desperate for your guidance

backinbusiness

Yikes - snap!

jon1965

Hence the basic question of who do you owe and what is the status. Asking a creditor to take a reduced payent does not automatically lead to a default, and prior to that a DN has to be sent.
If all the accounts are up to date then maybe a basic SOA is helpful.
You say that it is private but DCA's can and do read these forums and do have a brain (well hidden at times I know) and sometimes work things out

Takeaway_Addict

jon1965 wrote: »

Hence the basic question of who do you owe and what is the status. Asking a creditor to take a reduced payent does not automatically lead to a default, and prior to that a DN has to be sent.
If all the accounts are up to date then maybe a basic SOA is helpful.
You say that it is private but DCA's can and do read these forums and do have a brain (well hidden at times I know) and sometimes work things out

You're getting a bit conspiracy theorist on us now....

pelagia26

Thank you all for your great help. I think first thing I need to do is to get all my paperwork together and sort it all out as Jinx advised. Hopefully getting a bit more organised will give me direction where to go next and make a decission on SOA and also just start to be honest with myself regarding all my outgoings.

Barbeduk

Blimey, keep your hair on everyone! I'd be paying far less towards my debts if I hadn't done a SOA. Even though I didn't post it here I found it an excellent way of focusing on where the money goes and I cut down immediately. And yes I kept sky just cancelled the movies!

Most people on here are only trying to help, that really should be remembered.

antonia1

Hi OP - your thread seems to have been hijacked. I shall ignore all of that and tell you what helped me:

Firstly, I checked all of my accounts (bank accounts, savings, loan, credit cards) and wrote out a list of who I owed money to and how much I owed, as well as interest rates (the ones I knew or could easily find).

Secondly, I did an SOA. That way I worked out that I had no idea where my money was going, but that on paper I could afford to live and pay the minimum on my debts.

Thirdly, I started a spending diary, then realised that I would much rather pay debt off sooner than get buy 2 cans of diet coke each day from my work canteen. All that extra money is going straight to the highest interest debts.

If you don't want to post information that's fine, and lots of helpful tips can be gained from checking out other people's SOAs. However, if you want to post it up then feel free - often people find it helpful because they miss things the first time around (eg I didn't budget for medical cos I'm not on any regular medication, but then each dentist appointment was putting a £17 hole in my monthly allowance).

Jinx

pelagia26 wrote: »

Thank you all for your great help. I think first thing I need to do is to get all my paperwork together and sort it all out as Jinx advised. Hopefully getting a bit more organised will give me direction where to go next and make a decission on SOA and also just start to be honest with myself regarding all my outgoings.

Its quite scary Pelagia! I was totally gobsmacked when I first added it all up. In all honesty it was this site which got me setup to do my own DMP and I used it for guidance lots and lots.

You can see from my signature it took a long time for me to pay it all off - my daughter was too young to understand debt and I protected her from it but over the years I have been more open about my stupidity with credit cards to the extent she is fairly money savvy and we talk about finances a lot. She now uses and posts on MSE too. Its a learning curve....

jon1965

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

You're getting a bit conspiracy theorist on us now....

Just because I am paranoid doesn't mean that you aren't all out to get me!

Barbeduk wrote: »

Blimey, keep your hair on everyone! I'd be paying far less towards my debts if I hadn't done a SOA. Even though I didn't post it here I found it an excellent way of focusing on where the money goes and I cut down immediately. And yes I kept sky just cancelled the movies!

Most people on here are only trying to help, that really should be remembered.

I know that most people on here are trying to help alas not all as I have been really hurt and insulted by not only trolls but supposedly long standing posters.

I am sorry if I upset anyone, it is just my opinion . Taking the debt issue by the horns is hard, I have lost count of the times i woke up in a cold sweat at 2am only to go and buy a bottle of wine that evening to drown my sorrows!

IMHO using National debt line is quite good as they can ask questions about expenditure, for example my mobile contract. It is quite expensive but if I cancel it it will become another debt whereas if I can manage to keep it for 6 months I can then go to a much much cheaper one and still cheaper than PAYG -for me anyway
There is potentially so much more to an expense than just the figure written down. For example , my partner who isnt in debt at all and is in fact as the saying goes toghter than a nuns xxxx used to pay thru the nose for his BB and telephone yet had a free view box with an indoor ariel. Bit of research and for less money got a combi sky pacakage that gave good TV and phone and BB for a lot less than he was paying.
So again sorry if I upset anyone, not intended .
My view is still look at the state of the debts to start with so
Credit card A , taken out 2009, balance 2000 , upto date
CCredit card B 2003, 4000 default
Loan C 1000 2011 up to date

jon1965

Barbeduk wrote: »

Blimey, keep your hair on everyone! I'd be paying far less towards my debts if I hadn't done a SOA. Even though I didn't post it here I found it an excellent way of focusing on where the money goes and I cut down immediately. And yes I kept sky just cancelled the movies!

Most people on here are only trying to help, that really should be remembered.

Ha , hair is one expense i don't have...wonder if I cantell my creditors it costs me £5 a month lol

antonia1 wrote: »

Hi OP - your thread seems to have been hijacked. I shall ignore all of that and tell you what helped me:

Firstly, I checked all of my accounts (bank accounts, savings, loan, credit cards) and wrote out a list of who I owed money to and how much I owed, as well as interest rates (the ones I knew or could easily find).

Secondly, I did an SOA. That way I worked out that I had no idea where my money was going, but that on paper I could afford to live and pay the minimum on my debts.

Thirdly, I started a spending diary, then realised that I would much rather pay debt off sooner than get buy 2 cans of diet coke each day from my work canteen. All that extra money is going straight to the highest interest debts.

If you don't want to post information that's fine, and lots of helpful tips can be gained from checking out other people's SOAs. However, if you want to post it up then feel free - often people find it helpful because they miss things the first time around (eg I didn't budget for medical cos I'm not on any regular medication, but then each dentist appointment was putting a £17 hole in my monthly allowance).

That IMHO is the best advice given today.
If you have any debts that are pre 2007 (which I somewhat doubt as you sound like you may be a lot youger than this old fossil ) AND your credit rating is trashed or not important to you then unenforceability is worth looking at

SimonOlder

I moved to another country to get my living costs down. was living in south east which is so expensive so I moved to Berlin. Pretty crazy and I know not everyone can do it but when I was in the UK I was steadily going into more and more debt, now I'm steadily getting out of it bit by bit. I think its not just the living costs but also the the fact I don't understand most of the advertising and don't watch as much TV so I'm not tempted by so many things. Also though, travelling gave me some perspective and made me change my lifestyle. I realise most people can't do this but just thought I'd share my experience. Good luck! debt sucks and there's no reason we should all be living in it!