Ruined my life with gambeling and need advice

enthusiasticsaver

Incidentally the 8th is tomorrow not Saturday. You do not need to tell Halifax anything regarding moving your salary but taking along an soa will help. Ask if they can reduce the overdraft charges in the meantime to give you time to reduce it. That seems an awful coincidence that they arrange a meeting in the next few days without any warning. Have you had any correspondence from them or unusual activity on your bank account?

wrigglepig

Hi,


I've had a look at your figures in Excel - It's a good repayment plan and your decent income puts you in a positive position.


A couple of questions/considerations:


- Expenses column, is this work related expenses or is this all 'outgoings'? If the latter it looks quite modest at £665/month to cover everything, itemise this within an SOA
- Bonus payments - these increase by £500 each Jan, is this contractual? Are you guaranteed these sums?
- Credit cards, I note the Cap One/Virgin/Tesco aren't on 0% - prioritise these debts, readjust your payment allocations to pile in to the highest APR if you haven't already.


Don't worry about the meeting with Halifax, people on here will help you through this, follow the advice around recovery from your addiction.


Best of luck

enthusiasticsaver

The soa is broken down further than your spreadsheet so it shows your individual spending on food, travel etc etc which you will need anyway if you plan on going on a DMP. You will also need details of interest rates on your credit cards and when the deals expire if any are on 0%

enthusiasticsaver

The plan you have above to clear the overdraft does not take into account the possible £170+!!! monthly overdraft charges under Halifax's new charging structure from last month. When you see them they have in some cases reduced the charges on a discretionary basis so I would ask if they will do that to start with. If they won't reduce the charges then a DMP may be your only option unless they agree to a structured payment term over say 8 months to take the fees into account.

GambledLife

After some time of really thinking what my current outgoings are and looking at the values the debt charity's suggest for things like shopping travel clothing ect.. and reducing them a bit as they were quite large.


I have come up with a list of my outgoings per month (Which I think I could stick to).

Bills...............Total
rent...............280 (paid 250 a every 4 weeks so 280 a month should cover the year)
ctax...............45
phone...............35
gas...............20
ele...............20
water...............12
Tv licence...............13
shop...............120
Clothing, Travel as some times need to get cabs / busses to work (don't drive), haircuts, additional (buffer) / entertainment ...............200 (what do people usury spend on this?)
Internet...............30
Tv stream...............10


Total...............785


Total card payments (min that need to be paid) ............... 800




Halifax being my most urgent debt as they want to meet me and its an overdraft with massive interest rates I'm hoping they will except the below payment plan: (Amount owed £3800.00)


26th of month to 25th of month....Amount Paid....Amount left including interest
December - January.....£550.00.....-£3,250.00
January - February.....£550.00.....-£2,843.93
February - March.....£550.00.....-£2,419.87
March - April.....£550.00.....-£1,977.04
April - May.....£550.00.....-£1,514.59
May - June.....£550.00.....-£1,031.67
June - July.....£550.00.....-£527.36
July - August.....£550.71.....£0.00


I would potentially also be able to pay an additional 500 on December 27th but I don't know what the bonus is yet (if any).


Does anyone have any experience dealing with Halifax? do you think they will except the plan I'm offering?


More questions .....


Also once of my credit cards payments was late by 2 days in in November (Halifax 0% card).


Payment due date was 6th November
I paid on the 8th of November
Late payment added to account on the 8th November (fine I was late as the payment didn't go through)


Next Statement date was 12th November.
The Statement Min payment included the late payment fee which I have paid but there was no interest listed, I'm hoping this is correct and I haven't lost the 0% interest rate.


If I had shouldn't there have been interest on the bill as well?




Thanks for any help

stevenhp1987

You have £2,205 pm after tax and spend around £785pm leaving £1,420pm to put towards your creditors? Even more if you cut down on your phone, broadband package and entertainment.

You say £800 min, who are the payments due to, what amounts and what % apr?

GambledLife

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

You have £2,205 pm after tax and spend around £785pm leaving £1,420pm to put towards your creditors? Even more if you cut down on your phone, broadband package and entertainment.

You say £800 min, who are the payments due to, what amounts and what % apr?

Phone and int I cant change as its a new contract but its relatively low and needed for work, the £200 for entertainment isn't just that its also getting to my job, Clothes, etc I thought this was low as £200


capital one credit card debt inc interest after payment (interest per month 2.48).....-£2,210.00
capital one credit card payment (min payment £80).....80


Tesco credit card debt inc intrest after payment (intrest per nonth 2.05%).....-£6,106.06
Tesco credit card payment (min payment £200).....200


Lloyds credit card debt (0% interest 36 months).....-£3,090.00
Lloyds credit card payment (min payment currently unknown guessing based on other cards).....140


halifax credit card debt (0% intrest 35 months).....-£5,275.45
Halifax credit card (min payment £80).....80


Virgin credit card debt (0% intrest 36 months).....£5,400.70
Virgin credit card payment (min payment).....57


Barclays credit card debt (0% intrest 35 months).....-£10,237.49
Barclays credit card payment (min payment £240).....240

GambledLife

I have my meeting with Halifax today and want to make sure that the amount I offer is appropriate and achievable, the amount I came up with for my expenses are below.


