MAJOR, MAJOR Lightbulb Moment - HELP!!!

debpike

Has anyone any ideas on how to put it to my creditors/debtors when I ring them all tomorrow to tell them "sorry I didn't pay last month, and no I can't pay this month either as I'm not getting paid"

Basically my partner and I have been getting into a bit of a mess this past year and now we can't make minimum monthly payments, can't get any interest free credit cards or low interest loans as we've made lots of late payments and applied for lots and lots of cards (to no avail - interest is killing me! )

We currently owe approx £40,000 on overdrafts and credit cards. £4,600 is on my old current account with Halifax however, had to stop using that account as I was trying to claim back over £4,500 in bank charges from the previous 6 years. Then we had a problem with direct debits bouncing one month and when we went in to talk to the manager about it to see if she would take them off they said they couldn't do anything with our account whilst the court case was pending (I am under agreement to give them back £200.00 a month minimum but this doesn't cover the monthly interest on the overdraft)

One could argue that I owe them £4500ish because they overcharged me £4500ish in bank charges !!! Should I say "I'll sue you if you sue me"? :rotfl: that would save £200 a month towards the rest of them!!

My husband and I have had a major lightbulb moment today and done our budget, SOA etc. but still not entirely sure what our first step should be.

HELP:eek: !!!

IWantToBeFree_2

Post your SOA on here, loads of people will give you helpful advice & suggestions on where you can start cutting back.

nic01_2

Hey!

I just wanted to say hello and welcome! You'll get lots of advice on here, defo post your SOA and the help will come flooding in

Nic

Gemmzie

As you say DD's are bouncing then the first things to pay; rent/mortgage, any secured debts, council tax, water, gas/electric, TV license.

Then pop up your SOA, I'm sure we can help

debpike

Okay a rough guide to the madness!

Credit Cards

Egg Card : £7250 (approx £150pcm - some of this is on 0% but bulk isn't anymore)
Barclaycard £1200 (approx £30pcm - low interest fixed for life of debt)
Sky Card £1500 (approx £80pcm - low interest finished and points system rubbish!)
Abbey £4600 (approx 120pcm - 0% finished in Sept rang in Oct and said they would review rate again in couple of months but then went over limit at Xmas and now they can't do anything until I've paid that off)
Halifax (Mr) £3100 (approx £90pcm - 0% finished ages ago and we're paying late every month since I had to stop using halifax account, they won't issue a new card!!!)
Halifax (Mrs) £10,000 (approx £230pcm - what can I say, 0% finished years ago, some of it is cash withdrawals so premium interest rates apply, keep trying to pay it off but no-one will give me a limit big enough and now I'm totally !!!!!!ed!)
Alliance & Leicester £7300 (approx £200 - was 0% free, then a payment was late (not really our fault either!) and they put it on - tried to argue but they would only speak to other half as account holder and v.difficult for him to ring during working hours!)

Overdrafts

Halifax - £4600
A&L - £680

Constantly going over our overdraft and very, very stuck in a cycle of paying bank charges which makes me go overdrawn, which makes things bounce, which I have to pay bank charges for ....

Other Stuff

Next Catalogue £500


To make matters worse we may not be getting my husbands wages this month (long story...) so really have nothing to give anyone incl. mortgage, utilities etc.

What to do next???

hopeless_case_2

Hi and well done for posting!
Cancel all your ddebits tommorrow that way you cant get charged anymore.
Apply for a new bank account like cooperative cashminder thishas a debit card but no cheque book and no overdraft facility.Only go to a bank you have no debt with.Then ring the cccs and they will help you with your creditors. Tell the bank you cannot pay them the £200 per month after all if you only have 15p for a loaf of bread and it costs 80p you cant get one can you? Offer to pay £1 so they know you will pay.The cccs will give you much better advice than me but do ring tham asap there is a link to the number on here somewhere maybe the top of the page.Sorryi am useless with things like that but some one will post one on this thread before long. Good luck and dont despair!

hopeless_case_2

Ring the mortgage people straight away and tell them you cant pay and why they should be ok about it. You need to put on here who it with and how much also what the wages usually are /food /elec/gas/etc.

debpike

To be honest Hopeless Case it is just incredibly complicated as we have more than 1 property and have to review 3 different mortgages, electric and gas etc. Basically we did the budget checker without the debts and we could live on just my husbands wage (if we pulled our belts in slightly) and then we could use just my money to pay of cc's and od's - at current rates that'll probably take about 4 years but could be less if we can move it about and stop the interest and bank charges.

Lack of wages is a fairly temporary thing and should be 2 weeks tops.

Thanks!

belfastgirl23

Just to say lots of luck and well done on your lightbulb moment.

It sounds to me like your finances are quite complicated and I would also say you should go to CCCS. http://www.cccs.co.uk/ Everyone on here seems to have nothing but good things to say about them and they do have online tools if you're keen to start straight away.

You probably won't get a lot more answers tonight but be sure and bump your thread up tomorrow and people will try to help. I'd suggest though that you have some kind of go at putting up whatever monthly bills you can, the advice from people on here is truly amazing on this sort of thing....

hopeless_case_2

ok so which mortgage cant you pay? Also if you want any help from here or anywhere you will have to get all your incomings and outgoings together even if they are from 3 properties.No one can be of much help if you dont.

hopeless_case_2

bit confused here. It seems to me you have posted and sorted yourselves out in one go?maybe i am wrong. if you can live off oh wages and yours pay the cc's etc how are you so behind. Iam behind with things as my income was greatly reduced so have more going out than coming in. Well i did have until i rang the cccs. great help they are.