As the username suggests, I need help...

poodlehorse

you have had such good advice already. But join things like quidco and do all the daily clicks if you can(there will be a thread or serveral somewhere explaining what I mean). You don't get the first £5 made but it is amazing how quickly it can add up. Literally money for nothing. It might not seem like much but as you will soon find every little helps and even if you get a just a few quid in from them you transfer that straight onto your target CC debt and it will make a teeny tiny dent. A few of them makes a fair dent and so on

I think that you can bring that food bill down (assuming here that is just for you or did I read that wrong?) and the Old Style board can help but it can take time to plough through it initially. Make sure you don't buy things like sandwiches and etc while you are out working (assuming your work is not from home), don't know what your cooking skills are like but avoid the "ping" meals as much as possible and if you can't already thenlearn to cook. (You want a laugh and a half? then look up Mr BadExample's recipe index [And I mean that in the kindest way Mr BE]) Depending on what you have in your rented house you can make use of your freezer for things like Dump chicken recipes and batch cooking so that you don't feel you are having to start from scratch every night and think sod it I'm off for a kebab. You need to look after your health if you are feeling at rockbottom and readymeals just don't do that. And try places like Aldi for supermarket stuff. MUCH cheaper than Tesco.

Stay strong, and good luck with CCCS.

Squirrel29

It is true Inneedofhelp, this site puts you into a mindset and you think about every penny you spend. I wandered around the shops yesterday with a colleague and didn't spend anything. I mentally keep a picture of the DFD on my snowball in my head and I just think about how wonderful it would be to reduce it even by 6 months by being frugal, and it is possible. :j

30 months in your case isn't so bad, it wil fly by, honest!!

claireabelle_2

Hiya, welcome to the forum!
I am moving house at the moment and a friend warned me about TV licensing direct debits, checked their website and it says this about monthly direct debits;

You pay for your current licence in monthly instalments within the first six months. Then in the seventh month, you start to pay in advance towards your next licence with 12 monthly instalments of around £11 (so you make six payments before your new licence begins and six after).
You continue paying for future licences in this way.

It's really cheeky - they guarantee their cashflow doing this but it means consumers lose out by paying so far in advance. I'm an accountant and most finance departments would LOVE to be able to demand payment like this! The alternatives are to pay the whole amount annually, or pay quarterly, which is an extra £1.25 premium a quarter.
The friend that pointed it out to me is trying to get her money back and pay on her terms (also an accountant!), so PM me if you want me to let you know how she gets on.

Kevicho

InNeedOfHelp73 wrote: »

Thanks Kevin for taking the time to reply so quickly, it's good to know (in a revers fortune kind of way) that I'm not the worst although I feel for those people as the stress must be incredible.

Thats no problem, everyone has their own circumstances and its more important to them than anyone else.
The best advice i can give you with regards this is just look at it as numbers, that way it becomes less emotional and less stressful.
it also gives you a chance to look at this creatively

I just wanted to pick up on a few points you raised. The gas/electric I'm looking into. I literally only moved out hits weekend so it's on my to-do list. The phone is actually for a landline as well as my mobile which is a PAYG phone.

The TV license is just for me, I've just arranged it today to pay via direct debit so I'm guessing it's higher than normal as we part way through the year?

Might be worth checking into, seems unfair that you have to pay more for licence you never use, then again i think the TV license is unfair to begin with

You are right in saying that both my wife and I are jointly responsible for the debts, but considering the fact that she has so little income as well as a 17 and 13 year old mouth to feed I felt it was only fair that I shouldered the majority of the burden.

We both feel that selling the house would be wisest and anything left over from the house sale would be split equally.

Thats good, you should make a nice dent in the debt

As I own the business I have got access to funds through director loans etc but I would rather keep at least on asset in place. The company is a limited company so for tax reasons there is a limit to what I can and cannot do with company money without getting into hot water.

Blimey! :eek: I did the snowball checker thing (http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx) and I must have put something in wrong as it worked it out at debt free by June 2014 so I think I'll have to revisit that. I prefer your estimate to be truthful...

