Scared about debt and not sure what to do

confused82_2

Thanks for all your advice!!! going to take it all on board and have a think and hopefully a sleep, will log back on tommorrow xxx

In_Search_Of_Me

Aww hugs again for you. It is so hard but you're not an idiot in this day & age its so eay to get into major debt - people often said to me how didnt you know that you owed 37,000 and I honestly didnt cos Ithoght I could afford it & have a reasonable salary! Hard to believe now but I managed the ostrich impression well for years plus didnt think aboutthe endless loans I took out that are now coming back to bite me! As the lovely sea suggested ring cccs and get some advice! I know it feels desperate but there is always a way through - it's money but thats not of more value than your life, even though at times like these that feels hard to believe! Keep posting & sorting - 6 months down the line you'll feel 100% better - if not before!

Gemmzie

Hi confused, am just re-jigging your SOA, hope that's okay, will edit this post and add it in a sec. Well done for posting and chin up

Income
£2662.35

Outgoings
£30 petrol
£25 internet
£20 BT
£25 electric
£25 gas
£30 ground rent
£250 groceries, cat food, cleaning, shampoo etc
£35 expenditure at work for both of us
£30 mobile phone bill contract
£51.19 car insurance
£10 car tax
£15 car repairs
£44.25 life insurance
£11.61 home insurance
£11.61 tv license ??
£810 mortgage
£278 secured loan

Total = £1690.05 (or £1678.44 if no TV license)

Debts (most expensive cards first)
Debenhams (29.9%) - £750 - £50
Oli Catalogue (29.8%) - £247.47 - £12.37
NatWest (27.94%) - £2044.21 - £45
Next catalogue (26.49%) - £1189.02 - £112.11
Barcalycard (24.9%) - £239.45 - £10
Overdraft (??) - £500 - £0(?)

Ford Credit (20.6%) - £3000(?) - £103
Citi Loan (26.2%) - £3211 - £120.64
Cahoot Loan (15.9%) - £5000 - £101
RBO Loan (??) - £19000 - £356
Abbey (14.9%) - 16000 - £277.67

Total = £51, 181.15
Minimum Payments = £1187.79


At the moment you have -
£2662.35 - £1690.05 leaving £972.30 each month for debt repayment, which is not enough to meet your minimum repayments.

This is fixable but you need to be realistic about the amount of debt you are in, I would suggest going through your SOA and making sure you include all those once off bits, I've added the car ones in. Then I would think a DMP would be suitable for you.

Hope that helps

PasturesNew

I notice the car loan was for £16k. How much is the car worth now?

While it wouldn't settle your debt, it might go a long way to reducing it.

e.g. if you got £12k for the car and spent £3k on a replacement one, you would have £9k to pay off your most expensive loans, freeing up more money to pay your friend still and some other debts.

chevalier

Thanks to Gemmzie for the rejig, my comments are in blue.

Gemmzie wrote: »

Hi confused, am just re-jigging your SOA, hope that's okay, will edit this post and add it in a sec. Well done for posting and chin up

Income
£2662.35you mentioned a second job, but I think that both of you are going to need to get a second job, even if it is just a xmas one. With a bit more money you could pay off a couple of the catalogues and free up that monthly money. Would be a pyschological boost too.

Outgoings
£30 petrolIf your petrol is so low do you REALLY need the car? Not having one would save you £30 + £16.67 (£200 service /12) + £51.19 +£103 = £200.86 a month. This would be a third of the deficit between income and outgoings made up at a stroke! Worth thinking about?
£25 internet
£20 BT
£25 electric
£25 gas
£30 ground rent
£250 groceries, cat food, cleaning, shampoo etcthis is what I spend on 2 adults 2 children and 2 cats. By shopping in Aldi, Lidl, veg shopping at the market, meal planning, cooking from scratch I reckon you could get this down to £150 easily.
£35 expenditure at work for both of us you will have to tell work you can't sub them.
£30 mobile phone bill contracthas to go if poss or lowest tariff otherwise
£51.19 car insuranceI hope this is for both of you. If not this is huge! Either you have a big car, points or are under 25? If the former, then get rid, you can't afford this.
£10 car tax
£15 car repairs
£44.25 life insurancewhat is this for? If you have no dependants why do you need life insurance?
£11.61 home insurance
£11.61 tv license ??
£810 mortgage ask initially to go interest only? Or to have a payment holiday?
£278 secured loan can you renegotiate the term ie make it longer? You can always rearrange it to make it shorter when you are back in control.

Total = £1690.05 (or £1678.44 if no TV license)

Debts (most expensive cards first)
Debenhams (29.9%) - £750 - £50
Oli Catalogue (29.8%) - £247.47 - £12.37
NatWest (27.94%) - £2044.21 - £45
Next catalogue (26.49%) - £1189.02 - £112.11
Barcalycard (24.9%) - £239.45 - £10
Overdraft (??) - £500 - £0(?)

Ford Credit (20.6%) - £3000(?) - £103
Citi Loan (26.2%) - £3211 - £120.64
Cahoot Loan (15.9%) - £5000 - £101
RBO Loan (??) - £19000 - £356
Abbey (14.9%) - 16000 - £277.67

Total = £51, 181.15
Minimum Payments = £1187.79


At the moment you have -
£2662.35 - £1690.05 leaving £972.30 each month for debt repayment, which is not enough to meet your minimum repayments.

I agree with Gemmzie that it is fixable, but you will have to scrutinise every item of spending. The only things that are ESSENTIAL to buy are
roof over your head
heating
food
council tax
utilities
Spending on anything else (unless you would lose your job because of it) is not essential and should be cut. Even if you do this for 6 months you will se a huge turn around.

If you can't BOTH get an extra job, then whichever one is at home is in charge of getting everything possible onto ebay, amazon etc. They are also the person doing all the survey sites and click throughs etc, for extra vouchers etc.

YOU CAN DO THIS IF YOU BOTH PULL TOGETHER. We have faith in you.

chev

GeorgeUK

Doing some very rough calculations on the snowball calculator
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

You should have all your cards clear and only be left with the loans by Dec 09
(wiping out Debenhams (29.90%) Oli Catalogue (29.80%) Natwest (27.94%) Next catalogue (26.49%) Barclaycard (24.90%) Overdraft (0.00%) ). This is assuming you can make minimum payments on the debts of 1,200 and that all the loans are non-flexible and need to be paid at the given min payments. Otherwise that date will be reduced.

It will take alot of effort, but it looks like it could be achievable if you can find those savings. It looks like a 2nd job may be required at least in the short-term - hopefully with Christmas coming up there will be a few more options available to you.

Keep that spending diary and see what is being spent in the first month. Every penny counts. The advice you have already received should allow you to see some more options you may not have thought of before, but i hope you take heart that there is a great support group here for you whenever you need it, and your credit rating should be improving month on month - especially with that "default" coming up to the 6 year mark.

It may feel like you're walking a tightrope but if you can keep disciplined in continuing to make savings you will soon be getting those scissors out to cut up some cards for good. Just keep going

RAS

brilliant advice here.

Hope you had a good night. This is acheivable but you are going to have to work hard for a couple of years.

How id OH on this?