Newbie looking for help

Ambertartan12

Emmia said:

Something else to bear in mind, when does your current mortgage rate run out?

You'll be paying a lot more than 2.43% when you get a new deal. Current fixes are around 2% - 4% higher (LTV dependent) which will add to your monthly payment.

It ends in May 2027

Ambertartan12

sourcrates said:

Ambertartan12 said:

Thank you,  yes my phone bill is £165 for tied in contracts under my name.  I will contact the company and see if they can help.  I am struggling with the asking for help part at the moment.

Well I`m afraid you may have to be a little more aggressive in your cost cutting tactics, the simplest way is to just default on payment, add the debt to your total, and opt for PAYG sim cards instead.

The service provider is not going to accept lower payments, that is almost certain, so you need to take matters into your own hands, along with the other items you can do without above, that will give you over £500 more per month in your debt busting fund.

Another, rather important point is to understand that you currently have at least 13 lines of credit actively running, that`s an awful lot of credit, you must address the circumstances that led to you accruing such vast amounts of debt, so that once you do clear your current indebtedness, you don`t start sliding down the same slippery slope once more.

Thank you,  it's easy to bury your head in the sand and pretend everything is ok with another card or loan.  I fully accept this is my own doing and I am ashamed and embarrassed at the situation I am in.  How do I default on payments?

Emmia

Ambertartan12 said:

Emmia said:

Obvious costs to cut are the £165 you're apparently spending on a mobile phone (are you tied to a contract?), the £250 you're budgeting for a holiday and potentially the £100 a month on clothing...

The £69 satellite/cable should also go (Freeview is available).

You've got nothing in your budget for prescriptions or dentistry.

Hi,  I am tied into telephone contracts for myself and my son.  I will contact EE and explain my situation.  I'll also call Sky and cancel if I can however not sure what my contract status is with them.  My son is autistic and goes through a lot of clothes!, I will do my best to reduce this however his sensory needs make it difficult.   We do not pay for prescriptions in Scotland and Dental care is minimal for us, I can adjust the figures to reflect that. Again I really appreciate your advice.

So you're spending over £80 a month on each of the phones - that's far too much. 

Emmia

Ambertartan12 said:

sourcrates said:

Ambertartan12 said:

Thank you,  yes my phone bill is £165 for tied in contracts under my name.  I will contact the company and see if they can help.  I am struggling with the asking for help part at the moment.

Well I`m afraid you may have to be a little more aggressive in your cost cutting tactics, the simplest way is to just default on payment, add the debt to your total, and opt for PAYG sim cards instead.

The service provider is not going to accept lower payments, that is almost certain, so you need to take matters into your own hands, along with the other items you can do without above, that will give you over £500 more per month in your debt busting fund.

Another, rather important point is to understand that you currently have at least 13 lines of credit actively running, that`s an awful lot of credit, you must address the circumstances that led to you accruing such vast amounts of debt, so that once you do clear your current indebtedness, you don`t start sliding down the same slippery slope once more.

Thank you,  it's easy to bury your head in the sand and pretend everything is ok with another card or loan.  I fully accept this is my own doing and I am ashamed and embarrassed at the situation I am in.  How do I default on payments?

You stop paying. Your accounts will eventually go to default.

Ambertartan12

Emmia said:

Ambertartan12 said:

Emmia said:

Obvious costs to cut are the £165 you're apparently spending on a mobile phone (are you tied to a contract?), the £250 you're budgeting for a holiday and potentially the £100 a month on clothing...

The £69 satellite/cable should also go (Freeview is available).

You've got nothing in your budget for prescriptions or dentistry.

Hi,  I am tied into telephone contracts for myself and my son.  I will contact EE and explain my situation.  I'll also call Sky and cancel if I can however not sure what my contract status is with them.  My son is autistic and goes through a lot of clothes!, I will do my best to reduce this however his sensory needs make it difficult.   We do not pay for prescriptions in Scotland and Dental care is minimal for us, I can adjust the figures to reflect that. Again I really appreciate your advice.

So you're spending over £80 a month on each of the phones - that's far too much. 

At the moment, yes.  I will change this on the advice I have been given today, thanks.

RAS

Ambertartan12 said:

fatbelly said:

When in a hole, stop digging.

Stop the payments to your creditors, keep the mortgage going.

Sort out your banking so that you are not banking where you have debts

Make the savings that you can, start an emergency fund.

Start a dmp and see how things go.

Thank you, do you advise how to start the debt management plan?  Is there someone who can help me with this?

At this stage, you need to get your creditors to register defaults. You don't need help for that. Just stop paying.

Further down the line, a debt charity might be useful.

But the first thing you need, since you seem to be banking with TSB, is a new basic bank account with a bank completely unrelated to TSB, MBNA or Virgin, which is now part of the Nationwide Group, I think.

Come back when that's sorted, please. And find out when the last date is that you can move your salary and other income to the new account.

sourcrates

My son is also Autistic, he goes through shoes like a tornado in a trailer park, clothes the same, will only eat certain foods, etc etc, so I know how things are in that respect.

Fatbelly has outlined what you should do in a previous post, when something becomes unaffordable, you must take steps to deal with things, that involves stopping payments on your unsecured, non essential debts, whether in contract or not, the contract debt becomes just another non essential debt to service.

Its a whole different way of thinking, granted, but in order for things to change, you must change them.

fatbelly

Ambertartan12 said:

fatbelly said:

When in a hole, stop digging.

Stop the payments to your creditors, keep the mortgage going.

Sort out your banking so that you are not banking where you have debts

Make the savings that you can, start an emergency fund.

Start a dmp and see how things go.

Thank you, do you advise how to start the debt management plan?  Is there someone who can help me with this?

You could use stepchange. (Or payplan). Neither charge a fee

A lot of people start with them but move to self-managed

Ambertartan12

Many thank everyone. I am going to work on the advice you have provided and will update soon. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. 

foxgloves

While you will need some kind of debt solution, there are definitely some valuable savings to be made on your monthly outgoings. As others have said, your monthly mobile phone costs are insanely high. Paid TV packages are a luxury which you can't afford with that level of debt. Energy costs, while not extortionate, could come down a bit. Look to cut any obvious wastage....things like heating being on when people are sitting around in t-shirts, lights being left on, TVs etc on while no-one is actively watching them. All of this is good practice & if it brings your monthly energy payments down too, well worth doing.
Finally, food. £500 per month for 2 people is a lot of money. With a bit of meal planning, pro-active freezer use, an effective weekly shopping list to avoid those money-leaking top-up shops, you should be able to knock this to £400 quite easily & £350 ought to be perfectly doable. I budget £350 a month on groceries. That feeds me, big hairy husband with a huge appetite, 2 greedy cats & also covers things like loo rolls, cleaning stuff, washing powder, etc. Tbf, we do have a veg plot which means we don't need to buy as much fresh stuff between July - Oct, so it isn't an exact comparison.
Making these sorts of achievable savings isn't going to get your debts paid in a realistic timescale, so as others have said, you're going to need some sort of debt plan, but there are still opportunities for making savings in your outgoings which given your situation, would be well worth taking.
No need to feel ashamed. Most people on here feel able to advise mostly because they have dealt with personal debt in the past.
F