desperate for your guidance

pelagia26

Hi,
I keep reading so many fantastic posts about how you guys get to see the light in messy debt situation and by working so hard you manage to pay all debts off. Well done to all of you!!! Im in £21300 debt and really dont know where to start.... got a little girl age 4 and really want make sure i can manage my finances for her sake and to be able to set a good example for her.... This situation is getting me so depressed and down but hoping that with a bit of guidance from some kind people i will be able to handle it all.... Could you please give me some advise where to start and how to deal with it? I would much appreciate all your comments and all your help. Thank you so much.

mr2jay

Hi there - well done on having the guts to admit that this has to stop - only just made that decision myself and it is a scary one. This forum is fantastic for picking up tips on how to reduce your spend on day to day to bring a little extra free to tackle those red nasties.

I'll say it first, one thing we will need to see is a Statement Of Affairs. What this will do is allow people with mega financial savvy take a peek and suggest ways to eek a little more out of your cash.

Please, don't get depressed over this. We all know it isn't a nice place but you are already taking stock and looking at ways to make it better.

jon1965

Hi and welcome.
I suppose a good place to start is by listing your debts, when they were taken out and if you are up to date or in arrears/defaulted/ccj etc.
How you tackle it will depend on a number of factors such as your income, do you own your own home , how old the debts are etc etc. Maybe a quick breakdown of them on here if you feel comfortable with that.

ellesbellesxxx

Take a deep breath, be completely honest and fill this in - post it up and wait for great advice. Well done for taking control! http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

jon1965

Sorry but I have to ask , why does everyone scream SOA . It is a very private thing to put on a public forum and be judged on. Working out how to save 50p here and £1 there is not the priority. What is the priority is working out how the debts are made up, where you are wih them , what if any are priority debts etc.
SOA on this site is like have you checked your CRA file and I bet you have charges to reclaim on another site , all utter crap at this stage in the game. They are also so impersonal and people get judged. So you might have sky and some nutter says cancel it, well if you are 1/2 way through a contract why cancel it when they will only chase you for the money and increase your debt.
1st priority is work out what you owe and to whom, if any of them can be persuaded to stop /reduce interest and indeed if they are lawfully enforceable.
Next is to look at your commitments, so see if a cheaper utilities provider is available, if you can bundle your BB , phone etc to save money.

mr2jay

jon1965 wrote: »

Sorry but I have to ask , why does everyone scream SOA . It is a very private thing to put on a public forum and be judged on. Working out how to save 50p here and £1 there is not the priority. What is the priority is working out how the debts are made up, where you are wih them , what if any are priority debts etc.
SOA on this site is like have you checked your CRA file and I bet you have charges to reclaim on another site , all utter crap at this stage in the game. They are also so impersonal and people get judged. So you might have sky and some nutter says cancel it, well if you are 1/2 way through a contract why cancel it when they will only chase you for the money and increase your debt.
1st priority is work out what you owe and to whom, if any of them can be persuaded to stop /reduce interest and indeed if they are lawfully enforceable.
Next is to look at your commitments, so see if a cheaper utilities provider is available, if you can bundle your BB , phone etc to save money.

Wow - I can understand your stance but didn't expect that response. I only started on here tackling my debts yesterday and found that posting the SOA so people could recommend areas I could eek a little more cash out VERY useful.

Yes, it is personal but all debt is also a personal thing. I personally came on here to air my debts and ask the best way to get rid of them. Is not asking "Who do you owe money to and how much?" also intrusive?

Fact of the matter is that by posting the SOA, people were able to point me in areas I could save money, thus freeing up more to hit the debts with. In this day and age, money is tight for everyone and the only way to get rid of debt is to work out how you can free up cash to pay them, hence the SOA

Jinx

Pelagia I was in a similar circumstance to you and you can do it

The others advise doing your budget (public or not) and they are all correct, I advise you get all your paperwork together and get two nice folders and dividers and have a section for each debt and have the other folder for your 'proper' bills such as mortgage, council tax etc. For me it helped separate the most important bills from those I had to work on. You will get LOTS of paperwork as you follow this route and it is invaluable.

The most important things to remember are they cannot have it if you do not - its not illegal to not be able to pay only to not intend to...

Also make your repayment offers achieveable and liveable. If its a long road you need to be realistic and that includes a life for you and the little one. Eg I had socialising money, driving lessons and pocket money for my daughter on my SOA, one company told me to take her pocket money off! Told em to politely sod off and take me to court, see if the judge agreed - not another peep.

Stay on the debt-free wannabe forum, its invaluable. It was a lifeline for me and a source of oodles of info.

Good luck!!

jon1965

It wasn't a personal attack at anyone it is just my view. IMHO at this point a macro approach is better. I have 40K of debt but so far half of that is unenforceable because it is not legally compliant, therefore in one fell swoop I have been able to double the amount of money I can pay to the legally enforceable debts. If I had known about this when I first entered a DMP I may have been debt free by now with all the UE debts being SB'd and the rest paid off . Saving a bit here and there would have been like a drop in the ocean
Of course I did what I could to minimise my outgoings and I am not saying don't. I just find the detail asked for in the SOA is way too much and the comments made by some people very very rude

Jinx has put it far better than I could, no need to make it public and tell em to sod off when they get stupid. Stop pocke money indeed! Same with socialising, a reasonable amount is important, helps to keep you sane.

backinbusiness

It may be private, but it's also anonymous.

And usually very worthwhile.

Sometimes the poster really can't see the wood for the trees, and doesn't realise that they are paying more for a particular utility/groceries whatever than they could realistically acheive.

Up to you OP if you post SOA or not, but as I said above, generally very beneficial.

BiB

Takeaway_Addict

jon1965 wrote: »

Sorry but I have to ask , why does everyone scream SOA . It is a very private thing to put on a public forum and be judged on. Working out how to save 50p here and £1 there is not the priority. What is the priority is working out how the debts are made up, where you are wih them , what if any are priority debts etc.
SOA on this site is like have you checked your CRA file and I bet you have charges to reclaim on another site , all utter crap at this stage in the game. They are also so impersonal and people get judged. So you might have sky and some nutter says cancel it, well if you are 1/2 way through a contract why cancel it when they will only chase you for the money and increase your debt.
1st priority is work out what you owe and to whom, if any of them can be persuaded to stop /reduce interest and indeed if they are lawfully enforceable.
Next is to look at your commitments, so see if a cheaper utilities provider is available, if you can bundle your BB , phone etc to save money.

No one screams SOA as you put it, people ask for it because the people that ask often can't see the woods for the trees and it is easier for people to advise them on where there are possibilities of cutting down their costs....whether people take this advice is up to them.

I disagree that the first step is always to persuade if you can stop or reduce the interest, you are presuming that the person is already defaulting when this may not be the case and actually an SOA would be the appropriate action to help get advice on freeing up spare cash.

Ultimately if you don't like the questions then don't ask them and ask the questions you want answering, ranting about it isn't going to help anyone.

Takeaway_Addict

backinbusiness wrote: »

It may be private, but it's also anonymous.

And usually very worthwhile.

Sometimes the poster really can't see the wood for the trees, and doesn't realise that they are paying more for a particular utility/groceries whatever than they could realistically acheive.

Up to you OP if you post SOA or not, but as I said above, generally very beneficial.

BiB

jinx.......