Deepindebt...anywayout....!!

cabbyste

Hi guys an gals , am new to this site and was just wondering if i could learn from the wealth of knowledge that seems to abound around these here boards...:D
I owe approx 58,000 pounds on credit cards, and am stretched to the limit making minimum repayments , including borrowing off one card to pay another etc so my debts just building , i am at my wits end , i go to bed thinking about it , wake up thinking about it and am completely stressed out by the whole thing , i know it is basically all my own fault ,but would appreciate any help .
I am self employed make on average 340 pound a week b4 tax , is bankrupty an option 4me , i have written to all my credit cards asking them to freeze interest rate , none agreed , i have 9 cards in all , 4 of them allowed me to make make reduced payments for 6mths but it leaves me no better or wiser , i really dont know which way to turn and would be grateful of any advise , thanks

lynzpower

Hello there

OK a few things really.

First up. You need to post a SOA (statement of affiars) which is all your incomes & outgoings, debts & thier APRS.

Personally, I dont know aobut bankrupcy & running your busuiness, but ewe will cross that bridge when we come to it- what is your business doing?

Get stuck into your SOA, use martins budget planner at the top of the page, this is good for thinking about where you stand now- once weve seen that, and you are clear where you stand, we can take it from there

Lynz
x

yellowmonkey

Hi.

As lynzpower suggests post SOA. Well done for posting and welcome.


ym

I_was_a_fool

Dont worry, there is always a way out & you have come to the right place for advice. Have a look at the CCCS & National Debtline websites too, there is good advice to be had there.

Do you have an overdraft? If yes or if you owe your bank money, you should open a new bank account with someone you do not have any debt with. Then you can pay your income into there without it being taken by the bank. Do you have bank charges you could claim back? If yes have a look at the reclaiming bank charges forum on this site.

Welcome!

cabbyste

HI Lynz thx 4 quick reply , i took so long typing my reply i got logged out and couldnt save what i wanted to send..!! so here goes again ...

I am 53yr old self employed married man , my does not work but claims care allowance 4 looking after her mum , we have no mortgage as after living hre 25yrs we paid off mortgage this year , the house is my wifes sole name ,

My income; ............. 350.00 per week
Wife care allowance.... 46.00 per week

My outgoings ;
CREDIT CARDS ................CREDIT LIMIT..........OUTSTAND'BALANCE....% MTHLY
BARCLAYCARD VISA............ 7990.00 7400.00 19.9
BARCLAYCARD MASTERCARD..3800.00 3500.00 19.9
EGG...................................9600.00 8800.00 16.9
AMEXEX BLUE..................... 3600.00 3450.00 19.6
MBNA AOL.......................... 11300.00 11050.00 24
MBNA................................ 4800.00 4100.00 24
A&L................................... 8000.00 7800.00 20
MORGANSTANLEY................ 4000.00 3650.00 19.6
CAPITAL ONE......................... 8500.00 8000.00 19.9


COUNCILTAX MTHLY..........................................90.00
GAS.............................................................. 80.00
ELECTRIC..................................................... 80.00
WATER...................................................... 36.00
BUILDING CONTENTS INS................................. 26.00
LIFE INS....................................................... 24.00
TV LICENCE................................................. 12.00
PHONE TV+INTERNET PACKAGE........................ 75.00
MOBILE PHONE................................................ 10.00
CAR INS TAX PETROL........................................ 75.00
WIFE CIGS..........................................................100.00
FOOD.............................................................. 180.00
ENTERTAINMENT............................................... 80.00
CLOTHES........................................................ 30.00
NI CONTRIBUTION.................................................. 10.00
INCOME TAX..................................................... 85.00


I think that about covers most things , if you need 2 know anymore i'll only be 2pleased to inform ,
thanks again
regards
ste x

rayday2

Not sure about all those facts and figures but if you hold any credit cards or loans etc with your current account bank your first priority before your credit history is too bad is to get another account!

I am sure some clever people can come and make head or tail out of your SOA!

Good luck

Fonz_2

Hi,

I'm no expert on these things but to me a couple of things there jump right out...

