My SOA - Advice please?

claire_80_2

I posted this thread this morning:



Hi there,

This is the only place that I can think to come where I might get some sensible answers as to what to do.

I was out of work last year until March, when I started a new job. As I hadn't been working I had an agreement with barclaycard that I would pay £30 a month. My credit limit with them is £1200 (hardly millions, but there we go) and my balance was about £1300 at that time. I started my new job and kept up my payments.

Then at the end of July it all went wrong and they brought in someone much, much cheaper than me to do my job (I looked into this legally, and as I was still in my probation period they could basically do what they liked) and I found myself without any work again. I wrote to BC and told them this, and believe I made my last payment in August.

I started a new position just before Christmas and wrote to them again saying that I would be able to make a payment very soon (Jan/Feb, depending on when I got paid)

Well, this morning I received a letter from 'Credit Solutions' - I don't know if this is a seperate company to BC, or a sub-dept of them if you see what I mean. It was a final demand for payment. I rang them right away and explained my situation, and that I was being paid on the 1st Feb.

The lady said that they would require either the full balance, or minimum £200 a month. I said that I could do neither, and that the most I could afford would be around £50 a month.

She said that she would accept that as a first payment, to come off of my Solo card on the 1st Feb, but that they would then 'look at my finances' to see what I could afford, and that I would need to send them my payslip and a list of all of my outgoings.

Now, I am not entering into an IVA with them, so do I really need to send them this information? I know that if I do this they will say I can afford more than £50 and I will basically have no money to live on until the debt is paid off.

I don't know what to do for the best, I have been in tears this morning as she mentioned being taken to court and it going on my credit file for 6 years - I thought things only stayed on your credit file for that long if you had an IVA or bankrupcy?

Can someone please help, I don't know what to do!!!!






People have now advised me to post a SOA so that you can all have a look through them, and that I can try and prove to Credit Solutions that I cannot pay more than £50 a month...Well, that's the general idea anyway!


Salary

Monthly wage: £888.00 (This is all I receive)


Outgoings..

Rent: £250

Loan: £100

Loan: £60

Credit Card: £20

Credit Card: £100

Phone: £10

Sky: £10

Petrol: £20

Food: £50

Car Insurance: £30

Pet vet care/birthdays/xmas: £20

Clothing: £20

Driving Lessons: £80

Total Outgoings: £770.00

That leaves me roughly £100 left over for their money to come out of, this is why I can't afford more than £50.

Needless to say I don't get paid sick pay, so if I have one day off due to illness that's me !!!!!!ed isn't it.

dubsey

Someone much more intelligent than me will be along soon to help. But a couple of questions, why are you paying car insurance if you are having driving lessons? Is there any way you could get an evening job, I know it's not ideal to work lots of hours but you don't earn masses at the moment, so i would think about trying to up your income. I have just accepted a job 3 evenings a week as a restaurant host (booking tables, showing people to their table) and the money is pretty good. Might be worth a thought.

claire_80_2

Hiya,

Thanks for your reply.

The car insurance is on my mum's car, I am a named driver so that I can pass my test quicker so that I don't have to pay out the £80 a month for very much longer...

I have thought about evening work, but it's very difficult as we live almost 4 miles from the town where I work (we literally live in a village with 20 houses) and there is no bus route there. My mum is a District Night Nurse and so I lieterally get a lift home and she runs out the door to work - if I were to find an evening job I couldn't get home. It's like a vicious circle. I need the lessons because of where we live, and because the better paid jobs are all in places that I can't get to via public transport.

Burlesque_Babe

A CCJ (if it got that far) or a default would also stay on your record for 6 years.

Credit Solutions are a debt collection agency.

Everything should be done in writing, don't negotiate or agree anything on the phone.

What are the APR's on your CC cards? Could any of them be swapped to a 0% card to free up some extra money each month?

Could Sky go? Get a Freeview box? That would be an extra £10.

claire_80_2

Ok, I won't speak to them on the phone anymorw I'll do everything in writing.

I'm going to sit down and write a letter tonight, should I include my SOA or not yet, just simply offer them £50 first of all, and enclose a cheque for the beginning March?

Unfortunately the Sky isn't even mine, it's a household thing and because I'm an adult and I watch it, I contribute £10 a month (We can't get Freeview here!)

I have tried switching my cards to 0% transfer ones, but I am refused everytime.

always_amazed

Hey;
I know this is a difficult one.
Any chance of leaving the driving lessons for a few months till you are in the clear? Could you ask a family member to take you out instead?!?

What about asking to lower your rent payments until you are a little better sorted? A possibility, could try it.

Other than that it might be worth upping the income; there is a board dedicated to that somewhere else.

Hope you can get yourself on track and look forward to seein you around the boards