Gregory Pennington

mamoru

I have a plan with GP as I was advised by a friend who used them to give it a try.

However now I'm a bit dubious as to how much they're really helping me out. I pay them £190 a month to distribute amongst my creditors and they take about £25 of this each month for their fees.

Creditors:
£7000 loan from Halifax 8.7% APR
£5000 credit card from HSBC (more or less maxed out, balance is around £4800), not sure what the APR is.
£500 card from egg, not on the GP plan, I pay them £20 a month, balance is hovering at £400 ish right now, APR 16.9%
£500 card from Bank of Scotland, again not sure about the APR. maxed out
£2700 overdraft from HSBC. the actual overdraft was £1500 but their £125/month chargs keep pushing it up.

Total of £15200, there or there abouts.

GP are distributing more money to the debts which are higher. They've also set me up a bank account as my HSBC one was pointless (my wages wouldn't even get me out of the overdraft). It's with thinkbanking. they charge me £12.50 a month for the privelige but luckily I get no charges for any missed payments etc. There is no overdraft. They split the account into one which contains money to cover any direct debits/bills and one for my debit card.

Most months I get about £800 to myself and rinse it all on stupid stuff like food and ciggarettes. My wages are £1100 ish depending on bonus. I have £125 a month to pay to Honda Finance and commute about a 60 mile round trip to work, costing me £200 a month in petrol.

I'm looking to move very close to work before Christmas and hopefully have the option to sell my car and just walk to work - saving me a lot of cash. I have no rent to pay at my house right now (living with my dad) but buy my own food, approx £30 a week.

Would I be better off on Payplan or something free? I want to be debt free asap. All of the cards mentioned have been cancelled and I have no further credit now.

Also I have a 2nd car which I'm trying to sell (Oak Green MK2 Golf Gti if anyone wants it?) and will hopefully get about £2k for it. I'm not too sure what to do with the money when I get it. Putting it towards my debts might be helpful but if it's being paid off slowly and i'm only having to pay out £190 a month (instead of the £800 or whatever a month it was before) now, is it worth bothering? It would probably be better used as a deposit for when I get my new place and then left in a savings account incase something came up. I never ever have money aside incase of emergency and always relied on my overdraft or credit card if my bank balance was zero.

Any advice welcome

Alisonbel

I'm with CCCS and every penny I give them goes towards my debt, they take the money at beginning of month and dish it out on 25th so they get the interest. There are lots of basic bank accounts around which don't charge anything. There's 37.50 which could be going towards your debts each month,which I would love!!! Have you tried claiming any of the bank charges back? I claimed mine and they amounted to the whole of my OD!

mamoru

I spoke to CCCS originally and they said that they couldn't take me on for some reason and could only offer me some basic advice. I can't remember why though.

I've got all the templates at home for claiming my charges back but haven't done anything with it because of these court case shenannigans lately. My charges would be over a grand I'm sure, which would be nice.

I applied for a basic account at A&L but they rejected me for no apparent reason, despite them telling me it was guarenteed to go through. Maybe I should make a complaint about it

Alisonbel

Sorry if you've got £800 a month to yourself, I can't see why they won't help. Use the snowball to calculate debts, stay with your dad and throw all this extra month at debts starting with highest interest one.

mamoru

Alisonbel wrote: »

Sorry if you've got £800 a month to yourself, I can't see why they won't help. Use the snowball to calculate debts, stay with your dad and throw all this extra month at debts starting with highest interest one.

When I rang them I had far more outgoings. I was easily spending more than I earned and it all got out of control when I was using credit to make up for my lack of funds (oh !!!! I have no money in the bank, nevermind I've got £5000 on this card!). The only reason I'm not doing so now is the GP plan.

Another thing.. When i got the 5k credit card, I asked them for the limit to be £600 as I only wanted it to cover my egg card balance as they'd stopped their 0% finance. I got the card through and it said "limit £5000". I was a bit suprised so I rang them and they said it couldn't be changed! Obviously having it and being (at the time) a regular casino go-er, it was a bad combination. Can I make a complaint about the fact they gave me far more moeny than they should have?