£75 for phone/internet/tv - Could this be reduced? I get cable tv, weekend free calls, and 10mb broadband for £25 per month with Virgin Media.

£100 on cigarettes - I've never smoked so I can't comment on how essential this is but it seems like a lot of money for absolutely nothing to me

Good luck, I'm sure someone more savvy will run through some of the other costings soon

F

angchris

what are your monthly minimum payments on your debts? your gas/leccy look extremely high to me maybe its time to take meter readings and see if you have overpayed and get them adjusted accordingly and if these are true amounts you seriously need to be looking at ways of cutting your consumption down like turning light off /using energy saving bulbs and using airers to dry clothes and turning your heating off. im sure you could shop around on the net for better life/buildings insurance. your tv and internet package can be reduced to basic package. can your wife cut down on the ciggies? or make a trip over to the continent to stock up on cheap cigs/baccy. food budget im sure could be cut down by a few quid...check out the old style boards for cooking/shopping help. im sure entertainment and clothes could be either cut out or cut right back too leaving you with extra cash to pay off your debts

cabbyste

Hi guys , thx for comments will take all onboard , hey fonz, i'm with virgin aswell, my actual phone bill is usually around 20 pound per mth the rest is charges, eg broadband , tv package , vat and other charges like the 5iver a mth they charge for not payin by d/debit , i want to drop the whole lot really and just get freeview , a cheap broadband and just use my mobile for phone calls , as for the wifes cigs , well she has tried quite a few times to pack them in but its easier said than done ...and i usually give in and end up buying them 4 her as she gets really grumpy without them ...!! the gas and electric are both on prepayment meters , so yeah they are prob higher than should be but i just could not cope with 2 more big bills comin in every 3mths , i find it easier to pay as you go
ste

chevalier

my comments are in blue

cabbyste wrote: »

HI Lynz thx 4 quick reply , i took so long typing my reply i got logged out and couldnt save what i wanted to send..!! so here goes again ...

I am 53yr old self employed married man , my does not work but claims care allowance 4 looking after her mum , we have no mortgage as after living hre 25yrs we paid off mortgage this year , the house is my wifes sole name ,

Surely you OH should be getting more than £46 care allowance. Her mum can apply for attendance allowance can't she? Have a look at https://www.entitledto.co.uk and see if she is entitled to more. If she isn't then can she get even a part time job to pay for her fags?

My income; ............. 350.00 per week
Wife care allowance.... 46.00 per week

My outgoings ;
CREDIT CARDS ................CREDIT LIMIT..........OUTSTAND'BALANCE....% MTHLY
BARCLAYCARD VISA............ 7990.00 7400.00 19.9
BARCLAYCARD MASTERCARD..3800.00 3500.00 19.9
EGG...................................9600.00 8800.00 16.9
AMEXEX BLUE..................... 3600.00 3450.00 19.6
MBNA AOL.......................... 11300.00 11050.00 24
MBNA................................ 4800.00 4100.00 24
A&L................................... 8000.00 7800.00 20
MORGANSTANLEY................ 4000.00 3650.00 19.6
CAPITAL ONE......................... 8500.00 8000.00 19.9

Are all these personal cards? Are any for the business? All the rates are really high. Could you arrange an overdraft? If you could it would almost certainly be at a lower APR than these.

