It's all such a mess and I don't know where to turn

Floss

Can you get onto a Sky bundle now you have internet with them?

Some mobile companies will allow you to change tariff once a month (i.e. one step up or down at a time)...maybe worth asking again in a few weeks.

Did you shop around for the life insurance, I usually use www.confused.com and then use Quidco to get cashback too!

Also, if you find shopping a nightmare, do internet shopping, no "ooh, i fancy that" shopping. There are usually codes for money off or free delivery on the code thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=38.

Good luck :wave:

Floss xx

chevalier

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

My comments are in blue
Statement of Affairs

Incoming:
H sickness benefit - £244 The absolute worst thing your OH could do is to get a job and then have to leave due to ill health. Doesn't look good on CV's. Suggest he goes to the DR to see how long he thinks it will be before OH is ready to go back to work.
My salary - £700 (net) I take it that if you got more work then the tax credits go down £ for £ so it would have to be a big increase to help out?
Tax Credit - £545
DLA (for my son) - £172
Child Benefit - £121
Maintenance for daughter - £120
Does the fact that you are getting these benefits mean that you can get council tax benefit or housing benefit (in the form of them paying interest on the mortgage?) www.entitledto.co.uk to see if you are getting the right benefits.
Total - £1902


Outgoing:
Mortgage - £527repaymenet or interest only. I note that you are having a payment holiday, but if on repayment could you go interest only, or renegotiate over a longer term temporarily?
First plus loan - £476 (secured on the house )what is left to pay and what is the apr
Council tax - £90if you can't get council tax benefit, you can ask to pay this over 12 months instead of 10, would ease the monthly amount a bit.
Gas services (maintenence plan, we really need this as our boiler breaks down frequently) - £14can you get the cover cheaper
Gas - £45this is pretty high. Check your temperature thermostat is not set to high. Also if your hot water is scolding then the water heater is set to high. Turning both down will save you money
Electric - £34 Ditto with this. All appliance off at the wall. Morrisons have buy one get one free on energy saving bulbs at the mo. I got two for 78p on Saturday so this could save you money too.
Water - £40again can be paid over 12 months not 10 if you ask. Also have you got hippos in all of your toilet cisterns to save on water flushing. You can get them free from your local water board
Life Insurance - £60Is this for two of you? If not is it high because of OH ill health? If not this is really high. Check to see if you can get the same or better cover cheaper.
House insurance (contents & buildings) - £36
TV Licence - £11
Sky - £55 (am trying to convince H to reduce this to a lesser package)It is not a case of convincing him. It is the case of telling him flat it has to go. YOU CAN'T AFFORD THIS. It is a quarter of his sickness benefit a month. Also if you phone them up and say you want to leave because you can't afford it you may get a deal anyway that is cheaper than this.
Internet - £10
HFC (sofa) - £49how long left and apr?
BT phone - £17
My mobile - £30
H mobile - £25
Daughter mobile - £15if she is old enough to own a mobile phone is she old enough to earn spends to finance it? If not can she borrow OH whilst he is sick to save this amount?
Pet insurance - £7
Food - £400 (I am working to try and reduce this to £300 of less)I guess this is for two adults 3 children and a pet? This can be less than this. Have a look on the old style forum for tips on getting this down. Stardrops are your friend, as is meal planning, sticking to shopping lists etc.
H payplan payment - £100
H car payment - £135why is this not included in the DMP payment?
H maintenance payment - £20 (supposed to be £175, but his ex-wife is kindly accepting reduced payments at the moment)
NSPCC payment - £2
Inland revenue (for overpaid tax credits) - £10 (approx. £1200 still to pay)can you ask them if you can pay less a month at the moment due to changed circumstances?
Tesco loan - £125 (£5000 outstanding, only took out in July, over 5 years)
Next directory - £130 (£1600 outstanding)
Llloyds CC - £120 (£6000 outstanding)
Virgin CC - £90 (£3000 outstanding)
Egg CC - £30 (£1100 outstanding)
Barclaycard - £15 (£500 outstanding)
Additions - £15 (£170 outstanding)
Freemans - £40 (£130 outstanding)
Overdraft interest - £56 (£4000 OD)
With all of these cc/loan/catalogue can you find out the APR and the term remaining. This will help prioritise your debts. Also if any of them have PPI on them have any of them paid out due to your OH illness? If not then are they worth the money?
Total: £2829

To answer your question an IVA is an agreement between you and your creditors to wipe a % of the debt in return for a fixed amount. It usually last 5 years BUT they will expect you to release equity from your house in year 4 or 5, and if that means you have to sell up then tough! Also you absolutely HAVE to pay what the fixed rate is. If you fail to do so then one of your creditors can make you bankrupt.

A DMP is a debt management plan. Please Please if you choose this route, the go with either CCCS, or Payplan. These offer FREE impartial advice on your situation and don't charge a fee that comes out of you monthly payment (meaning your creditors get less a month, and it takes you longer to repay your debt).

