what a mess - desparate - HELP please!

zoidberg

Ok, instead of keep running from the situation and in actual fact making the situation worse I would like to get help and need advice (telling I guess) on what to do now to stop the rot and get back on track.

This is lengthy but I have tried to include everything I can think of and notes which may help.

Monthly Incomings:

My take-home salary - £1800 (increasing to £2045 from 27th July 08)
Employers monthly car allowance - £300

Total - £2100

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage - £680 (currently fixed rate - interest only)
Council Tax - £90
Electric - £65
Water - £16.25
TV License - £10.99 (currently not paying)
Sky £29.00
Phone - £35.00
Car Insurance - £90.00
Deisel- £200 (but usually less as out on site quite a bit so expensible)
Life Insurance - £25
Black Horse Loans - £280 + £20
Student Loan - £8.50
Car Finance - £330**
Employer loan - £200 (bal £600 due to end end mar 08+ £850 owed to arrange payback of)
Other Loan/Maint? - £70*
Brian Carter - £33 (bal. £160 from previous payment arangement)

Total: £2185 approx

* the other loan is with my partner who I used to live with,currently we live separately with her living with her son)
** the car finance is actually in my partners name I could not obtain finance. Current balance (which included some neg. equity is approx £11500 with current px of car being £8000 - currently has 3 1/2 years left to run on a 5yr agreement - and dont really want to do the hand it back think 1/2 way through as would trash partners credit file)

Others not even included in above:

Food - £300?
Clothing etc?
Dentists?

Smoking £25.00 month (need to cutdown/quit)

Car Servicing PA - £450
Tyres - £400
Cam Belt - £450 (can wait for another 12,000 miles - i.e 3-4 months)
Depreciation - £1500 p/a (based on 45,000 miles pa)

Costs approx 10p per 10 miles in fuel
Work pay 25p per mile when out on customer sites - approx 10 days per monthbo

Mortgage Payment bounced (1st missed - have made 6 payments)
1st payment on Black Horse Loan bounced
Sky bounced (1st missed)
Elec bounced (1st missed)
Water not paid this month (1st missed)
Life Insurane not paid this month (1st missed payment)
Car Insurane bounced this month (not the 1st missed payment so they will want total bal o/s in full if not paid this month which will be about £500 I think!)

Due to charged for some of above bouncing - current bank a/c bal is -202.85 and I have no overdraft facility on this account as it is only a RBS cashcard account so they will just take the money straight away from any funds ie wages) There is also likely to be more charges next week when people try to take payments again.

Council tax - had made an agreement to pay £50 last month (paid) £50 this (not paid) and 2 x £250 next 2 months!

Owe capital one approx £300 on credit card (havent paid for about 4 months)

Owe Welcome approx bal of £120 left from settlement payment
Ower Citifinancial approx bal of £150 left from settlement payment
(I "consolidated" these into a £7500 loan over 5years with BlackHorse which I was due to make the first payment on this month as they were at nearly 50%apr due to having very bad credit - is now not so bad - 1 ccj nealy 6 years old I think and 1 12 mnths or so ago which has been paid but needs marking on my credit file as satisfied?)

I have had £580 advanced from my wages this month!

Currently have £10 cash and no money to get to work,work visitis etc for the rest of month (approx £200-250)

Other debts - owe approx £900 to a friend (also a work colleague who loaned me some money approx 12 months ago)

Owe £100 unpaid parking ticket
Would like to have a holiday this year with my partner this year as I havent really had a week away on holiday 13 years due to always being skint.

May well want to buy a place with partner in next 2 poss 3 years to need to be sorted and be able to get mortgage together then.

No savings
No pension Currently

Only had my property since end June 07 (1st property) and new build no so valuation. Fixed rate for 3 years (6.05% I think) with GE.

Parents have no money as they have also bought a new property and downsized for impending retirements.

A real mess I know. What must be done?

Gemmzie

Okay, first thing you need is a new bank account with a bank you have no previous accounts with. Then get your wages paid into the new account.

Will think on the rest...

When do you get paid? The first things to pay urgently are the council tax arrears, the mortgage missed payment, then the usual council tax and mortgage payments.

