Back On Track

sourcrates

raphanius wrote: »

I've joined the mse club and got a report from experion but it only shows two creditors and Eurodebt have been taking money for a lot more....

As above, you need to check all three.

Happy_Kitties

Definately need to check all 3, as you need information on ur actual accounts and not all 3 will have
the same information.For example clearscore is the only one that has information from my closed credit union account and if I hadn't have checked I would have never have known.

I've just completed my IVA and have been using all 3 to monitor defaults dropping off.
I paid £2 for a statutory report with experian, that was it, the best money ever spent as it had me connected with someone that I have never known which i then got sorted with experians help.
l use clearscore and noddle aswell which are free and I regularly check every month
If you want control, forget all the bumpf about credit utilisation, credit searches etc and get down to the nitty gritty of the accounts.
The free debt charities won't judge, and will help however complex the matter. There are a number of times when my situation changed thru disability.......they guided and helped.

EssexHebridean

Definitely agree with what others are saying about people only trying to help - and you owe Sourcrates an apology as there is no misinformation there.

Your first step needs to be a budget that works - which may mean finding a way of boosting income a bit, or may mean finding ways that outgoings can be cut back even in the short term. Plus finding out the fiull story on what is actually owed. I suspect there are a lot of "people like you" on these boards, and we've probably helped pretty much all of them find a way out of the debt cycle - you do have to be prepared to take advice from people who've seen these situations many, many times before though. Often you find that the folks on here who give up their time to offer support and backup for people is worth far more than that from an organisation you end up paying.

If you were looking to accept help & advice then I'd suggest you put together an SOA and post it in here, and we can take a look and see if there is anywhere that savings can be made that you might have missed...

EssexHebridean

raphanius wrote: »

signing up to a credit reference agency is another bill I really don't need. This is how we accrue debt not by frittering on luxeries but by trying to dig our way out of a financial hole. We simply don't have enough coming in to cover our outgoings without occasionally using credit for things like clothes or essential electricals. I owe a lot to the tax office because they didnt send me a gateway identifier when i asked as at the time i did some extra work for myself. I earned £500 extra a year and now owe more than £2000 in tax debt. there simply is no way out for people like me.

The bit I've highlighted above underlines why you may actually find taking advise that's offered on here to be of use - you assumed that this was going to cost you money whereas in fact that doesn't need to be the case. THAT may well be a contributing factor to how you accumulate debt, in itself...

Remember when putting together a budget it is entirely reasonable to allow an amount for clothes and an emergency fund too - thats the "essential electricals" covered right there.

The likes of Stepchange will go through your budget with you and make sure that you're not cutting things too close to the bone as they understand that this is where people can find it tempting to reach for the credit cards.