First timer with a long post and a question or two..

Skint_And_Scunnered

Hi all.

Having been sitting on the sub benches for a LONG time, I have finally plucked up the courage to start my own debt free journey. (God only knows why it's taken me this long to do it - could of almost been debt free by now ). Time to stop ignoring the issue and start dealing with things head on.

A little about me: My name is Caz, I am 29, work full time and currently studying BSc in Health Sciences through the Open Uni on a pathway to physiotherapy.... One day

Now to swallow the brave pills and get down to the nitty gritty..

This weekend was the breaking point / waking up point for me. I have opened a pile of letters that I hid in a box and started to sort out, file add up the shocking amount of debt that I have accumulated over the past 4 years (bizarrely enough until then I was reasonably good with money).

At the moment I have estimated that my debts are about £25,000 :eek::mad: I will need to wait until tomorrow to contact some of the loans companies for an updated balance as they were closed over the weekend.

All of my debts have been defaulted and passed to third party companies (because I have been stuck with my head in the sand for so long). Therefor my credit rating must be sitting about nil. I have contacted most of them and explained that I will be arranging a DMP or Trust Deed. Most of the companies I spoke with have been OK with me and agreed to put the account on hold for 30 days until I sort out this shambles.

I have seen many companies advertising but Step Change seems to pop up a lot, I have been on their site and read a lot of reviews and they look like the kind of people I need to help get me back to the straight and narrow again..... I will make a point of calling them on Thursday morning first thing when i'm off work.

Can anyone recommend whether I should go with a DMP or a Trust Deed.. This is all a fairly new experience for me and i'm still not sure which would be best.


I am also wondering if someone can provide me with a link for a budget planner or the likes for writing everything down (all outcome / expenses etc).

Apologies for the massively long post, but I feel that I need to get this off my chest once and for all (it's not something i've discussed with family or friends), and maybe I'll be able to stop sitting awake every night having the debt demons eating away at my sleep time.

My aim is to be debt free and to start re-building my credit... As I would eventually like to settle down and buy a house one day
I am looking forward to taking part in the monthly challenges and setting myself monthly goals.

It's going to be a long journey, but it has to start somewhere.


Thank you for reading.
Caz

andyfromotley

Hi caz,

welcome. Well done on getting up the courage to sort things out. You are in the right place.

Stepchange, i haven't used them but i rarely see anything other than glowing reports about them on this forum. They are a charity and will act in your best interests. I can't advice on the best sort of debt remedy for you i guess Stepchange will know.

Here is budget planner.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Try to be as honest/accurate when you fill it in. If you want advice on your monthly bills and the like post it on here.

Hope this helps

andy

sourcrates

Plenty of help available on here for you Kaz, as you mention trust deed, I'm assuming your north of the border, in which case there is a dedicated SC site for Scotland, link below for you :

http://www.stepchange.org/DebtadviceinScotland.aspx

Skint_And_Scunnered

Evening all,

Thanks for the links. I am working my way through my SOA / Budget at the moment, will put it up during the week when I have a bit of extra time.

Today I feel like I have made a little progress (although feels like a lot), having gone through almost a years worth of unopened post between yesterday and today and read / filed it all, I feel like I have more of a grip on whats going on. Three companies left to phone for balances but will do that tomorrow as ran out of time tonight. No point in beating myself up over this mess, the damage has been done, but learning to put it right is my mission.

Opened 2 x new basic cash bank accounts today. 1 for my wage to go into and bills to come out of and 1 for my weekly / monthly spending / saving allowance.

Now to phone Step Change tomorrow and book a phone appointment.

Something else ticked off the list

Caz

mum2one

I'm with stepchange, I have debts 18k ish mark, thou was higher at the start.. there really helpful, non judgemental, and supportive.

You've done the hardest thing and that is admitting the debt, may be a roller coaster ride at times, but when you get to the end it will fall into place

Good luck with the degree, I studied with OU, got a far as Foundation degree, but I did collect extra courses en-route x

immoral_angeluk

Well done for taking the first steps. It's hard, but you can do it.