COUNCILTAX MTHLY..........................................90.00
GAS.............................................................. 80.00 :eek: :eek: these are really really high. Even for someone that is on a key meter. And just to point out that when you pay by direct debit, the bill is quarterly but the PAYMENT is taken out monthly. I am sure you could save yourself a lot of money on this and the gas by switching. Check with your energy supplier.
ELECTRIC..................................................... 80.00 As above.
WATER...................................................... 36.00 Would it be cheaper on a meter, do you have water hippos in your cistern to save water (and therefore cost?)
BUILDING CONTENTS INS................................. 26.00
LIFE INS....................................................... 24.00
TV LICENCE................................................. 12.00
PHONE TV+INTERNET PACKAGE........................ 75.00 wow that is really high. I am sure that virgin to a package that is £30. Might not have all the channels that you are used to but this would save you £480 a year. Or get a freeview box of https://www.freecycle.org for FREE and just have basic digital channels
MOBILE PHONE................................................ 10.00
CAR INS TAX PETROL........................................ 75.00
WIFE CIGS..........................................................100.00 your wife may grumble when she gives up, but I would imagine she would grumble more if you ended up not being able to pay these debts, and the company put a charging order on your house, so that some of the proceeds were given to them if you ever sold. I am sorry to be harsh but the reality is if she wants to smoke then she should get the money to pay for it. By either doing click throughs on websites, (like quidco, pigsback, greasypalm, freefivers etc), by doing online surveys (eg lightspeed, caio, yougov, etc), mystery shopping (retail eyes is the only one I can remember but there is a whole thread on this with web addresses for them.)
FOOD.............................................................. 180.00 If there is just two of you, then you could probably shave £50 of this a month, by meal planning, cooking from scratch etc. Have a look at the Old Style forum for loads of posts about eating cheaply etc.
ENTERTAINMENT............................................... 80.00This is £960 a year. You CAN'T afford this. You are paying a minimum of 19.9% for your social life. Does that sound logical to you?
CLOTHES........................................................ 30.00Every month?
NI CONTRIBUTION.................................................. 10.00
INCOME TAX..................................................... 85.00

Re your income tax. I work out that £85 a month is only £1020 a year. Your earn £17680 before tax. Now £1020 is not 20% of £17680. That would be £3536. Are you SURE you are saving enought for your tax.

You don't say what line of work you are in, but is there any way you can increase the amount you earn? If not then regretfully I would suggest that you need a full time job with an employer, and perhaps you could keep your business going on the side.

You do not say if any of the above debts are the businesses or yours alone? If the former, can any of it be offset against tax?

You also do not mention your OH attitude to all this. If they are not on board then this will be twice as difficult for you to achieve.

Finally (yes I know I go on a bit), please get in touch with CCCS or Payplan for FREE impartial advice on what is the best way forward. It may be that a Debt Management Plan (where your creditor agree to reduced payments and freezing interest in most but NOT ALL cases), may be your way forward.

The very best of luck with sorting this out
chev

abitrubbish

OK - I've had a go at rearranging your SOA and it looks like you have £723 a month left to cover all your debt payments. Using an assumed minimum payment of 2% your minimum payments come to £1,155, so you have a problem. Even if you make all the cutbacks suggested above, you will still be really struggling to make the minimum payments, let alone go any way to repaying the debt.

I'm sure the nice people here will be able to give you some advice about what to do next, but can you find any way to increase your income? Maybe a part time job of some kind? Are you entitled to any benefits?

And I know that consolidation is never recommended on here, but as you have paid off your mortgage you do have plenty of equity which may be of some help here. The interest rates you are paying now are horrific, and if you are very determined and managed to control your spending and not to increase the debt and found a suitable flexible mortgage, you could reduce your outgoings substantially which could allow you to repay the debt over a sensible period.

Income (monthly)
Your income £1,516.67
Wife care allowance £199.33
Total income £1,716.00

Essentials
Council Tax £90.00
Gas £80.00
Electric £80.00
Water £36.00
Building/contents ins £26.00
Life ins £24.00
TV licence £12.00
Phone/tv/internet £75.00
Mobile £10.00
Car £75.00
NIC £10.00
Income tax £85.00
Total cost of essential bills £603.00

Spending
Cigs £100.00
Food £180.00
Entertainment £80.00
Clothes £30.00
Total spending £390.00

Amount left to service debt £723.00

Debt payments @ 2%
Barclaycard visa £148.00
Barclaycard mastercard £70.00
Egg £176.00
Amex £69.00
MBNA AOL £221.00
MBNA £82.00
A&L £156.00
Morgan Stanley £73.00
Capital One £160.00
Total minimum payments £1,155.00

Shortfall - £432 per month

Hope you don't mind me messing around with your figures, but I find it easier to see what's going on when it's arranged like that.

Good luck!