Reworking Of The First Time Posters Thread

southernscouser

I've just been thinking (it hurt) that maybe the First Time Posters thread could do with a makeover. :think:

Anyone have any suggestions?

Is it too long? Too waffly? A work of art?

The new version can be found here.

dudleyboy

Morning.

Well, I'd say up til now it's done the trick and been an excellent reference and boost of encouragement for first time posters. I think the content of it's great and can't think of a better, more friendly way of introducing the board to newbies and helping them take their first step.

The only improvements I can think of are to change the title of the post to something like "First Time Posters: Statement Of Affairs (SOA)" so it's easier to find when referenced and maybe include a couple of subheadings in the text since, as you say, it is quite (necessarily) long. Something like "Introduction", "Statement Of Affairs (SOA)", "FREE Debt Management Charities", "Snowball Calculator", "Summary" perhaps? Would enable folk to skip directly to certain bits on a 2nd reading and break up the text into manageable chunks on the first.

Other than that, it's a work of art mate! Well done for putting it together in the first place!

DB

tryhard_2

useful guide for newcomers. agree with DB - title should be altered.
also the SOA does not list the complete outgoings for most people - b'day/chrismas/gifts/mot/car tax etc. perhaps incorporating the bdget planner would make it more complete

nearlyrich

SS if you want me to open the thread so you can change it let me know alternatively post a new one and I will lock it and pin it ( PM me so I see it) and then I will remove the original.

It has been very useful to many people since you posted it.

ZTD

southernscouser wrote:

I've just been thinking (it hurt)

I can tell from your Avatar...was that you trying to start it or trying to make it stop?

southernscouser wrote:

that maybe the First Time Posters thread could do with a makeover. :think:

Anyone have any suggestions?

Is it too long? Too waffly? A work of art?

It's one of those things where it can't really be short.

My suggestions - usual bucket of salt applies:

• Bulletpoint the individual entries.
• Add a "Do you live in Scotland?" question - their law is different for some stuff.
• Add an entry for "Water Charge" and "Sewerage Charges (if applicable)"
• Add an entry for "Dentistry" and "Pets (if applicable)".
• Add a enty for "Number of people in your household" - this lets us see if their food bill is too expensive.
• Add a number for "minimum payments" on the credit card examples.
• Drop the addresses for CCCS etc, and just link directly to their "Contact Us" pages.
• Links to explanations of DMPs and IVAs etc might be helpful too.

As a note to nearlyrich - could we also have those stock letters (Send a pound away to get a copy of your signed credit agreement) stuck in this thread as well. I would provide a link - but I can't find them! :rotfl:

I'm sure someone knows what I'm talking about.

Oh and SS - you did ask...

nearlyrich

Has anyone got a link to the best place to get the letters?

Another thought I had was a link to what's the cost to work out the snowball effect etc.

CLAPTON

i support dudleyboy suggestions

for the SOA bit
it would be good to change the word 'outgoings' to 'spending before unsecured debts' to try to say that this is excluding debt repayments

change 'total' afterwards to 'total spending'

in the debts bits add that we need
a. the minimum monthly payments on each of the debts
b. a total for debt
c. a total for monthly minimum monthly payments

also should ask about assetts, especially any savings, house value and mortgage
and general family situation, partner, number / age of children

fay66

I must admit ive been lurking and posting little things on boards, but im still baffled on what to do to control this debt ive got, im without broadband at home at the moment , but would be sure better if everything was at a reach without scrolling through.
Thanks fay

ZTD

nearlyrich wrote:

Has anyone got a link to the best place to get the letters?

If it's any help - it was a thread that had the first three posts as just stock letters "I want a copy of my credit agreement" etc. I think I've narrowed it down to three suspects - CLAPTON, file_wizard or harrassed. Come one - someone must remember better than I do...!

nearlyrich wrote:

Another thought I had was a link to what's the cost to work out the snowball effect etc.

It's in SS's original post - perhaps it needs to be more prominant?

southernscouser

OK shall we tackle it bit by bit. And then when we have a full thing we can sort out the wording and order.

This is the intro at the moment! :think:





Welcome to MSE and the Debt Free Wannabe board.

Now I know this is a bit of an essay but please read through the whole thing. In the long run it will save you and us lots of time.

This is a guide for anyone who wants to start battling the debt demons but isn't quite sure where to start.


First things first, well done for confronting your debt. This is quite commonly know on here as your "light bulb moment". This is the biggest and hardest step you will take so if you can do this you CAN become debt free.

When I first posted I felt ashamed, guilty, sick, embarrassed, angry! But don't beat yourself up. There are thousands who have made the same mistakes as you and me and I promise you that within hours of posting you will be feeling more positive and willing to tackle your debts head on!

You won’t be judged (certainly not by me, look at my signature ) so don’t be ashamed to admit everything. Although it pains me to say it there are a lot of top people on this board.

The other members on here are so genuine and helpful it is unbelievable. I don't think there is much between us that we can't help with.

For other MSE users to be able to help you as best we can you need to provide us with as much information as possible. You don’t have to include your life story (although the nosier ones won’t mind if you do ) but we do need to know every penny you have coming in, and every penny going out. The more accurate and detailed you are the better the advice will be. We call this a SOA (state of affairs).

Below is a rough template;

moxie_2

Agree with the comments made so far. The only other thing I was wondering was whether it could be the first 'sticky' as it is quite far down the list at present, so might be hard to find for newbies.