DMPs are open ended ie it takes as long as it takes to repay the money. You payments are reviewed every 6 months or so, and your initial debt free date will come down, as wages rise etc. Going through one of the two charities above, seems to get a more positive response from creditors. CCCS or Payplan (whichever you choose) get you to complete an income and expenditure form (like you have done above so good practice), and then send this to your creditors with a request to freeze interest and stop charges. They pro rata the payments, so that the creditor with the biggest debt get the biggest share of whatever payment you can afford. BUT you agree NOT to take out any more credit. Could you do that?

Both of the above will mean your credit score will be shot to pieces, but then would you REALLY want credit again!

the very best of luck with sorting this out
chev

RoxieW

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

Warning - this could get VERY long!


Statement of Affairs

Incoming:
H sickness benefit - £244 are you claiming all that you can for your husband? he may also be entitled to DLA if his illness means he needs extra help/care.
My salary - £700 (net) could you ask for a rise? are you due one?
Tax Credit - £545
DLA (for my son) - £172 if your son gets middle rate your hubby may be able to claim carers allowance as he is not working. i think this is about £45 a week - look into it online.
Child Benefit - £121
Maintenance for daughter - £120

Total - £1902


Outgoing:
Mortgage - £527 you could ask about going interest only as a short term option to free up some extra cash. then switch back to repayment when things aren't so desperate.
First plus loan - £476 (secured on the house ) maybe the citizens advice could talk to them on your behalf?
Council tax - £90
Gas services (maintenence plan, we really need this as our boiler breaks down frequently) - £14
Gas - £45
Electric - £34
Water - £40 your utilites and water seem very high. i dont know what kind of house you live in but i live in a 3 bed semi with 2 adults, 2 kids and i pay about £30, £30, £15 (water). are you sure you have the best deal? direct debit, paperless billing and cashback deals can make a big difference. your water especially seems high - can you cut down your usage?
Life Insurance - £60 this also seems a very high monthly figure. we pay £10 a month for £100000 worth of cover. shop around, think about taking less cover (but make sure you have some ie enough to pay off your house)

House insurance (contents & buildings) - £36
TV Licence - £11
Sky - £55 (am trying to convince H to reduce this to a lesser package) tell hubby he doesn't have a choice - you're in a situation where you are considering bankrupsy and losing your home. sky tv is not a priority. we used to pay £55 for packages and sky plus. called sky to cancel and got sky plus for free, a brand new box and a reduced package on £17 a month. we dont get sports and movies but i let hubby to pub occassional ly to watch his must see matches and we rent the occassional dvd when theres something we really want to watch. works out much cheaper.
Internet - £10
HFC (sofa) - £49
BT phone - £17
My mobile - £30
H mobile - £25 are you sure you cant do anything about these? are they a neccesity? if hubby is at home, why does he need one? my hubby and i share one pay as you go that we've had for ages - spend about £10 a month on it as we only use it when needed not for chats etc.
Daughter mobile - £15 same goes. if she want one that badly, she can save/use pocket money etc. i know this may sound harsh but you're spending £70 a month on 3 mobiles.
Pet insurance - £7
Food - £400 (I am working to try and reduce this to £300 of less) definately try to cut back here. i've started doing the same and find i can easily save £100 a month simply by planning a menu, trying to plan around special offers eg BOGOF chicken breasts etc and buying basic instead of luxury brands for some things (not all). its quite painless once you get into the frame of mind.
H payplan payment - £100
H car payment - £135
H maintenance payment - £20 (supposed to be £175, but his ex-wife is kindly accepting reduced payments at the moment) very good of her but i wouldn't rely on this. she could decide at any time that she needs the money. and who would blame her - i'd send her a card/bottle of wine/chocs!
NSPCC payment - £2 this is up to you but £2 still adds up over the year. dont want to seem miserly but u could always start it back up when your back on your feet. your family are priority right now.
Inland revenue (for overpaid tax credits) - £10 (approx. £1200 still to pay)
Tesco loan - £125 (£5000 outstanding, only took out in July, over 5 years)
Next directory - £130 (£1600 outstanding)
Llloyds CC - £120 (£6000 outstanding)
Virgin CC - £90 (£3000 outstanding)
Egg CC - £30 (£1100 outstanding)
Barclaycard - £15 (£500 outstanding)
Additions - £15 (£170 outstanding)
Freemans - £40 (£130 outstanding)
Overdraft interest - £56 (£4000 OD)

i'm not an expert on the credit but talk to the CAB! this is obviously unmanagable.
also, i dont know what the money went on or if it was all day to day living - but is there anything you could sell to regain some of the money?
i'd also think about a massive ebay clearout - get the whole family involved. it'll give your funds a boost, declutter the house and get the whole family in the money saving frame of mind.
please dont go back to the online poker. hubby may have won some money on it but this kind of risk is not what you need right now.
Total: £2829

hope this helps. i'm not an expert but that was just what jumped out at me. most of all dont deal with this by yourself - talk to the CAB about the debts, talk to the family about the situation (i dont know what age the kids are but you can explain things in a way thats appropriate for their age) and get everyone in the money saving frame of mind - this isn't just your situation to deal with, talk to your best friend to offload some worry, and keep talking on this forum. we're here to support you.

hugs

chevalier

Sorry cross posted a bit. Ref the smoking, is that included in your food budget? If so then if you can't give up switch to rollies for now. Will be cheaper. But you know that if would free up a lot of money a year. If you smoke 20 a day this £2007 a year (at £5.50 a packet). If you both smoke that much a day then it is £4014, this would pay off you virgin and egg card balances. Does that make giving up more attractive!!!

