New Here

pinkpr1nc3ss

I have been reading posts on this forum for months but this is my first post :eek: I have debts from a few years back, they have been passed to so many different debt collection agencies I dont even know how much I owe and who to :eek: Every time I get a letter I contact them and arrange to pay so hopefully I'll soon get sorted. I have council tax arrears that I have cleared down to about £1000 by paying £200 a month :T so once these are cleared that'll be even more money to pay towards debt. I've been reading some debt diaries on here and they have motivated me. I know you are all going to ask for an SOA which I'm in the process of putting together, that could take some time!

I shop online, I have switched utilities and do various surveys etc to raise extra cash or vouchers which I'm saving for next Christmas. I'm looking forward to becoming an active member of this board (if you'll have me) you are all great Oh any any tips would be great.

tigtag02

Hi pink :wave:

Whilst doing your SOA it may be a good idea to get all your paperwork together and figure out just what you owe and to who.

You are sure on the right track to become DFW though

Welcome

poorandindenial

Hello and welcome:wave:

I have only been on here for just over a month so am new too (seems like I have been here forever though - in a good way) and it it such a lovely welcoming place - I have become a bit addicted to it if I am honest but hey, that has to be better than compulsively spending.

When you put up your SOA you will get loads of great advice from all the lovely people on here.

Good luck

In_Search_Of_Me

Welcome! do you have any idea how much you owe? Starting with your SOA would be a good place but you also need to find out exactly who you owe what to and check that the amounts are correct. WIthout definate figures is hard for pepys to be able to make suggestions, as I'm sure you appreciate. Meanwhile welcome! Have a look at some of the challenges etc and get stuck in! We're generally a friendly bunch!!

pinkpr1nc3ss

Ok here goes.

Incoming

My wages: £450 monthly
Dh wages: £960 four weekly (after tax & student loan payments)

Tax Credits: £136.14 weekly (will go down to about £60 in April)
Child Benefit: £42.30 weekly

Outgoing Monthly

Electricity - £33
Car Ins - £19.80
Sky - £45
Life Ins - £12
Home Contents Ins - £21.39
Pet Ins - £21.39
Bt (phone & broadband) - £66
Council tax Arrears - £201
Dh contact lenses - £25
TV licence - £11.29
TOTAL - £456.61

Outgoing 4 weekly

Credit Union - £100
Rent - £260
Council tax - £109
TOTAL - £369

Outgoing weekly
Gas - £15 prepayment
Lowell group SO - £5 - balance £300ish will find out on Monday
Provident SO - £5 - find out balance on Monday, I think interest is frozen

Total Incoming is : £2173.76
Total Outgoing is: £ 825.61

leaving £1348.15 for food, school dinners, petrol, debt payments.

Because I am paid the same day every month all the direct debits come out that day. Off Dh wages we pay rent and council tax and probably squander the rest. We live off the weekly tax credits and family allowance and shop weekly off that. It also cover the gas payment.

OMG we REALLY need to be more organised. I know its not a full SOA but like I said before I dont know how much I owe and to who. Its just so you can get an idea of how we do things finacially. Written down I can see what a mess it is but dont know how to sort it.

smashedbooboo

Hi hun, welcome, As poster above says, put down your SOA. The fantastic people will help you to see where you can cut back. But there are a few of us going through the DCA nightmare. When they send you a letter DO NOT ring them. Its your word against theirs. And they tend to bully you into paying more than you can afford. And thuis is the best place on earth for friendship and advice. An no one will judge you here. Have you kept all your letters from the DCAS.

smashedbooboo

At the moment who are you paying your debts too. That is a start for now hun. and how much are you paying out. Forget the council tax. Actual debts to DCAs etc

pinkpr1nc3ss

smashedbooboo wrote: »

At the moment who are you paying your debts too. That is a start for now hun. and how much are you paying out. Forget the council tax. Actual debts to DCAs etc

Well I pay £5 a week each by standing order to two of them. Oh yes I know too well about being bullied on the phone. Lowell group phoned once and I got a pure B**tard and was in tears when I came off the phone. He told me "We dont deal in writing" I wrote a really cheeky letter along the lines of how I couldn't possibly be as clever as the "call centre worker" I spoke to since I have debt. This is the way he made me feel. Anyway to cut a long story short they accepted my £5 a week and only ever write to me as "my solicitor" (ok tiny white lie there ) informed me that I can choose to request to only correspond in writing.

I can handle the DCA's ok its just finding out who they are thats the problem :mad:

smashedbooboo

What are these debts for hun. And how many. and how much in total.

pinkpr1nc3ss

smashedbooboo wrote: »

What are these debts for hun. And how many. and how much in total.

The lowell group one is for Capital One CC, the balance was £370.45, I'll need to find out what the balance is now. The other is to provident for some loans I had, again I need to find out the balance. Just going to add them to my SOA and Sig now so I can keep track better

smashedbooboo

Ohhhhh jolly wizzo. Cap1. Send off a subject access request to cap1 and get copies of all your statements. Then add up all the charges. Late payment and over limit charges. You can get these back. I did from them. Over a 1000.00. with interest. And it was sooooo easy. Right you need to send a request off for yoyr consumer credit agreement from lowells. This costs 1.00. Trust me they will pass it back to cap1. The SAR costs 10.00. There is a template letter in the recalim bank charges forum. If ca1 passed this debt to lowells there will almost certainly be charges. Asking for your CCA will put the account into dispute. This will give you time to sort things out.