Charlotte664 - My very own Debt Diary

skylight

POP


That is the sound of my head being removed from the sand!!! :rotfl: (Again!)

Basic history here before I get onto the recent stuff.

We knew we were heading for trouble late 2004 early 2005 - then I found this site. Loads of great advice later and a years worth of DMP with all our creditors, last year almost all of them decided that they had helped for long enough (12 months) and wanted more money - refusing our offers of payment.

So - Bankruptcy loomed. Thats when I shoved my head back in the sand. I have been going on about how OH and I were going to go BR, but we have never actually got ourselves round to it. Cowards that we are.

Another child later, we now have an extra income now (OH got a payrise last week! and extra CTC etc) means we have an additional £200 a month to put towards our debts.

So. Final ditched effort to pay back what we owe. I have in my hands letters to all our creditors (data protection officers anyway!) asking for details of all charges - yep, we too are going to claim back what they charged us - and to be honest, these charges are what caused a lot of the problems in the first place. As soon as you admit that there is a problem BAM! a charge is applied and then another and another. I want these back.

I am also writing to all of them offering payments. These letters will be posted next week. Wednesday is my day for attempting to resurect our Debt Management Plans with these people. I do believe that once the charges are refunded, our debts will be more manageable with our extra income. (I am aware of the OFT ruling due and even if they only refunded half we will be better off)

The first problem is Hyundai Car Finance. I had a cash loan with these people for the purchase of a car. They are taking me to court for a CCJ on 29th March. I did attempt to defend the claim as they did not provide me with a signed credit agreement last year - despite asking in writing twice. They have since added court charges (typical!) to the bill and have also provided a copy of the signed agreement to the court.
I have no intention of actually going along on the day. I can not take a (then) 4-week old baby who is being breastfed into court! :rotfl: I will simply write to the court accepting the companies signed agreement, but expressing my disappointment that its taken them this long to provide one. Plus (obviously) an offer of payment (they want £115pm, I can afford £10!)

Anyway.

I will add to the thread a post listing my (and OH) debts - I have no idea how much some of them now are, lots of them have made no effort to make any contact over the last year - and will keep it updated.

slowlyfading

okay, look forward to seeing SOA

Headintheclouds_3

Hi there Charlotte - and welcome. Sometimes it does take a while to have your lightbulb moment!

I'm sure that once you've posted your SOA you'll get plenty of advice. Good luck!

moozie_2

Well done on pulling your head out of the sand as you put it. Look forward to reading more!

DEBTFREEWANNABE_6

well done on making the first step to be debt free. looking forward on seeing
your soa

lynsayjane

welcome back to dfw!

all the best with your letters and congrats to oh on the new job/payrise!

skylight

Of all the years I have posted here, I have never done this!!!

This is the SOA as put together for us by Payplan, so will be the one I will be sending to our creditors. Any savings I make on the SOA (And I think I know where I will save!) will go into a "pot" to reduce our debts by making extra payments to creditors.

We are a family of 7 - 5 kids from newborn to 16yo and 2 adults. (Although 16yo splits her time half here, half at Nans, so I have to give Nan some housekeeping for food etc at Nans - which I give her out of the Housekeeping budget - Normally £50 a month)

We have 2 cars - a people carrier that is essential (obviously!), and a smaller car for OH to get to work and back (public transport is not an option for him and his start times)

Rent £380.00
Building/Contents Insurance £10.00
Life Insurance x 2/pension x 1 £61.00
Council Tax £112.00 (yes - this is right!)
Electricity £35.00 (Powergen - cheapest supplier)
Gas £35.00 (Powergen - cheapest supplier)
Telephones and Internet £115.00
BREAKDOWN: £20 PAYG, £40 BT, £40 Vodafone (6mnths contract to go) £15 ISP
Road Tax/MOT £36.00
Car Insurance £130.00 (sadly - cheapest providers)
Car Maintenance £35.00
Petrol £130.00
Public Transport £33.00 (Bus Pass for eldest to get to school)
Housekeeping £640.00 (Family 7 = £3 per person, per day)
Medical/Dental/Opticians £17.00
Haircuts £50.00
Clothing £90.00 (includes shoes, school uniform etc)
Emergency/Holiday/Xmas/Birthday £50.00
Entertainment and going out £50.00
OUSBA - OU Student Account £50.00
TV Licence/Rental £11.00
Total Expenditure: £2,070.00

Total Income: £2,278.08 (Wages, CTC and CB)
Total Expenditure: £2,070.00
Surplus: £208.08


I do not spend that much on housekeeping a month! I can save a good £100 a month on that easily. Clothing is about right. We can spend that in a single month on shoes (I won't budge on quality footwear) - but I do buy a lot of clothing on Ebay for the kids (Ebay or Primark anyway!) :T

With the telephones, I have only just moved back to BT (a few months ago) and this is the first months direct debit payment (to avoid the new extra charges). I reckon I can save a good £15 a month against the bills - not having a proper quarterly bill from them yet, so I wont know for definate for a few months. The vodafone bill has 6 months to go on the contract. Then its down to PAYG. My phone is already PAYG and I actually spend £10 a month max on this. ISP is AOL and have 9 months to go on the contract.

So - there is at least £110 a month saving right now on the Payplan SOA that I can see, that I can chuck at debts and a saving of £145 within the next 6 months. :j

We owe approx £40k - will post those in another post here in the diary when I have the time. (Cbeebies bedtime hour right now, then bathtime, then baby wants feeding, then I am off to bed by 8pm - ready for the night feeds!)

So - what do you think?????

jules68

hi cant offer any advice as I am new to all this!! But if you can cope with 5 kids and a husband you can cope with anything.you sound as though you know your goals, so i am sure everything will work out
Good Luck

skylight

Below is a copy of what I want to send to my creditors. It seems rather naff but all truthful (which I know creditors dont really care about - they just want money!) but I want to express my position completely.

But it appears to be missing a certain "something". Can I have some suggestions please!!!?? :T



Dear Sirs,

I would like to arrange a Debt Management Plan with yourselves for the above debt you have acquired from Barclaycard.

As I am a “stay-at-home-Mum”, I do not have any income and this is not likely to change for the foreseeable future.

Having taken advice from Payplan and CCCS, they have recommended bankruptcy, but to be honest I really do not want to go down that route if at all avoidable.

All creditors are being offered pro-rata payments and I am able to pay you £10 per month on an on-going basis and on the condition that interest and charges are not added to the account. It would be appreciated if you could accept this amount and send your bank details by return, in order for me to set up a standing order with yourselves for the duration of the debt with effect from 1st May 2007.

Should my circumstances change, I will contact you again.

skylight

jules68 wrote: »

hi cant offer any advice as I am new to all this!! But if you can cope with 5 kids and a husband you can cope with anything.you sound as though you know your goals, so i am sure everything will work out
Good Luck

Actually, I am a bit of a fraud here!

The eldest is my step-daughter (from hubbys first marriage) and I don't like her. The feeling is mutual though! Its why she spends half her time at Nans house - cos I simply cannot cope with her.

I am not her Mum and she doesn't like me one little bit. And the baby is better behaved than she is!

But the poor girl has been through an awful lot in her life, so I have to grit my teeth and put up with things - then off-load her so I can have some time of relative peace and quiet!

CLAPTON

are all the debts in your name (only)?