Heavily in Debt!!!!! Advice please

Midas

Hello there bluezone

You are obviously in a pretty serious situation and so I am hesitant to offer any advice - contact the national debt line today for professional support.

Saying that, if you were to post full details of all your loans and credit card debts i.e. amounts, companies, APR's, minimum payments and length of term's remaining the folks on these boards might be able to suggest ways that the debt could be better managed. However, with debts that large, you might have to look at bankruptcy.

[size=-1]www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

good luck


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Tondella

Hi Bluezone

This is the best place to come to as so many other people here have got themselves out of debt. There's already been lots of suggestions and I think one thing you will already have learnt is that different people have different priorities in their life and so whilst some options work for some (e.g. getting rid of cats!), they don't work for others.

I think the general message here is to cut right back on whatever you can. What my partner and I did together was to look at every outgoing and think of a way (however seemingly ridiculous) to cut down on that outgoing. This left us with a long list of ways to cut down, from which we picked the most palatable. So whilst getting rid of his car was not an option, we are looking into getting a cheaper and more efficient model to reduce the finance payments. The hardest thing for me when I first tried to do the sums was to get into the mentality of accepting that some things had to change. Once you stew over these money saving ideas in your mind some of them will come to make sense, and offer you real solutions.

So, one aspect of solving this problem is to minimise your outgoings, second part is to maximise your incomings (as you are currently doing) , third part is to look at the most efficient way of servicing the debt. This is what udydudy is trying to get you to do with his posting.

Lets hope that between us all we can give you some useful advice

Best wishes

tondella

Spendalot_2

My recommendation is that you speak to CCCS, who will help you work out a payment plan to repay all your debts.

This will involve looking at your income less your mortgage and monthly costs (utilities, food, petrol, clothes, entertainment, etc etc) and working out what surplus income you have available for your creditors. THey will then negotiate with your creditors to accept what you can afford, and may get interest frozen.



(Im assuming that other than the £125k mortgage, all are unsecured)

Your car seems expensive (with the amount of the payments). Could you look at swapping it for an older car and reducing the debt?

Don't worry with a determination, you will sort things out!

ffs

robindunne1 wrote:

Here's my tuppence worth:

3. If the cat you have is an expensive breed, sell that too.

Did you really say that?!?

I'm sure most people would sell their grandmother before selling their cat...


PS I currently have neither

jimclark1967

!!!!!! wrote:

I'm sure most people would sell their grandmother before selling their cat...

I really hope that's not the case

JC

Ember999

jimclark1967 wrote:

I really hope that's not the case

JC

For sure it's the case for most people...sell the cat? are you for real????????

summerday

People's pets are a part of their family and no matter how bad their debts situations I suspect many people would rather go without everything else to keep their pets. Perhaps the poster before thought that they had bought the pedigree catmore for breeding than as a pet and that's why they made the suggestion.

Not sure how profitable the pedigree kittens were, but is it feasible to have another litter of kittens when mother cat has had time to recover from the first?

sarah

Prudent

I guess it is down to priorities, I have two cats and both for various reasons have cost me a lot over the past couple of months. As a single parent I am always looking for ways to keep the costs down, but would fight to the bitter end to keep my cats.
Tesco do reasonably priced cat insurance and its a better policy than some on the market. However you may already have the best policy as pet insurance can be expensive.

bluezone

Many thanks for all your ideas and posts. Yes the cats (blue and boris) are part of the family and I would rather go without than sell them! Both of the cats have since been neutered after that 1st and only litter as she didn't cope too well with the pregnancy and motherly instincts!

Yes apart from the £125K mortgage the other debts are unsecured. It is going to be a busy weekend going through some of these options (going through these in between doing 2 boot sales and working up the local pub in the evenings!)

ninky_2

Do you need broadband at all? This is worth considering when the contract runs out. Try living without it for a while and see how that goes. What do you use internet at home for? If it's browsing around for more things to buy then you might be better off going back to a slower connection and just using it for necessary things. You both have mobiles so freeing up the landline doesn't seem that necessary.

Your communication bills total nearly 300 a month, try shopping around for cheaper mobile providers or bargaining with your current provider for a better deal. Instead of getting free handset upgrades you might be owed ask for 6 months half price (this worked for me with vodaphone).

Good luck with it.