Scared to do anything now, would love advice...

yellowmonkey

You are more than welcome :T

ym

jo1972

Hi Empty Pockets, just wanted to say hi and welcome to the DFW board :wave:

You are in good hands now, and once you've contacted CCCS you will be well on your way to sorting your finances out.

Look forward to hearing your progress!

Jo.x

RAS

welcome

Just to add that demanding full payments or payments that are unrealistic is against OFT guidelines. They can only ask you for a realistic sum and CCCS or payplan will advise you as to what that is and allocate the money to your debtors pro rata.

joeblack066

Hi and welcome! I too fell foul of Yes Loans last year before I found MSE. However, I INSISTED that they repay the £49, I told then that I am in consultation with Moneysupermarket.com, who at the time were investigating them, that I would contact trading standards, etc etc, and I GOT MY MONEY BACK!! Don't give up with these people. And definitely don't use any of the Debt Management Companies. As said already, you can use CCCS or Payplan, these are charitable and free for you to use, so ALL you r money goes to your debts. Add to this the wise words and support that you will get here, and things will sooon appear rosier! In the meantime, post up an SOA so that the fellow DFW's can offer any helpful advice. TTFN!! x

EmptyPockets

Hi all,

Sorry it's taken me a while to return (been away, staying with family) but I'm here now and posting our SOA as requested!

This is based on the CCCS debt remedy link, we wrote it all down as we filled in the online form...

Income: monthly
1390.00

Outgoings: all monthly
325.00 rent no arrears
81.00 council tax no arrears
11.00 tv license no arrears
20.00 water rates no arrears
22.50 electricity meter, no arrears
22.50 gas meter, no arrears
63.00 AA car insurance no arrears
11.00 road tax
43.00 tobacco (naughty yes, but our only 'extravagence') and this is rolling tobacco 'cos it's cheaper
200.00 family loan (1200 outstanding) no arrears
240.00 food, toiletries, cleaning
25.00 clothes and footwear
60.00 phone, mobiles and internet expecting next phone bill Aug 13th
45.00 petrol
10.00 vehicle spares, servicing, MOT
25.00 pet food
10.00 entertainment, sports, hobbies
10.00 sundries, emergencies

---

1232.89 total

---

Debts and outstanding balances:
363.14 barclaycard managed to meet monthly payments until last month, now approx. £50 arrears
1405.62 virgin credit card been on reduced p'ments for 6 mths
1641.84 natwest credit card (with 'TCS' collection agency) as above
1242.40 HFC Bank (3-piece-suite credit agreement) as above
562.97 store card (with 'Lewis Debt Recovery' collection agency) did not accept reduced p'ments offer, now demanding whole amount immediately or will 'commence court action'
1200.00 family loan been making reduced p'ments, now returned to normal as family member understandably can't keep making up the p'ments themselves
1048.49 HSBC credit card been on reduced p'ments for 6 months
840.21 CL Finance Ltd (comet credit agreement for PC) been on reduced p'ments fro 6 mths

---

8304.67 total

---

Hope I've done this ok...

EmptyPockets

Also still haven't managed to get our £49.50 back from Yes Loans... (do we feel stupid?.... er, yes!)

chevalier

You can ask for your council tax and water rates to be paid over 12 months not 10, this would give you a bit of breathing space.

Do you actually spend £25 on clothes each month, if so then stop this now and ask for clothes for birthday/christmas. Save the money you would be spending towards the arrears.

£63 for car insurance! Wow. Are you very young or do you have points? This is very high. Have a look at www.quidco.com. Alot of insurers give you cashback when you switch to them. Even if it is not time to renew yet, it will still give you a good idea of where to go when the time comes.

If you gas and electricity is up to date, then see if you are on the cheapest tariff. If you go to www.uswitch.com you can see there. Plus I think you get £12.50 cash back if you switch through them. Also I think that if you can get the meters taken out and pay by direct debit this is cheaper? Might be worth checking.

£60 for mobile and internet. I am sure you can get bundles of these that are cheaper than this. Would again be worth checking. If you are tied into your contract, then you could see if they would put you on the lowest tariff, to save a bit.

Is there anything you can sell that could at least pay off the arrears?

Also are you getting all the money that you are entitled to? Have a look at www.entitledto.co.uk to see.

Best of luck and stay away from Abacus!
chev

EmptyPockets

Hi Chevalier,

Didn't realise you could ask for council tax over 12 mth instead of 10, thanks for that, will ring to ask about changing that!

Don't actually spend £25 on clothes, but when we put £0 on the cccs form, a pop-up kept advising us to put at least £25, so we did...

Car insurance: well, my husband is only 25, so that increases it... plus we've only just got a car because hubby changed jobs and needed it to travel, so he had no no-claims... so that's why it's so high. We did use confused.com to get cheapest quotes, but will deff. look at quidco.

Believe me, we've thought of selling stuff, but there's nothing left to sell :-( ... did a few carboots a while back and raised enough to pay some arrears at the time, now nothing to sell...

david_hellier

Hi,

Chevalier has said it all; the last thing you need is a through-the-nose DMP with a commercial company. Stick to the free charities CCCS and CAB.

However, according to my figures you have £49.92 per week to spend on food, clothes, pets, fags etc. In the short term I suggest you try to negotiate a holiday on the family loan, this would generate another £50 per week.

Whilst you sort this out with CCCS you really must not exceed spending £49.92 per week otherwise your situation will worsen. You will need to think about increasing your income somehow as well as cutting back as the others have suggested.

In my figures below, I have assumed fixed repayments to the lenders. Set up standing orders to pay these, not DDs. Do not make minimum payments as your debt will never decrease in a realistic time. Stop using credit cards for any more purchases.

Good luck, the figures:

incomeweeklymonthlyself £ 1,390.00 partner IS CHB Maint total0.001390.00divide by 4.33 £ 320.77 £ 320.77 total weekly incomespendweeklymonthlyrent/mortgage £ 325.00 council tax £ 81.00 elec £ 22.50 gas £ 22.50 water £ 20.00 secured loans £ - TV licence £ 11.00 fines £ - car ins £ 63.00 road tax £ 11.00 family loan £ 200.00 phone etc £ 60.00 petrol £ 45.00 car service £ 10.00 barclaycard £ 18.15 virgin £ 70.25 natwest £ 82.05 hfc £ 62.10 store card £ 28.15 cl finance £ 42.00 total0.00 £ 1,173.70 divide by 4.33 £ 270.85 £ 270.85 total weekly spendStart= income - spend = £ 49.92 per week

EmptyPockets

As I already mentioned, a 'holiday' on the family loan is no longer possible, if it was, we'd be doing so - they have helped us out for as long as they possibly can.

Have not used credit cards for any purchases in months and months, at least 10 mths.

And don't plan on using them again. EVER.