My Situation.... Please Help

g_attrill

pubgolf wrote: »

Well the sky were in commitment too, for another 8 months

You can still downgrade to the cheapest package, which is about £12/month I think. They might offer half price for 6 months or something, but just refuse.

Switching to pay as you go phones will also save a huge chunk. Make it a rule to not use them except when essential (and keep conversations brief), and never call a person's mobile number to chat, get them to call you or call landline to landline.

gingeremmie

I think you should go either to the citizens advice bureau or to CCCS or national debtline or one of the other charities which are genuinely free and not one of the rip off companies you see on the telly. They will help you but you will have to cut down. Things like Sky will have to go or as g_attrill says you will need to reduce to the cheapest package.

What sort of cars do you drive to pay £200 a month in insurance?! Are you driving around in brand new cars? In that case get rid of them and get something cheaper. When I was 20 I was driving a small old banger and I paid £189 a YEAR for car insurance. Now I can't even afford that so I'm driving a moped!

No one can tell you how to magic up the money out of nowhere and it is unlikely that you will completely walk away from your debts so you have to be prepared to do something about the situation, not just hope that the money will magically appear somewhere.

Claiming back bank charges is a good start and I'm glad you've opened another account but you need to address why you got into all the debt and what you're doing, or are going to do differently so you don't just end up in the same or more debt. How about a spending diary, write down everything you spend - you may have a huge coffee habit for example, a couple of cups a day adds up easily to maybe £100 a month!

You are still a few steps away from bailiffs coming and taking your possessions, if you can't sort something out with the bank then they will transfer the debt to an agency and you may be able to sort something out with them, as others have said. If you default on those payments then they may apply to court and you would get a CCJ which isn't really what you want, and could lead to bailiffs coming round. If they do, just don't let them in is the simple answer, but they won't go away forever. So you don't want to get to that point which means you need to address your spending first and work out where you can make cuts.

Good luck.

quantumleap

Pubgolf,

Some pro-active steps...

Speak with Sky. They will at least reduce your package. Simply tell them your circumstances have changed and you can't afford it.

Regarding your car insurance and petrol, to be honest you are paying almost £2,500 per annum for car insurance, which is shocking. I appreciate if you are both young it is more expensive but unless you are driving a car in a really high insurance group and have a number of convictions, it shouldn't be that expensive - you need to look at this as a matter of urgency because it could free up quite a bit of money.

£190-00 monthly is also quite high for petrol - how long is you commute to work.

You are also concerned over balliffs taking your things, this suggests to me that perhaps you have some things that you could consider putting on ebay in order to help clear you debt.

pubgolf

No this is ecause the stuff is my partners, and why should she have to suffer right? I was previously banned from deiving which has caused those problems, and £190 cover me and my partners petrol for the month.

BAILIFFCHASER

What car have you got and what reg ? are you 3rd party and how much ncb do you have ?

quantumleap

Fair enough regarding your partners stuff but I would suggest that if you can get rid of anything that you do. Also, I appreicate that a driving ban does shocking things to your insurance but could you drive a lesser car and insure yourselves third party only.

The reason I ask is because I also had a driving disqualification a number of years ago and I sold my car bought an old low group car and insured it third party only and I paid less that half of what you are paying. Not ideal but you aren't in an ideal situation and you are going to have to be inventive in the short term in order to rid yourself of your debt.

pubgolf

I know this but if i get rid of my car I will get nothing back for it anyway, I deive a 98 vectra!

moonlightpjs

pubgolf wrote: »

No this is ecause the stuff is my partners, and why should she have to suffer right? I was previously banned from deiving which has caused those problems, and £190 cover me and my partners petrol for the month.

Even way down the line, if it came to the Baliffs being sent out then they couldn't take your partners things as they belong to her and not to you. What items of yours are you worried about them taking?

May I just say though that this is a long way off and if handled right it will not even come to the point of the baliffs coming - there are many steps to take before then. You really do, in my opinion, need to seek advice from one of the free debt counsolling services, ie CCCS, Payplan or CAB. They offer free advice and will be able to set your mind at rest, either by implementing a DMP (Debt Management Plan), ie paying them so much a month according to your I&E, getting the creditors to stop interest etc and then paying and dealing with your creditors on your behalf or if this is not possible they will be able to advise you on how to deal with your creditors yourself, ie making a token payment yourself a month. They will also provide you with the letters to send to your creditors if you are not able to do a DMP. You do need to seek professional advice reegarding your SOA but please remember that there is a solution to everything.

moonlightpjs

I dont' mean to sound harsh but by looking at your SOA you do not have enough money left over every month to pay your debts and so in order for you to make some kind of payments to your creditors you really do need to make cutbacks, as everyone on here does. Its not nice, its not easy but we do it because we want to become debt free and when you feel like having a moan or whatever then just post on here, somebody will always be here to listen. This is why we are all posting, for advice and support and you will receive lots of it. People with a lot more experience will be able to show you how to make cutbacks but the fact remains that you do need to. I cannot tell you how helpful the free debt advice companies are, most of them are freephone numbers so it wouldn't hurt to give one of them a call.

If you still want to follow the route of requesting an CCA then do so but in the meantime you have other debts that need to be sorted out.

I hope you get sorted out soon and keep posting x

quantumleap

Pubgolf, I'm probably going to sound harsh but I want to give my honest opinion. You are spending almost half your combined income between phones/sky/food and car. Quite frankly this is way to much and you have to find a means to reduce it.

I'm assuming there is only you and your partner to feed, if that is the case £180.00 per month is too much and can and should be reduced. I have a wife and two kids under three and only spend between £220-£250 per month and believe me we eat well and shop in tesco or sainsburys.

Ditch sky - the contract is not an issue, just tell them you can't afford it.

Sort out your phones - £100.00 per month is too much at any time, never mind when you are in debt.

As far as the car goes, you can't afford it. It costs you almost 30% of your combined income to run a car. Research methods of getting to work, either by getting a lift of some form of public transport - buy a bike or two but see if you can rid yourself of the car, even if it is only for a short period of time and put this money into your debt.

I wish you well