More than I thought!! SHOCK!!

pennies_from_Heaven

I would only consider selling up if you have other reasons as well.
We sold up to settle our debt in the hope that we would be able to pay the debt and have around 15k left towards a deposit for a new place a few years down the line, with those few years working to add to the deposit.
The reality is this, one and a half years later, we have paid off the debt, but completely underestimated the costs involved in moving house. Solicitors, estate agents, removal costs, rent advance etc. Not to mention some different furniture as some of old stuff didn't fit into the new place.
On top of that our rent is £350 a month more than the mortgage was, so no room for savings. Also my oh has had ot cut.
So we are now in a rental trap, no hope of owning in the foreseeable future, in a way I wish we'd stuck it out, the only saving grace is we hated where we lived and its lovely here!
My advice is to think long and hard, also if you don't learn how to budget and live within your means, its an easy road to go back down getting that debt back up again!

raq

hi there

Been reading the posts with interest.

We are in debt ( just like a lot of people ), we have been trying to clear as much as possible but also we need to live. For us it was having major work on our property last year, we budgeted for £20k and it went over by £8k. Long story but got there in the end. So this on top of the personal debt was scarry.

Okay, We have equity of £140k in our house but we are so happy here we wouldn,t want to move so we keep throwing everything we possibly can against the debt. Yes it is gonna take time but we have been through a really rough time over the last 3 years ( getting help with our youngest son ) is nothing compared to anything else.

Chin up and am sure you will work at it.
p.s. our debt is also round about the £30k

Cycrow

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I got stung with this selling some hair straighteners on eBay that the seller didn't receive. The auction ended on Sunday evening, item in post on Monday morning, Wednesday morning the buyer and contacted PayPal and eBay to get a refund. Looking at their buying history quite a few items they've got from eBay have gone astray in the post.

I had proof of postage from the Post Office but not proof of delivery and the onus is now on the seller to prove the buyer did receive the item. However, as I had proof of postage I was able to make a claim from Royal Mail. I think if you send your item by 1st class you can claim up to £20 back. My claim was successful but 2 months on I'm still waiting for my cheque from Royal Mail.

Items I sell now are either sent recorded delivery or using Collect+.

I had this problem too, althou i sent my stuff Recorded devliery, ebay wouldn't accept it, and i had to refund.
Sending it special delivery is the only way, but cost alot more.

The main problem is that if you offer both normal and special devliery rates, the buyer will almost always choose normal then if it doesn't arrive they can get a refund anyways

fatbelly

moocowone wrote: »

If you have enough equity in the house to pay the debts, will creditors accept a DMP?

Yes

And until we get proper info on this one by way of a statement of affairs, I would keep this as the default option.

I wouldn't rush to sell, and I certainly wouldn't consider converting unsecured debt to secured by way of a secured loan or a remortgage.

Bazofts_Revenge

You don't say how much you earn (which I can understand) or how big your mortgage is in relation to your propertys value. If you could remortgage and increase your borrowing the increase should then be used to pay off more expensive debt. Some mortgage companies will give you additional personal loans at similar rates to the mortgage. If you can get something like this it may make things easier. watch out for arrangement fees though. Make a spreadsheet and evaluate all of your options. Best of luck.

heartbreak_star

Definitely post up an SOA, OP - there's a sticky at the top of the board

HBS x

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

I remember being physically sick when I realised what a mess I was in and like you I couldnt get my head around how it had happened. For us it was simply living a bit beyond our means for a long time and ignoring it.

Your first priority needs to be getting together an accurate SOA. It really does need to be accurate or there is no point. I would download the last 3 months bank statements and go through them carefully. Then you need to see where you can realistically cut back. You cant start budgeting going forward if you dont know where you are now and one of the mistakes I made in the early days was making the budget unrealistic.

Remember that there is a big difference between how you would like your SOA to look and how it really needs to be. For me the biggest issue was being honest with myself.

I would recommend starting a spending diary to record where every penny is going and having a daily spreadsheet updating your bank records. This is what ultimately stopped me overspending, seeing it in black and white makes it real.

Until you have got some figures together and let it all sink in I wouldnt rush to make a decision on selling the house. Good luck.