Number of different debts that i need help with

mowen81

This event this morning is what has convinced me to get everything sorted.

I was getting ready for work this morning when there was a knock at the door, at first i ignored it, then my wife went to find out who it was. It was a high court enforcement officer about an unpaid parking fine on an old car i had in 2014. He said because there had been many examples of this over the last few years, he had a court order which would let him call a locksmith to gain entry and remove goods. I don't remember the name of the warrant he said. This was very stressful for both me and my Wife but i managed to get my work to pay the full amount and they will take it out of next months wages. The officer said that there was nothing else outstanding on the system for me, but, is there anyway i can check this for definite?

A few years ago i was very very stupid with money, ran up plenty of payday loan debts, a credit card, quite a few parking fines, that sort of thing. I want to now get them all sorted. I have looked at my credit report from experian, there are 3 CCJ's on there and plenty of other debts, some are settled, but mosst are not. Firstly, i'm going to assume i should try to sort out the CCJ's first? I had a letter the other day which i think is about one of them, but for the other two, how do i go about finding out what they are for, and trying to sort out some sort of payment plan with them?

As regards to the other debts. One is for council tax, it did go to a debt collection agency but now it is back with the council. One is for my mortgage, i am very behind on my payments. Since i took out the mortgage i am in a different job and i can't afford to pay the rates i used to pay. I am feeling very stressed about this one and i don't know what to do. What should i do about the other debts? Do i need to write to them all individually to sort out a payment plan, i'm happy to do that if neccesary, but I want to tackle this, but in the best order possible.

I also have an outstanding loan with Sunny. This is being paid off every month direct from my bank account, I am happy to finish paying this off, once it is cleared, this will give me around £400 extra to clear off some debts.

Am i right in thinking that the settled ones will be on there for 6 years? Will that be 6 years from when they were settled, or when they were started?

Over the last few months i have been sorting out our finances in generally so we have less outgoings, so, i should be able to make payments on some of the debts, but if i try to make payments on them all then it will not be a lot off of each.

I would like to spend the weekend sorting out as much as i can with regards to this. I am more than happy to put in the work to get these debts cleared. I would appreciate any help that can be offered.

poppasmurf_bewdley

The first thing you need to do is take a deep breath.

Then read this:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan

and complete a SOA (Statement of Affairs) on here so others can help you by seeing where you are spending and how you can deal with your debts.

The main thing to do is remain calm. Everything can be handled. Nothing you have mentioned is insurmountable.

mowen81

Thank you, that does help, it feels in surmountable right now, but to hear somebody say it's not does help, i will fill that in ASAP and post it on here.

mowen81

OK, here is my S.O.A. I made some notes as i went along to clarify, or explain some things.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1351.12
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 433.96
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1785.08

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 488
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 60
Council tax............................. 136.37
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 10
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 24
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 130
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1618.37


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 6832.....(488)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 6832......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Gothia Limited.................949.......0.........0
Instant Cash Loans.............525.......0.........0
Lowell Portfolio...............358.......0.........0
Sunny..........................933.68....339.6.....0
1st Credit.....................762.......0.........0
1st Credit.....................1251......0.........0
Cabot Financial................3207......0.........0
Myjar..........................272.......0.........0
Lowell Portfolio...............1293......0.........0
Active Securities..............295.......0.........0
Lowell Portfolio...............547.......0.........0
Lowell Portfolio...............263.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........10655.68..339.6.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,785.08
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,618.37
Available for debt repayments........... 166.71
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 339.6
Amount short for making debt repayments. -172.89

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -6,832
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,655.68
Net Assets.............................. -17,487.68

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Next month am paying off outstanding amount with virgin and then canceeling tv and phone, leaving just internet

Groceries and Petrol are estimates, have started keeping a track on them this month though

Currently don't have contents insurance, going to look into that soon

Not sure of annual rate on mortgage

Currently my Mum and Dad pay all my car things, insurance etc.

