Newbie drowning in debt circa £330K

Joanne123

Not sure if I'm posting in the right place and worried that I'll never find my way beck here again as this site is so big.
Our debt is around £330K. I stopped counting at £326K and there's at least another few cards which I don't have the courage to count.
I somehow found the site "what's the cost" and have been tracking our debts since late July but it is going nowhere but up.
We are now in a situation where the debt is just going up and up each month because we have no money and are just living off credit cards.
Today I had to go out and spend £300 on my husbands card so I could claim it back on expenses at work (it was work related spending) in order to pay this months credit card debt.
The biggest debt is the mortgage which is £261K. The rest are all credit cards plus a zopa loan which finishes next year.
We have 3 children aged 11 and twins age 7.
The 11 year old is disabled and the house has been adapted, there is probably some equity on the mortgage but we do need the adaptations and so moving is not really an option as we would have to get more adaptations.
I work but husband doesn't (he's age 66 and retired). He cares for the children, particularly our son who is disabled.
Household income is good. I earn £45K and he has an income of £900 per month private pension. We also get child benefit, state retirement pension and DLA for our son.
The problem is we are paying around £3,300 to our debts each month, interest is around £2,000 and according to what's the cost the debt is just going up.
I reckon that by Christmas our cards will be maxed out and we will have nowhere to turn. I want to get things under control before we get there.
We have a CAB money advisor at work 1 day a week, it is to help people facing repossession (we haven't missed a mortgage payment yet but credit cards are starting to bounce) but it is also available for staff.
Would they help me bearing in mind we have a mortgage and some equity.
I just can't go on like this. I have a really stressful job but at the end of the day all income is going out on debts and I wonder why we are bothering.
We don't have satellite TV, we have a car each, mine is 7 years old and I need it for work , his is 24 years old (we stop paying car tax next year) and our mobile phones are PAYG and cost around £7 per month each.
I'm not sure if there is any help available for people like us.
The CAB man comes in on Thursday, do you think it is worth talking to him?
Joanne

Cornish_piskie

Hi Joanne

I'm not a regular poster on the DFW board but I'm a night-owl and have a read of lots of threads late into the night. The helpful and supportive folk will be along later and into tomorrow. In the meantime, read the 'sticky' thread at the top of this board for newbies. It's got lots of helpful info and a link to a Statement of Affairs form. If you fill that in as best you can and then post it here in your thread (use the 'format for MSE' button) then you will get lots of help and suggestions.

Thread here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/562271

Another good thing to do is to have a read of some of the debt free diaries on here - very inspirational and you will see that you are very much not alone. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Sorry I don't have anything very constructive to say but I will leave you to the knowledgeable regs and wish you well x

merlot123

Welcome Joanne to MSE and the Debt Free Board.

It would be helpful if you could fill in an soa - http://www.stoozing.com/msoc/soacalc.php, it will help us to help you.

Without seeing your income and expenditure it is difficult to comment, but be assured their is a solution to every debt problem.

You have many options open to you, from offering token payments, a Debt Management Plan, IVA (very few are suited to this option), and bankruptcy to name the main ones.

Let us help you, follow the link and format it to MSE (button at the bottom of the SOA).

Merlot123

Joanne123

Thank you. I'll have a bash at that tomorrow during my lunch break.
I've seen a few and it looks a bit complicated, husband pays all car costs (insurance and tax) but apart from that I think I'm good to go as most info is already on whats the cost.
This is awful. I get the feeling that we have to hit rock bottom and be repossessed before any help is available.
I feel so guilty because I earn so much and so I shouldn't be in this situation
Jo

merlot123

Joanne, You may have hit rock bottom but a solution is available. You can offer token payments to creditors say a £1 a week/month in order to pay your mortgage, your priority debts are mortgage, Council tax, Water, Gas & electricity and HMRC (tax Bills if you have them), everyone else can wait unless you have a secured loan on your home (this is a priority too). Creditors cannot have what you haven't got.