My calculations didnt include interest as i didnt have time tbh, i have a spreadsheet i use for interest, the formula for interest is as follows

=SUM(A1*(1+B2/12))-C2

A1 is the previous months balance, ie 1000, and B2 is the interest rate, divided by a hundred, ie 6.9% is 0.069 and C2 is the monthly payment towards that debt

This formula will go in cell B1 btw (then interest in B2 and repayment in C2).

This way you will get a very accurate method of working out the length of time with the interest.

I've booked a telephone appointment with the CCCS for tomorrow so with a bit of luck they should be able to help somewhat.

Good, they will help immensely, they may be able to negotiate on yor behalf as well, a thing i find positive as the more experienced the negotiator the better the deal


Thanks again for your advice and input, it really is much appreciated. I've also updated my sig so I'm not a faceless member anymore

Sounds like so far you are making positive steps.
The business loan is something that may be an option to kill the highest interest debt, but im not to well versed in those aspects so get the accounts guys to work some magic for ya

Unless it will affect the businesss of course

InNeedOfHelp73

Well just had the call from CCCS and it was magic. The advisor was absolutely spot on and really gave the impression that he was on my side fighting the banks and lenders!

It was really refreshing to speak to them and get some good solid advice, much like this forum , and we've worked up a Debt Management Plan to tackle the lenders with.

Things are most definitely looking up and between the invaluable help I've had from everyone here and the CCCS I feel like I'm now climbing a molehill instead of a mountain!

This is actually going to be quite fun watching the debts disappear and charting my progress, having a DFD day to aim at really helps and if I can bringing that date closer, all the better

MissKJ

I am sure if this is an amiable split, your wife would see the benefit for both of you to be debt free, ie pay all the debts with the equity and split anything left. Then come up with a fair maintenance arrangement clear from debt. You might be able to sort it out between you. She could always work herself could she not? After all, the equity isn't really equity till you have paid all that you owe? Hard to consider I know, but you need to plan for the future of you both to some degree.

Good luck what ever you decide, just don't let your heart rule your head, for both your sakes. Justi magine how much more you could pay to your kids if you were debt free.

InNeedOfHelp73

Crikey has it been this long??

I've just stumbled over this thread from some emails I was clearing out so I thought I would give an update on the situation...

I'm now down to a total debt of £16,842 and paying £450 per month off that. The creditors have been very understanding, with the exception of Barclay Card who I wouldn't number one on if they were on fire , and the CCCS have handled everything for me...

The divorce is almost through now, yes it's taken this long, after much wrangling with a person I thought I knew and trusted but turned out to be a money grabbing selfish individual but I'm not bitter, just relieved I'm out of it...

What I really wanted to say was a massive thank you to the posters above who helped me out in the beginning. It made such a huge difference at a time when I was thinking there was no hope so for that you have my eternal gratitude...

To anyone else in this situation, never give up hope, talk to people who can and will help and always look to the future rather than become trapped in the past...

Here's to becoming debt free! :beer:

tealady

Hi Glad you sound so up beat in spite of it all. Now what you have to do is:-
1) Get rid of the rest of your debt
2) Tell all your friends about this website
3) Enjoy the rest of your life

InNeedOfHelp73

1) Want to lend me 16k?
2) Already did/do plus Martin makes me and my new missus wet ourselves on GMTV
3) I definitely am...

On the third point I met a beautiful lady called Susan in December 2007. It took me 6 weeks to pluck up the courage to tell her about the debt situation and she stunned me by laughing!

The only reason was because she had been in exactly the same situation and gone to the CCCS. Luckily she had assets in a house so was able to pay it off but living with someone who has been there and got the T-shirt definitely helps as she keeps my feet firmly on the ground

tealady

Hi I wish I HAD 16K , still I have something far more valuable in my eyes, great friends and a family, which is more than many people have.
On a more serious note have you looked into reclaiming bank/credit card charges? I have recommended to a friend to do this, they were amazed when they realised how much they have paid in charges.