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Help Please - DMP pending
Very scared to be taking this first step but I have finally realised my debt is out of control. I haven’t missed any payments and am up to date with all my critical bills but my unsecured lending is around £43,000 - even seeing that number makes me cry.
I have spoken to StepChange & they have recommended breathing space & then a debt management plan. I have had a few days to come to terms with this, & read through all the really helpful posts on here but I have some questions I was hoping someone could help me with, again please be kind, I am on the edge at the moment, & cannot believe I have let myself get into this situation.
- my partner has no idea, he suffers badly with his mental health, mainly anxiety & I know that if I were to tell him about the situation he won’t be able to handle it & im worried what it will do to him - can I continue without telling him? What does that mean, in practical terms?we have a joint mortgage, joint overdraft & current account but all these are up to date with no concerns.
- my car is on pcp, which I’m assuming won’t be covered by the DMP, what happens in 3 years when my pcp ends, because I will still be in the plan & will have no way to make the balloon payment… any advice would be appreciated.
- From advice on other posts I take it that defaulting prior to dmp is preferable due to the credit report time frames, the money that would go towards monthly payments, is it better to save as an emergency fund, or could the lump sum be used at the start of the dmp to pay off some debt?
- StepChange have anticipated 3 years 11 months to clear my debt, but I’m guessing this doesn’t include the defaulted months (prior to starting dmp) so it will be higher?
SOA below, please any help would be appreciated- thank you in advance
[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]
Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]
Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 3200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 790
Benefits................................ 145
Other income............................ 0[b]
Total monthly income.................... 4135[/b][b]
Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 1100
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 247
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 204
Electricity............................. 105
Gas..................................... 105
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 111
Mobile phone............................ 44
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 396
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 240
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 54
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 35
Car parking............................. 28
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 185
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 84
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 60
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 40
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0[b]
Total monthly expenses.................. 3231[/b]
[b]
Assets[/b]
Cash.................................... 5000
House value (Gross)..................... 420000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 22000
Other assets............................ 0[b]
Total Assets............................ 447000[/b]
[b]
Secured & HP Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 295000...(1100).....0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 17000....(247)......0[b]
Total secured & HP debts...... 312000....-.........- [/b]
[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Omni Capital...................2843......200.......0
Admiral........................14196.....381.......0
Zopa...........................9610......171.......0
Nationwide ....................2000......25........0
Nationwide ....................800.......25........0
Halifax........................1900......25........0
Virgin.........................11513.....150.......0[b]
Total unsecured debts..........42862.....977.......- [/b]
[b]
Monthly Budget Summary[/b]
Total monthly income.................... 4,135
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,231
Available for debt repayments........... 904
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 977[b]
Amount short for making debt repayments. -73[/b]
[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]
Total assets (things you own)........... 447,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -312,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -42,862[b]
Net Assets.............................. 92,138[/b]
[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]
Comments
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£111 a month telephone landline? Is that correct?If you go down to the woods today you better not go alone.0
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Sorry my mistake, that’s for broadband, telephone & sky (I put it all under one)0
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Well done for actually coming to terms with your debt & taking action.
For me the ones that stand out are your Gas & Elec costs, are these based on actual readings rather than estimates?
Could you look at trying to reduce your grocery spend? Is it possible to shop at the cheaper supermarkets?1 -
Right first thing you can't do this alone, a partnership is just that, you both have to be honest with each other.
How much is the Sky TV part of the package, you could almost break even with that gone?
Childcare can that be reduced?
The most important thing is to tell your partner, what would be worse telling him now or him finding out down the line you haven't been telling him the truth?If you go down to the woods today you better not go alone.1 -
You've asked about your partner.
You've currently got a joint mortgage and a joint account.
Is the joint account with a bank to whom you owe any money? Even a bank that is part of the same banking group may be able to off-set (take) any money in the joint account.
Before you start a DMP you need a basic bank account that is in no way tied to a bank group to whom you owe money.
From the point of view of preserving something of your partner's credit worthiness, you would be advised to close the joint account/mortgage.
If you've spent over £40k on things, your whole family is going to have to live on less, and that includes getting shot of Sky. How will you explain the cut backs?If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing0 -
I have done worst case scenario on groceries so that could be lower, basing it on my past few food shops at Aldi which have been around £99.
The sky could be reduced further, I’ve already got rid of lots of the channels which halved it from £205 to £111.
Childcare is after school club so can’t be reduced any further as this is already for 3 days. It will half in September when eldest stars senior school.
gas & electric, I work for a provider so I’m on a staff rate which is fixed until next October, I have a smart meter as well so am watching my budget daily.0 -
The mortgage and joint account / overdraft are with stand alone providers so none of my debts are linked.I am being really naive about wanting to protect him from this scenario but I am terrified of telling him.
In reality I am surviving with monthly payments but the amount isn’t decreasing at all which is why I need some help…0 -
I am afraid you are being naive, as RAS said you are going to have to get rid of the joint current account, how are you going to explain this?sarajames said:The mortgage and joint account / overdraft are with stand alone providers so none of my debts are linked.I am being really naive about wanting to protect him from this scenario but I am terrified of telling him.
In reality I am surviving with monthly payments but the amount isn’t decreasing at all which is why I need some help…
Surely with that amount of debt he has soon idea you were overspending.If you go down to the woods today you better not go alone.0 -
There are more than 4 weeks in a month, you need to take the £99 multiply by 52 and then divide by 12.sarajames said:I have done worst case scenario on groceries so that could be lower, basing it on my past few food shops at Aldi which have been around £99.
The sky could be reduced further, I’ve already got rid of lots of the channels which halved it from £205 to £111.
Childcare is after school club so can’t be reduced any further as this is already for 3 days. It will half in September when eldest stars senior school.
gas & electric, I work for a provider so I’m on a staff rate which is fixed until next October, I have a smart meter as well so am watching my budget daily.
Are there any other figures based on 4 weeks?0
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