In for the longhaul

ms_london

phoenixchick wrote: »

Unfortunately CTax overdues haven't been added on. I know that this is the first thing that needs to be paid off, it is just rather overwhelming. In the past I tended to pay whoever shouted loudest. The CTax rarely shouted until the amount was one that I just didn't know what to do about. I was thinking of paying a chunk of the current one and then see if they will accept an arrangement for the remainder. Then throw as much as possible at the older ones.

We are tied into both cars, and we will both need one due to our jobs and hours. We went for newer ones as we have been stung several times with repairs for 'bargain' cars. Unfortunately our previous car was written off at a time when we didn't have any deposits saved and credit rating was not very good, so when we got the new car loans the rate was rather crap.

IF there was a way you could move without hiring the man & van - you could throw this money at your council tax and clear at least half in one go. It is not a HUGE amount so you should be able to clear it pretty quick.

I am sure there is a balance between buying a 'bargain' car and one (well, two in your case) that cost 13,000 and 14,000 each?? How far into the repayments are you? The APR is discusting, I hate to think about how much you are actually paying for the car - perhaps working this out will motivate you to get rid of them?

I do admire you for wanting to tackle our debts, but you do need to cut back, becoming debt free isnt all plain sailing and you do need to make sacrifices!xx

phoenixchick

Hi all,

Thanks for your comments - taken on board and trying to digest!

Chev - you are right about OH - I have done a monthly shop this month and am cooking from scratch (so far it is much cheaper than my previous habit of shopping most nights). I really enjoy cooking, it was just finding the time and motivation. Due to my bad BP I am going to eat more healthily and it will be good for OH too. I decided that, when we can afford it , a meal out would be much better than some ikky takeaway and it is something we can really enjoy. I've been trying to get OH to exercise, but at the moment he has been told not to after injuring his back in a car accident. However, even when he was a skinny wee thing he still had to buy shirts and jackets from a specialist due to big shoulders and chest.

Love the idea of a commission account - will get on that asap.


Ms London-

So are you moving into a property with a higher rent than what you are currently paying? No, definitely not - we are looking for places about £100-200 cheaper per month - just think what we can do with £1200-2400 extra a year!!.

Do you really need 50 pounds a month for your clothes budget? Surely you dont need 'essentials' every month? What do you mean? Probably not, initially it is to get OH 2 more suits so he actually has a reasonable work wardrobe, after that I think £10-20 pm should keep things ticking over. I don't spend a lot on clothes .

Also, I agree with what someone else said about moving house yourself, this is a lot of money you could be saving - how will you be paying for this anyway? Please dont tell me you are putting it on a credit card? :eek: Gosh, no, not a credit card. Basically my husband's commission for this month and next will just about cover it. On top of that, I have been underpaid for the past 6 months so should be getting that back this month - finally!

As far as clearing CTax and some of the other debts, OH is waiting for a claim to come in - we should have the cheque in the next 2 weeks, following his accident. I also plan to use most of our deposit to add to debt repayments (I think we should get it all back when we move out).

I know we need to cut back, and will look into the car situation (it seemed like a good idea at the time ) but I think there may be horrible early finish penalties. At least my car tax was cheaper than I expected :j . Before I started looking on this site, and talking to OH about it all, we were planning to go away in the summer and to visit family overseas at Christmas (god knows how we were planning to pay for it!), but now we have decided just to save up to go at Christmas.

The move, although it will be fairly expensive initially, will (I hope) save lots of money in the longer term. It will also mean that I won't be commuting 1-2 hours 30 mins a day and poor OH won't be commuting 3-5 hours a day. The time saved will mean we can also look at other ways of making money. :T

This is rather a long ramble but I am trying to take things a bit at a time. Now I know where we are, I can start sorting out a realistic budget and where it can be cut further. It will be a long journey, but I am really determined to have cleared at least £20K by the end of December this year.

Weirdly my high bp is not due to all of this! It is due to work related stress caused by my vile boss and her sidekick. One of the main reasons for the move is because I have got a lovely new job to go to, paying almost exactly the same as my current one.

phoenixchick

I think I'm getting the hang of this DFW stuff...gradually .

Today I have been busy writing letters.:idea:
I wrote to DAF who I used to have a car loan with. We VTed the contract almost a year ago, and since then I have been disputing the amount they say I still owe. My last letter to them produced a breakdown of the account and the agreement. I have queried one charge as I'm not sure what it is or why it is nearly £200. I have also asked them to remove the repossession costs - of more than £220 :eek: - following advice from the car credit complaints site. As the car was from YCC, who haven't had the best reputation, and they claim that the bulk of the amount owed is for 'insurance' (not ppi), I have asked for the details of the insurance company and a list of payments and dates. It's not that I think they were dishonest, but...:rolleyes:

My second letter was to challenge the evil :mad: parking ticket - with evidence as to my main reason for challenging it - that I had a permit, but it was in my car which had been written off.