Not too sure of the value of my house or car

All the debt information i got is from Equifax. So i'm not 100% sure on the amounts and some of them just have one defaulted entry from 2012, not sure if i needed to include them but i thought better to include them and then take them off if neccesary.

My Wife does not work, she is at University, has mental health issues which prevent her from having a regular job at the same time as University.

twiggy86

Please check this point out for yourself, but I would have thought it was more important to pay your mortgage than the unsecured debt to Sunny. Please do check this point though or hopefully someone who knows more about this then me.
One other point is your sky - this is very high considering the level of debts, shortfall and accounting for your parents paying for the running of your car. I would seriously consider cancelling this (if possible - if not try to haggle a reduction or lower your package). Same for your phone - consider getting a sim only contract.
One area I've managed to really cut back on is groceries - do you meal plan, write a shopping list, check your cupboards for what you actually need, shop at Lild/Aldi?
Hope this helps and good luck.

mowen81

Sorry, my fault, when i sad phone, i meant home phone. Currently have TV, internet and phone through Virgin, going to cut out tv and phone, which should take about £100 off, will find out for definite when i phone them next week. My mobile contract is up in April, i'm not going to cancel that as i use it a lot but i will try and cut it down.

OK, that's good with groceries, as i say that was an estimate to begin with.

Yes, that can probably be trimmed, maybe to about £150.

OK, with regards to finding out the APR's am i best off writing to the debt collection agencies with the reference number from equifax and asking them what it is? Because tbh, i have no idea what it is.

But i will start to look at the calculator, you are right, a lot are small amounts, so, whilst i am paying off one, should i ignore the others for now? I should i contact them all and ask them to stop adding on interest?

pelirocco

First double check what you are paying on essentials , then get advice from a non fee debt charity as you sound pretty over whelmed . Concentrate on getting your priority debts paid , and get current with them before paying any unsecured debt , I think the advice is to write to them and send a token payment , dont get forced / panicked into paying debts that will leave you short for paying mortgage , council tax , fuel and food . If you are having problems or are behind with any of them , contact them to explain and to come up with a realistic budget to get them paid .
And hard as it is dont panic , as it can be sorted

Sanctioned_Parts_List

Unfair! You edited the post while I was replying. You've stated that you're cancelling phone and cable TV, though I assume you'll go for a tenner-a-month PAYG rather than be completely phone-less.

Your TV licence is double what it should be (£12.12)
Your food bill could shrink by £50
You really need to trim that entertainment budget, given your overheads. Try to get it under £50/month.

That'll give you another couple of hundred to attack those debts with.

mowen81

Thanks twiggy. I do agree with you, But it is going to depend partially on how much my mortgage payments now are. I need to write to the halifax, who my mortgage is through, but i am not sure what to say to them. Sunny, will be paid off in a few months if that makes any difference.

Yeah, next week, when i get paid i am going to phone Virgin, by off the outstanding balance i have with them and then cut out TV and phone completely. I am definitely going to look into cutting down my mobile phone bill as well.

Haven't been very good with groceries recently, always having takeaways etc, however this week have got a lot better. Next week when i get paid i am going to do a fairly big online shop with Tesco, but then will do weekly shops at Aldi as have one just round the corner.

mowen81

Sorry, i did yes! Will try and cut down on the other areas you said though, really going to go in depth on it over this coming weekend.

mowen81

pelirocco wrote: »

First double check what you are paying on essentials , then get advice from a non fee debt charity as you sound pretty over whelmed . Concentrate on getting your priority debts paid , and get current with them before paying any unsecured debt , I think the advice is to write to them and send a token payment , dont get forced / panicked into paying debts that will leave you short for paying mortgage , council tax , fuel and food . If you are having problems or are behind with any of them , contact them to explain and to come up with a realistic budget to get them paid .
And hard as it is dont panic , as it can be sorted

Thank you, so, the ones i should concentrate on should be mortgage and council tax? As far as i know all the others are unsecured.

I was panicking this morning, but writing it all down and getting kind, helpful responses has helped.