Debt getting us down

LauraLooDFWB

Im new to all this but love the web site!

We are in debt as follows, arrears due to bank bouncing/not paying direct debits, partner not getting correct wages and being messed about in general by last few employers including current...

Mortgage arrears: £650 (one payment behind)
Water arrears: £160
Counsil tax arrears: £200
Bt arrears : £80
Orange arrears: £200
Welcome car finace: £300 (one payment behind)
Lloyds loan at 6.26%: £3725.38
Lloyds cc: £1800
Capital one cc: £500
Welcome Car finance: £13,000
O2: £180
OH overdraft: £500
Overdraft: £50
Vodafone: £60
Toatl £21400 ish:eek:

Our monthey income at present is around £1800, we have a 7month old daughter so i stay at home and look after her as i was only getting paid £750 a month working full time it worked out better off if i stayed home. I work from home selling avon and do a delivery shift one night a week at work.
My other half is currently working 12-13hours a day 3 of that being driving to and from work and is currently looking for a new job closer to home that pays more (has a few interviews coming up:D ).
Our monthly out goings are:
Gas £5-£10
Electric £38
OH mobile £50
My mobile £35
Rent £164.24
Motgage £613
Bt £10
Break down cover £166.22 this month for whole year
Welcome finance: £293.63
Food shopping £150
Loan £147
vodafone £20
Capital one cc £25 minimum payment
Loyds cc £47 minimum payment
Council tax £100
Water £15
AA home insurance £12
Life cover £55
Diesel £50 company pay for most
AA car ins £74
Total £2075

My other half gets charged every month for bounced direct debits and going over limit sometimes up to £250 per month in charges! we are currently reclaiming our bank charges adding to over £4000 but the big bank court case is on the 12th of Jan :mad: obviously we could do with that cash but even hard ship cases are being stopped for now. We are seeing a financial adviser monday through CAB so thats one step, we have cut back on shopping bill iv applied with help for council tax and been refused, life cover fully covers my partner but only partly me otherwise it would be £75. Waiting on £400 cheque back from mobile to pay off orange o2 and voda, and also waiting on cheque from OH work for £200 back for diesel. Found cheeper quote for break down cover so that goes down as of oct to £120. Need to find car insurance cheaper.
Gas and elec has been difficult had all kinds of problems locating us cos we live in brand new flats.
Any advise would be good and greatfully welcomed. Oh we dont have a social life so dnt spent money on that, dnt get take away (i make home made pizza and he says he likes it the best, i think he is just tryng to make me feel better)

Thanks Laura

skintas_2

ebay mystery shopping a new saucy job. any off these to help.

do you claim what your entitled to with tax credits

good luck

food shop seems to high to me as there are 40 of us and we spend £30 a week

HairyHandofDartmoor

Hi. My initial thoughts are why are you paying rent and mortgage payments? Also your mobile bills seem quite high, so could you renegotiate them? Or go on pay as you go if your contract is nearly up?

Could you find some kind of evening or weekend work so your partner can babysit, just until you clear some of the arrears?

The mortgage and council tax arrears are the really important ones to concentrate on as with one you could lose your home, and with the second they could imprison you (obviously this wouldn't happen for quite a while, but these arrears should be viewed as the most urgent).

Also could you sell the car and get a cheaper one, so you could pay back some of the car finance?

I'm sure others will be along soon with more advice (probably in the morning!)

rayday2

Seeing as they are new flats is it shared equity where you pay mortgage and rent?

I think you need to stop paying full amounts on cc and loans so that you don't go overdrawn CAB will tell you more about this.

Also you probably need to think about opening up a current account that is not connected to any of the debts you have as they can take full money out your account - I have a feeling CAB will advise you to start a DMP because like you said there is not much play in your figures you are doing your best.

rayday2

If you do stop paying loans make sure if your car is on Hire Purchase you pay the full amount on that as they can take the car off you otherwise!

madmoney_2

skintas wrote: »

food shop seems to high to me as there are 40 of us and we spend £30 a week

40 of you!!! wow 30 quid is amazing:rotfl:

Dumb_Blonde_3

I'm afraid I don't have any radical idea's but my idea is to maybe go along to some 'mother/toddler' groups - usually only a pound and you get coffee/biscuit but it will get you out of the house and meeting other mums - it could also be a venue for you to dish out a few more Avon books.

izzybusy23

LauraLooDFWB wrote: »

Im new to all this but love the web site!

We are in debt as follows, arrears due to bank bouncing/not paying direct debits, partner not getting correct wages and being messed about in general by last few employers including current...

