We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that dates on the Forum are not currently showing correctly. Please bear with us while we get this fixed, and see Site feedback for updates.

What do people think of this....thoughts, opinions please..

1234579

Comments

  • xbox
    xbox Posts: 7,797 Forumite
    5 years ago I "swapped" my final salary pension rights for effectively £42,000 of debt as a result of my divorce. (more complex than this, but explanation will suffice I think)

    it was really hard at first, I did pick up a default or two (just the two!), but in the end repaid all of the monies on May 28th last year - all costs & interest repaid

    It was with a huge amount of satisfaction that I picked up the phone and made the last payment, a day I'll remember for a long time.

    You've got a good salary and a loving woman - the rest is only a budget away

    take control, make some tough decisions and work hard it my advise

    Good luck
  • donmonster wrote:
    I feel resentful for the way all the money was thrown at us through university - and it was soo easy to get. Of course we are not mature enough to realise the true ramifications of running up £20k through uni and thinking about evenetually paying it back.

    Not everyone leaves university buried in debt.

    The point is that you have run up £50k of debt by the time you're 27, £30k of which was entirely avoidable and despite your having a pretty good salary. Now you want to find a way to duck out of paying it because you don't fancy the salary deductions. This says you still have your underlying problem towards money.

    The ramifications of bankruptcy go way beyond a little bit of credit damage. You will not be allowed to own anything except the barest necessities. You will not be able to slip your girlfriend her money back on the sly - if you have income and you don't admit to it all you risk jail. Can she withstand losing her money? Will her parents still think much of you if you do that to her?

    You will not be allowed credit of any kind. You will not be able to keep it secret; many job applications require you to disclose this, and many professions debar you from working in them if you have ever been made bankrupt.

    If you get another job before then, what happens if travel department wants your credit card details to charge your flights and hotels to? What if accounts insist you apply for a corporate Amex? How are you going to look?

    "Cripes, Don, you went bankrupt? At 27? What on earth happened? Did you lose your job?"
    "No, I spent like mad while in a job, then chucked it in to dodge paying." Nice.

    And what if you get a job at a rate of pay so much lower than now that you miss out on more than the £50k you're trying to get out of? Wouldn't take much you know. A drop from £46k to £36k over 6 years and that's your £50k - you declared yourself bankrupt but you lost £50k anyway.

    It isn't worth it.

    Trade out of it. The practice will be useful.
  • Western Promise.....What utter c**p you are talking. Having just gone through this with my other 1/2 I know what I'm talking about. You CAN get credit cards-secured ones-even if undischarged & you CAN get a bank a/c with a Visa Electron or Maestro Solo-accepted all over the world.

    You can't apply for any credit-YOU CAN-the law says up to £500.

    You will not be able to own anything except the barest neccesities-c**p! Ulness you have a brand new sports car or something of huge value you're left alone. Obviously if you have huge equity or overseas properties then the receiver will have these-but if you are in rented accom. with usual posessions there's no problem.

    For SOME people (like my other 1/2 ) it's the best way. We're not here to tell off DonM just to give advice.

    Many people commit suicide if they have huge debt problems-bankruptcy can be a lifeline for them. If you've not been through it then you can't comment-I HAVE-even sitting in on the receivers meeting as my other 1/2's English is not good.

    You seem to be judging DonM's underlying 'problem' with money. Bankruptcy is an option & a good one for some people-especially since the law changed last year-maximum term 1 year-most being discharged in 3-6 months!!!!

    If DonM wants to have a psychological clean slate-this IS an option-just another thing to consider. The allowences the receiver gives for living expenses are in fact quite generous. Best thing my other 1/2 ever did.
  • Sofa_Sogood
    Sofa_Sogood Posts: 5,258 Forumite
    But if a few more people felt like bankruptcy was the only way out, where does that leave the people who are owed money?

    And whilst I agree that money problems does lead to suicide in some cases, in the OP's case, I genuinely don't think this applies. He appears to have the resources to pay the debts off, but doesn't seem to want to.

