Any options for low income and relatively low debt?

DDcarts

I have £1500 left on a personal loan and £400 on a CC. Minimum repayments every month just now are £150 but thats assuming not clearing the CC balance and the interest running forever. I'm now on universal credit and work part time, combined its currently about £800 a month, my outgoings are around £710-720 (£390 rent, £70ish council tax(varies), £110 bills, £150 debt), leaving me with usually about £20 a week to live on.

I've had an awful year and initially took the personal loan out to avoid being homeless again (was sleeping rough for a few months in 2016, I've a few mental problems but I'm not a criminal, ended up in a sort of half-way house with doctors around me, I'm no danger to anyone but myself so left to get some space away from the crowd) and worked from then until April.

Had some problems in work, a few of us left and took the loan out to cover bills, didnt find anything quickly but I have now.

Are these sums all too low for some debt consolidation? I'd love to have the monthly repayments halved, it plays on my mind all the time and I really cant face another year of beans on toast for dinner every night. In my head at least I want to work full time and I am looking but I'd sooner top myself than have to be around large groups of people again.

sourcrates

Hi,


There is no minimum or maximum amount of debt required for debt mangement, yes, thats debt mangement, not consolodation, consolodation involves borrowing more money and getting even deeper in to debt.

Any of the debt charities can help set up a DMP for you, you just need to contact them, as long as you can afford £5 a month to each creditor, it wont be a problem, as you don`t have much wiggle room in your budget, it may be a good option for you.

Do some research on debt mangement plans, only go to the free to use services provided in the links below in my signiture, some companies will charge for this service, the debt charities do not charge you a penny.


This can very easily be solved very quickly.

DDcarts

Will check it out, thank you!

DDcarts

Jtst went through the StepChange questionaire, I'll need to contact them on Monday.

Any idea whats even possible? Could I get payments down by half or is that too much?

Karonher

You will need to fill in their income and expenditure list and that will show what you have left over and then the decision will be made.

[Deleted User]

You are really best speaking to them one on one.

Not everyone qualifies for a DMP and not on demand - I was just left with token payment letters templates although I wasn't greatly convinced it would do anything and indeed against one of the problems, they would never have accepted such letter.

I've no idea why people automatically assume Stepchange will just suggest and setup DMP. So best to prepare yourself for going it alone. The level of debt advice and support in this country simply isn't there. It comes to something when you deal with a debt to the state and they start crying at you for the situation you find yourself in. Appreciate I've gone off piste!

The only supposedly good thing with credit cards very much depending on age, eventually the companies are now required to freeze any further borrowing after a certain amount of months. So it's not like it was before where things could just go on and on.

DDcarts

Deleted%20User wrote: »

So best to prepare yourself for going it alone.

Thanks for the heads up, I have no idea what I'm doing.

DDcarts

Karonher wrote: »

You will need to fill in their income and expenditure list and that will show what you have left over and then the decision will be made.

I filled in the questionaire but it just took me to a page saying to phone, nothing about income and expenditure, I'll do it on Monday and hopefully know what can happen.

Karonher

Having read your post again I am not sure why you are contemplating a DMP - credit file ruined for 6 years for little financial benefit when in a 12 months you can be virtually debt free. If I have read it correctly £100 + credit card interest only left to pay.

The income and expenditure form is the way they determine how much you have left to pay your debts.

As you actually have money left after everything has been paid it may not be suggested as they are for people who cant pay rather than people who just want the debt gone - the below is from the Experian site

A DMP is an agreement that can be made between you and your creditors (people you owe money to) if you’re unable to make payments on time

As you have shown you can make payments they may suggest something else.

BabyStepper

DDcarts wrote: »

I have £1500 left on a personal loan and £400 on a CC. Minimum repayments every month just now are £150 but thats assuming not clearing the CC balance and the interest running forever. I'm now on universal credit and work part time, combined its currently about £800 a month, my outgoings are around £710-720 (£390 rent, £70ish council tax(varies), £110 bills, £150 debt), leaving me with usually about £20 a week to live on.

Your income is low and even without a full breakdown of your expenses, your rent is almost half of your income and therefore you're going to struggle, even without the debt. Your comment about beans on toast suggests that your expenses do not include an amount for food, would that be right? You need to eat, especially if you have been unwell. Does your budget include things like clothes, gifts, haircuts? I'm worried you just don't have enough. With rent at £390 you want an income of at least £1200 per month.

Exploring a dmp is definitely worth doing, keep going with that. But it is such a small amount of debt, and keeping things as they are just now won't help you in the long term. I'm going to suggest 2 things. First, post a full breakdown of your expenses and let us see if we can help you cut back a bit. Sometimes this can be done painlessly and gives you more income straight away. Second, is there anything you can do to raise some money quickly? Anything to sell, surveys, one off work opportunities you could find for the odd extra day here and there? Ideally you could get that card paid off quickly and not have the interest to deal with.

Let us know how you get on. All the best.

DDcarts

Karonher wrote: »

If I have read it correctly

You haven't.

BabyStepper wrote: »

Your income is low and even without a full breakdown of your expenses, your rent is almost half of your income and therefore you're going to struggle, even without the debt.

I've been living off about £2-£3 a day for most of the past 2 years, when I've needed to spend more on something I've done an extra shift and waited for the money a few weeks later but its a massive drain on my resources to do so. I havent bought new clothes, paid for haircuts, spent anything on entertainment etc in that time. Might sound extreme but spending as little time as possible interacting with people is just normal for me now and its better than the alternative, I was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder from a young age (among others, abuse) and whenever I've interacted with any medical services all they ever care about is how many pills they can shove down my throat that achieve nothing at all. The more people I'm around the harder it is to cope with, dealing with environments like a busy workplace is fine in small doses, totally exhausting but actually very good for me, being in a busy environment like a sheltered housing scheme full of ex cons, lying drug addicts and people with violent outbursts like in the past the complete opposite. Also slept rough in the past, so I will always be willing to pay the price of private rent for my own space.

Having been through the system, doctors have told me I probably dont need to work but I know its a good thing for me, the difference in real world finances wouldnt even be that much plus otherwise I'd never interact with anyone at all. If I had a different job where I had more time on my own I'd go for it even if it meant losing the help from UC, been looking out for various night shift jobs and applying for any role that looks a good fit but nothing ft yet.

At the moment, the credit card bill is £400 and the loan £1500, it would be a massive weight of my shoulders starting a new job if I could get anything off the repayments and length of time to repay them extended (£150ish per month). Don't give any sorts of a crap about my precious credit file, I'll never in my life earn enough to own property, I'll never need to borrow for stuff like cars or weddings and having crappy credit long term might not even be a bad move for me!