Help please

C8E5C

Hello,

I’m posting here as a last ditch attempt to get my head straight. I’ve been in debt since I can remember; offering 18 year olds credit cards with automatically increasing limits should be illegal 😬

Anyway I am 26 now, I have an ok job and earn £23,500. I live & work in a city which is 300miles away from home.

I am almost £12k in debt - the worst kind, a mixture of council tax, utilities, credit card, unsecured loan & payday loan. I am a debt fanatic so it seems - there is no kind of debt I don’t seem to have !

I don’t know how I’ve managed to keep my head above water for so long - I was literally taking out £100 payday loans to pay the last one off until nowhere will lend to me, I am chased daily by Equita - it is awful.

Last October I entered into a DMP with StepChange & they were great, I was making manageable payments of £288 a month and did so until August. In August my long term boyfriend (who I was living with) left me and completely vanished, only turning up in December.

I fell completely behind on my DMP
- I spent all my money on rent & bills, and though SC did try to help too many reduced & missed payments resulted in the cancellation of my DMP.

I’m in a new, affordable, flat now and want to get my life back on track. I’m wondering if anyone has any advice on -

1) DMP - Can I open another one with StepChange? Will I need to go alone?
2) Equita - They are so awful on the phone and bullying. I know I owe them money but they will not arrange a payment plan with me. Is there anything I can do?

Chesk xx

sourcrates

Moved to the general forum for more responses.

datlex

OP, some debts take priority as do some bills. Council Tax for example is priority, food is a priority bill. Equita is only a priority if they are working on behalf of the council. That's the reason they bully because they know they are right down the pecking order.

EssexHebridean

Inform Equita that they need to deal with you in writing only, and stop answering the phone to them (or to any unknown numbers of they come through they like) - at least that way you have thinking time before responding, and it's less easy for them to bully you into anything.

Council tax is a priority as datlex says - in terms of the general debts I'd try to focus on the payday loans first off as they are likely to be the ones with the highest interest - but Council Tax must come first.

Have you got a current SOA (Statement of Affairs) drawn up? If so then post it into here if you want and we can take a look and see if there are any savings you might be able to make that you've missed. If you need to do an SOA still then the link is in my signature.

Well done for picking yourself up and getting back on your feet.