I have also made a start on reclaiming ppi on my loan (my husband has also cancelled the ppi on his) - on the grounds that the seller made me feel like my chances of getting the loan would be less if I said no, and he pretty much pressurised me into agreeing. I am also claiming back the ppi from the loan before that one where I was told that, if I wanted the loan, I would have to take the ppi. So, ppi letter 1 written and will be posted recorded delivery tomorrow.

I am also investigating whether OH's two oldest CCs are actually statute barred. So I am getting our credit files and will take it from there.

If all goes well I should be able to knock a chunk off the total debt amount, as well as the 'eek'.

On the flat hunting front, we have viewed a new flat that is £160 a month cheaper than our current place. As it isn't ready to move into until April the landlord has agreed to waive the holding deposit until the end of the month. So that is good news.

My sealed 5p jar is getting heavier - slowly but surely, and I have set up a £2 jar - unsealed in case of emergencies, so I have at least £10 in there at the moment. I now have £7.50 on pigsback and £7 tracked and £49.77 validated on quidco .

Phew! Busy, busy, but at least it keeps my mind off work (Dr's orders!)

phoenixchick

Result with the evil parking ticket - they have written back to say that it has been cancelled! :j

I have now got all 3 credit reports for OH, only one of his very old CCs show up and that one looks like it will go off his report in June - both are (afaik) over 6 years old.

I have got one of my credit reports, it only shows my capital one card - which has now been paid off. So it looks like our credit reports are starting to recover from our past stupidity.

I am starting to get a real buzz from sorting these things out. I know there is a long way to go, but I feel that I have made a good start so far.

GeorgeUK

Looks like you're going great guns here phoenixchick. Keep going.

Have you had any loans with PaymentProtectionInsurance?
Can you claim anything back?
Also did you have an endowment mortgage that may have been mis-sold?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/
Possibly also worth checking you are in the right council tax band.

Are you paying PPI on your current loans? If so, do you really need it?

I would request a CCA from all the DCA's. If the debts are statute barred (time starts from date of last payment or written acknowledgement of debt) write and inform them.
These threads may be of use.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=578486
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=648973

phoenixchick

My problem with the very old debts is that I have no way of knowing when the last payments were made. Rather wary of stirring up a hornet's nest of DCAs. Also, I don't want to update my sig to take off the possible statute barred ones if it turns out that they are not! What do you do if the credit reports don't show it but you don't know when last payment/acknowledgement was?

msmicawber

Good question, Phoenixchick. I would concentrate on those debts that I know are current and being actively pursued and wait and see what happens with those that may or may not be statute barred. If you are contacted by any of those companies in the future, then send them the old 'I acknowledge nothing, send me the signed agreement' letter and see what transpires.

Someone may well come along with a neater solution, of course.

I'm really impressed at how you've been getting on as you had a lot to wade through, yet you seem to be making great headway.

Best wishes.

GeorgeUK

I'm actually stumped for that statute barred query.
If you have paid towards the debt in the last 6 years, it's not barred...
but to find out when the last payment was??

It may be possible to ask for a "subject access request" for an account, but in doing so, i think this would be classed as acknowledging the debt in writing as you are saying that a specific account belongs to you and you are requesting details of it. Of course, if it isn't statute barred, then you don't want to acknowledge the debt.

That's thrown me a bit.

Still worth trying to get the CCA of the debts you have been making payments towards. If no-one is asking for payments for the others, then i guess it's safe enough to leave them alone. If they do start requesting payment, then you could request the CCA - if they can't provide it then the debt is not enforcable without going to court. If they can provide a VALID CCA then i would state that it was statute barred. If they say otherwise, then go for the SAR.

I'll have a think if there's something else that i've missed. I do that sometimes.

phoenixchick

Hi George and Ms M,
The debt which doesn't show on the credit references hasn't been in contact for years, but recently we received a letter from Capquest. I suspect they are fishing. I am certain that nothing has been paid to this account, or the other one, for at least 5 years, so I'll wait a bit longer before I decide what to do, after all if it has waited 5 years it can wait a wee bit longer.

I am going to start going through the older boxes of paperwork to check any older loans for ppi that could be claimed. I finally got round to sending the first letter for my existing loan and the loan it replaced today, so I'll keep my fingers crossed there.

Hmm! I'm going to have to think of what else I can do now I'm on a bit of a roll.

phoenixchick

Not a great deal to report. Strangely I have had no reply from DAF yet!

The letting agent showed some people round our flat today, so hopefully they liked it and will rent, which will allow us to end our contract early and move to a cheaper flat near to where we work. Fingers crossed.

On the plus side, while I was squaring things away I found 15p in 5ps so they have been added to the sealed jar!