Feeling Totally Trapped

_-*Sally*-__3

Hello Matty,

The CSA thing SUCKS - and I agree with Sefton above - you need to fight tooth and nail to get that money back, and I agree - name and shame and go to the press or whatever it takes... It must have been a very hard time emotionally as well as financially....

Saying that, the CSA aside, I was in a similar position to you with finances - always paying minimum, making no headway!! Credit card bills exceeding our income (due to loss of job and subsequent drop in salary)

I would TOTALLY recommend a debt management plan (DMP) with the CCCS - we "signed up" with them about 3 yrs ago and slowly our debt is decreasing.... It is long haul... our current debt free date (at the rate we are paying it) is 2022, BUT with a lump sum due to me, I am hoping to reduce this considerably...

The UPSIDE of the CCCS is that they deal with all the card companies and work out who gets what - you just pay them a bulk amount each month and they distribute it... They (CCCS) work out with you what you can afford to pay.... deal with the creditors, and make arrangements with them.... at this point you dont pay interest any more - so the payments you make actually pay off the debt.... They look at what you are spending and really get you to justify it....

The DOWNSIDE is they do like to do everything by phone - so if, like me - you have other people about all of the time (at work and at home), it is very hard to do it privately !! You can log on to see your status with creditors, and change the remaining balances, but that is it... changes to your budget have to be done by phone (a pain when it is something simple like a change in elec bills or something because they

We had a "perfect" credit rating, and were always worried about losing this.... but my attitude towards credit has changed now - I KNOW it will be in tatters (we haven't actually missed any payments - we literally swapped from treading water and paying the minimum to the DMP) and living within our means with the DMP is HARD but doable....

Getting rid of the cards is like jumping off a cliff to start with - You lose the "parachute" of a credit card - so if your card is declined in a store you are stuffed, but BOY it makes you check your balance obsessively, and think before using it (I never used to remember my bank logon, now it is practically tatooed in my eyeballs!!!!!!)

I actually don't think I WANT a credit card ever again at the moment...
Good Luck with whatever route you chose....
(I get loads of good tips here!!!)

carslet

really is a bad position to be in, i know when i had mine, but i stopped going out a i have really cut my spending not as much as i would have liked but drastically from what i was doing.

i would cash in your bonds / shares and pay off these two cards straight away
Opus Credit Card...............1950......72........39.8
Vanquis Card...................1350......54........36

this would now give you an extra £126 to start paying towards your debt, and also try to stop spending anymore and try to cut anything else you can,
it is a long road ahead but you can do it. good luck

emmaglet

About freezing interest...

My Dad has been making his payments on time, etc. but he was forced to retire almost two years ago. I wrote to his two credit card companies a couple of weeks ago, detailing his income, expenditure and debts, asking to freeze interest. One was a very sharp 'NO' but the other company agreed to it. I honestly thought they would both say no, it was just something I'd offered to do for him. I just did a standard letter, no template, etc.

Walaboobah

I think the only option for you is to go down the DMP route, I too had hoped we could struggle through for another 18 months or so until our loans were paid off and then my plan was to take out another loan to pay off the credit cards.

Guess, how I acquired the one loan in the first place though? Yep, paying off the credit cards and now back to square one with them.

I did try for another loan but just like you I was turned down as my credit level was more than 50% of my income.

I now realise that in most cases, getting credit to pay off credit doesn't work. We've been down that road numerous times over the last 20 years and it always comes back to bite you on the bum and will eventually catch up with you, like it did me and like it has done with you.

You need to break the credit cycle which is easier said than done believe me.

I signed up to a DMP in September with CCCS, everything has progressed smoothly so far and today the creditors received their share of the payment.

I am much happier and we now have a proper budget and regularly check the bank account and know what is going out and when.

The only downside is your credit rating will be totally shot and you may struggle to get a mortgage, I assume from the fact you are living with Dad that you are relatively young and may be looking to purchase at some point in the future.

That said, you are in no financial state to think about a mortgage at this moment in time but the sooner you pay your debts off the sooner you can start to repair it.

From a personal point of view I will never take out another loan or credit card, as soon as these debts are gone, everything I wish to purchase will be saved for, if we don't have the cash, we won't buy it!

Good luck and with your fight with the CSA

MattyF

debtmonster wrote: »

Your way out is to get the £36,000 plus interest plus compensation from the CSA.

If 9 months of haggling and solicitors letters haven't moved the issue forward then you need to start shouting from the rooftops - local newspapers, national newspapers, TV, radio, your MP, everything you can think of.

In the meantime, follow the excellent advice here and try and hang in as best you can in the expectation that sanity will finally prevail.

Wish you well.

Thanks debtmonster,

I will continue to fight the CSA although I don't hold out much hope. I'm awaiting a response from my solicitor re taking my case to the press. My local MP has been next to useless.

In the meantime I'll look to make cutbacks and also see if I can pick up some part time work.