Is the black horse loan secured?

moneymaker2

Hi,
Not really sure what to suggest as I am rather new to this all as well but didn't want your post to go un-noticed.
The only think I can suggest is that you contact both Welcome and Citi-finance and ask them to write off the small balances that you have remaining with them.
If you explain the situation then they shouldn't have a problem with it. I know welcome won't. Best that you prob speak to a senior manager though and not your account manager as they tend to have more empathy.Also ask them to do this at the beginning of the month, not the end and you are more likely to get the answer you want.
Hope this helps.
L

nearlyrich

Are you insured to drive your car? I know someone who missed a payment insurance company closed his insurance and he got done for having no insurance, please check you don't need to have any more problems cropping up.

debrag

are you overpaying your student loan? as this comes out your wages before you get it or is this not from SLC

zoidberg

Hi - thanks for the quick replies! greatly appreciated.

ok - black horse loan is unsecured

afaik I am still insured on the car - I need to make this payment tho or they will ask for the o/s balance.

student loan is just paid by direct debit

any suggestions for who to get a new account with? (as I havent got exactly the best credit history in the world with missed payments recently - although thankfully I only have 4 credit agreements exc the mortgage - welcome, citi,capital one and black horse - plus the brian carter debt)

would you have an example of letter re asking for debt to be written off? (or what facts do you suggest I include)

how should I go about the council tax arrangement (as it is already an arrangement I guess)

sorry for lots of questions but I need to get this right - I am sure you will understand

I get paid on the 27th of the month so I beleive the next pay day will be the 25th Jan.

southernscouser

Do you have any debts with Natwest? If not then the basic step account is quite popular.

Personally I would cancel all other direct debits tomorrow first thing so you don't get anymore charges.

Then get your wages paid into your new account and setup the new direct debits with that account.

Your mortgage is a top priority. Phone them in the morning and explain the situation. They should want to help you but you have to make the effort.

Also council tax is another one. Get on the blower and sort it out.

Are you tied into a contract with Sky? If not cancel it, you really can't afford it at the moment. Your mortgage is much more important. If you are tied in, try and reduce your package to the lowest possible.

To be honest there isn't much scope for manouvere (sp). Ring the CCCS who are a charity and speak to them. Something like a debt management plan might be a route to explore. I know you said you wanted to get a place with your partner in a few years time but that will ruin your credit file for 6 years!

zoidberg

would I be able to reclaim any of my bank charges on my RBS account (or would it not be possible on such a basic account)

I do have another RBS savings account with a cashcard but would I still be wiser to move elsewhere? (dont want them just taking it from my other account)

oh yeah - and the car was due a basic service about 7000 miles ago (approx £100) but as the warantee is up in about 1000 miles and it was only a minor service not the greatest concern.

re sky - I have tv,phone and internet. I am tied into a 12 month contract but I beleive I can change packages so I could lose some tv and reduce internet to their free package saving about £15 total I think. I will call them tomorrow. I have no normal aerial so sky is only means of tv (and have tried an indoor aerial but not enough signal even with booster)

re debt managment plan - that had crossed my mind - guess I was being foolish thinking things would be better in the not too far distant future with employer debt being gone and salary going up. If such a way is the only way I guess if I can put some extra cash towards paying off earlier that would obviously be the right thing to do - would this help the 6yr problem with the credit)
If I could get welcome and citi to right off the balances then there is only really the black horse and capital one balance (which is about £300) to default on.
would I be able to include employer debts in such a plan?

also my good friend has just suggested reducing my car insurance to 3rd party for 6 months until renewal. good idea?

southernscouser

There is a test case this month that will determine whether you can reclaim your bank charges.

As for bank accounts definately get a new one. RBS will just take your money from that account.

Do any of your loans have PPI as you could reclaim this? :think:

Karmacat

Hi zoidberg

Good for you for posting and including enough detail to work with. I've cut out what I can to help things stand out:

zoidberg wrote: »

Monthly Incomings:

My take-home salary - £1800 (increasing to £2045 from 27th July 08)
Employers monthly car allowance - £300

Total - £2100

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage - £680 (currently fixed rate - interest only)
Council Tax - £90
Electric - £65 thats really expensive, have you been to uswitch to find a cheaper deal?
Water - £16.25
TV License - £10.99 (currently not paying) um.... why not? Cos of the debt amount, or are you in dispute?
Sky £29.00 You need to stop and at most replace with a freeview box.
Phone - £35.00 is this the best deal? Cut down what you can.
Car Insurance - £90.00 monthly? Thats.. a lot... are you sure thats the best deal you can get?
Deisel- £200 (but usually less as out on site quite a bit so expensible) Car expenditure just on these two items is 50% more than your employer's allowance. Do you need to renegotiate your allowance?

Life Insurance - £25 do you have dependents? If you don't, consider hard whether you need this right now.

