Desperate Newbie

thefool

Hi,

I've joined this forum recently and I'm glad I did. The support on offer seems to be just what i need at the moment.

I've got debts totalling £59,342 and, although I haven't missed any payments yet, it would appear to be only a matter of time.:o

I'm working on my SOA at the moment and hope to get an appointment with my local CAB to finally sit down and try to sort things out.

I've got 2 unsecured loans and six credit cards which accounts for my debt, I'm a tenant in a flat owned by my girlfriend and have no assets whatsoever.

It's come to the point where I have to face up to my responsibilities and accept I've made a mess of things. However, my main worry is for those around me, I don't want anything to impact on my girlfriend or my family and friends. So far, none of them are aware of my predicament such is my embarassment about the situation.

I actually feel dizzy and sick writing this but realise that I need to take action now to sort things out otherwise I don't know what will happen.

Hopefully the feelings of despair and self loathing will pass and i'll be able to turn it around. I know it'll take time, but that's about all I've got at the moment !

Skint_Catt

:hello: Hi you! Look forward to seeing your SOA but thought I'd say hi and welcome - you're in the right place!

Catt xx

Crown

Hi and Welcome,

Your username describes nearly everyone of us on here so dont feel that you are alone.

Once your SOA is done we will have a better idea of your situation as although you have just under 60K of debt it really depends on your income/outgoings to how to tackle the debt in the best way.

Well done on facing up to it and contacting the CAB. |You are in somewhat of a good position that you havent got any secured loans or assetts that may have to be sold.

By facing up to this you are giving yourself options. DMP's IVA's and Bankruptcy are all viable options but we can go into further details once your SOA is ready.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing your further posts

immoral_angeluk

Hi and Welcome to MSE/DFW, Well done for taking the first steps and don't worry there is a wealth of advice on this site and we can pick through your SOA and see how we can help. Also it would be worth you contacting the CCCS or Payplan for advice and their links are at the top of the board.

boo2905

Hi and welcome :hello:

First of all as a newbie to the site myself I can say that this is definetly the right place to be - everyone is really helpful and will give you some fantastic tips and advice on how to sort your finances out.

Secondly - your not alone! There are so many people on here that have a large amount of debt - I think I've seen a couple over £100k through my journeys of the message threads but they all seem to be reducing the amounts that they owe - if you can't talk to friends or family talk to people on here and I guarantee that in a couple of months you'll feel loads better.

Keep your message thread up to date and let us know how you are going on.

Good luck :T :T :T

david_hellier

SOA please

thefool

Here's my first attempt at an SOA:

Item Monthly Income

Salary £2,000.59

Item Monthly Expenditure

Rent £400.00
Gas £20.00
Electricity £20.00
Council Tax £117.00
Telephone £10.00
TV Licence £9.00
Pubc Transport £15.00
Food £250.00
Med/Prescrip £7.00
Barber £7.00
Clothing/Footwr £30.00
Newspapers/Mags £10.00
Entertainment £20.00
Emergencies £25.00

TOTAL £940.00


CARDS



CO-OP V £10,105.81 Balance 9.9% APR £202.00 Min Payment

BC VISA £433.54 Balance 21.9% APR £10.00

MINT V £4,532.94 19.5% £101.00

VRGN MC £6,429.69 15.9% £94.38

MS MC £3,797.53 23% £76.00

BOS V £2,641.08 20% £52.81


LOANS

EGG £24,500.19 Balance
£456.10 Monthly Payment
Ends 1st SEPT 2012

CAHOOT £5,701.74 Balance
£143.78 Monthly Payment
Ends 23rd NOV 2010

immoral_angeluk

Ok looking at your SOA from what I've worked out you're overspending by around £76 every month. How are you funding this? You need to cut back things that can be to get rid of this overspend before anything.

OberonSH

thefool wrote: »

Here's my first attempt at an SOA:

Item Monthly Income

Salary £2,000.59

Item Monthly Expenditure

Rent £400.00 Is this your half or the whole thing!!!
Gas £20.00
Electricity £20.00
Council Tax £117.00
Telephone £10.00
TV Licence £9.00
Pubc Transport £15.00
Food £250.00 This can definately come down. We manage on 150 fr 2 adults and a toddler. Try the Moneysaving oldstyle board for tips on how to cut this down. Better still, if you take over the food and cooking, girlfriend is bound to be impressed.
Med/Prescrip £7.00
Barber £7.00
Clothing/Footwr £30.00
Newspapers/Mags £10.00 Can't you read the papers online and cut this out?
Entertainment £20.00 again, every little helps. Join a dvd club if you can't manage without, or get the lads round for a few beers. Cheaper.
Emergencies £25.00 what happens to this? If you don;t need it do you spend it, or put it towards a debt?

TOTAL £940.00


CARDS



CO-OP V £10,105.81 Balance 9.9% APR £202.00 Min Payment

BC VISA £433.54 Balance 21.9% APR £10.00

MINT V £4,532.94 19.5% £101.00

VRGN MC £6,429.69 15.9% £94.38

MS MC £3,797.53 23% £76.00

BOS V £2,641.08 20% £52.81


LOANS

EGG £24,500.19 Balance
£456.10 Monthly Payment
Ends 1st SEPT 2012



CAHOOT £5,701.74 Balance
£143.78 Monthly Payment
Ends 23rd NOV 2010

Have you considered trying to get a 0& balance card while you still can, and trying to get those scary 20+5 cards gone? At least then 100% of your payment goes on the balance.

Have you ebayed/amazoned anything not nailed down to try and knock lump sums off? Plus at some point you may need to get your girlfriend's support - after all, we need all the support we can get!

weegie-dfw

Hello,

Well done for taking the first steps to sorting your situation out:beer:

I've just calculated what your total outgoings are at the moment and they are more than your income. £2075.26.

The two main areas that I can see you could cut back on is your food bill (Is this just for yourself) and your newspapers and magazines. If you cut these back for a while then you could get into the situation that you are not accumulating more debt each month.

Have you claimed back any bank charges from over the past 6 years? This could also help reduce your debt.

Keep a spend diary to see how much you actually spend each month - it will help you find areas to cut back on.

I think it's important that to remember it's not for ever and some sacrifices now will help so much in the future! Good luck with it and keep visiting the site - I personally have found it a very supportive environment!

thefool

OberonSH wrote: »

Have you considered trying to get a 0& balance card while you still can, and trying to get those scary 20+5 cards gone? At least then 100% of your payment goes on the balance.

Have you ebayed/amazoned anything not nailed down to try and knock lump sums off? Plus at some point you may need to get your girlfriend's support - after all, we need all the support we can get!

I did try to move my cards to 0% ones but I got knocked back the twice I applied recently. Not good !

I've never used ebay or amazon so don't know what it entails, not sure i've got much of interest to sell either