Big help required!!!

Rosey321

thecornflake wrote: »

I would be very interested in how Welcome approved the loan, as this has got to be mis-selling.

I'm not aware of any situation where you should be able to get a secured loan when you are already in negative equity.

Personally I would be checking this out to see if they broke any regulations/laws in giving you the loan and it would be good to get as many people's opinions as possible.

Yes, amazingly at the time of being accepted for Welcome - we had our 168k mortgage and the 65k secured loan (plus all the credit card debt), and I think we quoted our house value as 200k which is what we marketed it at. The actual loan we got was for 17k (I mentioned 20k earlier in the thread as an approximate settlement figure).
We had already been declined an unsecure loan as we was rated by the company as 'clinging on by our financial fingernails' and scoring 6/7 in their credit score system so again, was amazed to be accepted so readily by Welcome. Amazed also they were happy to be third charge on the property which they would clearly not get any of the proceeds of a sale of in the short term.

Thecornflake - I am inspired by your signature, a fine effort indeed. Without knowing your own previous circumstances, it at least gives some hope that debt can be slashed with some hard work!

Will post SOA when I get home later for further info.

thecornflake

Rosey321 wrote: »

Thecornflake - I am inspired by your signature, a fine effort indeed. Without knowing your own previous circumstances, it at least gives some hope that debt can be slashed with some hard work!

Will post SOA when I get home later for further info.

My signature may be slightly misleading in that part of the massive debt reduction was because we sold our flat and moved into a rented house. Rent is a lot less than our secured debt was every month, plus we got to pay a few things off.

Still, it still counts and looking at that huge figure we used to owe makes the current debt look much more manageable.

However, I would like to say that a lot has been reduced from help on this forum. I worked out that in the first year of being a DFW (I also bought Martin's book, the Money Diet) we saved £900.:money:

Rosey321

OK - one day later than billed, here is our SOA:
All figures are quoted as a monthly average

Income:

Wages (me) £1275
Wages (wife) £1300
Child tax credit £42
Child benefit £72

Outgoings:

Mortgage £824 (5.75%APR)
Firstplus £624 (11.5% APR)
Welcome £250 (18% APR)
Council Tax £132
Gas £45 British Gas
Electricity £40 British Gas
Boiler Homecare£17 British Gas
Water Rates £25
Home phone £30
TV Licence £11
Mobile Phones £30 (includes 2 x pay as you go)
Contact Lenses £50 (2 x £25 monthly supplies)
Life Insurance £51 (based on £231K - mortgage and FP)
Contents Ins £22
Car Insurance £38 (includes 2 vehicles)
Car tax £21 (includes 2 vehicles)
Car maint/Mot £15
Internet £15 Broadband
Petrol £150 (2 vehicles)
Food etc £400 (2 adults/1 child)
Childcare £25 (really is this low thanks to grandparents!)
Health costs £15 (prescriptions etc)
Clothing/Shoes £50
Cleaning Material£10
Credit Cards £450 (various credit/store)

Income £2689
Outgoing £3340

Total = minus £651
Total disposable without credit cards = minus £201 !!

Interesting point of note though: From October, my wife's income will be around £1750, a rise of around £450 so we will actually have a positive disposable income (credit cards excluded).

Also, Firstplus have agreed to let us pay only half for the next three months which they are going to add to the life of the loan along with the payment we missed this month. They were really,really helpful actually. They wanted to know all the figures above to prove our situation but they were more than happy to help as we hadn't previously defaulted.
This really does prove that running away from the problem really doesn't help - asking for help can be very beneficial !

Other plans of action at the mo:
1. Likely cancellation of British Gas Homecare - will make sure the boiler works ready for the winter first
2. The two cars are insured at different places at the mo. I think we could get better by going to the same place (both clean licences)
3. Try and combine the home phone and internet to be with the same provider (also different at the mo)
4. Our phones are also on different networks. A future plan will be that whoever next needs to replace a phone will join the other's network to reduce call costs.
5. Hunt cheaper life insurance. Unfortunately, this is hiked up quite a bit because it covers £231k. Also, they don't like the fact I only have one kidney and therefore my premium (£34) is double my wifes (£17)

I'm also considering 'car advertising' as a possible new income. I've seen various sites where agencies arrange for your car to be an 'advertisment on wheels' for anything up to £200 a month for essentially doing nothing. I do about 900 miles a month and generally meet their criteria. Anyone else done this?


If anyone can add any ideas to the above, I would be really, really grateful !

Thanks.

frosty

Hi Rosey321, we are with tiscali and we pay £30/35 a month,this is for line rental,broadband and all calls to 01&02 numbers are free day or night.
Since joining this site we have managed to cut our food bill from £500+ a month for 5 adults to £200,you might find a visit to the oldstyle board helpful.
Check out quidco for cashback on your car insurance,also direct line give a multi car discount,and if you have contents and building insurance with them you receive them a bit cheaper aswell.GOOD LUCK.