Black Horse Loans - £280 + £20
Student Loan - £8.50
Car Finance - £330**
Employer loan - £200 (bal £600 due to end end mar 08+ £850 owed to arrange payback of) Well, its good its ending soon, you'll probably have seen reference to snowballing if you're doing a statement of affairs this well, you can throw this at other debts.
Other Loan/Maint? - £70*
Brian Carter - £33 (bal. £160 from previous payment arangement)

Total: £2185 approx

* the other loan is with my partner who I used to live with,currently we live separately with her living with her son)
** the car finance is actually in my partners name I could not obtain finance. Current balance (which included some neg. equity is approx £11500 with current px of car being £8000 - currently has 3 1/2 years left to run on a 5yr agreement - and dont really want to do the hand it back think 1/2 way through as would trash partners credit file)

Others not even included in above:

Food - £300? do you live alone? If you do, you can eventually cut this figure down to at least a half, and maybe a third.
Clothing etc? not just at the moment!
Dentists?

Smoking £25.00 month (need to cutdown/quit) Yep, sorry!

Car Servicing PA - £450
Tyres - £400
Cam Belt - £450 (can wait for another 12,000 miles - i.e 3-4 months)
Depreciation - £1500 p/a (based on 45,000 miles pa) Its not actually to be paid out tho, is it....

Costs approx 10p per 10 miles in fuel
Work pay 25p per mile when out on customer sites - approx 10 days per monthbo

Mortgage Payment bounced (1st missed - have made 6 payments)
1st payment on Black Horse Loan bounced
Sky bounced (1st missed)
Elec bounced (1st missed)
Water not paid this month (1st missed)
Life Insurane not paid this month (1st missed payment)
Car Insurane bounced this month (not the 1st missed payment so they will want total bal o/s in full if not paid this month which will be about £500 I think!)

Due to charged for some of above bouncing - current bank a/c bal is -202.85 and I have no overdraft facility on this account as it is only a RBS cashcard account so they will just take the money straight away from any funds ie wages) There is also likely to be more charges next week when people try to take payments again.

Council tax - had made an agreement to pay £50 last month (paid) £50 this (not paid) and 2 x £250 next 2 months!

Owe capital one approx £300 on credit card (havent paid for about 4 months)

Owe Welcome approx bal of £120 left from settlement payment
Ower Citifinancial approx bal of £150 left from settlement payment
(I "consolidated" these into a £7500 loan over 5years with BlackHorse which I was due to make the first payment on this month as they were at nearly 50%apr due to having very bad credit - is now not so bad - 1 ccj nealy 6 years old I think and 1 12 mnths or so ago which has been paid but needs marking on my credit file as satisfied?)
With this number of defaults, your credit rating is about to tank, I would think. Again, sorry.

I have had £580 advanced from my wages this month!

Currently have £10 cash and no money to get to work,work visitis etc for the rest of month (approx £200-250)

Other debts - owe approx £900 to a friend (also a work colleague who loaned me some money approx 12 months ago)

Owe £100 unpaid parking ticket
Would like to have a holiday this year with my partner this year as I havent really had a week away on holiday 13 years due to always being skint.

May well want to buy a place with partner in next 2 poss 3 years to need to be sorted and be able to get mortgage together then.

No savings
No pension Currently

Only had my property since end June 07 (1st property) and new build no so valuation. Fixed rate for 3 years (6.05% I think) with GE.

Parents have no money as they have also bought a new property and downsized for impending retirements.

A real mess I know. What must be done?

You've got problems with this, thats for sure. Why so many defaults just starting up? Have you overstretched yourself in buying your new place? I know its lovely to have your own place, but its not always possible.

I haven't added the figures up exactly (its late, sorry again) but it looks like your outgoings exceed your income by some amount. So you need to address that situation. What's the property? Can you rent out a room? Can you get a pay increase from work? Can you get a second job? Do you have any other skills that are in demand?

debt4evernot

Hi there - totally agree with what everyone has said - you need to make your phone calls tomorrow (Monday) and agree with southernscouser in cancelling all your other direct debits to prevent further bank charges. Would also sugggest ringing CCCS - they were very good with us and there are other free ones out there too.

Re bank account - we got a very basic cardcash account with the Co-op which does not have overdraft facilitites or cheque books but you can set up direct debits and also you can pay any money or cheques in to your account via any Post Office. It is a Visa Electron card. Although it is a basic account it works well for us. We applied on line for that account.

It's hard but persevere and everyone on here is great and so helpful. We don't post much but always 'lurking' and getting ideas and help.