Your debts probably took years to build up and it certainly isn't going to disappear overnight, you are in it for the long haul, but fear not, you will have advice and support from MSE to help you towards your debt free goal.

merlot123

http://www.cccs.co.uk/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=200001&gclid=CI7_59vl0bICFcENfAodF1cAJA

Read the above website, its a debt charity CCCS, lots of knowledge and advice.

painted_lady

Hi Joanne,
didnt want to read your post and run, but there will be much more knowledgeable people along to help you.
Just something I noticed, car tax on historic vehicles is payable, unless the vehicle was manufactured before 1973. The labour gov did away with the 25 year rule in 1998. My OH "collects" vintage and histopric vehicles, some are over 25 years old and he has to pay tax on them. If you get DLA for the child, does this include a mobility payment, which could help cover the car/tax etc? I am assuming you would get mobility if the house is adapted.
Also, if the house has adaptations made to enable someone with a disability to live there (and they would be unable to otherwise, such as adapted shower, stairlift,), your council tax is exempt. Might be worth looking into if you havent already?
Hope this helps.

Joanne123

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2350
Partners monthly income after tax....... 905
Benefits................................ 1022
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4277
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1360
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 177
Electricity............................. 85
Gas..................................... 80
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36
Telephone (land line)................... 34
Mobile phone............................ 14
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 760
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 50
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 2
Other travel............................ 5
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 186
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 16.5
Contents insurance...................... 16.5
Life assurance ......................... 122
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 40
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 3305.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 320000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 800
Total Assets............................ 323300

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 261000...(1360).....5.89
Total secured & HP debts...... 261000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
John Lewis (me)................8054......16.9......270
John Lewis (Husband)...........6750......17.9......195
Kays...........................260.......45........0
Nationwide.....................5950......133.......17.9
Bank of Scotland...............6977......69.77.....3.94
MBNA (husband).................3748......115.......23
MBNA (me)......................7942......181.......14.95
Halifax one CC.................1849......18.49.....7.92
Post Office CC.................945.......94.5......18.9
Marks and Spencer CC...........10849.....270.......18.9
Overdraft (husband)............1200......0.........21.2
Overdraft (joint acco..........1800......0.........18.9
Overdraft (me).................1650......0.........18.9
Zopa...........................1682......210.......8.9
Barclaycard (husband)..........10780.....195.......11.4
Barclaycard (me)...............7800......185.......10.5
Total unsecured debts..........78236.....1551.56...-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,277
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,305.12
Available for debt repayments........... 971.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,551.56
Amount short for making debt repayments. -579.68
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 323,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -261,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -78,236
Net Assets.............................. -15,936

Joanne123

Did a quick one while husband watches yet another CSI
An epic effort bacuase I couldn't post initially due to being a new user and having links.
I'll spend my lunchbreak tomorrow catching up with you (if I ever find you again) and checking out the links you have kindly posted.
Now I've listed all my debts it's even worse than I thought - looks like £339,236
Joanne

merlot123

Your grocery shopping is huge, you should be able to reduce this by at least £250 per month.

What are the child other expenses?

The life insurance is very high.

Looking at your SOA, a Debt Management plan looks the way forward, personally I would be contacting a debt charity tomorrow, either CCCS, Payplan or National Debt Line (these companies do not charge) and they will not judge you either.

Yes, you do have a high level of debt, but you also have a good income, it certainly isn't the worse I've seen, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Joanne123

Thanks Painted lady, We were looking forward to his car getting off tax free! We can forget that one then.
I hadn't really looked into the C Tax business because the house is a 4 bed and as we are only a 5 person family I thought we wouldn't really stand a chance.
DLA for son is higher rate care, we don't get mobility.
When we last renewed a couple of years ago they phoned and said if we didn't pursue the mobility claim they would give us higher rate care until Dec 2013. It comes up for renewal next year and as the Govt is looking at cutting benefits I am assuming we will lose it completely (son has severe congenital heart condition i.e hypoplastic left heart, epilepsy and mild learning diffs)
Many thanks to everyone who has replied so far.
As you say, mortgage is no 1 priority - it is £90K repayment and £160K interest only.
I don't care about credit rating as I never want debt again. We want to pay off our debts, we don't want them written off or written down - we ran up the debts so we have to pay them.
Joanne
Going to bed now, I've gone on enough tonight. Thanks for listening
XX