Help with SOA and DMP

Cooper50414

Thanks for reading my post. I have accumulated quite a bit of debt through poor money management and a period of online gambling. I have sought help for this and have not placed a bet since 1st November. I am now needing to sort out my money situation as I have realised there is a life worth living outside of the online slot sites.
There's just my husband and myself and 1 dog. He has 1 credit card debt that he manages himself. He earns around £1800 per month and I haven't included his debt or salary as we spilt the mortgage, food and household bills down the middle and each pay £1400 into a joint account to cover this.
I have contacted stepchange who have suggested a DMP paying £557 a month for 2 years to clear my debts but I am wondering if I can manage this myself? My financial situation is set to improve this year. I will be getting a raise of £250 from the end of May, the likely loan repayment also ends then and we are currently making up arrears on the mortgage of £208 a month which ends in June. The problem is the payday loans I have stupidly took out in October/November when all this came to a head. I am wondering if I should contact them myself and try to come to a payment arrangement and then self manage a DMP to try to pay these debts off before the 2 year mark? The benefit of stepchange for me is that they deal with the creditors directly. Any advice would be great, thank you.


Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 730.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 64
Electricity............................. 15
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 12
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 21
TV Licence.............................. 6.06
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 15
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 140
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 37
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 40
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 14
Buildings insurance..................... 7
Contents insurance...................... 7
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Professional Fee's & Insurance.......... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1415.56


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 179000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 179800


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 165000...(730.5)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 165000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Vanquis........................1550......110.......39.9
capital one....................1200......90........34.9
marbles........................1800......101.......33.8
Wonga..........................750.......125.......0
Satsuma........................379.......72........179
Catalogue 2 ...................300.02....18........29.5
Catalogue 1....................918.79....46.02.....24.99
Ferratum.......................252.......252.......0
Wageday Advance................198.......99........0
likely loans...................672.......112.......47.9
bamboo loan....................5900......194.......41
Total unsecured debts..........13919.81..1219.02...-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,415.56
Available for debt repayments........... 684.44
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,219.02
Amount short for making debt repayments. -534.58

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 179,800
Total HP & Secured debt................. -165,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,919.81
Net Assets.............................. 880.19

National_Debtline

Hi

You can certainly try negotiating payment plans with your creditors directly. Some people prefer to be more in control, whereas other people prefer Stepchange to do more of the work. Perhaps you could start a DMP with Stepchange, see how it goes, and then self negotiate at a later date when you can see that it’s running smoothly.

There are sample letters you can use to negotiate with creditors on our website:

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/default.aspx

With payday loans the creditors can often just try to take the money from your account even if you cancel the direct debit, as you often agree to a continuous payment authority (CPA). You can cancel the CPA which will get you more in control of your money. We have a payday loan factsheet here which explains this in more detail, and also links to sample letters to send to your bank and the creditors to tell them you have cancelled the CPA.

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/41%20EW%20Payday%20loans/Default.aspx

James
@natdebtline

Cooper50414

Thank you for your reply. I have gathered the information for stepchange. I have got a small part time job today so will be earning an extra £150 am month. I haven't defaulted on any debts yet. Once defaulted will this then be recorded for 6 years?

sourcrates

Also, Re : the payday loans.

Cancelling your debt card will stop them taking the payment as well.

If you report your card lost, you will get a replacement (with a different number/expiry date/ and security number) they can't debt your account if all the info they have on file, doesn't match.

chevalier

Cooper50414 wrote: »

T
Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 165000...(730.5)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 165000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Vanquis........................1550......110.......39.9
capital one....................1200......90........34.9
marbles........................1800......101.......33.8
Wonga..........................750.......125.......0
Satsuma........................379.......72........179
Catalogue 2 ...................300.02....18........29.5
Catalogue 1....................918.79....46.02.....24.99
Ferratum.......................252.......252.......0
Wageday Advance................198.......99........0
likely loans...................672.......112.......47.9
bamboo loan....................5900......194.......41
Total unsecured debts..........13919.81..1219.02...-


P

Any chance you can take out a loan to pay back the highlighted debts? I wouldn't normally suggest this but the interest rates are so high that it might be worth it. Good luck

Cooper50414

Unfortunately not. But thanks for the reply!

itchyfeet123

How long will you be able to stick to a budget of 0 for entertainment? There are definitely a lot of free things to do and it's important to be able to have a social life without throwing money away, but if this is a plan for more than a couple of months, I worry you'll feel deprived and blow everything.