I need some help/ advice

keighley.johanne

Ok...

My partner & I worked together, we are both unhappy as we are working our butts off. Not getting paid overtime, not having time for a break.
We have both been working at least 50hrs p/w. The last 2 weeks he has been on night shift with no night shift allowance. I have been doing mon & tues dayshift, weds & thurs nightshirt with no night shift allowance!

My partner was the bosses right hand man for years, he has worked their since he left school (12years) the boss hasn't spoken to him for 3wks (thurs 1st) after he told him he didn't feel appreciated. The boss said they would talk on Tuesday (6th). And appriciation would be seen at the end of the month with pay rise. (He said this in December also) This meeting never materialised!! He would speak to my partner at least 6times a day prior to this!!
My partner basically manages the factory! For £278 a week take home.
Now the interesting, maybe disturbing fact is that the company is basically a family operation.

He decided in the summer if nothing changed by Christmas then he would look for another job. But he has well & truly had enough of being a doormat.
He applied for several jobs after the meeting never happened. He has a new job lined up, training starts on Wednesday. He handed his notice in on Friday!

Now, he handed back the keys to the work van he had. He is now having to look for a car on finance.
He has contacted Harrington brooks with regards to consolidating our debts.
He has only told me how much he owes on credit cards within the last 3weeks after years of asking him!!

Now the money side....
He owes..
£4000 +/- on credit card 1 (Barclays or natwest)
£6000 +/- on credit card 2 (Barclays or natwest)
£2500 +/- on HP for the boiler
He was taking home £278 a week.
He will now be taking home a monthly pay of £1490 +/-

I owe...
• £2395 on capital one credit card (I pay £15p/w standing order & min order £75+/- direct debit)
• £1104 on tesco credit card (I pay £10p/w standing order)
• £1423 on very account (this amount inCludes £134 BNPL, expires 20/11/15 & £177 BNPL, expires 29/07/16. I pay £22p/w standing order on to the account)
• £550 on Studio catalogue (min payment of £35 is made but I don't have a direct debit set up. Have missed payments & been charged several times for late fees)
• £220 on New Day store card (they have put my account on hold as of Thursday due to several missed payments)

I currently have £300 in saving for emergencies that I have had to dip into several times in the past several months (I put £30p/w away)
I am considering paying new day outright with this but am worried I am going to need this as He hasn't asked his new employer when payday is, if training is paid.

Our household bills are £1216 a month.

Now I've checked Harrington brooks and they charge a fee. I am going to attempt to reduce our debts by myself I am going to trail it for 6-8months to see what sort of dent I can make.

But where do I start first??
I am thinking to set up direct debts for all creditors, and focus on overpaying on his big credit card first, then is smaller one, then mine.
Or do I spread overpayments between them all?

I want to try and avoid a consolidation agency as long as possible.

crazy_cat_lady

Hi
If you're looking for debt management advice and help, please don't pay for it. Talk to Stepchange - I went into a management plan with them 5 years ago and it was one of the best things I ever did. There's also National Debtline, and CAP.
If you're going to manage it by yourself then have a look at the snowball calculator.

tallyhoh

Suggest you google reviews on Harrington Brooks, not pleasant reading.

Contact one of the debt charities who don't charge a fee or even look for advice on here & arrange repayments yourself.

There have also been several horror tales recently of debt management companies going bust or mismanaging accounts, don't be taken in.

keighley.johanne

I've been looking at stepchange as newday advised I speak to them about the debt I have with them.

Thanks, I was trying to think what the snowball would be called lol ��

andyfromotley

HI JO,

i think you have got the message but just to reinforce it NEVER pay for debt advice or management. EVER.

Edit - just checked their website, wow their fees are horrific!!! On their own examples given of a DMP (which stepchange and the like will do for free or you can do yourself!) they will charge you fees of over £5000 on a £19000 debt. in other words in their example the person would pay for an extra two and a half years just to pay their fees!!! YUK! YUK!

redpete

keighley.johanne wrote: »

But where do I start first??
I am thinking to set up direct debts for all creditors, and focus on overpaying on his big credit card first, then is smaller one, then mine.
Or do I spread overpayments between them all?

You start by paying off as much as you can on the debt that is charging the highest rate of interest (not the one with the largest balance) and pay the minimum monthly payment to the others, then you move on the next highest interest rate and so on. This is 'snowballing'.

sourcrates

keighley.johanne wrote: »

But where do I start first??





I want to try and avoid a consolidation agency as long as possible.

Hi,


As the others have said, Harrington Brookes are a commercial debt management company, who will charge you a fairly substantial fee for there "services", just ask yourself, what exactly do they do to justify that fee ?


Ok, they will send emails, or letters, to all of your creditors, explaining your financial circumstances, information you would have given to them, they will ask them to stop interest and charges, then, on a monthly basis, distribute the payment you make, to your creditors, on your behalf, that's basically it, they have no more influence to negotiate agreements, than you or I do, if you can write a letter, or send an email, there is no earthly reason, why you cant set up your own DMP, and it will cost you nothing.


Alternatively, Step change or Pay plan, will do the same job, on your behalf, for nothing, it depends how much control you want to retain, and how confident you are at negotiating with creditors.


But before you do any of that, I suggest you take a step back, and take a while to plan your next move, I would also stop paying your unsecured creditors for the time being, take some time to build up a good emergency fund, don't speak to any of them for the time being, and when eventually you do, don't do anything on the phone, do it all in writing, its much easier negotiating in writing, than it is verbally, you also have a written record of what's been agreed.


Sort out how much you can comfortably afford to pay each one, then inform them all of your plans, in writing, tell them when you will pay them, and request there bank details, this is the easiest way to do it, if any particular creditor doesn't agree to the arrangement, they may sell on the debt, this is very common, and you would just adjust the payment, and make it to the new creditor instead.


I would also suggest you have a look on the Stepchange website, or even give them a call, just to gain a little expert knowledge.


Good luck with it.

Dobbibill

Hi Keighley,

Put together a SOA so you can see exactly how much you have to make debt repayments. Here is the link.

If you are thinking about doing the snowball method, here is a link for that too.

It doesn't hurt to have a go and play around with your figures to see how best to go forward.

All the best

DB