Seeking advice...

sofa_bean

Hi
After a few months of unsuccessfully trying to bury our heads in the sand (and suffering sleepless nights, tears and health problems as a result) the OH and I have finally had our lightbulb moment 2 days ago and have faced up to the fact that we are now in 'debt crisis'.
I lost my part-time job last Christmas (the business I was working for closed down) and we have just about managed to muddle along for the last 8 months on child tax credits and the CSA payments from my ex as well as my OH's income which hasn't changed at all.
Last week my eldest son started his apprenticeship so all benefits I was getting for him have now stopped - this represents a drop in income of about £470 per month. He is now paying me board of £120 per month which is as much as he can afford at the moment.
I have been trying to get another job since losing my last one (although, to be honest, I have been REALLY trying for the last 2 months) as I am more than aware that me getting a job would put us back into the position of being able to pay our debts/buy food etc, etc.
Up until now we have been managing to make all our normal monthly payments and are not in arrears with our bills or debt repayments (although I won't be able to make even the minimum payment on my CC when it becomes due at the end of the month), but this drop in income means that if we continue to meet all our normal bills and debt repayments there simply is NO money left over for food each month let alone clothes or anything like that.
I have been invited back for a second interview for a full-time job next Tuesday and have another interview for a part-time job on Thursday, so hopefully all of this will be irrelevant (fingers crossed!!) However I have had so many interviews in the past few weeks which have come to nothing, I feel we now HAVE to have some sort of contingency plan.
We've been in touch with CCCS and done their 'Debt Remedy' online and they suggest BR (which seems a rather drastic remedy to what will be, hopefully, a temporary situation), a Low Start DMP or Self-Administration - contacting the creditors ourselves and offering pro-rata payments.
I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to which would be our best option; DMP or self-administration? Would our creditors be likely to accept a DMP as we are not in arrears at the moment?
Sorry this has been a bit long-winded, but any help would be very gratefully received.

tigtag02

:hello:

Hi sofa and welcome to MSE

Congrats on your lightbulb moment ~ being part of the furniture here (did you see what I did there ) can be nothing but a good thing as you will find support, friends and a wealth of information.

The best way to start to help you is to look at your SOA (Statement of Affairs) ~ if you look at the top of this board there is a sticky by southernscouser. Have a look at the template and then paste yours.

We can see where cut backs can be made until you find yourself a job

Welcome again to the gang
x

sofa_bean

Hi and thanks for the welcome TigTag

Monthly Income:
OH's take home pay £1,020
Rent/board received £120
Pension received £225
Child Benefit £73
Child Tax Credit £130
Total income £1,568

Monthly Outgoings:
Rent £550
Water £33
Council tax £115
Gas £31
Electricity £44
Building and contents insurance £16
TV, Telephone, mobile & internet £60
TV licence £12
Life insurance/pensions £17
Food, toiletries, cleaning, clothing, pets £200
Total £1,078

A&L loan Balance £4,996 (8.9%APR) Payment £185
A&L OD £350 (limit £400) (15.87%APR I think)
Beneficial Finance loan Balance £5,820 (27.9%APR) Payment £188
LTSB loan Balance £6,991 (11.9%APR) Payment £215
LTSB OD £350 (limit £350) (not sure of APR)
LTSB CC Balance £4,355 (not sure of APR) Current minimum payment £88
Monthly Total £676

Total income = £1,568
Total Monthly Outgoings = £1,754
Deficit = £186

tealady

Hi and welcome. Have you checked to see if you qualify for any help with your rent? Your local Council should be able to tell you that. Also your TV package seems a bit high, I would look around for other deals. The old style board is fantastic for cheap meal ideas.
Regarding a job, ask around in shops, they are already recruiting f/t and p/t Xmas staff, thats how I got one of my jobs as I was kept on after Xmas. Good luck, there will be others along soon with much better advice.

poptart1_2

I was not in any arrears when i started a dmp last month, I did go to a company to start the dmp and all 8 creditors accepted the proposals the dmp company offered, I think when the creditors look at your account and see that you are near your credit limit they accept as they know you are in a mess and are glad to get a reduced monthly payment instead of nothing at all, all late payment charges have been dropped and interest frozen on my accounts.I think that there is going to be a lot of people adopting this approach as everyone I know is stuggling at the moment.I know what you mean about when kids leave school and benefits ( ctc) stop . it happened to me with my two, they start work on low income and you can only take so much from them for keep if they are on low wages, after all they are young and have to live a little, the whole system is wrong, they should pay these kids a proper living wage after all how are they going to learn about money and the cost of living when they are under the impression that £30 a week covers their outgoings. bless them, we want to keep them at home with us but at a high cost! I dont want to make any profit from my kids but am struggling to keep em on what they can afford to give me. Its time that employers were forced to pay em properly as at the moment they are just exploiting school leavers. good luck hun, let us know how it goes . pm me if you want a shoulder to lean on . lovexxxxxxxx

Dumb_Blonde_3

Start Ebaying everything you can - even do a car boot sale as the weather is still good. Can you advertise your babysitting skills/dog walking etc, how about delivering betterware / avon brochures just to tide you over until you get a job and as tealady states a lot of the shops are now recruiting for christmas staff

sofa_bean

Many thanks tealady, poptart and Dumb Blonde for the help and advice.
We have checked into help with the rent etc, but we don't qualify as the OH's income is too high (!)
The TV package is quite high but this does include cable (our only luxury!), broadband (which my son needs for the study part of his apprenticeship), phone line rental and calls and payg top-up on 2 mobiles. We might be able to get a better deal... I just have to renew my nagging to get the OH to make the phonecall!!
I shall certainly be haunting the old style boards for meal ideas - any ideas for cheap meals always much appreciated! :T
In the last few weeks I have dropped a CV and covering letter into pretty much every shop in town (about 30 in all) I had one interview last week and have another one next week as a result of this (oh, and a phonecall from another shop to thank me for the CV but they have no vacancies at present!)
Will have a good hunt around next week for anything to ebay, but I think we've already parted with pretty much anything that's surplus to requirements. And car booting's not so easy as we don't have a car!
The 'good' thing to come out of all this is that me and the OH are actually talking to each other properly again. I think we'd been so stuck in all the problems that we'd actually forgotten how to communicate. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed that.

tealady

Check your local supermarket, they will be wanting extra staff at Xmas and you usually get a staff discount!

sofa_bean

CV's already dropped into supermarkets - main problem with shops (especially supermarkets) is that they seem to expect you to be able to work weekends and/or evenings which is a problem as my OH works weird and wonderful (!)shifts (some 24.5 hours long :eek: ) including, on average, 3 out of 4 weekends and round here childcare for my youngest son is pretty much non-existent 'out of hours'. (No family nearby to help out either)
Sorry to appear so negative about all your suggestions, but I've spent weeks now trying to find a way out of all this and if next weeks interviews come to nothing then we'll have to try and sort out a DMP or something as we will then have reached the end, financially._pale_

tealady

How about delivering the local paper. I know its not much for the time it takes but every little helps, perhaps oldest son could babysit whist you deliver them?

sofa_bean

Hi again
We've now pretty much decided that we're going to have to go for the DMP, and I have a couple of questions about opening a new joint bank account I hope someone can help me with...
Firstly, what ID do I need to take with me in order to open a new bank account? (ID is a bit of a problem for me as I don't have a passport or driving licence, my birth certificate is in my maiden name etc, etc )
Secondly, is our 'new' bank likely to ask why we want to open this account when we both already have current accounts (or do we just walk in and lay our cards on the table as regards the DMP? )
I hope someone can help with these questions...