Sorry old chap, the money has run out!

speshfesh

tony_ack wrote: »

Wow, thanks again for all the support. Just to clarify that the main cause of the anxiety is the breakdown of the relationship, but now I think about it, the money problems were also keeping me on edge constantly.

I think my partner is learning about money the hard way. She is - I suspect - using credit to supplement her income and is still living on a shoestring. I have offered her support and advice, but she is very much in the 'I can look after myself' phase at the moment so I don't think she's really listening.

I think going through CCCS is a bit of an epiphany in terms of what is important when it comes to debts. The fact that I have nearly £700 left over when I have paid for priority bills and living expenses shows that I'm not in a bad situation really, and I'm lucky as there are some in a far worse position than me.

Got a letter from Halifax this morning threatening default on my loan as they haven't been able to contact me regarding my arrears, even though they had been in touch and they had taken a payment for the whole arrears 2 weeks ago. I rang them this morning to find out what was going on.

End result was they were very apologetic and are sending me a £35 cheque to cover my distress and call costs (used the work mobile, sshh!). I thought it prudent not to mention my DMP, though the letters should all be landing with my creditors informing them of this either today or Monday.

DMP paperwork has also been sent to CCCS, so hopefully they'll be able to make a start on that. I've also sent £5 payments to all my creditors due a payment in the next couple of weeks before payday, so what is in my account now, is what I've got left.

I've also sent in a claim for bank charges to Barclays. I worked out there were £941 of charges over the last 6 years (plus interest), £850 of this since they introduced the 'fairer' personal reserve system in 2008. I think I now qualify as being in 'hardship' so it's worth a go. Also hoping to re-open the case with Alliance and Leicester which is worth about £400 (over a 5 month period!)

I'm going to open up a basic bank account and start to transfer everything over - I have a feeling that Barclays may take umbridge with me being on a DMP and going after them for charges at the same time. Even if they don't, I just want a fresh start with no overdraft.

Hey Tony;)

New bank account is a must for going down the DMP route if your existing account is also one of your creditors.
You'll need to keep your finances nice and 'clean' so none of your creditors can syphon off anything via overdrafts, etc.
Fresh start and fresh account to be able to control what's yours:D
I guess the key is to look after yourself before you can seriously deal with the other stuff in your life.
Clear the fog matey, you'd be amazed how far you can see!

Oh my god I've gone all Zen!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

mummytoo

Hi Tony

Ive just all your thread and nearly cried, I too am working through my debt problems nothing too bad just out of my comfort zone with increasing feul etc with two kids). It aint easy staying in the black . In this climate I feel there are an awful lot of us. For the first time ever since i left home nearly 12 years ago I had to ask mother for money not just an odd tenner it was nearly £350!!!!!!!!. I dont know who was more shocked me or her!!!!!

Anyways I feel you deserve a break!!! I too are in ebay mode cant bear it just have too!!!! dont feel down, it happens at one point to the best of us (sorry not offending anyone just meaning down on our luck) I hope ur luck is changing, Onwards and Upwards and all that jazz!!! Ill be following u too xxxx:)

mavvymoo

Good luck to you.You absolutely deserve for some to fall your way :T

dory22

have just read this whole thread tony, i live with parents but my sister got into loads of store card debts so she has foreign students stay with her she gets £270 a month per student from the school (EF) plus £5 a week for washing and internet, its tax free and you dont need to declare it.
my parents also take in students as my dad is a taxi driver if hes had a bad month we get a student in for a few weeks, you can choose how many weeks/days they stay for etc it could help you out a lot, my sister has turned her spare double room into a twin and has 2 students in there and has a lodger in the smaller room its really helped her to sort out her debt she gets and extra £900 a month tax free on top of earnings.

you seem to be plodding along fine, what doesnt kill us makes us stronger.

MrsPorridge

Yes I have taken students too. At the moment I am on a university landlady list and take student teachers. Its easy as its from Monday night to friday morning - they go home at weekends. You just provide breakfast (cereal and toast) and evening meal - and as I cook for the family each evening one extra meal is nothing. When I lived in London I did EF School. Its definitely something to think about - its also a bit of company as well.

tony_ack

Thanks again for the replies and suggestions.

I had considered renting out my spare (currently junk-filled) room recently - partly for the money and partly to have some company. It's weird but I've never really lived properly alone. Before we moved in together, I house-shared with some other students/post-grads/professionals, and even when living abroad, I lived in flats with other students from the UK in the same building.

I like the foreign student idea, though I'm not sure there's as much demand for accommodation here as there is in somewhere like London. I also speak German with a bit of French and Russian as well, so it would have been a good opportunity to get some practice!

The problem is that I would be reluctant to get people staying when my daughter and partner stay over several nights a week. Also the plan is that the big spare room is to become DD's bedroom.

mummytoo - don't feel to bad about the ebaying - it's only stuff at the end of the day. Just make sure that selling it counts for something and doesn't just go on paying fees/interest for another month.

I rang the co-op today to open a basic account - hopefully I'll get the paperwork through soon, and start moving my wages and payments over. speshfesh - you're completely right, I don't want any debts hanging over me other than those in the DMP, so I can't carry on with an account with an overdraft. I also opened a basic RBS account online (realise the issue with the restricted ATM access) so I have somewhere for my annual bills and emergency fund to go. I've got debts with Barclays, Halifax and Santander so I opening an account with any of those is a no-no.