In_Search_Of_Me

I suspect that you have paid off more because interest has been frozen? I would suggest ringing CCCS etc again to see if they can help, explain that you are on a DMP but have been told that CCCS are very good and see what happens. I'm surprised though that you have that much to spare every month & if this is the case cant you just chuck more at the debt to get it paid off quicker? I dont know about DMP's but that would seem sensible...
Re the CC etc you accepted the 5k limit & spent the money! While that may have been foolish of them to do that I'm not sure you'd have a leg to stand on in terms of a formal complaint - especially seeing as where the money went. Surely much better to take responsibility for your part in it, never do it again & move on? In terms of the A&L account they dont have to give you an account & I suspect that if you are on a DMP you're credit rating will have been adversely affected but you can check this for definate. You can get a basic bank account from places like the post office which I think are guaranteed...but someone will clarify I'm sure!
Why nt post your SOA & someone will be able to give more info, although I would get in touch with one of the free debt agencies...welcome to MSE!

mamoru

Ok although it sounds like a lot, this £800 pretty much just keeps me going.

I spend it on a variety of things but mainly tobacco, petrol and food. I tried keeping a diary of spending but kept forgetting to update it! I've tried reducing spending by bringing my lunch to work etc, it helps but I've never had money in my account at the end of the month

I don't think I can really throw any more money at my debts especially as I'll be moving home soon and paying rent again. Probably about £300 a month plus bills.It'll kind even out as I won't be using my car anywhere near as much.

In_Search_Of_Me

I dont want to sound harsh but at the end of the day you have a choice! You either make sacrifices to get debt free sooner or you dont! £800 spending money a month is a huge amount, especialy doe someone on a DMP!! You need to have a budget & keep to it regardless or you'll never stay out of debt when you do get debt free! In short you need to put some effort into your debt free journey! Try giving up smoking, doing surveys, pigsback etc to get money & keep a realistic budget and I bet that would get you extra dosh and out of debt quicker. Getting rid of the car WILL help because its not jus the cost of the car but the associated costs (tax, mot etc) that add. Why dont you post your SOA & people can suggest ways you can save! Its hard but its wrth it! Did you try ringing CCCS?

mamoru

I can't ring CCCS yet as I'm at work and won't be home till about 9pm. I'll try them in the morning tomorrow before work.

Yeah it is a huge amount but does vary slightly each month and something ALWAYS comes up each month so my budget goes out of the window. Not necessarily just social things either. Like you said the car is expensive but I have no alternative where I live right now. By car my journey is about 30mins dependant on traffic, by bus it'd take me nearly 3 hours and cost me about £10 a day!! As soon as I move nearer i'll be better off but at the same time having to fork out for rent.

What's SOA mean? I've posted my income/outgoings as much as I can remember. Perhaps when i'm home i can have a more detailed look at receipts etc..

Alisonbel

I wish I had £800 a year to spend!

GeorgeUK

Hi mamoru - the SOA is your Statement of Affairs (basically a detailed account of all your income and expenditure). This link should help you provide one - i would have thought that being in a DMP you would have already done this, and the charities would probably need to see something like it before they could help you. (definately worth giving them a call)
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

These are the most commonly used free charities on the board.
(Taken from Fermi's signature)

Professional, free and impartial advice on debt problems can be obtained from several charitable and 'not for profit' organisations. They never make a penny from the advice they give, which means it will be given with only your best interests at heart. You can contact:

Your local CAB Office and ask to speak to a 'money advisor' *** The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111 *** National Debtline - Tel: 0808 808 4000 *** Payplan - Tel: 0800 917 7823

Be sure to tell them that you have begun a DMP with GP. Did they explain exactly what was entailed and what effect it has on your credit rating?

It would also help if you could tell us the APR's for the various debts. Just so we can see which need to be paid off quickest and what your best options are.

The easiest way to do a debt diary is make a note every morning of how much money you leave the house with. Then every time you use your card or buy something either fill in your diary or get a receipt to fill it in later. Hopefully that should at least put you on the right track and you can plug any holes in your spending.

Also take a look at your credit report. Don't bother about paying to see your credit score - different places have varying methods to work it out so it won't really mean that much. Go to the experian website and see your for free (cancel within 30 days)

good luck with this
George