Advice - to default or not to default

jbkmum

I owe £42,764.60.
£15380 is to my dad so I can't go bankrupt.

I have £92 of mobile phone contracts. Only one is used.

Would you default on them so that you've got money spare to clear other debts?
1 contract has 20 months
1 has 8 months
1 has 22 months.

I have had 6 defaults registered this year, whats another 3? Right attitude wrong attitude? I'm keen to keep paying them because I am trying to pay everything.

Then I have a halifax credit card. It says Nil credit available but interest is being charged and I am below the limit. I was previously in a DMP, my payment to them was more than the minimum. I assume they have cancelled the card although I can still see it on the account. They do constantly reduce the credit limit. This is not defaulted but the payment is £50 a month. I could default, after all I have other cards defaulted this year. That £49 could be used to snowball other debts. I had hoped it wouldn't be cancelled so one day I could use it to rebuild my credit file. What is the benefit of it staying not defaulted (btw 19.9% interest). No payment arrangement registered, it looks up to date on credit file.

jbkmum

Any advice?

sourcrates

Hi,

There are other options rather than bankrupcy, defaults are usually a result of other actions you take, if you can`t afford the repayments on your debts, then you really need to look at your situation as a whole.

We normally ask you to post a statement of affairs, this shows your income, expenditure, debts etc, as to be able to give correct advice, we need accurate figures to work with :

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

EssexHebridean

One step at a time - first, as Sourcrates says, get the SOA done so we can see where things might be able to be juggled - you need to get together a years worth of bank and/or card statements so you get a proper, accurate picture of what you're spending in the various categories - and remember to make sure that it reflects the real picture right not, not what you think you "should" be spending, or assume we expect to see!

Why do you have 3 mobile phone contracts? Have you tried calling any of the suppliers to see if they will offer you a reduced amount for any of them, as a starting point? They may well say no - but there has been some reports of success with this approach.

jbkmum

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Why do you have 3 mobile phone contracts? Have you tried calling any of the suppliers to see if they will offer you a reduced amount for any of them, as a starting point? They may well say no - but there has been some reports of success with this approach.

Because I'm an idiot and had a huge consumer problem.

One contract is my old one - broke phone, I now have a company mobile. Expires August 2020
One contract is my DS's because he spends weekends at his dads and his grandmas and I hated not being able to speak to him.
One contract is an ipad contract.

None can be reduced.

Will go do SOA, however I am working on cutting outgoings

jbkmum

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2863.41
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2863.41

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 800
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 87
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48.8
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 92
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10.99
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 299.87
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 123
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 280
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 89.54
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7.82
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Face Lasering........................... 37.5
Overdraft Fees.......................... 15.5
Total monthly expenses.................. 2110.42


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Creation Finance...............401.43....31........0
Simply Be......................400.28....20........59.99
Tesco Bank Defaulted...........794.92....5.........0
TSB Card Defaulted.............1361......1.........0
Lease Car......................2521.24...360.2.....0
Family.........................2000......0.........0
Family.........................5230......225.......0
Family.........................8150......50........0
Halifax........................1965.95...50........19.99
First Direct Defaulte..........2547......1.........0
BarclayCard Defaulted..........2338......1.........0
HSBC AP........................6330.23...1.........0
AMEX Defaulted.................9010......5.........0
Overdraft......................750.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........43800.05..750.2.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,863.41
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,110.42
Available for debt repayments........... 752.99
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 750.2
Amount left after debt repayments....... 2.79

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -43,800.05
Net Assets.............................. -43,800.05

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.LemonFool.co.uk.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Water - I am not on a meter, I have a reasonably sized house with a dishwasher, and a washing machine thats run almost daily. I don't think a water meter would cost less.

Mobile phones as above, ughhhhh


Groceries was what was spent on average for the past three months. My budget is £200 however I had a moment of weakness and spent a lot on food I don't need. I didn't waste it luckily, its all in the freezer.

Petrol was the average over the past 2 months, however my usage has actually gone down. I mainly cycle to and from work however I had to drive to work for 3 weeks due to having had surgery meaning I couldn't cycle.

Car - my car lease ends in February but I am in arrears. Hoping to negotiate the £360 to £140ish til the end of 2020. That would pay it off. Once the lease car goes back my ex is giving me his car, £40 insurance, £10 tax and then £50 put aside for maintenance. I need a car to get to the shops, take dogs to the vets and to visit my mum.

Childcare, wraparound school. This can change, but then my Universal credit payment changes. I've budgeted for the max amount each month.

Prescriptions £10.40, DS gets free dental care - I need to start budgeting for dental for myself

Pet Insurance includes, healthcare plan (£26 per month for two - worked out its the same cost as me buying the prescriptions and I get free checkups) Insurance and pet food.

Presents - I haven't been buying presents, I plan to put this away as savings

Haircuts - I rarely get my hair cut but need to start do this, my exmil has paid for DS's hair before but I'm going to start getting that done myself. He refuses to let me clipper his hair

Entertainment - This pays for us to go to museums and art gallerys, for a coffee and a hot chocolate. I get free train travel to London so it pays for the underground that sort of thing. My SO often will buy lunch as I've used my free train travel for him.

Face lasering - I was declined this on the NHS, I have to pay privately, I have about 3 sessions left to go. Its non-negotiable and the only way I would give this up is if I couldn't feed my child. Without it I can barely go out in public. It's working and will end mid next year.

Overdraft Fees - I'm charged 50pence a day to be in my overdraft. Doesn't matter how much I am overdrawn by so I can't work it out as interest.


I'm currently ebaying to pay for Christmas, and anything after that will be used to build an emergency fund.