Long story, lots of debt. Got to fix it...

Mono2

Hi All,

This has been and still is spiraling out of control and I was wondering if I can ask here for a little bit of advice.

When I left university I had a shortfall on the rent of around £600, they took this from my bank via direct debit and amazingly it went through even though I was pushing the limit already, it took me just over £600 over my limit.

I moved to the bottom of the country to start a job with promised relocation assistance which as I found out later turned into "stay at the bosses for 3 weeks then get chucked out and find somewhere to live with a pitiful advance" I hated it and quit a few months later, finding another job back up north but missing a months pay because of it.

I attempted to set up a payment plan. However since I was living alone and my rent and other expenses to my university and paying back my folks for their help.

This job and the mounting debt made me incredibly depressed and start gambling and smoking...these just sunk me further into debt and I took two payday loans to keep myself afloat (idiotic I know) - these have both been sold when I didn't pay them back to companies I don't even know...it was completely stupid of me as I've always been okay with money before. This just made it even harder to attempt to pay anyone back.

I tried to negotiate with the bank but have to speak to the "collections department" who are quite frankly the worst. The bank will not accept any less than £200/m payback and refuse to freeze the charges on the account, so I've just ended up chasing my tail. The charges mounted when I had to try to find a place to live on my own and didn't have enough left over to pay them. I then couldn't pay the following month because of the sheer amount it had come to, the "collections department" are useless and just keep telling me to pay now.

They are sending me letters threatening to take money out of my other account (which is the one I'm already hitting the limit on each month)

I also had a credit card since I was 18 which I was fine with for two years, however my job just wasn't paying enough to cover this, moving out and the bank as well. I missed a payment, then another one, and finally one when I was moving out; eventually this was sold while I was juggling the other balls. It's been sold 3 times since then, and I can't even get hold of where it currently is....

What can I do to sort out this mess? I daren't even check my credit rating. I'm probably about £4000 in the red right now, with various companies and people I don't even know about. How can I find these companies and set up some kind of plan with them all and make the bank get off my case for a bit and not take money from my other account which I require to live and pay these things off in the first place?

dubs57

It might help you to contact stepchange debt charity and get some advice
They could assist you with sorting out a managable budget or even set up a repayment plan (debt management plan) which allows you to negotiate reduced payments for all your debts. This is what I did and it has made things much more in control. Good luck!

hettiecarro

Hi
Well done for recognising you need help


Firstly, for the bank to say you have to pay a minimum amount every month is incorrect. There are debts and expenses which are classed as priority - such as rent, council tax. Once these are paid you can only offer your creditors a portion of what is left. You will obviously have to make changes to your lifestyle to sort this, but they cannot have money you haven't got.


Post an SoA on here and we can have a look at where you can possibly make savings. This is a financial statement of all your income and outgoings. Make it as accurate as you can and others will be along also to make observations and suggestions.


http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php
Depending on your circumstances it may be that you make token payments (can be as little as £1.00 per month) to your creditors and use the 'snowball' tool (find on here) to work out who to pay first (depending on APR).
Post that SoA first.

jmhgibson123

this is one reason i never phone them, keep writing to bank and explain you are in financial hardship and that them constantly adding charges on is making your position worse and you feel it is unfair mention the ombudsman in your letter, they may decide its easier to stop charges than go down this route..although they do not have to. set up a new bank account somewhere where you dont owe money or they can snatch it from account without warning, and only pay what you are able to not what they tell you to, they are normally on a commission to get more out of you than you offer, even token payments of £1 a month are acceptable, i find it is better to send a income / expenditure form with any letter, can be found on national debtline website, if they can see you are trying to pay they cant do much more than sell debts on eventually