How can I become debt free?

PrincessB2014

Hello Everyone

I am new to this forum, so bare with me.

Over the last couple of months I have raked up some debts with the following companies, I am now single after my marriage break up and I am struggling to make ends met as it is, I do work full time, but not the best of jobs and I am holding down a two bedroom house with all the usual rent, bills etc....

I owe the following:

Vanquis - £149
Luma - £278
Look Again/Curvissa - £411
QuickQuid - £153
Marisota - £816

Total = £1,810

Take Home Pay: £1,200 - after bills/rent etc... I have around £63 a month left to get me through the month of visiting friends/family/going out and trying to pay of these bills....

I have made contact with these companies to offer them £1 a month for the time being until I can get myself sorted and hopefully apply for a better paid job, but they all wrote back declining and offering me to go on their payment plans at £10/£20 each a month, in which I cannot afford. I have read somewhere that you can go to a debt management company, but when I contact my local CAB they advised me that because the debt is under a certain amount, the local government funding debt companies will not let me have a debt management plan.

To be honest I do know where to go on this, I was thinking of trying to source a loan company that can lend me around £2000 to pay of the debt, but I have awful credit and no company will touch me. I am on of these people where something like this hanging over me is stressing me out and is making me ill, even though it is not a massive amount of debt.

I know it's my own fault with raking up the debt and I take ful responsibility, so please do not judge me

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks in advance

Tixy

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Whilst the main debt advice charities likely won't manage a DMP for you based on the level of your debts and what you could afford a month, they certainly will be able to offer you some help and advice and things like template letters to send to your creditors.

Nationaldebtline website has lots of useful templates, but also this link is a great resource for self-managing a DMP yourself - https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/dmp.asp

But before you decide that is definitely the way forward I would suggest it is worth building up a statement of affairs so you can see how much short you are a month of being able to keep up with payments.

Have you been though all your expenditure to see if you can get things cheaper/switch providers/cut back etc?
Are you claiming the 25% single person's discount on your council tax?

Have you considered moving to rent a cheaper/smaller property and if so when could you end the current tenancy? or could you get in another person to share this place and reduce the cost of living there?

You may find it useful to post up a statement of affairs http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php on here as people can nearly always find some places you can make changes that you may not have spotted yourself.

On_my_way

Hi

Your debts are actually quite small so they aren't worth going on a DMP for and therefore messing up your credit rating for six years.

I would suggest that you really look at your expenditure and seriously cut back on anything that's not essential for a few months. You should be able to make more than the minimums on all of them, and pay off the most expensive ones first.

Have you got anything that you could sell?

You have made the first step and admitted the debts, you should study this forum, there will be lots of good ideas.

ldhme

It may not be a massive amount of debt in the grand scheme of things, but it is to you, and that is all that matters.
Daft really how you can't get help because it's too low, yet I can because I was irresponsible enough to bury my head for years.
You could try calling them and setting up a repayment plan based on what you can afford, split fairly between each of them.
Like a self administered DMP on a smaller scale.

PrincessB2014

Thank you for all the advice

I am looking to rent a smaller property and do not want to share with anyone else (had enough of that with the ex hubby!) But that may take months, because I do not have enough money to get the deposit together these companies want! So feels like I am in a no win situation....

Tixy - Thank you for the link, I am going to take a look at it and see what I can do. I need to do something with this debt (I wish I never done it now!)

Thanks for all the advice

asparagus1968

hiya,


I found filling in the SOA a great starting point. it does make you realise the difference between essentials and the wants! you should be able to find out the interest charges for each debt too, which will help others to advise best way to pay them down.


get rid or reduce as far as possible each amount on it.
commit to an absolutely frugal month ( I still do this now and again when needed) -no going out/visiting/frivolous spends/coffee shops/magazines etc. it is only for one month! see what you can save.


looks like you have been buying lots of clothes? any of them returnable?


anything to sell? clothes/gadgets/garden equipment/cars/bikes etc.


look at the up your income board for ideas.


could you take in ironing/ do cleaning/ bar job /dog sitting for a while?


I know you don't want to house share (I wouldn't either) but I have heard of people renting out a bedroom for only Mon-Fridays, thus your home is all yours at weekends. it's only for a while after all.


one step at a time, manageable chunks. keep posting