MattyF

theoretica wrote: »

You don't need phone insurance at £120 a year - at 40% of your car insurance that is plain silly, and if you do need a new phone you can pick a cheap one up for far less than that.

Thanks for the reply theoretica,

I'm going to speak to Orange re changing my actual plan and also cancelling the insurance part of my contract. I might even move to a PAYG once my contract ends anyway.

MattyF

antonic wrote: »

One way of reducing your outgoings, as I did when I discovered I was in a hole is to stop going out and that will save you £150/mth.

It wasnt a choice I particularly enjoyed making BUT when needs must thats exactly what I did.

This is certainly somewhere that I know I can make cutbacks - as you say, it's not a particularly enjoyable thing to do but I'm at that point now where I need to get my head out of the sand and do whatever it is that I need to do to try and lift myself out of the mess.

MattyF

sefton wrote: »

Is there any point in having £3000 worth of investments in the form of shares and bonds. Surely these investments do not go up in value each month as much as would be saved in interest payments on £3000 worth of debt.

There are 2 parts to this block of shares.

The first part is a bonus payment paid to me in the form of shares from my employer. I can't access these until September 2013. I haven't paid anything for these shares.

The second part is a monthly share scheme. I pay about £40 per month into the scheme and for every share that I purchase (currently about £30 each at the minute) the company gives me 2 additional shares for free.

The 'free' shares have a 3 year holding period as well so I can't access these. I can access any matured shares whenever I need (subject to tax and NI) and I've been making quarterly sales every quarter or so to try to keep my head above water.

I haven't worked the maths out to see if I should throw this £40 per month share payment at a debt or not?

MattyF

sefton wrote: »

It may well be that as far as the law is concerned it makes no difference if the mother got the paternity wrong or lied about it in the first place. Finding out you are not the father does not in itself entitle you to get any money back. When they come after you is the time to make the noise I'm afraid.

It's certainly something that divides opinion. I had no reason to doubt what I was being told, and had worked out, was the case. Had I had any doubt at the time I would have said something.

I did what I felt was right and that was to provide for the child that I believed I had fathered.

For a considerable part of the time I was paying maintenance the CSA rules were that if it was later found out that you were not the father you would have all money refunded in full.

They claim that they changed the rules in 2008. However, I have a screen capture of their website a week after I disputed paternity that clearly states that I would be refunded in full. They still won't budge.

As an aside, the latest letter I have from them states that if the 'real' father is found the CSA claim against him will only start from the date that he became known to them rather than the date of birth of the child in question.

MattyF

_-*Sally*-_ wrote: »

Hello Matty,

The CSA thing SUCKS - and I agree with Sefton above - you need to fight tooth and nail to get that money back, and I agree - name and shame and go to the press or whatever it takes... It must have been a very hard time emotionally as well as financially....

Saying that, the CSA aside, I was in a similar position to you with finances - always paying minimum, making no headway!! Credit card bills exceeding our income (due to loss of job and subsequent drop in salary)

I would TOTALLY recommend a debt management plan (DMP) with the CCCS - we "signed up" with them about 3 yrs ago and slowly our debt is decreasing.... It is long haul... our current debt free date (at the rate we are paying it) is 2022, BUT with a lump sum due to me, I am hoping to reduce this considerably...

The UPSIDE of the CCCS is that they deal with all the card companies and work out who gets what - you just pay them a bulk amount each month and they distribute it... They (CCCS) work out with you what you can afford to pay.... deal with the creditors, and make arrangements with them.... at this point you dont pay interest any more - so the payments you make actually pay off the debt.... They look at what you are spending and really get you to justify it....

The DOWNSIDE is they do like to do everything by phone - so if, like me - you have other people about all of the time (at work and at home), it is very hard to do it privately !! You can log on to see your status with creditors, and change the remaining balances, but that is it... changes to your budget have to be done by phone (a pain when it is something simple like a change in elec bills or something because they

We had a "perfect" credit rating, and were always worried about losing this.... but my attitude towards credit has changed now - I KNOW it will be in tatters (we haven't actually missed any payments - we literally swapped from treading water and paying the minimum to the DMP) and living within our means with the DMP is HARD but doable....

Getting rid of the cards is like jumping off a cliff to start with - You lose the "parachute" of a credit card - so if your card is declined in a store you are stuffed, but BOY it makes you check your balance obsessively, and think before using it (I never used to remember my bank logon, now it is practically tatooed in my eyeballs!!!!!!)

I actually don't think I WANT a credit card ever again at the moment...
Good Luck with whatever route you chose....
(I get loads of good tips here!!!)

Hi Sally,

Thanks for the reply.

I'll continue the fight with the CSA, although as I said earlier I hold out little hope.

I'm going to look into the CCCS and DMP's.

I think I need a bit of a kick up the @rse really - I've buried my head in the sand for far too long.

There's certainly some areas of my budget that I can reduce, and I'm not in danger of losing my home because I'm back living at home (which is probably something that creates huge pressure for others in a similar debt position to me).