Here goes..

Glittermonkey

Even though I've been reading these boards for ages and have managed to save money, cut back etc, I know improvements can be made.

I'm not paying off as much debt as I would like so time to post my SOA and get back on track.

Last year I started a DIY DMP. Most of it has been accepted, the companies that didn't passed me onto debt collection agencies who have accepted my payments and frozen interest

Im on my own with 2 children, my 5 year old daughter and my 17 year old brother who I am guardian for.

Incomings

Wages - £1100 (roughly, normally a bit more depending on if we've hit targets but this is the minimum I bring home after tax)
WTC - £400
Child Benefit - £70

Outgoings

Rent - £700
Council Tax - £105 (over 10 months)
Council tax arrears - £40
Internet - £20 (trying to change but finding it difficult to obtain MAC code!)
BT - £13.50
Calls - £10
Sky - £17
Gas - £40 (pre-payment meter, in summer this is about £20 for 3 months)
Electric - £40 (again pre-payment meter)
Vodafone - £35 (was on £15 contract for 9 months, contract expires 12th March)
Car Insurance - £22
Childminder - £280
Water - £25
Food/Houskeeping - £160

Debts

I'm unsure of balances and rates at the moment because tbh, I dont bother opening the letters anymore (I know I should). I will find them all and add the info at a later date

Egg - £26 (Not defaulted on this one, owe roughly £1300)
Barclaycard - £30 (Not defaulted on this, owe about £600)
HSBC - £36 (Part of DMP passed onto debt collection who take this monthly)
Marbles - £41.00 (In process of being passed to debt collection, refused DMP)
Capital One - £15.00 (Totally ignoring DMP)
BAA - £30 (Agreed to DMP straight away)

Extra

Daughters father normally gives me £250 per month. He paid in November but nothing again until 2 days ago.
Parents give me £160 towards brother (again, they paid me in Dec and not seen a penny since and they aren't in the country)
Brother works one day a week and gives me about £20 which goes towards gas/electric. This month I actually added up his calls and they were all his so I've made him pay for his calls plus half the line rental.

In Dec 05 I owed £23700 on all my credit cards, last time I updated my signature in Mar 07 I owed £20818. I dont know what I owe now as no doubt it has increased due to not paying the minimum on credit cards.

Think thats all, sorry it is so long!

GingerSte

Glittermonkey wrote: »

Even though I've been reading these boards for ages and have managed to save money, cut back etc, I know improvements can be made.

I'm not paying off as much debt as I would like so time to post my SOA and get back on track.

Last year I started a DIY DMP. Most of it has been accepted, the companies that didn't passed me onto debt collection agencies who have accepted my payments and frozen interest

Im on my own with 2 children, my 5 year old daughter and my 17 year old brother who I am guardian for.

Incomings

Wages - £1100 (roughly, normally a bit more depending on if we've hit targets but this is the minimum I bring home after tax)
WTC - £400
Child Benefit - £70

Outgoings

Rent - £700 Not knowing where you live, this could be fairly expensive. Is there a chance of scaling down and reducing your rent?
Council Tax - £105 (over 10 months) It would be worth seeing if you're entitled to a discount as (I think) you would be the only taxable person there, in which case you would be entitled to a 25% discount. Check with your council.
Council tax arrears - £40
Internet - £20 (trying to change but finding it difficult to obtain MAC code!)
BT - £13.50
Calls - £10
Sky - £17 In the short term could this be cancelled?
Gas - £40 (pre-payment meter, in summer this is about £20 for 3 months) If you can, try and get yourself off the prepayment metres. They are much more expensive than paying by bill / direct debit.
Electric - £40 (again pre-payment meter) Ditto.
Vodafone - £35 (was on £15 contract for 9 months, contract expires 12th March) Is there any way you can use your tarriff you've got to minimise your spend? (ie only calling in the evenings or only calling landlines)
Car Insurance - £22
Childminder - £280
Water - £25
Food/Houskeeping - £160 I think this is pretty good, but have you visited the old style board to see if you can reduce this further?

Debts

I'm unsure of balances and rates at the moment because tbh, I dont bother opening the letters anymore (I know I should). I will find them all and add the info at a later date I'm afraid you really do have to sort this out.