BWZN93

Rosey321 wrote: »

OK - one day later than billed, here is our SOA:
All figures are quoted as a monthly average

Income:

Wages (me) £1275
Wages (wife) £1300
Child tax credit £42
Child benefit £72

Outgoings:

Mortgage £824 (5.75%APR)
Firstplus £624 (11.5% APR)
Welcome £250 (18% APR)
Council Tax £132
Gas £45 British Gas Any way this can be reduced?
Electricity £40 British Gas Ditto
Boiler Homecare£17 British Gas Id cancel this too
Water Rates £25
Home phone £30 - Swap companies - Im getting internet, phones (mobile and home) and tv for £40 a month
TV Licence £11
Mobile Phones £30 (includes 2 x pay as you go) See above
Contact Lenses £50 (2 x £25 monthly supplies) Switch to glasses?
Life Insurance £51 (based on £231K - mortgage and FP)
Contents Ins £22 - Can this be reduced?
Car Insurance £38 (includes 2 vehicles)
Car tax £21 (includes 2 vehicles)
Car maint/Mot £15
Internet £15 Broadband See Home Phone
Petrol £150 (2 vehicles) - Can this be reduced? Is it absolutley necessary to have two cars? Can one/both be sold for cheap models? Public transport?
Food etc £400 (2 adults/1 child) - This is HUGE!! I spend £200 a month on 2 adults and 1 cat, and this covers everything, food, smokes, cleaning, etc, and could easily reduce this to £150. Check out the oldstyle board for ways to really cut this down fast!
Childcare £25 (really is this low thanks to grandparents!) - Hugs to them from me!
Health costs £15 (prescriptions etc) - Is this irregular costs or do you have a prepay certificate thingy? Any chance it can be reduced?
Clothing/Shoes £50 - This really has to stop - make do and mend
Cleaning Material£10 - Ditto above and see Oldstyle Board
Credit Cards £450 (various credit/store)

Income £2689
Outgoing £3340

Total = minus £651
Total disposable without credit cards = minus £201 !!

Interesting point of note though: From October, my wife's income will be around £1750, a rise of around £450 so we will actually have a positive disposable income (credit cards excluded).


Thanks.

I hope none of my responses appear rude! I dont intend them to be! I think really careful planning could create a couple of hundred pounds in your budget and tip you into full positive disposable income including credit cards when your wife is back at work full time.


If you switch anything, check Quidco first to see if you could get some cashback, im currently awaiting £50 for a switch to powergen (who came up as cheapest on uswitch for me), and there are some really nice £85's up for grabs for insurance switching. Do you both use spending diaries? This could be a good way of helping track every penny and ensure that you know where everything is going. Are you claiming all possible benefits you are due? Tried Council Tax rebanding? Thought about freeing up a couple of grand by selling the cars and getting really cheap ones if you both absolutley need one each?


Visit the Old Style board in order to reduce the food shopping etc right down, keep your till reciepts to make sure they are correct (tecso policy is to refund and let you keep the item if the price is wrong), meal plan, never pay full price, make full use of 'yellow stickered' items and cook from scratch. Im a total miser in the supermarket these days, I get a £60 shop for £40 and make it last as long as I can. You can look for vouchers, shop to whats on bogof, use the till spits for extra points, bulk buy, shop online, tell companies via email how much you liked/disliked a particular product in the hope that they may send vouchers for your comments.

Is there any way your incomes could increase even more? Mystery shopping and overtime is what im currently doing - are these an option for you?

I wish you luck and (((hugs)))!

Jo x

Rosey321

Thanks so much for responses so far - amazing what simple ideas can help. Although we had though about merging the car insurance, never occurred to me to try and put all insurances in one place - will check that out.

Had never heard of Quidco so they sound like a good place to look as well (I obviously need to check out some more threads on this website for this great info!!)

Will check out the old style board too. Food sounds like a definite way to reduce the costs.

A spending diary is another decent plan. Every month I see the bank statement and have no idea why £30 came out the ATM on a particular day!

Jo - you are not at all rude, an absolutely great help in fact.
Some overtime may be on the cards. I am intrigued to know though what 'mystery shopping' is? Call me naive if you will !!

Jacks_xxx

Since your situation is at crisis point and it's this or bankruptcy, I'm going to be fairly firm - so apologies in advance! :eek:

But just so you know I'm not just being a moo - we've paid off £60k of debt in the past year... :j

And we did it by changing our thinking and our behaviour and that's what you have to do too.

So here goes, and please bear in mind that I'm not asking you to do anything I haven't done myself.

Cars Do you really really really NEED them?
And do you really really really NEED two? (ie would it be impossible to get to work without them?)

Mobiles - we think of them as a necessity, but they're not. Get rid as soon as poss.

Lenses. Again, a luxury you can't afford honey. Wear your glasses and ditch this regular bill.

TV / internet / phone Sky was doing a £26 deal for all three last time I looked.

Food bill We are still struggling with this one ourselves, but I've seen miracles happen on the Grocery Challenges on Money Saving Old Style so join in with that and cut back.

