Help help help - we don;t know where to turn!

BlushingRose

Hi...

I'm not a new registration, but I'm a newnie really as I haven't posted much.

We're panicking as we have no money. Literally, no money.
We've had to use credit cards for months now to buy groceries, food and petrol as our outgoings are equal or more than out income. We're a one income family at the moment as I'm trying, but failing, to get work.
We have a mortgage, a bank loan and a few credits cards, all up their limit. The bank account as a some money in it currently but that is aprrox all going to be going out in bills before payday on (hopefully) 20th Dec.
HELP!
MY OH this morning rang one credit card this morning to tell them we were having problems and they said that if we used the payment protection incurence that we have for the card, then we'd never be able to use the card again. Does this mean that the insurance has been a waste of money all this time? Does this also mean that he's effected the credit rating by getting in touch them them? he was going to ring the other card tomorrow but I want answers here before he does that we I don;t want things to get worse then they are.
We've been to the bank and previously re-mortgaged but we cannot do that again, and they also cannot loan us any more money nor extend the overdraft.
This really is the end of the line for us and we're scared, we don;t know where to turn or what to do now. Please advise/help?
Thanks so much x

honeybun16

Did not want to read and run, You might find that posting a SOA would give the other very helpful people on here chance to help you.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

No matter how things look now there will be a way forward, it might not be the way you want to go but it is there, sorry i can't be much further help but i'm learning myself as well. Good Luck

Mort

Your situation seems similar to ours several years back. At that time the CAB advised us to open a bank account with a totally new bank and get our salaries paid into it.
Can you achieve this before the 20th? I would also consider withdrawing all the cash from the account you currently use. Then it is a case of making sure the priority bills still get paid (mortgage, council tax etc..). Token payments for loans and credit cards will show that you are willing to meet your obligations.
Post a SOA here so that others can give you some pointers on where saving may be achievable.
I don't know about the PPI question you have posed but it does not feel right.

Edit:
Read this article - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/setting-off?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=clicks&utm_campaign=resourcebar

sickasachip13

Hi,

You do need some professional advice - I'd urge you to contact CCCS or Payplan with urgency. CCCS is a charity to help with debts. They will set out your options and aren't judgemental.

As a starting point you must try and protect your payments such as mortgage, council tax, water, electric etc - to be honest, if you simply can't pay all your debts then you can't pay your debts and your cards, overdrafts etc etc are going to have to wait. In the mean time you probably can't protect your credit rating completely and, to be blunt, I'm not sure this is the most pressing concern in the situation.

DEfinitely post your statement of affairs to get people's suggestions. In the meantime, have a look at the CCCS website and you might get some useful info - they have a debt remedy tool too.

Best of luck SAAC.

dazla

I echo the previous posters advice, I was in the same situation as you 6 months ago. i had literally no money as was upto my eyes in debt. Was unable to get more credit, or increase overdraft. I resorted to selling pieces of furniture to get money to buy food. I was initially worried about my credit rating going down if I sought advice, but i am not bothered about it now as I never want credit cards again. Please do contact payplan, cab or cccs as they can help. I went into a dmp with payplan, it was the best thing I have ever done.

Cheers
Daz

BlushingRose

Thanks for all the posts so far.

Please see my SOA below.
Note: We live in Hull so cannot change our phone/internet options. Also there are one or two places where we weren't sure who much we spend (if anything) on certain things. Also, the reason why groceries are calculated as zero is because we use a Credit card to pay for those.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1993.84
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 22.5
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2016.34

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 662
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 87
Electricity............................. 27
Gas..................................... 23
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 22
Mobile phone............................ 5
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 21.94
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 19.92
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 80.19
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1127.05


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 120500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 90000....(662)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 90000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
personal bank loan.............29699.....354.......22.23
Capital One CC.................893274....270.......25.85
MBNA CC........................6500......170.......0
Barclaycard CC.................1293......10........14.9
Total unsecured debts..........930766....804.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,016.34
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,127.05
Available for debt repayments........... 889.29
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 804
Amount left after debt repayments....... 85.29

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 120,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -90,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -930,766
Net Assets.............................. -900,266

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

MessyMare

The first thing I would say is to get that grocery bill down...£280 is a lot for two people for a month. I do ours (generously) on £120; I think even if you've dietary requirements you can manage this- if you pop over to the Old Style board there's loads of ideas for getting this bill down

kazwookie

Hi

Well done for posting up.

Can I ask what the Capital One CC £893,274 was for and are you sure that figure is correct?

Phils_debt

Think you have made a mistake on your soa hopefully on the cap one card.
We spend £260 a month on food and thats for 2 adults 2 children including odd takeouts

Cant the other adult find a job

buffster_2

I think there's a typo with your Capital One CC. Have a look but you might need to repost the SOA.

A couple of things I've noticed - your grocery bill is quite a lot for 2 people. There's some good ideas on the Old Style forum for saving money on groceries and some good tips on this forum too, such as eating what's in your cupboards, fridge, freezer etc before buying anything new (except fresh stuff like bread & milk).

Your buildings & contents could definitely be cheaper. It's worth trying a comparison website & seeing what's on offer there.

Best of luck.

elsien

You might be better off posting your PPI query on the insurance forum as a separate question as well, the people there are probably more up to speed on the specifics.