Any Advice / Support is Welcome

kirstle99

Hello Guys,

I wanted to tell you my current situation, and see if there is anything I have missed / could do better to get me & my partner out of debt.

* We found we were struggling in May 2007, after both of us had been off work with depression (caused by work). We were using credit cards to pay off minimum payments on other credit cards. We were really struggling.

* We counted up the debt, and, not including the car finance, we found we were in £17,000 - £18,000 of debt. We crid for a while before deciding to get in touch with a debt management company.

* We have been with the debt management company since June 2007. We have since had a baby in August 2007 (hence why we needed to sort something out).

* Currently we rent a house from my mother, which, we will eventually buy, but my mother is in absolutely no rush for this to happen which is really really good.

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We have a combined annual income of less than £20,000 per year. I have set us a target of 8 years to pay off the debt. It might seem like a long time to some, but we are only paying £120 per month as this is all we can afford.
However, we finish paying the car in 3 years from now, so that will mean we can pay £300 per month when thats over.

* I have worked out that if we continue paying £120 per month for 3 years, then when the car is paid for go up to £300 per month, we should have paid off the debt in 7 years. (only giving 8 years as a target in case the payments have to go up and down through the course of this).

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I am 25 and my partner is 29, so we are hoping we will still be able to get onto the property ladder. We have moved bank accounts when we took up with the debt company, we have no overdraft and no cheque book, just a bog standard account. We don't save anything as everyone says its a waste of time when you're in debt.
I'm just after some advice & support really that we are doing the right thing, giving ourselves no end target date as such, but using 8 years as a guide.

lucielle

Hi welcome to the board. You have done the right thing posting. You need to make a list of all your income and expenditure (SOA) and post it on here. If you can post the full amount min repayments and the apr's that would be great. Which company are you dealing with?

chevalier

are you with a fee taking debt management company or one of the free ones like CCCS or Payplan? The reason I ask is that if you are paying a fee, then your debt will take longer to pay off. CCCS/Payplan will run a debt managemnent plan for nothing, so that will mean that all of the £130 will go to your creditors
chev

bank_of_slate

Hi Kirstie,
Welcome to the forum!
The length of time isn't the main thing, it's having a plan to pay things off at a rate you can manage!
it seems you've got a pretty sensible plan, allowing for glitches.
Make sure you take full advantage of all the forums on here..
Freebies, no spend required is a good one
surveys online that can earn you cash
join freecycle for any baby stuff that you may need
and keep debtbusting, one things for sure, you're not alone when you've become an MSE er
...Linda xx

kirstle99

Thankyou for all the kind comments, I will post all my owings etc when i get my statements through so you guys can see what a mess it is.
As for the debt company, they are called Debtcare, I know that they took our first monthly payment as a fee, but there was no mention of any further fee after that. Has anyone else dealt with this company?

I have already been taking advantage of the Freebies board, its wonderful, and all the other tips all over this forum are also great.

I have also started shopping with blinkers on, I take a rigid list with me shopping & I don't buy anything extra unless its reduced or on a good offer (eg half price).

Thanks for the warm welcome, ill post my info as i get it

bank_of_slate

DUMP THE DEBT MANAGEMENT COMPANY!!!!!!

CCCs or Payplan will do the same thing for FREE so ALL your payments will go to your creditors.

Have a carful look at the terms and conditions to see how you can ditch them and talk to CCCs or Payplan for professional advice as soon as possible
The debt plan companies are absolute sharks who are just going to take even more of your hard earned cash from you!
...Linda xx

kirstle99

Oh my god i'm worried now! I'll have a look today! There was me thinking i had done the right thing, oh dear. I'll have to really read through now and check what's going on

rayday2

Don't worry too much its very easy to swop over to a debt charity, it is just important for yourselves that you do because you will be out of this debt situation quicker.

kirstle99

Wow, I rang Debtcare yesterday, and found out they were charging me £29 a month in fees on a £123 / month payment! I never knew it would be so much, so thankyou to you guys for making me aware of this!
I am getting the company to send me a list of all the different creditors, and how much we owe each one. The woman said something along the lines of 'oh yes madam, i'll get the ball rolling on that & start contacting your creditors to get a list sent out to you'.
This really worries me, how in the hell can they know what they are paying each creditor if they don't have a list of what we oew each one?
Well, my plan is, when I have recieved this list, to call the debt company again, and ask if we are within our rights to move to a charity debt care company as you have suggested here to me. We will have been with these guys for 12 months at the end of june so at least if we have to wait till then, its not light years away.

I'll get the list posted up as soon as I recieve it.

Once again, thanks, I don't know what I would do without this forum!

bank_of_slate

Good for you Kirstie!

Just think, Get onto CCCs or Payplan and all those £29 monthly fees will soon be going direct to your creditors which means your debts will be paid off much quicker
Woohoo.
...Linda xx

neverdespairgirl

Hi - I suggest you contact CCCS or payplan quickly - then all your money goes to paying off your debts, not to someone else's pocket.