£50 left now to get me to payday (20th). All priority bills met. All token payments sent. 1/2 tank of fuel in the car. Food at home until the end of the week, could possibly stretch a bit more.

Away from home with work tomorrow night, so need a bit of cash for expenses. Also got a wedding reception on Friday night, but should be able to keep the costs down. Still, should be able to make it!

Got a claim of £190 for expenses in at the moment, not holding my breath on it, but it *should* be in in the next pay cycle, so a chance to clear that last £150 I owe my mum.

speshfesh

tony_ack wrote: »

Thanks again for the replies and suggestions.

I had considered renting out my spare (currently junk-filled) room recently - partly for the money and partly to have some company. It's weird but I've never really lived properly alone. Before we moved in together, I house-shared with some other students/post-grads/professionals, and even when living abroad, I lived in flats with other students from the UK in the same building.

I like the foreign student idea, though I'm not sure there's as much demand for accommodation here as there is in somewhere like London. I also speak German with a bit of French and Russian as well, so it would have been a good opportunity to get some practice!

The problem is that I would be reluctant to get people staying when my daughter and partner stay over several nights a week. Also the plan is that the big spare room is to become DD's bedroom.

mummytoo - don't feel to bad about the ebaying - it's only stuff at the end of the day. Just make sure that selling it counts for something and doesn't just go on paying fees/interest for another month.

I rang the co-op today to open a basic account - hopefully I'll get the paperwork through soon, and start moving my wages and payments over. speshfesh - you're completely right, I don't want any debts hanging over me other than those in the DMP, so I can't carry on with an account with an overdraft. I also opened a basic RBS account online (realise the issue with the restricted ATM access) so I have somewhere for my annual bills and emergency fund to go. I've got debts with Barclays, Halifax and Santander so I opening an account with any of those is a no-no.

£50 left now to get me to payday (20th). All priority bills met. All token payments sent. 1/2 tank of fuel in the car. Food at home until the end of the week, could possibly stretch a bit more.

Away from home with work tomorrow night, so need a bit of cash for expenses. Also got a wedding reception on Friday night, but should be able to keep the costs down. Still, should be able to make it!

Got a claim of £190 for expenses in at the moment, not holding my breath on it, but it *should* be in in the next pay cycle, so a chance to clear that last £150 I owe my mum.

Oh the old delayed work expenses scam eh?:D

Believe me, I've suffered from that a few times. Luckily my company now are very good with this.:)

To be honest, I have 2 CCs that are not part of my DMP as I use them solely for expenses (whatever's used is paid back to clear the balances). This definitely works if you can be controlled enough to clear the balances (£1000 total).:rotfl:

I wonder if a low credit limit card might be an option for you to avoid dipping into your personal accounts every time you need to pay out work expenses?
At least that way you will have some flexibility and not be held to ransom by your company every month.:mad:
I appreciate it goes against the grain a little, but just a thought.:)

tony_ack

Well, I think I owe my work a bit of an apology.

I submitted an expense form on Friday afternoon. My boss signed it off and handed to finance on Monday.

I got an email today telling me payment had been made, and would drop in my account on Friday! New record! So there's £190 I wasn't expecting until next month.

I did consider an expenses credit card when the problems started, but my credit rating was so trashed that even Vanquis were sending me packing! I think that's the point when I started thinking 'what's the point of holding off a DMP'.

HOWEVER, I still think the idea has merit - perhaps I should drop £100 of the money I'm getting back into a separate bank account, and use that to pay for fuel and living costs related to work? I should then have a working 'float' to cover my expenses until the next lot get back (already up to about £50 this week including mileage allowance and food), and hopefully the amount will increase over time as my mileage allowance (40p per mile) is more than my fuel costs (about 15-20p per mile)

Next month's budget is... okay, so I think I should send £50 to my mum out my expenses money as I owe her £150.

The other £40 can go into my new basic bank account once it is opened.

On other news... I got a call from 'Unknown' on my mobile earlier, so I assumed that the letters to my creditors had started to land. I was at work so ignored it. If it is important they'll leave a message - and they did - I got a text a minute later saying that CCCS had set up my DMP! My only slight concern is that I gave them the DD details for the payment for my overdrawn account, but I'm planning to dump that as soon as I get the account details for my new basic account. Shouldn't be a problem, but may be a timing issue, so just need to make sure that I get the account details in time to change the DD before 1st July. In really want to get all my DDs and payments transferred over ASAP, so I can shift my wages into my basic account as soon as I get paid.

I'm battening down the hatches for the expected furore from my creditors - the home phone is now unplugged (only get marketing calls on it anyway), and I have a call blocker on my mobile that will send specific numbers to answerphone. I've already written to all my creditors now to inform them of the DMP, so no more phone contact is required if CCCS are handling it. I having read other people's tales regarding aggressive creditors, so I hope I'm prepared.

Nan63

Nothing useful to add from me I'm afraid but just wanted to send you good wishes and wish you well, you've had a tough time and now surely it must be time for things to change for the better for you. As a previous poster says, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Be well, take care of yourself x

dory22

you seem to of had a bit of look with the £190