DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 8

greebouk

Hi everyone. Just sent off my info to CCCS, got to send out letters to the creditors with a token payment and then wait for the letters.

It has been a shock to realise just how much we owe We have been living on overtime to make ends meet, which has mean the hubby has not been able to have any time off work for four years! And this has stopped now. But this budget means he can have a week off work and still afford to pay our bills.

Anyway, I know the next few weeks are going to be hard, with letters etc, but I hope in the long run, it will at least, ease some of the stress and hopefully we can sleep at night.

And wanted to say how amazing this place is so much good advice and support. I am so grateful I found it.

kirstie1244

Hi All
Havn't been on in ages as DS has been in and out of hospital. Anyway still having loads of problems with HSBC, overdraft has gone form being £1500 OD when I started end of Oct to now nearly £2000 OD with all the charges so i'm going to write them another letter.

This week HSBC have sent me an agreement to sigh up for a managed loan but I dont know if I should or not, it all sounds a bit fishy. The bulk of the debt is for 2 loans, both of which had the interest already paid off so we were only paying the capital, currently making half the original payment. So now they want us to repay these on a 7% loan, is this right. We are in financial difficulty and now they are asking for more money.

We are currently with CCCS so they are managing the payments, if we did the loan we will still be with CCCS with other creditors but then have to sort out the loan.

Please advise what I should do? Thanks in advance

BlushingRose

kirstie1244 wrote: »

Hi All
Havn't been on in ages as DS has been in and out of hospital. Anyway still having loads of problems with HSBC, overdraft has gone form being £1500 OD when I started end of Oct to now nearly £2000 OD with all the charges so i'm going to write them another letter.

This week HSBC have sent me an agreement to sigh up for a managed loan but I dont know if I should or not, it all sounds a bit fishy. The bulk of the debt is for 2 loans, both of which had the interest already paid off so we were only paying the capital, currently making half the original payment. So now they want us to repay these on a 7% loan, is this right. We are in financial difficulty and now they are asking for more money.

We are currently with CCCS so they are managing the payments, if we did the loan we will still be with CCCS with other creditors but then have to sort out the loan.

Please advise what I should do? Thanks in advance

I'm not sure that CCCS would be keen with you taking out another loan? Isn't that credit and you're supposed to avoid that when on a DMP?

Time_to_face_the_music

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

I sound so ungrateful don't I? But I can't believe that with such a well paid job I have so little left over each month.

Standingtall wrote: »

I earn more than I have ever earned, or even dreamed of earning, yet I am in a DMP. What a mess:mad:

Oh these ring so true with me. We have well paid jobs, we live well, we regularly holiday abroad and then something brings it all tumbling down.

In our case, it was a small flood in the bathroom, we woke up to water ankle deep in the bathroom and cascading down the stairs. No worries, we are insured, we thought and so we were.

Only problem was that we were insured for the repairs/replacement to the bathroom, stairs, hall and kitchen, (below bathroom and the ceiling collapsed). What we weren't insured for was discovering that all of the stairs, landings, bedroom floors and joists, basically everything upstairs, had rot and needed to be replaced and that our kitchen, which was an extension, had no supporting beams above the doors and windows. And this was just the start.

We couldn't suddenly find the £37,000 needed to pay for all of this. Our total wages each month and more were going to the builders and we lived in a building site for 4 months. We turned to our credit cards to live and it didn't help that we could not cook, due to having no kitchen, and could not bear to be in the house so ate out or bought takeways. The banks all wanted to help so they "kindly" kept increasing our limits and upping our overdrafts.

The builders move out and £37,000 of debt soon turns into £81,000 and all of our wages are now going straight to pay bills and there still isn't enough. So here we are.

BlushingRose

I'm very envious of you folks who used to have holidays. We've never had enough money to do that

Time_to_face_the_music

BlushingRose wrote: »

I'm very envious of you folks who used to have holidays. We've never had enough money to do that

I hope my post did not come across the wrong way. I was just trying to get the message through that debt can suddenly cripple anyone in any walk of life, poor, rich and in-between. Our immediate family and a couple of close friends know our situation, if I told anyone else how much we earn and that we are in a DMP, I think they would struggle to believe me.

I will never use credit again, I never want to own a credit card again but I will count the days until I can use my own money to pay again for the things I used to take so much for granted.

wannabee_in_credit

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

I hope my post did not come across the wrong way. I was just trying to get the message through that debt can suddenly cripple anyone in any walk of life, poor, rich and in-between.

I think that I just needed to have my lbm. My mother always used to tell me that people quickly adapted to living to their means - I always lived beyond my means. When I was a student I overspent, when I worked pt I overspent, when I got a well paid job I overspent.
You're right, it can get anyone, no matter how much you are, or are not earning.

LaCoco

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

I will never use credit again, I never want to own a credit card again but I will count the days until I can use my own money to pay again for the things I used to take so much for granted.

I feel exactly the same. It's a tough lesson to learn, but I'm grateful for the means to face our debts instead of letting them devour us.
We've never had a family holiday either, BlushingRose - built up debts by having babies halfway through degrees courses, having to move house suddenly twice, building up charges and borrowing more... but once we start on the DMP I actually think we'll be able to breathe easy for the first time in months and months - so almost like a holiday

However debts happen, they're never easy to deal with, are they? I'm hoping to drill into my kids the need to save, and be careful with every penny, because it's a concept I'm only grasping now, at the age of 32!

greebouk

I think Time to face the music is spot on. We all seem to live upto and beyond our means. But I think the blame too has to lie with some of the banks etc. I am a full time mom but despite knowing I had no job, lloyds still gave me 2 loans adding up to £15,000 and would have given me £20,000 more! And when i phoned up for a settlement figure, they told me I was allowed more money!

Someone, once the CCCS has contacted them, I dont think they will be quite so happy to give me some!

I was scared I could lose my house over this, but as they are unsecured loans, my home is safe. But now I look at it totally different. I used to see all things that needed doing, mostly cosmetic and it used to bother me, now I am just glad I am keeping it.

ianmak

Sorta related but not....

I had my first tattoo last month, I'd waited years cos I wanted something that meant something to me. Ended up getting one through a groupon deal. Family moaning (with reason) that I can't afford it!

Anyhoo, I'd like more when I can afford it, and poss the next one would be when I come out of debt. Something to remind me never to have credit again, that I can see, but I don't want others asking awkward questions!

So I'm thinking a '38' on the wrist, then every time I get the debit card out to pay for something I'll see it and think, "naa, better not!".