Boiler Homecare Ditch it hon.

Insurances Get new deals through Quidco - we got a better rate and £120 cashback for switching our home insurance.

Bank Charges / PPI Start claiming back your back charges and look into your PPI - how much are you paying, and can you claim some back and switch to a cheaper provider

Then talk to the CCCS / National Debt Line and get another perspective on your debts - maybe they'll have a different approach or some new ideas?

And call all your creditors and ask them to freeze the interest on your loans. Tell them the CAB is working on a plan where you pay all your creditors £1 a month but if they can freeze the interest you think you can do better than that.

Then punch all of your debt details into the snowball tool at www.whatsthecost.com and see what it says. You might need a stiff drink.

Then spend the weekend clearing out everything that's saleable and have carboots or list on eBay (books do better on Amazon.)

That's pretty much how we're doing it. We've just had free eye tests and free prescriptions thanks to mystery shopping, and today I had a free lunch - so that all helps.

£60k down and £35k to go!

Love Jacks xxx

BWZN93

Mystery shopping is exactly what it says on the tin - you wont become a millionaire overnight, you just be a customer somewhere and get paid to assess the service given and then report back - try grassroots to start with at https://www.grassrootsmysteryshopping.com/ You sometimes get a free meal out of it too as well as a bit of cash so its not bad if you have a bit of spare time on your hands. I just made £10 for making a few phonecalls last saturday and reporting back what happened. There are threads all over MSE about this so you could register with all of them and take on as many as you can handle.

If you feel you need a free night out too, its worth registering at http://www.seefilmfirst.com/homepage.welcome.action if there is a location close to you.

Jo x

frosty

Hi,Rosey321,
when we realised we had serious money problems:eek: we went into what I call "starvation mode".:idea:
The things we did were,
STOPPED ALL SPENDING........WRITE DOWN AND ACCOUNT FOR EVERYPENNY SPENT,FROM A PENNY CHEW TO A NEWSPAPER.YOU CAN THEN SEE WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES,(we stopped all takeaways/eating out)

I DIDNT MEAL PLAN BUT I DID BUY AS MUCH REDUCED FOOD AS I COULD,I WOULD ONLY BUY THINGS THAT I COULD MAKE AT LEAST 3/4 FAMILY MEALS OUT OF,CHICKEN IS ALWAYS A GOOD BUY,I WOULD USE THE CHICKEN BREASTS TO MAKE HOMEMADE NUGGETS AND SERVE WITH HOMEMADE POTATO WEDGES,THEN I WOULD STRIP ALL THE MEAT OFF THE CHICKEN,HALF WOULD BE USED TO MAKE A BIG PAN OF CHICKEN STEW.I USED TO KEEP A FEW LADELS OF STEW IN THE FRIDGE AND THIS WOULD BE MADE INTO A CHICKEN PIE FOR SUNDAY LUNCH.THE OTHER HALF OF THE CHICKEN MEAT WOULD BE USED TO MAKE A CURRY,I WOULD BULK IT OUT WITH ONIONS AND CHOPPED UP VEG.THE CARCUSS WAS BOILED FOR STOCK AND THEN TURNED INTO A BIG PAN OF SOUP(a good way of using up veg).THEN I WOULD FREEZE EVERYTHING TO USE THROUGH THE WEEK.
ALL MEALS WERE SERVED WITH VEG THAT I HAD MANAGED TO BUY REDUCED IN TESCO OR ASDA . We have started to buy our meat from here
www.fresh-meat-online.co.uk their stewing steak and mince is very good value and they do free delivery.

WE SWITCHED ALL LIGHTS TO LOW ENERGY BULBS AND TURNED OFF ALL LIGHTS NOT BEING USED,NOTHING WAS LEFT ON STANDBY.
www.ultimastore.co.uk HAVE CHEAP BULBS.

I STOPPED USING MY DISHWASHER AND DRYER AND ALL WASHING WAS HUNG OUT ON THE LINE.

WE DID HAVE PAYG MOBILES BUT A £10.00 credit would last us months.
WE ONLY USED THE CAR IF WE REALLY HAD TO.


THESE ARE A FEW THINGS WE DID TO HELP US BECOME DEBT FREE,I HOPE A FEW OF THEM MIGHT HELP YOU ASWELL,IF YOU WOULD LIKE ANY MORE IDEAS ON CUTTING YOUR FOOD BILL YOU ARE WELCOME TO PM ME.

the other thing i would say is make sure your read the debt free thread everyday,for motivation and support.GOOD LUCK.........YOU CAN BECOME DEBT FREE.

sammy115

Lots of good advice so far and I can only reiterate the points made so far,

1. Do give national debtline a call for a different perspective. Extremely good.

2. Spending diary - important

3. You CAN cut food bill in half - therefore instantly gaining £200.

4. try www.contactlenses.co.uk for cheaper contact lenses.

5. Read this forum EVERY DAY!

Stay positive - don't try to run before you can walk. Small steps!