Egg - £26 (Not defaulted on this one, owe roughly £1300)
Barclaycard - £30 (Not defaulted on this, owe about £600)
HSBC - £36 (Part of DMP passed onto debt collection who take this monthly)
Marbles - £41.00 (In process of being passed to debt collection, refused DMP)
Capital One - £15.00 (Totally ignoring DMP)
BAA - £30 (Agreed to DMP straight away)

Extra

Daughters father normally gives me £250 per month. He paid in November but nothing again until 2 days ago.
Parents give me £160 towards brother (again, they paid me in Dec and not seen a penny since and they aren't in the country)
Brother works one day a week and gives me about £20 which goes towards gas/electric. This month I actually added up his calls and they were all his so I've made him pay for his calls plus half the line rental.

In Dec 05 I owed £23700 on all my credit cards, last time I updated my signature in Mar 07 I owed £20818. I dont know what I owe now as no doubt it has increased due to not paying the minimum on credit cards. It sounds like you've hit a bad patch. Don't worry, we all have them. (I know!) The fact that you're back on here shows that you are ready to face things again and get back on track, for which I applaud you, and give you my best wishes.

Think thats all, sorry it is so long!

My comments in red

poorandindenial

Hi Glittermonkey

Lots of random things as they occured to me - some might not be very relevant.

Well done for posting, it looks like you might have missed out a few things which might make it seem like you have more money than you do. It could be worth doing a spending diary if you haven't done one before/recently, mine was illuminating to say the least - god I spent lots of money on utter crud.

You have a car (as you pay insurance) but there is no car tax or petrol budgeted; you should also try to put a rough estimate of how much you need to cover one offs (birthdays, christmas etc) but average it for a monthly figure. Also what about clothes/toiletries/haircuts for you and your daughter??

The money that you get from your daughter's father and your parents sounds like it is unreliable, you might want to work out yout budget without it and then throw the money at the debt when you do receive it, or save it if the interest has been frozen on your debts until you have enough to clear debts off or make full and final offers.

It will be easier for people to give advice when you are able to put up the full deails for your debts (deep breath, large glass of wine (or whatever you fancy) and open those letters)

Not sure if you want to revisit your DMP but - As some of the companies have refused your DMP offer, it might be worth asking for support from one of the debt charities, they have so much experience that they might be able to get through where you haven't been able to. The amounts you pay don't seem to tally with the proportion of debt you owe, was this because some of them wanted a bit more but others didn't?? Some creditors might get a bit miffed at this.

Good luck with getting this sorted.

Glittermonkey

Thank you for your comments.

Rent - I live in London in a 3 bed house so get very cheap rent really. I have looked around and 2 bed flats are £800-850 in my area so think I have a good deal.

Council tax is £105 after my 25% discount

Sky - Yes it could be cancelled and has been previously. I was on a £7.50 contract but this expired. Was thinking of changing to their tv+internet package when i finally get my MAC code as it is cheaper than what I have right now.

I called British Gas to remove my meters but was told I would have to have a credit chech (eekkk!, doubt I will pass). Also, Im worried about being hit with a huge bill as im not paying as I go?

Mobile - I only use my minutes/text which are part of my tariff. Will switch to pay as you go come March.

Food - I probably could reduce further, i roughly spend about £35 per week to feed us with a top up each week of fresh fruit/veg, milk and bread. Its breakfast for the 3 of us, packed lunch for me and DD and dinner for the 3 of us. If I'm on lates then no dinner is cooked, brother has something on toast or takeaway from his own money.


I did hit a really bad patch last year and didnt cope with life very well. It still isn't great but I know I have to get these debts sorted.

I just had a look about and found $115, some euros and my brother gave me the phone bill money so will be using that towards my debt this week.

Verbatim

Well done on posting. Could you get a better calibration of the meter? Not sure if B Gas still have different tariffs depending on whether they're collecting areas as well as current usage. but if a previous occupant had arrears you might be payinf their debt off if you're on the higher tarriff iyswim. please forgive my ramblings if this is not applicable.

You seem to be doing really well on the mse front.

Glittermonkey

poorandindenial wrote: »

It could be worth doing a spending diary if you haven't done one before/recently, mine was illuminating to say the least - god I spent lots of money on utter crud. - I sometimes keep a spending diary, not very good with keeping it updated though. My worst spends happen at work as it is so expensive there to eat/drink. I have started taking a packed lunch now to save money which has worked. £10 stayed in my purse for a whole week, normally that would be gone in near enough a day!