Mortgage arrears: £650 (one payment behind)
Water arrears: £160
Counsil tax arrears: £200
Bt arrears : £80
Orange arrears: £200
Welcome car finace: £300 (one payment behind)
Lloyds loan at 6.26%: £3725.38
Lloyds cc: £1800
Capital one cc: £500
Welcome Car finance: £13,000
O2: £180
OH overdraft: £500
Overdraft: £50
Vodafone: £60
Toatl £21400 ish:eek:

Our monthey income at present is around £1800, we have a 7month old daughter so i stay at home and look after her as i was only getting paid £750 a month working full time it worked out better off if i stayed home. I work from home selling avon and do a delivery shift one night a week at work.
My other half is currently working 12-13hours a day 3 of that being driving to and from work and is currently looking for a new job closer to home that pays more (has a few interviews coming up:D ).
Our monthly out goings are:
Gas £5-£10
Electric £38
OH mobile £50
My mobile £35
Rent £164.24
Motgage £613
Bt £10
Break down cover £166.22 this month for whole year
Welcome finance: £293.63
Food shopping £150
Loan £147
vodafone £20
Capital one cc £25 minimum payment
Loyds cc £47 minimum payment
Council tax £100
Water £15
AA home insurance £12
Life cover £55
Diesel £50 company pay for most
AA car ins £74
Total £2075

My other half gets charged every month for bounced direct debits and going over limit sometimes up to £250 per month in charges! we are currently reclaiming our bank charges adding to over £4000 but the big bank court case is on the 12th of Jan :mad: obviously we could do with that cash but even hard ship cases are being stopped for now. We are seeing a financial adviser monday through CAB so thats one step, we have cut back on shopping bill iv applied with help for council tax and been refused, life cover fully covers my partner but only partly me otherwise it would be £75. Waiting on £400 cheque back from mobile to pay off orange o2 and voda, and also waiting on cheque from OH work for £200 back for diesel. Found cheeper quote for break down cover so that goes down as of oct to £120. Need to find car insurance cheaper.
Gas and elec has been difficult had all kinds of problems locating us cos we live in brand new flats.
Any advise would be good and greatfully welcomed. Oh we dont have a social life so dnt spent money on that, dnt get take away (i make home made pizza and he says he likes it the best, i think he is just tryng to make me feel better)

Thanks Laura

Hi there

The ones I've highlighted in red are the ones you need to pay off first.. these are important.. the golden rule is always pay the priority debts (mortgage/council tax/car insurance/mot's) over the non-priority (credit cards/loans/overdrafts) etc. Personally I would pay the absolute minimum on the CC's and throw the money at paying off your arrears. If you are already paying the minimum then perhaps contact the CC's to say you are struggling and offer all you can.. its very important to get those priority arrears cleared.

Also I think £150 food bill for 3 is not too high at all. There are 3 of us in our household and we spend approx £200. I am guessing your food bill also includes sundries such as nappies etc?

Good luck!

auntie_brenda

Don't pay £120 for breakdown cover! look on the home page for Martin's advice, you can get for less than £40 - same level of cover, I promise you!

Issybusy is right - you should split your £400 amongst your priority debtors, although it would give you a psychological boost to clear a few.

Any way you could do another shift at work? Have a look at the sticky on maximising income and sign up with all the mystery shopping co's. You could take your baby with you. Then use the extra income to target one of the smaller debts.

Good luck!!

RAS

Hi

You do not indicate whether you are getting Child TAx credit or Working Tax Credit? Go to www.entitledto.com and see if you should be getting them and if you are, that you are gettig the right amount.

Also, medium term, child care for under 1s is much more expensive than for those over a year old. You might want to check things out and reconsider part-time employment after her first birthday (this is also the point at which Child tax credit is reduced).

LauraLooDFWB

Thank you all,
Firstly £150 includes nappies and everything and i buy tesco own nappies, we get £80 tax credit and £72 child beifit a month but i did include this in total income.
I am going to join the local mother and baby group to get out of the house and to get more avon books out there, iv already requested a list of roads for the area i live in cos there is a top selling rep in my area so i have to be carefull.
OH gets home between 7-8pm everynight and i work on his day off i'v looked for jobs locally in eve but none i can work/get to in enough time, i dnt have friends or family that can look after baby.
we originally got the 5k loan to buy a car but the engine blow up and loads of stuff went wrong with it (dodgy dealership apparently) so we had to get rid of it and had no choice but to go to welcome as they offered us £1200 (car was worthless) for our old car as OH used to travel 80miles a day to work and baby was 8weeks away from due date so it was a panic buy.
Which was lucky as she was 5weeks early! I think due to stress!
Oh needed a reliable car as he drives 110miles daily hopfully not for much longer and car finance is up in 3years at 14% interest.
We are gunna pay double mortgage this month and have spoken to coucil tax office, they know the situation and are sending some forms out for us to fill out. Rent and motgage due to part ownership as it was the olny way for us to get a mortgage. Hopefully we can get some help with ground rent and rent.
Oh work are now trying to get out of paying him petrol money owed :mad:
Plan of OH is to go back to a comission based selling position hopfully a few grand a month take home but his boss is being funny about it even tho we have explained the situation.

The mobile arrears are being paid off with £400 cheque from work and we aren't near the end of our contracts-both upgardes 4months ago.

Whats the ebay mistery shopping about????

I think iv covered everything?

Thanks again for all the support.