been less than our average or if I'm missing something.
As for earning more, I'm not sure. I think I might be allowed to earn up to £25 a week before it affects my benefit, and I am on the lookout (I'll check with the BA before I start anything).
I wish now that I'd kept my head in the sand, it was much nicer there, lol:o .

I think it's probably best I post a new SOA as it's a little different to my old one........
Thanks for your input - it is very very much appreciated!
Kaz x

whatatwit

If you post an uptodate SOA, there will be plenty of advice coming your way.

I can understand your reluctance about a DMP, but if you go through one of the recognised bodies, then at least your creditors know that it is a true reflection of how things stand.

Let the experts loose on your SOA and then take it from there one step at a time.

livinginhope

Evening Kas,I don't see that you have much of a choice,you either sort your debt soon,or when you HAVE to sort them because you have no other choice,you will be in even deeper debt.
If you post a SOA we will be able to see the extent of your debts and the amount you are able to pay.
If CCCS tell you that you only have £30/month to pay your creditors,I would expect that to be correct,if you don't give yourself enough to live on you will find yourself living off credit.If it takes 30 years,then it takes 30 years,does it matter? if you can afford to live it doesn't matter how long it takes.
Good luck
LIH

madduck

Hi again Kaz

To be honest you are in the same place that many of us have been in before. You are just about managing to hold it together (juggling cards to pay minimum balances every month). However, each month you have to rely more and more on the cards. Less and less actual cash to spend. Gradually balances keep going up (you still might be at the stage where they are increasing your credit limit).

Eventually the balance increases stop (or they even reduce your balance available). The next step is the secured loan route. Astronomical APRs (because your existing credit load means that noone else will touch you). And so it goes.

I really don't want to sound as though I'm preaching, it is just that I've been in exactly the same place as you and really don't want to see anyone else go down the same route.

You have already said that the CCCS budget only calculates that you have £30 per month to pay towards your debts, you know how long it is going to take based on that to pay off your current level of debts. The only way that I could see that the answer would be to soldier on was if you could really, truely convince yourself that you can manage your money (not credit) well enough that you could live and make a serious dent into your debt. Can you do that?

Kazonline

Hi again everyone - you know, you guys are worth your weight in gold (shame we can't cash it in eh? ;-) )
Ok here are my current figures with the monthly figure at the end of each line

Income .
ALG - £1500pa £125
IS - £58 pw £251.33
CB - £164 4weekly £177.66
CTC -£108 pw £468
Maint £10 pw £43.33

£1065.32
Expenses (1 adult, 3 children ages 8 - 16)

Mortgage £110
Ground rent £38pa £3.17
TV licence £10.67
Water £28
Elec £52
Gas £72

Build & Cont insurance £25
Life insurance £23
Motor ins £23.33
Road tax £15
AA £ 7.50
Appliance ins (5 items £13 (think I might need this now as my grill stopped working today!)

The following are the figures recomended by CCCS for living expenses etc

Groceries £392
Clothing/footwear etc £ 35
School trips/activities £15
Telephone/net/mobile £60
Dentist/optician £13
Fuel & parking £80
Vehicle spares & service £10
Hairdressing £5
Pet food/expense £12
Entertainment/hobbies £10
Sundries/Emergencies £20

£1034.67

£1065.32 - £1034.67= £30.65
Phew, finally done that bit!
Now for the debts......

Kazonline

Debts

Aol CC £4610, pay £58pm
Egg CC £4869 pay £100pm
Halifax £2126 pay £43pm
HSBC £1432 pay £43pm
Virgin £58 pay £5pm
O/D £1310

And that, as they say, is me folks!

Kaz x

whatatwit

I know you have posted the amounts suggested by CCCS, but how much are you actually spending on those things.
I bet you don't spend that much on groceries.

Your gas appears high, does that include arrears?

You might not get too much response tonight, but hopefully there will be a few more along tomorrow.
If not, you may need to post a new thread titled SOA.

livinginhope

Hi Kaz,just looked at the SOA,can't see council tax?
Everything else is OK,some things like food are high,but these are things that can be juggled while on a DMP,if you have underestimated one thing you could take from another!
Looking at your figures for the outgoings I would say you are either in or heading for trouble,a DMP would be an answer.
LIH

Kazonline

Thanks whatatwit (I so love the name - makes me smile every time as it sums me up!).
I'm ashamed to confess that I was actually spending more than this on groceries previously - about £125 per week.
I have cut it down quite a bit thanks to the OS board, but my three have hefty appetites (as do I) and we eat a lot of fruit & vege. I hope that over time I can lower this further, but don't feel that I could guarantee on keeping it much lower.
As for my gas & ele, going on last years bills the payments should just about cover my usage given the price increases. I did call BG with up to date reading & have calculated total annual usage, but have yet to check out other suppliers. My gas is probably particularly high because a badly fitting back door means a lot of heat escapes.
Most of my bulbs are 'normal' bulbs and not energy efficient - but the reason is that the bulbs blow every few months so it wasn't cost effective to keep buying the energy efficient ones. Ideally the house should be rewired, but hey ho!
It's getting very late now, and as you rightly said I doubt there'll be many about tonight so I'm just going to nip over to the OS board before bed to read the recipies on home made sweeties to see if I can make a few pressies tomorrow.
Thanks again for your support,
Kaz x

Hi LIH, council tax isn't on there because I'm in the lucky position that it now gets paid for me. As for food - you've not seen my boys eat, they've hollow legs, lol. (but this weeks shop is only £35 so far!)