Countdown to clean credit file...

wannabehermit

...and another step away from my past.

I've been pointed in this direction from the bankruptcy board by ifwisheswerehorses so here I am starting my diary with my steps to a clean file and a big weight left behind from my ex being lifted. I'll copy and paste what I wrote on the br boards to give you an idea of why I'm here and look forward to being able to share and 'offload' with you all in the future, wannabehermit Oh and be warned I like to write things down when things are on my mind, I find it really helps, so quite often I may be on here just typing, getting the frustration out of my system.


Hi new here, have used the site from time to time to find info when needed, e.g. the credit file clean up was very useful, thank you, I'm wondering if there is a support thread around for people who have found themselves br because of a former relationship? And if so if you could point me in the right direction, if not would this board be the best place to start one?

Bit of background. ex spent money like it was going out of fashion, as far as I could tell it was all on drink & drugs. I scraped every penny together that I could to keep roof over our heads, to put food on the table etc, then found out that he was using the cc's to get cash out. They went from being totally clear, only there for emergencies, holidays and other purchases that I wanted extra cover on, to being up to their limits within a few weeks. I was working my !!!! off to try to get them paid back off again, but as fast as I could transfer them to interest free cards and pay them off he was running them up further, refusing to sign correspomdence to cancel cards etc.

Also had 2 joint bank accounts, I managed to get both of these to a zero balance - he'd run both of the od's right up on them. When the house went on the market he came round to sign the paperwork, I also had forms to take my name off of the joint accounts but instead of signing he kicked off and knocked me about. Bank wouldn't take my name off without his signature, I wasn't about to ask him again. He the runs these both to their limits and beyond until the bank will no longer let him withdraw money so then the charges accumulate. Smile were pretty good and stopped interest & charges but Barclays were adding £22 a day until I finally managed to speak to someone helpful but by this time there was a few thousand of charges on this account.

I spent sometime with a DMP until I was made redundant then as my surplus was 52p a month that had to stop. He was making no payments whatsoever. It became clear that br was my only choice and while I was trying to get the cash together someone on another forum suggested a dro. Luckily my debt was a few £ under the £15k so I went for it and my god what a relief, such a weight lifted as I couldn't see an end. I was discharged a year ago so only 4 more years of it left on my credit file, however now there are times when that weight feels like it is back.

I'm now married and this man couldn't be anymore different from my ex, however it almost feels like the dro is dragging us back somewhat. It feels like I can't move on (2 children involved as well, so ex is always going to be there I'm afraid) but this feels like it's stopping DH and I from properly getting on with our lives. I'm reliant totally on him if we need to get anything on credit and we can't get a joint account. Now I know that's not the be all and end all of it, and we both have access to each others accounts but things would be much easier for us to have joint accounts for things like shopping ad the car, but that can't happen otherwise it's going to screw DH up completely and atm his credit is good.

It just really feels like yet again there's something that the ex has over me and it's just one more thing not letting me move on, one more thing interfering with my new life, with mine & DHs life together, and there are times I can deal with it, but many many times when I find it so hard.

If you've got this far thank you for reading.

wannabehermit

Morning, thanks to those who have read my OP. I have another 8 days then that will be exactly 2 years from the date my dro was from, so 4 years and 8 days until a clean file. However I'm still waiting for one creditor to mark my debt as settled. Name & shame time...M&S Money, that's you! All other creditors had already marked my credit report as settled or did so as soon as I wrote to them, M&S though hav ignored all of my correspondence and so now the case is with the ICO. I heard from the recently saying that they were extremely busy so it would be some months before they got to my case but it's there in the queue so hopefully won't be too long until that is sorted.

I think one of the most annoying things is that I'm bloody good with money. I religiously set out budgets, plan for big spends if I can, keep every receipt and add up what we are spending, never make minimum monthly payments only etc and this is not a new thing, I've always been like that but of course that doesn't show ad it's so frustrating. I want to build my credit back up but until M&S sort my file out there's no point in applying for any of these high interest cards to do that as I'd only be declined.

