Taking the plunge - advice needed

WBMK

Hi everyone, first time posting here so go easy on me please 🙏

I've finally taken the plunge and started a journey to becoming debt free without financially crippling myself every month, but I need to confirm if my plan is correct and may need a little advice and support.

Some back story, I've been in and out (mostly in) of debt for over 12 years since the week I turned 18, I made of lot of dumb decisions that lead to taking out credit to pay off other credit and eventually stopping making payments altogether due to not having the financial backing to support the mess I'd gotten myself into. I did manage to pull it together for a little while after this, using payment plans and settlement offers to satisfy the various debt collector agencies. However, with my credit file improving, this was short lived and the cycle started again. Small credit card here, manageable unsecured loan there, I'm now in the biggest financial mess of my life so far. I made a vow to myself and my family around 6 years ago when my first little one was born that I needed to cleanse my credit file to hopefully make a better future for all of us. The plan was to never miss anymore payments and hopefully clear it down over time, in hopes of someone eventually offering me a mortgage, boy was I wrong. I did manage to stick to not missing payments, and I haven't missed any for over 5 years now, however to do this, I've found myself (again) taking out more and more credit to support the day to day living costs just to make sure all these creditors are getting their money on time (seems I'm still young and dumb).

I'm at a point now where I'm tapped out credit wise and a week off of work will cripple us financially for around 2 months (still making those payments though), and I've decided enough is enough. I'm working 60+ hours a week and my partner 37 hours a week, and we have nothing to show for it other than a healthy payment streak, no days out with the kids, no holidays, scraping together a few quid for a day at the local park just in case the ice cream man is around.

I found myself sat around sulking last week, trying to weigh up my options and seriously considering bankruptcy (still very much naive and mostly uninformed at this point). I turned to stepchange to see what my options were and they suggested either a debt management plan or bankruptcy so I decided to do a little more research, turns out bankruptcy is the last thing I want to do at this point, I have very little in assets and I'm not interested in someone coming taking things from my children's home to put towards my mess. Then I came across someone else's story on here and it matched my situation almost perfectly, the comments of advice and support taught me so much in a matter of hours just reading this forum and the correct way of dealing with my metaphorical (and physical) headache.

So down to the nitty gritty, I've currently got 8 credit cards and 2 unsecured loans (listed below) totalling almost £40k. I've cancelled all my direct debits, and then the next steps are where I'm not 100% sure on the best/correct process to dealing with the accounts.

I know that all the accounts need to default on my credit file, however when this happens, do I contact the creditors straight away to arrange a paymeny plan or do I wait for it to be sold to a collections agency and try to work with them on a settlement/payment plan instead?

When it comes to setting up a payment plan, do I just offer them what I know I can afford, or do I need supporting evidence to prove my offer is valid? I don't intend to massively underpay, however I would like a little extra money each month for the family to somewhat enjoy the perks of my and my partners hard work. And I will be saving as much as possible for an emergency fund whilst waiting for the defaults.

Credit Cards
RBS - £7350
Barclaycard - £3500
JaJa - £2000
Marbles - £1900
Zable - £1500
Aqua - £1400
John Lewis - £1200
Vanquis - £1200

Unsecured loans
MyCommunityBank - £13900
Plata - £2900

Sorry for the long post and thank you if you made it this far, it feels good to get this off my chest, even if it's just to some strangers on the Internet. I'm feeling a lot of anxiety of what's to come, but at the same time, a sense of relief that I might actually make a difference this time around.

Please let me know if I'm missing or misunderstanding anything, or if there's anything in particular with any of those creditors that I need to worry about/prepare for and any advice is greatly appreciated.

Rob5342

Once they have defaulted then wait for eomeone to contact you wanting payment before you start paying. Things move slowly so keeo building up your emergency fund while you are waiting to be contacted. 

DMPs are informal so you can just pay what you want. At some point the creditors will be open to settlement offers, so I'd suggest paying less then you csn afford and putting some money into a settlement offer fund. Once you have settled one you can use the extra money to save for the next.

I've been on a dmp for four years now, it doesn't take long before you really start to feel on top of everything again. I was apprehensive about starting mine but it's all gone very smoothly moothly and I'm feeling better than I have done for a long time. 

ManyWays

How much did StepChange suggest you could pay towards a DMP each month, and was that based on your current 60 hour week or a lower amount?

I have very little in assets and I'm not interested in someone coming taking things from my children's home to put towards my mess. 
No one visits your home in bankruptcy to see what they can take. Very few people lose any possessions apart from a car (is yours worth over 4k?) or a house with equity (I assume you are renting) and your kids things are not at risk at all. 

RAS

A couple of pointers

Do you owe anything to the bank into which your income goes? If so, you need a new basic bank account into which it gets paid, pronto. There's no credit check for a basic account.

If you rent, future LLs and agencies can see CCJs and check the Insolvency Register, which includes bankruptcy and DROs. 

The greatest gift you can give your child is time. So seriously consider the work/life balance.

WBMK

Rob5342 said:

Once they have defaulted then wait for eomeone to contact you wanting payment before you start paying. Things move slowly so keeo building up your emergency fund while you are waiting to be contacted. 