    Many other people post about their debts on here that don't have the luxury of that choice. They have to go bankrupt.

    That's the big difference in my honest opinion, just like the morals and ethics of going bankrupt are, ultimately, the OP's.
  • DiggingOut
    DiggingOut Posts: 770 Forumite
    I guess travelman doesn't see ANY potential drawbacks to what he's presenting, does he? And he still hasn't responded to that key point, has he?

    DonM, I think you are on the right track in a lot of ways here. I really think you need to track all your outgoings. I would be sure (my dad taught me never to bet on a sure thing ;) ) that you can, without any significant sacrifice at all, find an extra £200 a month, and probably quite a bit more, just by paying a little more attention to your spending. If you are really serious about getting out of debt quickly, you can do far better with some real belt tightening.

    Only you will know whether you have the self-discipline for the following to work, but here's an idea. You could set up a standing order for £250 a month to go into a cash ISA. That money would be absolutely untouchable. If you run out of money at the end of the month, you just won't spend.

    After 6 months you have £1500. Celebrate! Take £100 out and have a really nice evening out with your other half.

    After 12 months, you have £2900. Spend £500 on a weekend away -- but the rest remains untouchable.

    Give yourself a reward for saving, but keep saving, and save more if you can (you can on your salary, believe me, if you just decide you are going to. It is all about the decisions YOU make). In five years, you'll have enough to be thinking about an offer of full and final settlement. And you will have established a savings habit that will be valuable to you for the rest of your life.

    It's all about making good decisions day by day. You have to fight to get your life back on track. If you look at the entire debt all at once (£50K, 9 years), it looks like a fight that you can't win -- the enemy is too big. So set yourself some "fights" that you know you can win. Achievable goals, and then reward yourself for achieving them. (Just don't make the reward so big that you spend all you've achieved :D ).
    I have five stars! This doesn't mean that I know anything about any of the things I post. I could be a raving lunatic, or a brilliant genius, or just some guy on the internet. In fact, I could be all three at the same time.

    If anything I say makes sense, then do it. If not, don't. Don't blame me or my stars if you do something stupid because I suggested it. I'm responsible for my own stupidity only. You are responsible for yours.

    Why, I don't even have five stars anymore! Aren't you glad you aren't responsible for my stupidity?
  • Sofa_Sogood
    Sofa_Sogood Posts: 5,258 Forumite
    All things aside Digging Out, (TravelMan's emotionally drawn to this subject, as I am for different reasons :)) maybe if the OP reads this too:

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=335664&postcount=13

    it might put things into perspective for him?
  • Yes, I think so, but he has to have cash to offer his creditors, doesn't he? That's why I suggested starting to save.
    I have five stars! This doesn't mean that I know anything about any of the things I post. I could be a raving lunatic, or a brilliant genius, or just some guy on the internet. In fact, I could be all three at the same time.

    If anything I say makes sense, then do it. If not, don't. Don't blame me or my stars if you do something stupid because I suggested it. I'm responsible for my own stupidity only. You are responsible for yours.

    Why, I don't even have five stars anymore! Aren't you glad you aren't responsible for my stupidity?
  • Thanks for that Sofa - an interesting read - although I do think it would be a different thing saving amounts to pay off the £10k debt than it would the £50 I have....I suppose this whole post was just brought about by the fact that I have nearly been on my DMP now for 2 years and just sat down last weekend and thought about the debt and when it would ever be cleared off.

    The thing I dont know however is if any / all of the creditors have stopped charging interest on my accounts. And whether or not if I did have an amount that I could pay them off if they would get rid of the interest and charges.

    I must admit I have looked into bankruptcy that was mentioned by travelman and of course that would interest me - it would be stupid to think it would not!! However not so sure what my work would say about my tax code coming up as No Tax - think it might just be noticed. Also as others say I have a big enough excess.