You can get Alan Carr's quit smoking book from the library (free!) which might help. Or your surgery may well run quit smoking classes (it is something they have a target for to get funding), which may also be free.
chev

Scarlett.1974

The mortgage already is interest only.

We took out the life insurance when we bought the house (3 years ago)..... am just wondering, would it not be more expensive now, with us being that bit older? I'll definitely look into it though, and the gas & electric suppliers, thank you.

Sorry for being a thickie Floss, what's a 'sky bundle'? Would that include the house phone too? We hardly spend anything on that, we both get lots of free minutes on our landlines, so the landline is really only for the internet, oh and for me to receive faxes for my job.

I'm currently selling on e-bay and have lots more to get on, I'm scouring the house every day for more stuff to get on there. H is helping out with that too.

We're currently walking as much as possible to make that tank of petrol last as long as possible - I've never been so fit!

None of my debt is covered by H's payplan arrangement - just his own, which was/is pretty substantial. At the time, we (possibly foolishly) thought mine was manageable, so he did it just by himself.

Have I covered everything? Will go back and check the replies to see if I've answered all your Q's.

Thanks again, from the bottom of my heart for all your advice and kind words.

xx

Floss

Yes, a "bundle" would be TV / landline / internet. As someone else suggested, ring them & say you are considereing leaving as it's too costly.

immoral_angeluk

Right as it stands you're paying out around £900 more than you're earning which must be being supplemented by credit cards etc. To put that in perspective if you kept that up for a year you would increase your debt my 10k. TEN THOUSAND POUNDS. There is no way you can keep up this kind of overspend so I am going to make suggestions. They will come across as harsh but you need to sort this out NOW before you end up in a huge pile of crap.

Statement of Affairs

Incoming:
H sickness benefit - £244
My salary - £700 (net) can you get a 2nd job or at least a better paying one
Tax Credit - £545
DLA (for my son) - £172
Child Benefit - £121
Maintenance for daughter - £120

Total - £1902


Outgoing:
Mortgage - £527
First plus loan - £476 (secured on the house )
Council tax - £90
Gas services (maintenence plan, we really need this as our boiler breaks down frequently) - £14
Gas - £45
Electric - £34
Water - £40 this is very high are you in arrears? would a water meter be an option? If you're paying over a number of months, ask for it to be increased to 12.
Life Insurance - £60 Cancel this unless it's a requirement of your mortgage
House insurance (contents & buildings) - £36 are you on the best deal?
TV Licence - £11
Sky - £55 (am trying to convince H to reduce this to a lesser package) cancel it and get freeview. No negotiation needed you CANNOT afford it right now
Internet - £10
HFC (sofa) - £49
BT phone - £17
My mobile - £30 get rid
H mobile - £25 get rid
Daughter mobile - £15 get rid
Pet insurance - £7 are you on the cheapest?
Food - £400 cut this down with help from the moneysaving old style board.
H payplan payment - £100
H car payment - £135
H maintenance payment - £20
NSPCC payment - £2 cancel it.
Inland revenue (for overpaid tax credits) - £10 (approx. £1200 still to pay)
Tesco loan - £125 (£5000 outstanding, only took out in July, over 5 years)
Next directory - £130 (£1600 outstanding)
Llloyds CC - £120 (£6000 outstanding)
Virgin CC - £90 (£3000 outstanding)
Egg CC - £30 (£1100 outstanding)
Barclaycard - £15 (£500 outstanding)
Additions - £15 (£170 outstanding)
Freemans - £40 (£130 outstanding)
Overdraft interest - £56 (£4000 OD)

Total: £2829


Lastly call Payplan or the CCCS now because it seems that you really need some professional help to sort this out.
Sending massive hugs your way :grouphug:

Scarlett.1974

Floss wrote: »

Yes, a "bundle" would be TV / landline / internet. As someone else suggested, ring them & say you are considereing leaving as it's too costly.

Right, have just discussed this with H and he agrees that Sky TV is a luxury we can't really afford, so he's going to call them (it's in his name so I can't do it) and either cancel or see what they can offer us to not leave.

Thank you xx


Will read the other replies now guys xx

the_cat

Sorry but I'm going to be blunt.

Unless Sky offer you completely free access YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT. As things stand you can't afford to feed your children

(Land_of)_Maz

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

Right, have just discussed this with H and he agrees that Sky TV is a luxury we can't really afford, so he's going to call them (it's in his name so I can't do it) and either cancel or see what they can offer us to not leave.

Atta girl!!!! Well done!!!

Remember there are loads of big things you can do in the first days/weeks/months. to change things, but it's the change in mindset that really makes the difference. Well done!