Newbie drowning in debt circa £330K

Standingtall

Hi Joanne. I hope you managed to contact one of the debt advice charities today - do not be tempted by the flashy ads from the fee paying ones, CCCS is a charity and Payplan is funded by the finance sector - both give free advice and will set up and administer a DMP free of cost to you.

Regarding some practical advice, fairly insignificant but just something I thought useful that had not been said already ( and from my own experience). You will get more selling second hand goods on EBay than you will at car boot sales - it plays to people's competitive nature and innate laziness (I am guilty of both). Since your hubby is at home he could start selling on eBay and I bet he will enjoy it very much when he gets into the swing of it. As you sell things you can leave the money in the Paypal account and this can become your budget for a whole wealth of things. My daugher is 13 and very fashion conscious, as a result of selling and buying on eBay she had. Wardrobe of Topshop, River Island clothesd- many from this season even! All second hand but she doesn't care. She has two leather jackets when many of her friends do not have any! Seriously, get hubby to give it ago! Given half a chance he could end up with a new small business!

Standingtall

Haha, ellesbelles beat me to it with ebay:rotfl:

perfecta1

Upsidedown_Bear wrote: »

The maximum you can recieve is £750, no idea where they got £1200 from.

http://www.hfea.gov.uk/egg-donation-and-egg-sharing.html

sorry It was a couple years ago when I gave mine so it could changed.

Gimpsdad

You need to be absolutely sure that any steps you take are the right ones. Get a professional valuation on the property on a "forced sale" basis. It could well be that it isn't worth what you hope. If any equity is dwarfed by the liabilities, then you should revisit the IVA route. If the equity is too massive to countenance that, well at least you know that you are stuck with a DMP.

By the way, why is this SOA still showing all benefits when you get DLA? Any advice service worth their salt, whether free or otherwise, will make sure that that proportion of the money cannot be used for debt repayment. You either need to take the DLA proportion out, as suggested by the Nat Debtline rep, or include it IN FULL on your outgoings. DLA is there to fund costs of a disability only. Be very wary of anyone asking you to use money that isn't yours anyway to fund debt repayments.

It isn't unreasonable to agree that your housekeeping is a little high, but your clothing budget for 5 people is ridiculously low, and I can't believe there are folks on here asking you to cut that down. I appreciate that you wouldn't want to be in debt forever, so if a DMP is the way to go then the more you put in the quicker you are out, but you have to be realistic.

At a quick glance, if you compare this SOA to current CCCS guidelines on expenditure, holidays are a no no, entertainment is too low, contingency too low, clothing too low, haircuts too low. No DLA allowance, no pocket money allowance, no school trips allowance. No work meals allowance, no allowance for general upkeep of your property. Your food IS way too high on those guidelines, but the net effect of adding everything else in would probably wipe that out and more. Take away your DLA allowance from your income, and that then gives you a more realistic idea of what you can afford, whilst maintaining a reasonable standard of living. If you ARE going to enter a DMP, it seems to me to be better to start lower and be comfortable, you can always crank it up a little later on, rather than starting too high and continuing to struggle.

[Deleted User]

Gimpsdad wrote: »

It isn't unreasonable to agree that your housekeeping is a little high, but your clothing budget for 5 people is ridiculously low, and I can't believe there are folks on here asking you to cut that down. I appreciate that you wouldn't want to be in debt forever, so if a DMP is the way to go then the more you put in the quicker you are out, but you have to be realistic.

.

That is likely to have been directed at my comments on the SOA posted. I try to point out all areas where savings can be made/or suggest if income to be increased (so that the individual who's SOA it is has options - some bills/payments are optional, some discretionary, some fixed).

I also tend to note, and in this case at the end of the SOA, if I believe the suggested reductions are sustainable - in this case I have been doubtful, and strongly urged the OP to seek professional (and free) advice on their debts for a longer term solution to suit their family's needs, as well as thier debtors needs.

[Deleted User]

Just read from start to finish, your up against it but sound determined to sort things out.
Good luck, will subscribe to read how your getting on.
Good luck
GL x

Gimpsdad

Many apologies if you felt that to be a personal dig or criticism Domino9, that certainly wasn't the intention.

My only concern is that, whatever the solution the OP takes, it does need to be as reasonable to all parties as is possible. The debts are obviously very important, a priority even, but they shouldn't take precedence over certain areas, kids well-being being one such area.

Apologies again if I have offended you.