Now DH and I have a couple of debts - o/d on DHs old bank account, a small credit card debt and car finance. Now my budget shows that we should have a fair amount left at the end of the month and the plan is to stash it in a seperate account so that it adds up for things like tax, mot, tyres, any other costs that the car incurs and hopefully we'll be able to get the car paid off a year early, but always just as we think we're on track something springs up. We've just had car tax and tyres to pay out for, the tyres ended up costing more than they should as the 1sr place we went to messed things up and then a few days later the car breaks down so not only has our car savings account been drained, but we've had to put the repairs on the cc so now we won't be able to build that pot back up until that is paid off.

Ideally we'd like to have a couple of seperate joint accounts - one for shopping and one for the car. It's a pain having to juggle money from one account to the other then having to add up whats been spent at the end of the month and if we had a joint account for those 2 things would be so much easier, we could have a standing order set up each week to transfer the 2 budgets into the 2 accounts and it would be much easier to not only keep track of our spending but also easier to save as the surplus could stay where it is until needed, but of course that's not going to be possible until my credit file is nice and sparkly.

So here we are, trying to run the house and finances in an efficent way, wanting to buy a house (never going to be possible in a million years due to our income) but even if house prices plummeted we wouldn't be able to do it as I couldn't get a mortgage so it's just holding us back for another few years which is so hard to deal with.

wannabehermit

OK so here we are in a new week, a new week after a weekend of thinking, talking & preparing to get our backsides into gear.

There's more really than just wanting a clean credit file & a joint account. We want our own business (obv would have to be in just DHs name) and a house. A house is completely out of the question as that would need to be in joint names. There's no way we would be able to afford a house anytime soon, but we are seriously considering part buy/part rent. It's not ideal, but it does give us the security of knowing it's (partly) ours and there's no chance of the landlord giving us our nitice and that security is a big thing for us. Unfortunately around here they're all 85% share which is way out of our budget, the ones with 15% share which would be ideal for us are small tower block flats (far from a good idea with 3 children, 1 with SN) or retirement flats.

Now onto our business idea, we've always wanted to work for ourselves but the ideas we've had and our skills have required a massive amount of capital and we've spent the last couple of years racking our brains trying to think of something that would require very little capital. Well it seems we've come up with the idea, it would ony be a few hundred to get it off the ground and even if it didn't work out the tools required are things that DH would use anyway so not a huge financial loss. But hopefully that won't be the case. We're going to hunt around business accounts, get one set up, get DH registered as self employed and get a few bits set up. I'm looking for p/t work as we can't afford for DH to leave work completely to do this. SO fingers crossed it won't take me long to get a job then DH can hand in his notice and get things moving. Ultimately because of benefits top ups, tax credits etc me working part time means we will be no worse off than DH working full time.

So time to get those debts moving, then down below I can change to a savings counter that goes up nicely for a deposit on a house for us. :cool:

wannabehermit

Well I guess we've taken the first very small steps to our new business. I sat down yesterday and put a flyer together, have looked into what courses DH needs to do, but with no joy unfortunately, maybe I'll post on here to see if anyone has the answers. It's not a lot that we've done, but it feels like we're doing something positive.

I've sent a few job applications off, a couple of cvs to restaurants, completed a few online applications although I've had to lie to even get to the stage of filling out my name on most of the applications. A lot want you to confirm that you have 3 years continuous employment references before they will take you through to the proper form and as I haven't worked for almost 3 years and was only in that job for less than a year before the company folded I have no choice but to lie to be able to make an application. Not very SAHM friendly!

Moneywise hasn't been great this month, we've had a few unexpected payouts - had new tyres fitted last month and the place that did it completely cocked up the tracking so we had to go elsewhere to sort that plus they hadn't balanced the wheels properly so that was £80 we shouldn't have needed to spend had it been done properly in the 1st place plus the car broke down last week, needed towing home, luckiy was only just over £100 to repair, but still £100 we could do without. So we've still got 2 weeks until DH is paid and have about £150 to get us through. Eek! So def won't be able topay any extra off of the cards this month.