Total wage after Tax...............2205


Bills...............Total
Rent...............280 (paid 250 a every 4 weeks so 280 a month should cover the year)
Council Tax...............45 (Is 81 but I get some towards it from roommate)
phone...............35
Gas...............20
Electric...............20
Water...............12
Tv licence...............13
Shopping...............120
Clothing, Travel as some times need to get cabs / busses to work (don't drive), haircuts, additional (buffer) / entertainment ...............200 (what do people usury spend on this?)
Internet...............30
Tv...............10

Total Expenses listed above ...............785
Total card payments (min that need to be paid) ............... 800
Total suggesting to give Halifax...............550
Remainder after all above...............70



Iv gone through the Debt remedy tool on the step change site and they recommend the below:


Rent............... £271 Mortgage...............£0 Secured loans...............£0 Charging / Inhibition order...............£0 Mortgage endowment premium...............£0 Service charge/ground rent...............£0 Water............... £12 Council tax............... £81 (I get 45 back from roommate) Gas............... £28 Electricity............... £28 Other household fuels...............£0 Household Services Amount Comments Building/contents insurance...............£0 Telephone/mobile/internet............... £65 TV licence...............£13 Satellite/cable television............... £10 Repairs/maintenance...............£0 Household appliance rental...............£0 Child maintenance...............£0 Childcare...............£0 Fines/CCJs/decrees...............£0 Life insurance/pensions...............£0 Medical/accident insurance...............£7 Hire purchase / logbook loan...............£0 Transport Amount Comments Spares/servicing...............£0 Road tax...............£0 Insurance...............£0 Breakdown cover...............£0 Fuel/parking...............£0 Public transport............... £20 Food & Housekeeping Amount Comments Food, toiletries, cleaning............... £185 School meals/meals at work...............£0 Pets/pet foods/insurance...............£0 Tobacco...............£0 Misc. Goods & Services Amount Comments School trips/activities...............£0 Medicine/prescriptions............... £22 Dentist/opticians............... £14 Hairdressing............... £24 Union/professional fees...............£0 Laundry/cleaning...............£7 Education fees...............£0 Personal & Leisure Amount Comments Clothing/footwear............... £40 Newspaper/magazines...............£0 Sports/hobbies/entertainment............... £15 Children's pocket money...............£0 Religious contributions...............£0 Sundries & Emergencies Amount Comments Sundries/emergencies............... £25

Total Expenses listed above ...............£867
Total card payments (min that need to be paid) ............... 3800
Total suggesting to give Halifax...............£550
Remainder after all above............... -£12 (Obviously I cant be - so something needs to change)
Remainder after payback from roommate............... £33


I'm not sure all of these are entirely accurate but I have used the recommended values,
e.g.


Medicine/prescriptions............... £22 Dentist/opticians............... £14


(I don't have any dentist or optician appointments every month or at all in the last 6 months, plus we now have medical at work which I think cover this but I would have to pay out first and claim it back.)


Hairdressing............... £24 (I go on average every three months and its £20)

Question
Do you think my goal of paying 550 a month is achievable?
What do people usually budget for things like a drink per month (I know the answer is prob £0) ?
Can anyone think of anything I haven't considered?


Again I appreciate all your help.




Also I know people probably wont see this as an achievement but gamble free one week today just the rest of my life to go!

motivated

Hi Gambledlife

I began working with SC a few months ago. I had/have very high loans with Halifax and also opened a Santander basic account. I don’t think Santander have anything to do with Halifax as I have had no problems.

Halifax have also been very good with my repayment plan and I owe them loads.

Santander also let me,open many savings accounts online and I am able to transfer money in and out of each when I need to. They have helped me budget for car expenses, Xmas etc.

Good luck on your journey you have taken the hardest step already. Keep posting it really does help.
M

GambledLife

motivated wrote: »

Hi Gambledlife

I began working with SC a few months ago. I had/have very high loans with Halifax and also opened a Santander basic account. I don’t think Santander have anything to do with Halifax as I have had no problems.

Halifax have also been very good with my repayment plan and I owe them loads.

Santander also let me,open many savings accounts online and I am able to transfer money in and out of each when I need to. They have helped me budget for car expenses, Xmas etc.

Good luck on your journey you have taken the hardest step already. Keep posting it really does help.
M

Thank you for the response, its very reassuring to know that other people are going through what I am, at this point I'm hoping the budget I have is realistic (I think it is but have no basis iv never tried to limit spending before) and that Halifax agree to payments to the overdraft in the below manner (without affecting my Halifax credit card as its on 0% and I need to pay just the min for the next 8 months to clear higher rate things).


luckily It has been confirmed that I am getting a bonus this year wasn't sure as I changed role in the company after tax it will be £1015 so my payments to Halifax will look like this:


Data is laid out in the following way,
Column 1 - Date (26th of the month to 25th)
Column 2 -Additional payment if able
Column 3 -Normal payment (26th of the month)
Column 5 -Current account Value After Deposit Starting 3800
Column 6 -Balance after payments + (1p per £7 per day) for 1 month (31days) + account fee £15
Column 7 -Total interest paid per month

December - January.....£1,000.00.....£550.00.....-£2,250.00.....-£2,364.64.....-£114.64
January - February.....£0.00.....£550.00.....-£1,814.64.....-£1,910.01.....-£95.36
February - March.....£0.00.....£550.00.....-£1,360.01.....-£1,435.23.....-£75.23
March - April.....£0.00.....£550.00.....-£885.23.....-£939.44.....-£54.20
April - May.....£0.00.....£550.00.....-£389.44.....-£421.68.....-£32.25
May - June.....£0.00.....£437.38.....£15.70.....£0.00.....-£15.70