You have a car (as you pay insurance) but there is no car tax or petrol budgeted; Car tax was paid in full in Dec for a year from some extra tax credit money so dont count that right now as a monthy spend, but I should do to cover next years. I've stopped using my car as much, put £20 in January and still have 1/4 of a tank. So I think £30 pm should cover for this.

you should also try to put a rough estimate of how much you need to cover one offs (birthdays, christmas etc) but average it for a monthly figure. Also what about clothes/toiletries/haircuts for you and your daughter?? Toiletries I include in my monthly shop, luckily I got so much for christmas I wont be buying any for ages ;-) As for haircuts..I have mine done once a year, my mum pays for it as a birthday treat and my daughter has only had 3 haircuts in the last 5 years (she was near enough bald until she was 3!). I have a hairdresser friend who cuts it for £5 if I need it though, and we're going to do treatment swaps, i'll treat her and she'll do my hair. Christmas and birthday I only buy for my daughter, i dont tend to save up but buy it nearer the time or when I see bargains. She loves my little pony so scouted ebay for baragins, cost me about £60 for both last year.

The money that you get from your daughter's father and your parents sounds like it is unreliable, you might want to work out yout budget without it and then throw the money at the debt when you do receive it, or save it if the interest has been frozen on your debts until you have enough to clear debts off or make full and final offers. This really bugs me, I showed my parents and my brother what it costs me to run the house and what it would cost them if they had to pay half, they know he costs me more than what they give yet I constantly hear from them and how they haven't got money. I dont tend to use parents money in my budget but I do struggle without the ex giving me money - would love to be able to keep it and pay off the debts.

It will be easier for people to give advice when you are able to put up the full deails for your debts (deep breath, large glass of wine (or whatever you fancy) and open those letters)

Not sure if you want to revisit your DMP but - As some of the companies have refused your DMP offer, it might be worth asking for support from one of the debt charities, they have so much experience that they might be able to get through where you haven't been able to. I know I have to be, but I put it off all the time, not sure why, think Im a bit scared to actually admit it out loud. The amounts you pay don't seem to tally with the proportion of debt you owe, was this because some of them wanted a bit more but others didn't?? Some creditors might get a bit miffed at this. Everything was worked out pro-rata through the Income/Expenditure thing on the national debt helpline. It needs to be updated as tax credits have reduced etc. Also, it worked Egg and Barclaycard out lower but I pay them minimum payment by direct debit and they were smaller amounts so I could manage them, it was the other cards asking for over £100 pm min payment that I was strugling with.

Good luck with getting this sorted.

Thank you though for your input.

Glittermonkey

Verbatim wrote: »

Well done on posting. Could you get a better calibration of the meter? Not sure if B Gas still have different tariffs depending on whether they're collecting areas as well as current usage. but if a previous occupant had arrears you might be payinf their debt off if you're on the higher tarriff iyswim. please forgive my ramblings if this is not applicable.

You seem to be doing really well on the mse front.

The house I live in used to be a shared house and yes it did have arrears. When I moved in i tried to sort the arrears out and thats the reason we got a pre-payment meter. Im pretty sure I dont pay her debts off as we made that clear at the time of the meter being installed - they would chase her for the debt and the meter was a fresh start for the house.
I changed my gas to Southern electric last year as they were cheaper than British Gas, and my electric is thorugh British Gas.

I think I need to contact them and find out exactly what it would cost to remove thses boxes and if they credit check me.

Glittermonkey

Ok, have dug out 3 statements. Will find the other 3 tomorrow

Egg - Balance = £1312.01 16.9%APR, min payment £26
BAA - Balance = £3595.53 min payment £22 (no interest, accepted DMP)
Barclaycard - Balance = 609.22 19.9% APR, min payment £30

Eg and Barclaycard are not part of DMP. I Have £500 available on Egg and £90 on Barclaycard. I did have a 7k limit on this card but since I have been paying it off and not spending on, they have reduced it.

Marbles - 23%, im guessing I owe about 4k and pay them £41 per month
HSBC - Think I owe them about 6k, pay £36 per month, no interest.
Capital One - 16%, owe about 4k and pay them £15 per month.

webitha

just a quick question, why is your 17yr old brother only working 1 day a week, is he still in education?,

Glittermonkey

yes. He is studying to become an accountant. At college 4 days per week and works on Fridays and some Saturdays.

Glittermonkey

I've tried to get my MAC code and yet again their system is down :rolleyes: so they should be calling me back on my mobile to give it to me.

I called British Gas to get my pre-payment meter removed but as the account is in my flatmates name I cant do it yet. They've changed the name and I have to call back in 48 hours so hopefully it will be done soon.

I had a letter from Egg to say they were closing my account, not really bothered as I dont use it but seeing as they sent me a new card last week, it doesn't really make sense.

I checked my Barclaycard account and its down to £512. I had £50 from paypal yesterday so paid that straight to Barclays :j