My Debt Memoirs

sweetback

Hello everyone and welcome to my debt memoirs. Having finally wised up and been forced into action, I present to you my current SOA/situation:

Creditors owed:

1. LTSB Current A/C Overdraft - £2,000 (£2,000 overdraft)
2. LTSB Advance Mastercard (APR 11.9%) - £8,942 (£9,000 limit)
3. LTSB Personal Loan (APR 6.2%) - £6,628 (£10,000 loan, 5 year period started in April 2005 - £234.17 per month inc PPI)
4. Halifax Current A/C Overdraft - £731 (£1,000 overdraft)
5. Barclaycard Visa Card (19.7%) - £365 (£350 limit)
6. Lowell Financial (Egg Visa card) - £200 (£25 per month, 1st payment 16/10/07)

Total: £18,870 (ouch)

Background:

Was employed till December 2006 on a salary of £23k when I had to leave my job due to personal reasons. Became a self employed sales associate for the largest estate agency franchise in Feb 2007 (which was probably not the best plan but hindsight is a marvellous thing). Had these debts but were managed (not successfully) due to my security blanket of a job. Now things have been alot harder, having to live on credit and generally being a muppet. I have sold some of my luxuries on eBay to pay for priority debts, used savings and cashed in policies, a successful claim for bank charges against Halifax but had to use the money elsewhere (D'oh!). Have started a claim for C/C charges against Barclaycard and LTSB. Have sent my letter of request for payment to BC but nothing from LTSB as of yet. Have also requested Loan PPI details from LTSB.

I contacted CCCS who arranged a telephone meeting with a debt counsellor who went through my expenditure summary and gave me points of advice. I had all that in the post the following day and the counsellor was very helpful.

Expenditure Summary per month

Income
Take home pay - £500 (approx)

I get paid solely on commission, so this was estimated by what I've earned so far since February (not including all my selling, claiming and begging)

Expenditure
Mortgage - £430
Council Tax - £117
Telephone - Mobile £25 Internet £22 (being addressed)
TV license - £12
Medical Insurance - £10 (now cancelled)
Spares/servicing - £20
Road Tax - £10
Insurance - £20
Fuel & Parking - £50
Food, toiletries, Cleaning - £96
Clothing/Footwear - £20
Dentist - £5
Sports, Hobbies, Interests - £15
Sundries/Emergencies - was £33 now £10
National Insurance - £8.88

Total Expenses - £870
Total Income - £500
Deficit - £370

What I've done so far...I have opened a new basic bank account and will be transferring my priority payments to this account. I have cancelled all my direct debits to creditors and was advised to send them letter to them with a token payment of £1 as a short term measure until there are changes in my income. I have applied for part-time and full-time employed positions, which I know I will have to do in order to get my life back on track. I waiting to hear back from one interview I attended yesterday and hopefully get an interview for full time position that had it's closing date on Wednesday this week.
I will of course keep all this updated and foresee numerous posts. Hopefully by helping myself I can in turn help those who are in a similar position and learn from those who have done it.

I look forward to our conversations and wish everyone, at what ever stage they are at, my best wishes.

lunar

HI, wanted to say well done for posting and having your LBM. you will get loads of support on here. I hope you get some good news on you inteview soon. you could look at paying council tax over 12 months if you currently pay over 10. you can also look at sites like www.pigsback.com to earn vouchers ive had £110 so far and i joined in august.

good luck and keep on posting you will get loads of support here.

supersavershal

Hello sweetback and welcome to mse.Im not an expert, some people on these boards give fantastic advice.I think they will want to see the apr s on your debts and the amount availbable so they can advise on BTs and snowballing your debts.Do you have them handy and is the deficit of £370 not including paying your lan and CCs? What are the minimum payments for them and how much are you managing to pay.
Great start thought, youv had your wake up call!

Burlesque_Babe

hi there

There seems to be a few little gaps in what is otherwise a really nice clear SOA - they are gas, electric, water and house insurance.

I would advise you to join pigsback, quidco, topcashback and greasypalm. I've got about £100 coming from quidco this month for just juggling utilities and a few sign ups and I've got about £140 next month.

If there is anything that can be ebayed, I would pop it up for sale.

Credit card - not a bad rate at 11.9%, but it is worth a phone call to see if they can offer you a better one. Say you're a happy customer but will think about going elsewhere (even if you're not going to) Worked to me with Capital One and Barclaycard.

Is your credit rating good enough to move your CC onto a 0%? Halifax, Nat West, Mint were all offering 12 months at 0%.

Your food spend isn't too bad, but if there are any takeaways lurking each month, they should go and any ready meals you might normally buy. Pop over to the Old Style board to learn about meal planning and you'll shave some from your budget.

What are the hobbies/sport etc at £15 per month? Also, is the clothing every month or an average.

Good luck with all the job hunting

sweetback

Thanks for the replies lunar, supersavershal & karen29, much appreciated.

In reponse to some of the points you've all raised I am already a member of pigsback, topcashback, rpoints, greasypalm and quidco, have been for sometime but never really utilsed them as much as I should have. Nows the time.

My deficit is the CCCS budget as I have cancelled my unsecured payments. Repayments to creditors were approx £654 a month, meaning over a £1k deficit (!)

I hadn't missed a loan payment up until this months and have had one payment holiday break.

On a bigger downside, I have missed minimum payments on my C/C's and don't have good enough credit to move to 0% or life of balance transfers. I will give them a call to see if they can lower the APR though.

With regards to gas, electric, water and house insurance my flatmate pays for them as I pay for the council tax and broadband access.

With regards to hobbies, clothes etc this was estimated over the month as I haven't spent any money over the past month. Its definately not going above the estimation and I'm certainly going to watch what I buy.

sweetback

Been a mixed bag of results over the past week.

Wasn't successful with either of my job interviews but have continued with my search.

Received a letter from Barclaycard re: C/C charges, although they disagree with my legal analysis they are willing to credit my account with the difference between the charges that have been incurred and the current £12 fee. They'll be adjusting my next statement to show this. Total amount plus 8% interest will be £173.00. Will adjust my BC total in my sig once I receive confirmation.

Have also received a letter from the aptly named Mr Challenger from Lloyds TSB Insurance re: PPI on my Loan. His said that they are investigating my concerns and will get back to me as soon as possible. Interestingly aswell, under the date and ref number they have typed 'no claim made'. I await their response.

msmicawber

Hi there and welcome.

I think you're taking the right approach in looking for a better and regularly paid job as low earnings are exacerbating your situation. Another option that might be open to you is taking on a lodger, if you have room.

CLAPTON

you have a flat mate ... do they pay you rent?

what is your total income each month?

how much is the flat worth and what is the mortgage?

sweetback

I bought the property I live in with my flatmate 2 years, so we split the mortgage payments each month.

We have a three year fixed repayment mortgage till October 2008. We would probably be looking to sell at that point next year or slightly sooner.

Bit of a double edged sword as my flatmate doesn't want to sell at the moment and he hasn't got the finance to buy me out or offer anything at this particular moment in time. This may improve early next year and is something I have discussed with CCCS.