£80,000

thejames

merlot123 wrote: »

IVAs are not for everyone and I don't they think they are free to arrange. Have you read Martin Lewis's article on IVAs?

You need to be contacting the CCCS or Payplan for advice before going down the IVA route.

I've read a few articles on them, one min I'm feeling positive the next I'm panicking.

thejames

Yes I've read this. Maybe DMP?

merlot123

thejames wrote: »

Yes I've read this. Maybe DMP?

Personally I would consider a DMP before anything else. Please contact a debt charity on Monday, they will advise you for free.

merlot123

http://www.cccs.co.uk/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=200001&gclid=CL-c2-vR360CFUkMtAod7mw17Q

This is one of the debt charities. Others are available.

Have you looked through this website?

darlyn

Hi thejames,

Well done for acknowledging your issues on here, I have just read the entire thread from start to finish.

You have been given some great advice already and I wish you the best of luck whatever route you finally choose.

I see you have been discussing IVA's today - I (we) were in a similar position to you guys 6 years ago. We went for an IVA and it was a huge reflief, the worry is taken away, the creditors stop calling, and you have a single affordable amount to pay each month for 5 years. Its not easy, but it is way doable. You pretty much supply your SOA, the IVA company say you can afford £x per month, and thats what goes to your IVA. Your then protected by court for the period.

It's not as bad as bunkrupt (and police cant do that, right?). You keep your house (you have a little equity that you might be asked to release). Everything else you keep. An IVA would see you paying somewhere around 30p or so in the pound of your debts at the end of the period. The cost of the IVA id included in the setup. It was a simple process for us. Beware: It WILL !!!!!! up your credit, and you will not be allowed any further credit for 6 years from the start of an IVA.

I'm no expert, so please dont read too much into this, I'm simply telling you my experience having started and finished an IVA, and I'm now debt free completly.

Good luck, whatever route you choose - at least your doing something about the problem.

thejames

darlyn wrote: »

Hi thejames,

Well done for acknowledging your issues on here, I have just read the entire thread from start to finish.

You have been given some great advice already and I wish you the best of luck whatever route you finally choose.

I see you have been discussing IVA's today - I (we) were in a similar position to you guys 6 years ago. We went for an IVA and it was a huge reflief, the worry is taken away, the creditors stop calling, and you have a single affordable amount to pay each month for 5 years. Its not easy, but it is way doable. You pretty much supply your SOA, the IVA company say you can afford £x per month, and thats what goes to your IVA. Your then protected by court for the period.

It's not as bad as bunkrupt (and police cant do that, right?). You keep your house (you have a little equity that you might be asked to release). Everything else you keep. An IVA would see you paying somewhere around 30p or so in the pound of your debts at the end of the period. The cost of the IVA id included in the setup. It was a simple process for us. Beware: It WILL !!!!!! up your credit, and you will not be allowed any further credit for 6 years from the start of an IVA.

I'm no expert, so please dont read too much into this, I'm simply telling you my experience having started and finished an IVA, and I'm now debt free completly.

Good luck, whatever route you choose - at least your doing something about the problem.

I honestly never want credit, ever!!! I'll save like I should have and faced life, but I'll look at all my options and am grateful for your story. Thank you.

psychopathbabble

Another thing to consider, and this isn't guaranteed, is PPI. I only say this having received a letter yesterday telling me I will be refunded £4200 from a bank for PPI that was blatantly missold a few years ago.

Not sure if this is relevant, or how much it will help your immediate situation but it might be worth a look.

Definitely ask the charities advice and look into each DMP/IVA/Bankrupt individually to see what is right for you. It might take abit of time to decide, but you have made the most important step which is to start finding a resolution to your problem.

Good luck xx

Poosmate

psychopathbabble wrote: »

Another thing to consider, and this isn't guaranteed, is PPI. I only say this having received a letter yesterday telling me I will be refunded £4200 from a bank for PPI that was blatantly missold a few years ago.