DMPs are informal so you can just pay what you want. At some point the creditors will be open to settlement offers, so I'd suggest paying less then you csn afford and putting some money into a settlement offer fund. Once you have settled one you can use the extra money to save for the next.

I've been on a dmp for four years now, it doesn't take long before you really start to feel on top of everything again. I was apprehensive about starting mine but it's all gone very smoothly moothly and I'm feeling better than I have done for a long time. 

Good to know, thanks. My plan is to save as much as possible right now to build my emergency fund then hopefully continue to save a little each month once the payments start, this will be the first time in my adult life that I'll have had actual savings.

I was a little apprehensive as well after going through this in the past, however last time it was due to genuinely not being able to make any payments, this time I'm feeling more of a sense of control by volunteering to do it.

WBMK

ManyWays said:

How much did StepChange suggest you could pay towards a DMP each month, and was that based on your current 60 hour week or a lower amount?

I have very little in assets and I'm not interested in someone coming taking things from my children's home to put towards my mess. 
No one visits your home in bankruptcy to see what they can take. Very few people lose any possessions apart from a car (is yours worth over 4k?) or a house with equity (I assume you are renting) and your kids things are not at risk at all. 

It was around £700ish based on a 60 hour week, I very rarely do less hours.

Thanks for the info on bankruptcy, I wasn't entirely sure on the process, I'd just read about the possibility of having to sell assets and that's a no for me at the moment, and I'll feel more in control if I'm dealing with this directly. Car is less than £4k and yes we're renting

WBMK

RAS said:

A couple of pointers

Do you owe anything to the bank into which your income goes? If so, you need a new basic bank account into which it gets paid, pronto. There's no credit check for a basic account.

If you rent, future LLs and agencies can see CCJs and check the Insolvency Register, which includes bankruptcy and DROs. 

The greatest gift you can give your child is time. So seriously consider the work/life balance.

I have a small overdraft that I'll clear next week and remove from the account, I've been with this bank for 15 years so would prefer to not have to move everything away from it.

Unfortunately, the industry I'm in doesn't leave much to work/life balance, however I have gone from working 7 days a week 4 years ago, to 6 days a week 2 years ago, to now only working 5 days a week. I usually do around 10-15 hour nights but usually home before the school run (which the kids love) and have all weekend to spend with the family.

EssexHebridean

The overdraft - will that be cleared because your salary goes in? If so where does that leave you with priority bills and necessary discretionary spending? I would consider getting that new bank account opened ASAP and getting the details to your payroll department. The overdraft will then just become part of the DMP if that is the route you take. 

You might spend some time reading people’s experiences on the bankruptcy board here before you dismiss it as an option - while it isn’t for everyone you do appear to be the sort of demographic that it is designed to help. Regardless though, you need a robust budget, so the Statement of Affairs is the first step.

I would suggest that any payment to a DMP is based on a standard working week, not a 60 hour one. 

ManyWays

It was around £700ish based on a 60 hour week, I very rarely do less hours.

But you and your partner want to reduce your hours, dont you? How much would your joint income dropped if you dropped to 40 hours and they dropped to 32? 

WBMK

EssexHebridean said:

The overdraft - will that be cleared because your salary goes in? If so where does that leave you with priority bills and necessary discretionary spending? I would consider getting that new bank account opened ASAP and getting the details to your payroll department. The overdraft will then just become part of the DMP if that is the route you take. 

You might spend some time reading people’s experiences on the bankruptcy board here before you dismiss it as an option - while it isn’t for everyone you do appear to be the sort of demographic that it is designed to help. Regardless though, you need a robust budget, so the Statement of Affairs is the first step.

I would suggest that any payment to a DMP is based on a standard working week, not a 60 hour one. 

It will be cleared using the first lump of money that would have gone to payments. For reference, I have 3 current accounts that I actively use, 1 that my income is paid into, 1 just for bills and 1 for everyday spending. The overdraft is on the bill account and was there incase I was ever short, lo and behold, it got used. However it doesn't really cost me anything as I get paid weekly so a quarter of the monthly bills gets put into the bill account every week keeping the balance close to zero before being used again. then the rest goes to the everyday spending account. I've always tried to keep my money separated in different accounts to prevent a payment coming out unexpectedly, and so I can keep track and make adjustments if needed.

Whilst I appreciate that bankruptcy may potentially be a good option, I don't like the idea that someone else is in control of deciding when and how much I pay, I'll feel much better handling it myself and having more control over the situation. It may or may not cost me more overall, but I'm happy to pay for my mistakes providing we can live comfortably at the same time.

Is there any particular reason for the standard 40 hour week? My basic is 50 hours, however I rarely do less than 60. For info, I'm a HGV Driver, 40-hour week jobs are a rarity in this area and pay less than stacking shelves in Tesco.

WBMK

ManyWays said:

It was around £700ish based on a 60 hour week, I very rarely do less hours.

But you and your partner want to reduce your hours, dont you? How much would your joint income dropped if you dropped to 40 hours and they dropped to 32? 

We're happy with the hours at the moment, it works for us. I'm a HGV driver and provide the bulk of our income (around 70-75%), there are very very few jobs that would pay well enough that are under 50 hours. My partner works 2 jobs, she works 3 days a week during school times, and she's a carer for a family member and so the hours are pretty flexible and she's able to work it around childcare, etc