Debt has finally caught up with me

Grumpelstiltskin

I think you are still panicking and thinking you must do something as soon as possible.

Don't, concentrate on stopping your debt payments and building up an emergency fund.

Remember you are going to live without credit, and sure as houses an emergency will crop up and you will have the savings to deal with it.

No one can tell you how long it will take for defaults, some can take longer than a year so take one step at a time and stop worrying.

fatbelly

Take one stage at a time and don't overthink.

You can't afford the contractual payments so, when in a hole, stop digging.

Cancel the d/ds and start to save a fund.

That's it for now. Review things on 1 July

backinbusiness

Hi OP - it's a big and daunting step; we understand that, but you have no other option.

It's counter to the way you normally operate, not to pay things, but as others have said, you are just an account number and a balance amongst many, many others. 

Agree with EH - not a nail in your coffin, but the first step on the ladder to freedom; as long as you learn the lessons and budget properly going forward.

Good luck OP - I'll be subscribing to follow your journey.

BiB x 

andy26599

backinbusiness said:

Hi OP - it's a big and daunting step; we understand that, but you have no other option.

It's counter to the way you normally operate, not to pay things, but as others have said, you are just an account number and a balance amongst many, many others. 

Agree with EH - not a nail in your coffin, but the first step on the ladder to freedom; as long as you learn the lessons and budget properly going forward.

Good luck OP - I'll be subscribing to follow your journey.

BiB x 

Thanks. In an ideal world my ex wife would pay me what I'm owed and then I'd be able to pay off my biggest debt and then I'd be able to tick along until everything paid off. However as it's not an ideal world, then I'm stuck with this mess that is of my own design.

If I could be debt free within 4 years, that would be a massive boost. I would hopefully have been paid off by my ex wife (not holding my breath on that one though) have less child maintenance to pay as my eldest would be 18, no debt payments at all (other than mortgage) and as I have a relatively high income job, I'd be in a great financial position from then on.

Do DMP providers do the debt snowball method does anyone know? So as my smaller debts are paid off, will they then up payment to other creditors to pay it off quicker?

sourcrates

Honestly remove the fear factor from all of this, I see so many posts similar to yours, thinking the world is going to end if you stop paying your credit debts, it isn`t, believe me, try and lighten up a little about it all.

The absolute worst case scenario (which isn`t going to even happen by the way) is that legal action is taken, and you repay the debt at an affordable monthly rate, according to your budget, now what`s scary about that??

Now we have gotten that out of the way, are you ready to take back control of your finances?

Yes you messed up, your only human, and people do that occasionally, but the measure of you, is how you now deal with matters, I`m hoping you seize the opportunity to regain control of your life and sort the situation out with the help and advice of this forum.

I really hope you choose to do so, yes it can be daunting, but look at it as a challenge, a game even, doing this will give you back much needed confidence in yourself to change your situation, it really is a simple and straightforward process, and its also simple common sense, you must commit 100% to it, and start to formulate your plan.

The first step is to cancel all non priority debt payments, and start your emergency fund, and as fatbelly already hinted, review the situation in three months.

andy26599

Thanks for the responses. I have a credit card with First Direct, and I have my main bank account (£1.000 overdraft) with HSBC, as they are linked should I move across all my direct debits (that I'm going to continue paying) to my Chase account just incase?

fatbelly

I would say yes.

There are two reasons for this.

One is the reason usually given, which is the danger of setoff, where the bank helps itself to your income.

In practice this is not often used.

The other reason, which will become more important as things progress, is that you want your creditors to accept what you tell them, and not have the information in front of them, to argue with you.

andy26599

Well, bullet bitten. Direct Debits for unsecured debts all cancelled and essential payments moved across to my Chase account. No going back now. 

Lonelygambler

Good luck Andy. 

backinbusiness

Keep posting OP - let us know how you are getting on.  BiB x