I need help and advise

Kingtalk

In brief I am totally panicking and not coping. I have a good annual salary of £56k gross and my husband earns around £35k. Over the last 9 months, we had a baby and I was only being paid SMP - we had planned for this so thought all was going to be ok. Then out of nowhere my husband had to fight a court case in relation to his children. This cost us almost £10k we didn’t have so it had to go onto cards. We then had car problems which cost us. Then my husband was out of work for almost 8 weeks. It all happened at the same time.

This now has landed us in £47k of debt. Most of which is on cards.

At the moment we are just getting by but I fear it’s gojg to get much worse. My credit rating is appalling so I can’t get any good balance transfer offers and most of my cards are now paying interest.

I’m back at work full time but still struggling. Every week it’s like something else hits us Over the head. I’m not sure we can keep it together much longer.

What are my options?

Saver-upper

Hi Kingtalk.You certainly have been through alot,I am sorry.
I don't have alot of advice,but reading these boards,I think the first thing usually suggested is to fill out a Statement of Affairs ,and post it on the Debt-Free Wannabee board.Lots of helpful people will then come along and be able to give you such great advice.Everyone is so very helpful.
Here is the link:


http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

foxy-stoat

Your credit rating doesn't exist so no good can become of worrying about that - only credit history is what counts, if you have not missed any payments then its as good as it can be at the moment. If you cannot get a good balance transfer card its because of the existing debt balances.

If you have equity in your property then you need to think very carefully about IVA/BR. You could consider a DMP if you cannot repay the minimum payments. If your living on credit then you may not have much choice over your next steps.

You need to overpay the highest interest cards/loans first, minimum payment the rest. Sell stuff you dont need or can do without, down value the car(s), change lifestyle and spend less. Have you done the PPI claim thing? If not then do that, any money back goes to paying the highest interest debt.

Do you have a family budget and do you stick to it? If not then you need to make one.
Do you have any money left over at the end of the month or before payday?

List out debts, interest rates, minimum payments and how much you actually pay each month.
If it is going to take money than 10 years to clear the debts then DMP/IVA may be your best bet - unless there is some money from above possible.

Any possibility of moving to a lower valued property?

Kingtalk

Thank you- we don’t own a house we rent.

I will do all that you have suggested.

We do have a family budget and try very hard to stick to it. As a rule we don’t have anything left at the end of the month.

foxy-stoat

If no property then IVA may be an answer but to be honest if you have a household income of £70K+ then its probably better for you to look at what you are spending and where you can cut back.

What are your monthly outgoings?

Kingtalk

I’f Have to get all the figures together and post.

But for an IVA - I have a few questions...
- will they just look at me individually or will it affect my husband?

- how will they calculate what I would pay each month? Will it leave me with next to nothing? I’m conscious that with a baby our outgoings often fluctuate I.e. if she needs a new bed or something (as an expample) some months we need more than others and it’s impossible to predict!

sourcrates

Kingtalk wrote: »

I!!!8217;f Have to get all the figures together and post.

But for an IVA - I have a few questions...
- will they just look at me individually or will it affect my husband?

- how will they calculate what I would pay each month? Will it leave me with next to nothing? I!!!8217;m conscious that with a baby our outgoings often fluctuate I.e. if she needs a new bed or something (as an expample) some months we need more than others and it!!!8217;s impossible to predict!

Hi,


First off, whose names are the debts in, are they joint debts, all in your name, or all in his name, or a mixture of both ?

If the debts are yours, then just you need to do an IVA, if his, likewise just him, or if joint, you can do a joint IVA.

I had a copy of the budget allowances for IVA`s but it seems to of been deleted from my files for some reason, however, you can budget for everything on the list regardless of if you use it or not.

What you will pay depends on your disposable income, and i must tell you, that as you do not own a property, an IVA will most likely last for 6 years, as you are not able to release capital from a house via a remortgage, another year of payments will most likely be required.

Have you considered a debt management plan instead ?


All your debts are unsecured, and you rent, so losing your home will not happen, you need to work out how much you can comfortably throw at the debts if all interest and charges were stopped, if that would take longer than 6 years, by a significant margin, then go for the IVA, otherwise a DMP may be better suited to your situation.

DorisTrousers

Have to disagree, sorry. An IVA with no property will be proposed at 5 years, there is no reason at all to run to 6. Creditors may ask for 6 years instead of 5, but that would then be a decision for you as to whether to accept that modification.

Normally, where a choice between IVA and DMP exists, then I usually prefer the IVA route for the certainty and guarantees you get, but in this case a DMP may make more sense.

Without an SOA though it is difficult to go further than that.