What do I do when the creditor is a friend?

HeadAboveWater

Fab! Great news

Practise makes perfect, huh?! lol

Just copy and post your SOA on this thread. You've already quite a few following so make the most of it!!

purple.sarah

It's good that you are facing up to things. It's far more insulting to ignore people you owe money to than it is to offer to pay in installments. Making a plan to repay them shows you are working on it and haven't forgotten them.

Verbatim

Well you sound as if you're getting your confidence back! Well done that sounded really good. learning to deal sensitively with difficult situations is an amazingly useful lifeskill. Perhaps in times to come you'll have an interview where a prospective employer asks you for an eg of how you handled a difficult situation and you'll be able to give a wry smile and talk about a time when you had a shortfall etc. By then of course you'll have savings, no debt and be someone known for her skill with money!

Rosey_Future

Today has been a better day. Have had the difficult conversations (only a few left to do) and feel in a better place.

Bit annoyed right now tho. Just followed the link from this site to do this SOA thing. Just spent an hour painfully inputting my expenses, outgoings and debts and I clicked on the calculate button and all my data disappeared :mad: Not impressed.

Anyone have a link to a reliable SOA calculator? Want to get it done while I am on a roll....

Rosey_Future

Hello,

I wanted to give you another update. I have now pretty much finished all my conversations. So now I have a list of everyone I owe and the following information

• who needs to be paid first
• who is prepared to wait a little
• who is willing to accept installments

With the help of other posts on this forum and some guidance from StepChange, I have put together a monthly budget. This lists

• Money In (salary)
• Priority Payments (rent, utilities)
• Living costs (food, train pass, etc.)
• Excess (to be allocated to debt repayments)

Then for the first month, under "debt repayment", i have listed the people that I absolutely have to pay in order to keep my job and kneecaps.

All other debts whether it be to creditors or friends or Wonga have gone onto something called a debt snowball calculator. (Wonga I put in a whole other category as they are not a friend or a proper creditor lol) This calculator basically tells me the order to pay people and how much to pay. So it starts with the smallest debts first. Its quite motivating because instead of allocating small amounts to 20 debts, it encourages you to make larger payments to one or two, so you can actually reduce your number of creditors rather than feeling you are getting nowhere.

Its been quite a week, but i am finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

Orange_Ena

Hiya

Just popped in to wish you well and to say well done for facing up to things. Your plan sounds good too, being organised definitely helps.

I really hope there is no kneecapping :eek:

Onwards and upwards.

lindsaygalaxy

Just wanted to say well done. You have been/ are beig so brave having these conversations, you should be so proud. Posting your SOA will really help, people on here are brilliant at finding ways to save money, and every little helps. Crossing off one debt at a time will be an amazing feeling.

A few suggestions I have to make some extra cash are -

Quidco/ top cashback.
Where do you do your shopping? Convert Tesco vouchers to give yourself the odd treat - it's free money for a nice meal. Otherwise use the voucher to pay towards shopping and use the money you would have spent to pay toward a debt.
Ebay/ facebay (local selling sites on facebook that are free/ carboot
Menu planning - shopping really does reduce!
Second job - bar job or something 1 evening a week. Our local racecourse is always looking for stewards etc. Or maybe babaysitting? Gumtree always has lots of random jobs.

Good luck. You are doing great. x

HeadAboveWater

Thanks for updating us Rosey_Future You've certainly come full circle and, as you say, can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Go back and read your first post in this thread...

That was only a week ago! Some difference, huh?!

You're completely in control of things now, and have everything down in front of you in black and white! You know exactly where you stand financially, and you don't need to avoid anyone!

Hold your head high! Well done

Rosey_Future

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

Thanks for updating us Rosey_Future You've certainly come full circle and, as you say, can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Go back and read your first post in this thread...

That was only a week ago! Some difference, huh?!

Thanks so much to all of you. I think the most frightening thing about debt is the shame and the isolation. Its not really something you can talk to just anyone about. But coming onto this forum has allowed me to speak to people in similar situations without fear or judgement and I have got some amazing support and ideas.

The main thing now is to keep the momentum going. Its all well and good having a plan, but sticking to it is the key.

I do have to say that having the conversations with my friends and colleagues was the most amazing weight off my shoulders.

Rosey_Future

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

A few suggestions I have to make some extra cash are... -

Thanks for this. I am already registered with TopCashBack. I have registered with Quidco this morning

I used to do ebaying all the time and car boot sales. I actually got quite addicted to ebay selling. It would be a good idea to get that up and running again. I am sure we all have items that we can sell - even if its just for a few pounds. It all adds up.

Not too good with menu planning, but I am sure this site has some good posts about eating well on a budget.

Another idea that some of you may like to try is mystery shopping. I was registered with Retail Eyes / Market Force and you can go and have lunch, buy things and get reimbursed just by filling out a feedback form. You get anything from £3 to £10 per assignment plus your reimbursement.

I am going to get all my financial stuff sorted this week (spreadsheets, letters, budgets, SOA etc.) Then next weekend, I will have a good sort through the house and see what I can find to sell!