How do i finally face my debts?

enthusiasticsaver

The soa is incomplete but what there is on it I would say is a sign that you regularly go shopping if you buy £100 of clothes between you every month. Have you gone through your wardrobe and can you set a challenge of no more new clothes for the year as I would bet you do not need any more. The food budget is high for 2 of you as is the haircuts and presents unless you have kids. 
If you have started to learn to live without credit this  is a great step forward and I am a bit gobsmacked your mum took you to get a credit card at 18.  I spent the years from 14 to 18 warning my daughters of the peril of taking out credit and one does not have one at all and the other has one for emergencies.  Neither had any problem with getting mortgages so it is a myth that you need to have one.  I think having one is good to show good money management but only take it out if you will pay it off in full rather than looking at it as a reserve bank.  You have around £2k income per month and £1980 on those outgoings but nothing allowed for emergency savings or for the unsecured debt  so I think a DMP is the only way forward as bankruptcy is problematic as you have a house.  You could maybe do self managed and start by defaulting, writing to them asking for breathing space and save up an emergency fund.  Work out what you can afford to send them as a token payment but I would say £400 is too much.  Can either of you get a second job?  

enthusiasticsaver

Also  I sincerely hope your partners debt is two thousand and not two million!!

monetxchange

Is your SOA based on your half of the bills? Otherwise it's looking like you're paying everything full. If you and your partner have separate finances in terms of debt clearing, do the SOA with your income only and your half of the bills.

You can immediately cut down groceries, stop buying clothes and presents, cut down entertainment, haircuts. Why are you using so much electricity? 

You need to get back in touch with Stepchange and rearrange the monthly amount so it's affordable. Though I would say you can't be prioritising luxuries such as presents and £60 haircuts and then claim that you don't have enough money to pay off the DMP. these things aren't essentials and you need to realise that some things will have to change if you're serious about doing this.

Alicekimbo

I used the ‘clothes’ section to account for all toiletries and prescriptions as well as ‘clothes’.
We have a joint account where our household bills come out of, i contribute £400 a month he contributes £700 a month. £60 on haircuts is not monthly, do get my hair cut every 3 months and coloured twice a year. Presents is a weird one too? I don't spend £50 a month on presents but if i have a family members birthday, partner, mum, brother etc then the present cost will be around £50.
My partners debt is approx £2k on a credit card. I will attempt to speak to Step change tomorrow and making a realistic payment each month and ask if they will speak to the creditors on my behalf...? Obviously the IVA company are now hounding to complete the IVA application.

enthusiasticsaver

Whatever you do do not use this company for an IVA.  They are not a charity and charge fees so any monthly payment will go to them rather than your debts.  I don't think an IVA is any good for you anyway. If you pay £400 a month to the joint account  and earn £1350 then the remaining £950 is presumably available for spending money, food and debts?  Whose name is the HP in? I would start to get in the habit of saving for an emergency and car maintenance etc . Work out exactly how much spare money you have each month, allocate some to food, entertainment, hair etc, put some into savings and then allocate the remaining amount to your debt proportionally.  Then contact them, ask them to stop the interest and make an arrangement to pay. 

sourcrates

Alicekimbo said:

I used the ‘clothes’ section to account for all toiletries and prescriptions as well as ‘clothes’.
We have a joint account where our household bills come out of, i contribute £400 a month he contributes £700 a month. £60 on haircuts is not monthly, do get my hair cut every 3 months and coloured twice a year. Presents is a weird one too? I don't spend £50 a month on presents but if i have a family members birthday, partner, mum, brother etc then the present cost will be around £50.
My partners debt is approx £2k on a credit card. I will attempt to speak to Step change tomorrow and making a realistic payment each month and ask if they will speak to the creditors on my behalf...? Obviously the IVA company are now hounding to complete the IVA application.

The IVA is an option still, as you are a homeowner, DMP or IVA are all thats open to you.

With an IVA you do have legal protection from your creditors, DMP you don`t, however legal action is rare, even rarer if your paying something toward the debt, you just need to find the confidence to deal with the matter.

If you are prepared and ready for 5/6 years in an IVA, and the re-mortgage issues, then see what stepchange say about it, they have their own IP`s who charge significantly less than the ambulance chasers you are engaging with.

Also, just for clarity, you should only deal with your creditors in witing, that way you can state your case, and their response has to be clear, in other words they cannot fob you off as they may try to do on the phone, also you bypass the call handler, whose sole job it is to answer the phone, and get to the people you need to be communicating with, plus its far more professional.

I would say a self managed DMP would be your best bet, its more flexible, and leaves you in control, and is as easy as pie to set up, but works best once all your accounts have defaulted and been sold on, that way there is no more interest or charges, and after a time settlement offers can be agreed.

RobM99

Your electricity looks high too. 

sharpe106

Think you need to update the SOA. It needs to be more accurate as giving advice on half information can be just as bad as giving information on no information.

sourcrates

sharpe106 said:

Think you need to update the SOA. It needs to be more accurate as giving advice on half information can be just as bad as giving information on no information.

As a Homeowner, OP only has choice of DMP or IVA, so the advice would still be the same.

Alicekimbo

What is the difference between a self managed DMP and one managed by Step Change? Sorry i know that sounds silly?