Then I think well hopefully that'll be it and we can get back on track now that summer hols are over but then remember that it is DS1s birthday in a couple of weeks, then 5 weeks after that is DS2s birthday and 5 weeks after that is DDs birthday, then a week later is Christmas :eek:. So I think we'll get on track after the new year then remember that the MOT is due beginning of Feb, so we'll probably get that done sometime in Jan and keep everything crossed that it gets through. Then perhaps we can start putting money away.

But on the credit file front - yesterday was a year since discharge of DRO so 4 years exactly (hurry up M&S and sort your entry out:mad:).

wannabehermit

Well maybe the credit file will be clean in 4 years, not looking like debt-free is going to be realistic though. ANd it's looking like this is going to become a my cars a !!!!!, don't ever buy VW thread.

So after having to spend nearly £200 on the car already this month, looks like we're needing a new starter motor:mad:. So there goes another hundred quid. DH will replace it himself so at least it's not something that we're going to need to pay labour costs on but it's £100 we could really do without thank you very much. PLus on top of that there's the cost of DH getting a taxi to work each time this happens,so in the last couple of weeks he's had to get 2 taxis into work which at £15 a time we'd really rather avoid. Phonecall to my dad later to borrow his car for the week. Oh what a pita!

So we've already used up our car fund, that needs building back up to cover things like this but while things like this are happening there's no chance of that. There's still 9 days until DH is paid and only £146 in his account. Rent is due today and I've only been able to pay half of it. Rest will be paid on Sat when tax credits and HB are paid, but I think that means that I won't be overpaying into DHs o/d or CCs. Rubbish!

wannabehermit

Oh crap, just worked out the amount I have coming in tomorrow from TCs and Sat from HB and it is £2 more than what I owe on the rent. :eek::eek: Bum! Not going to be able to pay anything on any bill, let alone overpay.

On a positive our contents renewal had gone up by a long way with AA who were cheapest last year, so changed it last night to More Than which was half price of our renewal and saving £4 a month on the DD. I think that's my consolation goal.

cleggie

Hi WBH.
i'd love to join you in your journey to clean credit file! In my case, i have an appalling credit file. I got my free one from experion yesterday and am already presumed by myself, its terrible!!
I cant get anything on credit, cant get a decent back account or anything similar. I feel like at 31 years old i should have sorted myself out financially by now, and be looking to buy a house, but now i am probably having to accept that a mortgage will never be possible for me.

I am trying to clear as much of my debt as possible, and will be clearing off another one on Monday..but with a very low income (am a student at the moment) its very hard to even pay off so much as £100..but i know i'll get there, and as long as i make regular payments on time, that will go towards helping my credit file.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi, and you are not alone!

wannabehermit

Hi cleggie, welcome onboard! It's scary stuff looking at those credit reports isn't it, suddenly you can see it and it's all real:eek:

I know exactly how you feel, I'm 31 too and feel like I should be standing on my own 2 feet with a nice little mortgage instead I'm paying for someon elses house and still every now and then having to go crawling to the bank of mum and dad (although it's been a while now since that happened). I'd like to think that in 30 years time I'll be in a position to help my kids out like my parents have and DHs parents, but that looks unlikely.

cleggie

Yeah, i understand what you mean about the bank of mum and dad, i have had to do that occasionally and its horrible isnt it! I want to be able to do the same for my kids in the future, so need to get this debt sorted soon!!

wannabehermit

Eek, tax credits paid today, just waiting for HB to go in tomorrow then the rest of the rent can be paid. Thank goodness we have a good landlord.

May have had a bit of a result on the car, I found someone locally who repairs starter motors so DH is taking it to him today and hopefully it will be repairable rather than at the end of it's life. Should then cost about £60 instead of £160. Fingers crossed.

I love seeing the debt figures going down, unfortunately that 2nd CC will be going up though.

clippy_girl

hi wanabehermit! just thought i would pop along and say hi and also recommend that you check out the up your income board for ideas to earn some extra cash. i do mystery shopping which i find good, maybe you could try some of that while your are job hunting? its also something maybe DH could do when he leaves his job to do the business if he has any slow weeks etc... as most jobs you pick up with a few days notice and as a bonus he will already be registered as self employeed etc you can check out the mystery shopping thread here- https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3297184