:TYay! well done Psycho! Drinks are on you next Mike's mob meet! lol

Sorry to hijack your thread thejames, back on topic now though.

I have read the whole thread and to be honest I think you are looking but are still unable to see the wood for the trees. It seems to me that you have been living beyond your means for so long you are unable to comprehend that a £600 monthly food bill for four can be reduced by at least £200, that 3 mobile phones costing £120 is not excesive, that a DMP or IVA is not the answer to all your problems. You said in one of your posts that you spent £300 on 3 days shopping for Christmas - was you feeding the whole force?

Until you realise that those examples above are not normal, are excesive and almost obscene I think you will really struggle to get yourselves out of debt. I do believe that you can see the problem but I really don't think you have understood it. Your lightbulb is flickering and I hope you have your lightbulb moment very soon because you can so change this situation round without going for an IVA or a DMP. (Lightbulb moment is the realisation that you are in so much !!!! that you vomit and poo at the same time).

You said in your last post that you honestly never want credit again, well that may be, but unfortunately whether you want it or not, so much of your financial commitments are tied up in credit checks from simple mobile phone contracts to re-newing or re-negotiating your mortgage. Remember, if your credit history is shot to poo your existing creditors can pull the plug on existing contracts when they come up for renewal. No 0% credit deals to make use of. Sub-prime interest rates for re-newing mortgages or re-negotiating loans.

Please have your lightbulb moment now, turn that light on and realise how much debt you have. Do it now whilst you have all this virtual support around you.

Are you paying your council tax over 10 months or 12? If 10 then you will be £116 better off next month and in March, that's £232 extra you can pay towards your credit card debt with the highest interest rate.

With so many debts and paying over £1k per month off them maybe you could open up a Halifax Rewards account and transfer your £1k into it each month (so receiving £5 free each month) then set up the DD's for the minimum payments each month. As your balances come down each month you will gain a surplus in that account which you can use to make an extra payment off your highest interest CC debt. You will be paying more and more off your debts each month without even trying and once you get your spending down you may even be able to save a few bob towards an emergency fund - or use it to pay a loan off early or a credit card.

Please don't be too scared, you've made the most important step of acknowledging your problem and more importantly you've set up a support system before (I believe) you've had your true "poo, vomit, faint, cry, despair, OMG!" lightbulb moment.

Good luck and don't forget everyone is here to help you.

Be strong,

Poo

thejames

You maybe right but I have said that were not sure how to deal with this in the most appropriate way, we have two children who's life we have to consider so any decisions will not be made lightly.

No we didn't feed the force, we decided to enjoy this Christmas on our own and we did, we did have other shopping as well.

I think the problem regardless off phones and food is that I would need to up my hours and I'm worried for my health, and being there for my kids, remember partly the reason were in this mess was because of my emotional instability because of the work. I don't want to go down that road again.

Maybe we haven't completely got there yet but were starting and I do feel that that is all we can do for now.

rising_from_the_ashes

thejames well done on what you've achieved so far. When I was paying back my debts it came down to what I really needed -v- what I wanted. I do agree with Poo that you're maybe flickering with the LBM and haven't had the full watt moment yet but that's OK. It will come (especially now you're flickering) and when it does ... you'll know what's a priority and what isn't/

There will always be some things we decide we can't do without - but the trick is working out what these are (and obviously it can't be everything!) and deciding what we could do with less of.

From the cutting back / kids bit - if there's something that the kids really enjoy and would really miss then it's fine to keep it but maybe it only happens every fortnight rather than every week ... or you fund it by cutting back somewhere else (eg groceries).

I used to have a takeaway every Friday night - in my view, I deserved it after working 2 jobs (and going to college 2 nights a week) but it had to go to pay the debts - I cut it to once a month and actually enjoyed it more as it really was a treat!

Now, I can't believe I spent all that money on takeaways - I only had 3 in the whole of 2011 as I'd now much rather spend the money on something better! HTH