    One poster mnetioned starting an ISA and I think that is what I might do rather than up the payments - I feel this way I will have lump sums that I can offer to creditors and as a result they might write off portions of the debt which would ultimately be quicker than upping the payment - anyone correct me if I am wrong??

    Does anyone have any prior knowledge of how they look on it when you can offer a lump sum?

    Thanks
  • summerday
    summerday Posts: 1,351 Forumite
    I was a student a few years ago and got out the maximum student loans, total £12.5k. Of course I was offered loads of credit cars but it felt wrong for me to take them out when I didn't know how or when I would be able to pay them back.

    I am now working and every month allow myself very little to live on, I live fairly frugally because I want to pay back my student loans as quickly as possible. No matter how much student debt I had got myself into, I knew that I signed on the dotted line that I would repay it, I knew it was never free money and now that I have finished studying it is my responsibility to pay it back, even though the minimum repayments are very low I want to be rid of it asap. Why should I be bailed out of this?

    I agree that bankruptcy is the right option for some people, but if someone has the means to pay their debt off in a few years with a high-paying job then to me this is what should be done, even if it does mean living frugally. Just my personal opinion though.

    Sarah
    Yesterday is today's memories, tomorrow is today's dreams :)
  • Sofa_Sogood
    Sofa_Sogood Posts: 5,258 Forumite
    donmonster? I should apologise for going off on a slight tangent, I just think that bankruptcy could be avoided in your particular case. Having had a few people go bankrupt on us, to the point where we nearly went bankrupt ourselves, possibly taints my views on it.

    As others have already said, and said quite passionately, bankruptcy is an option, but as an outsider looking in, it seems to me to be a last resort option.

    But there's no escaping the fact that you do seem to have a lot more disposable income than some people that post about their situations on here.

    As faser6 suggested, anything you can throw at the debt brings the day you're free of it a lot closer. I personally wouldn't forego a holiday, but I never have a holiday. Ever. Being married to someone that's working hard to bring the day forward so that he can retire early, for medical reasons, rules out holidays for now. I'm not bitter about that, it's just the way we're working our budget out. And I can't do to live as frugally as some others do on here, but I don't have to. But just as people are throwing as much money as they can to be debt free, we're saving as much money as we can to be stress free, and health rich :). But it's not about me, it's about you, sorry again.

    Look back at all the suggestions people have made, set goals that are achievable for you and your circumstances, or your particular 'tolerance level'. If it hurts too much to give up more than you can tolerably cope with, then I'd suggest you didn't. (I'll get shot for saying that by the way!) It's no good having money problems and making yourself more miserable by living TOO frugally. But in amongst the posts here, and on the forum, there are some really good tips to bring the day you're debt free a lot closer.

    I should add that I think you should forget what your peers think about it all, it's not their debt is it? You sound as if you have a supportive family, could they help in any way? Not that I'm suggesting they can magic up 50k for you, but any financial help they might give would be a help.

    People much wiser than me can help with how the finances of your incomings and outgoings work, I'm useless at working out what's the best way for anyone to work out a financial mess. I just get the feeling that things aren't as bleak as you maybe think they are, but that's also easy for me to say.

    Take advantage of the advice that's been given about ways to save money to reduce the debt. You don't appear to want to go bankrupt and have a new tax code, so you've already accepted that it's possibly not for you? It's a difficult topic to follow because you do seem to have other options open to you, unlike the others I mentioned that have no options.

    It's a subject that's baffling me, but anyone that knows about debt management will tell you that the day you're debt free can be reduced from the 9 years you mentioned. I'm sure I can't be wrong on that point. It's just the ways and means of achieving it that need looking at again. It's obvious you're a bit lost with it all. Have a fresh look at the advice given, and find out some basics, like whether your creditors have stopped charging interest for instance. And other basics, like whether you can save on utilities, where you can trim things down etc. The old style money savers will help out on that one.

    Sorry I can't help in a constructive way, all I can do is read and think that things could be a lot worse. I just get the feeling you need to sit down and review everything again.

    Good luck :)
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 240.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.7K Life & Family
  • 254.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.