Hiding your debts? Think you can cope on your own?

Rochdale_Guy

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

You get a debit card with the Cashminder account so AFAIK you should still be able to use a chip/pin machine .......

Oh dear, I'm all emotional and not thinking straight at all

I'll just have to use a chip/pin machine (but they're a bit prehistoric) or just give the guy cash when I arrive and get a receipt.

Sorry everyone, looks like my head is in the clouds and I'm just not listening to you all.
Apologies for making things harder on myself than they need to be

Jenjen

Hi Rochdale Guy

Just thought I would reassure you on a few points that I've seen you mention as I ready through your thread. We started our DMP this month so we are not too far ahead of you.

The first one is don't worry about how long its going to take you to pay off. It will take you far longer if you don't do the DMP. Ours is currently set to take over 16 years assuming they all stop interest. I find that really hard to bear as our children will be adults by then! But we have to think positive and hope we can increase the payments at a later date. We are paying £147 a month. And unless we find a way to up our income before then we will probably have to reduce this for a year from April as DH's tax code is changing due to his employer cocking up his student loan repayments last year. None of the creditors have had any real problem with our DMP, in fact we haven't had a single phone call from any of them and some haven't even written to us yet. All have at least reduced the interest and most have put it to 0%.

The other thing I thought I should tell you is if you haven't missed payments yet it might be worth trying for a normal current account. As long as you don't have an overdraft on it it shouldn't be an issue provided you are accepted. The worst that can happen is they say no. We opened an ordinary Santander Current Account, with Debit Card, cheque book, online banking etc and had the acceptance email within 24hrs. I don't know if they did a credit check but I would guess they did. They even tried to give me an overdraft which I immediately cancelled. The best bit about this account though is its a cashback account so once we have had it for 3 months they will give us £200!!

Hope that helps. Good luck with everything. I know its not easy but everyone keeps telling me it will get better once things settle down.

ceeforcat

Sorry to butt in here but I clicked the link on the co-op cashbuilder account and note that it has a debit card facility - will that not do the job? It also has online banking and a standing order facility.

Rochdale_Guy

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Awwwwww sorry RG you've going through a really tough time - facing up to your debts & losing a long term relationship at the same time sucks.....

Thank you, I appreciate that :kisses3:
If crying reduced my debts, I'd be totally debt free by now

FabuLass

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

I don't have anyone else... just me, myself & I

Youve got us all for support tho....dont forget that

Rochdale_Guy

Jenjen wrote: »

The other thing I thought I should tell you is if you haven't missed payments yet it might be worth trying for a normal current account. As long as you don't have an overdraft on it it shouldn't be an issue provided you are accepted. The worst that can happen is they say no. We opened an ordinary Santander Current Account, with Debit Card, cheque book, online banking etc and had the acceptance email within 24hrs. I don't know if they did a credit check but I would guess they did. They even tried to give me an overdraft which I immediately cancelled. The best bit about this account though is its a cashback account so once we have had it for 3 months they will give us £200!!

Hope that helps. Good luck with everything. I know its not easy but everyone keeps telling me it will get better once things settle down.

Thank you Jenjen. :beer:
I would just rather have a chequebook "just in case"...... so I have you saying you went for a basic account with a chequebook, and others telling me I can't have one (no offence). The Co-Op application asks if you have any other credit cards, I can't lie and say NO, so will have to tick "other Visa" if/when I go back and reapply.

I'm just going 2 steps back with every step forward I take

Oh, and I have missed out on £200 *FREE* for switching to the Co-Op bank as offered this before Xmas when I still had my head in the sand.
I'm not after the money but £200 for free would be a massive help.
.
.
.

Rochdale_Guy

FeeFeeDee wrote: »

Youve got us all for support tho....dont forget that

Don't worry FeeFeeDee I will never forget the incredible warmth and kindess shown to me on here, ever.

You lot are keeping me going, although you must be frustrated as **** watching me from the sidelines spinning round and round then dizzily wandering off in the wrong direction when you're all shouting, "No! Go THAT way.....", ha ha.

:beer:

P.S. I owe you something too FFD, I haven't forgotten. :A

wannabee_in_credit

A basic bank account and a basic current account are not the same thing. That's why you're getting conflicting advice.
I think the best thing you could do, if you haven't already, is make a plan of action and stick to it. I appreciate that you've had a really rubbish (understatement) couple of days but you're getting yourself all wound up about it.
Answer this question honestly to yourself, not necessarily on here. Do you want to sort your financial situation out, really, or are you reacting to the fact that it's all come to a head? Because once you have your real, true lightbulb moment then everything will change and you'll really want to work at saving everything you can to get rid of your debts. I never, ever want a cheque book or credit card or loan again, because they've been nothing but trouble for me in the past. I'm sorry if I sound hard, but if you're acting in response to things that have happened rather than because you really want to sort it out then it's not going to happen (rather like me and my aspirations to be 5 stone lighter - I've used every excuse in the book but until my brain tells me that I want to be slim more than I want to eat lard then it just isn't going to happen).
You're panicking, which is perfectly normal, because it'll be a massive change. But remember that your previous/current lifestyle has gotten you to where you are now. So maybe time for a change.
And I'd better shut my mouth now I suppose as I think I may be coming across as offensive rather than helpful (I prefer to say that I'm honest).

Jenjen

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

Thank you Jenjen. :beer:
I would just rather have a chequebook "just in case"...... so I have you saying you went for a basic account with a chequebook, and others telling me I can't have one (no offence).

I'm going 2 steps back with every step forward I take

I have missed out on £200 *FREE* for switching to the Co-Op bank as offered this before Xmas when I still had my head in the sand.
I'm not after the money but £200 for free would be a massive help.

I use cheques a lot too, mainly to pay the kids dinner money to school because I'm not organised enough to make sure I have the cash and I prefer to see things going out of my account than just getting cash anyway.

Mine isn't a basic account though, thats the thing. I think the basic accounts wont have one generally, mine is Santander's ordinary current account. The one they advertise on their website. I checked with CCCS if this was ok and they said provided we declined the overdraft it was fine. They accepted us no problem but I don't think our credit rating was that bad before we entered the DMP. If your credit rating is bad you probably wouldn't be able to get it. Might be worth a try.

I'm certainly looking forward to the £200 cashback!

FabuLass

You have more important things to do first lolz