Terrible debts..need advice please....

Bunnyinthelights

My point exactly.
Just said in a less roundabout way...

loopylu36

Hi OVERSPENDINGINDIOT!

You sound an awful lot like me, and like they did with me, the more experienced folk on this board are trying to get you to see that you have to have a full blown lightbulb moment, before you will start to properly address your situation.

I hadn't truly had mine when I first posted and like you, thought it was acceptable to spend more money than i had on food and clothes and generally enjoying myself! Clearly when you are in debt (and mine are worse than yours!) you have to make sacrifices and i have now accepted this.

However, since coming to this site, my LB has been well and truly switched on and I have now been to the CCCS and will start a DMP on 1 May. Out of the two organisations that can help you with a DMP (Payplan or CCCS) I would choose CCCS. This is because they seem to be more flexible in terms of your budget and the budget i have been left with is more than i thought and will help to keep me on the straight and narrow. This is just my experience tho i have discussed this issue in another thread and the budgets definately vary depending on where you go for advice.(with CCCS being more generous)

Your expenditure will be more than your income, even when you have learned to control the food bill , so ultimately I think a DMP is your only choice. Personally I wouldn't consider IVA or B/R. What "switched me on" was doing my budget from the CCCS figures, working out what was left and then working out when i would be debt free! In my case if the lenders freeze interest it will something between 5 and 7 years (depending on how much we can squeeze out of the living budget to add to the actual DMP figure). And beleive me that really makes you take stock. Yes, I could carry on as I am (robbing peter to pay paul and with some loans ending in the not too distant future, things might improve) BUT i will NEVER realisitically clear my credit cards before I am 90 and more importantly I WILL KEEP ON SPENDING WHAT I HAVEN'T GOT!!

In 5-7 years time i will owe nowt to nobody and will have a disposable income of over £2,000 . That motivates me and I hope that you find your motivation soon so that you can being to make some changes.

Good luck

loopylu36

Sorry about the "thumbsdown" - didn't want to select that but can't edit it out!

awaytogoyet

OVERSPENDING_IDIOT wrote: »

Thanks very much for your money saving tips but I do already spend with caution & the main purpose of this thread is because I want advice on DMP's & IVA's & which would be right for me.

I agree with all the other posters - you have to change the mindset. When you look at what seems to be a huge debt (70k) & what you can save here & there or make extra in income terms, it appears a 'drop in the ocean' & therefore pointless. Trust me it isn't!
Firstly, the amount that you can save in all these areas &/or make extra, really does add up more than you would believe, over a period of time. Just don't look at the whole - break it down into bite-sized chunks (small challenges) & tackle each one, then move onto the next.
Secondly, if you don't change the whole culture of how you spend & approach finances - you will never be truly out of debt for the rest of your life.
True - it's a long-term project & not easy. Debt can also be a lonely place - but if you stick with the Forum & the advice/suggestions here, I believe, in most cases, it can be done.
I have 2 years to go now, on a 5-year plan I devised myself, using all the great help, tips & moral support here. It's been (& still is) incredibly hard work, but the time has gone very quickly actually. Believe me it is also a life-changing experience. I do think it has made me a better person - appreciating what is really important in life. I've also had some great fun & become much more creative - cooking from scratch, making hampers, making things to sell etc. etc.
I'm also very sure that this new approach to finances is now such an established part of my life, I won't ever get into that kind of debt again.
Whichever route you choose, I really think everything that the peeps have posted here is very relevant & useful.
I wish you all the very best on the journey.

itsnowtime

Hi,

As you can see from my signature I too have a large amount of debt. But it's coming down though!! For years I was robbing Peter to pay Paul till it got to the point of no return.

I'm not extravagant by any means but a series of events got me into this situation. Then.. when I found these boards last year I have had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

It took me a while to really see what was happening but I got in contact with CCCS and set up a DMP. An IVA wasn't an option for me - I know have spent this money and I wish to repay it all back.

Like..loopylu there was no way I'd ever clear this debt within the next 5 years if I carried on the way I was and my Debt Free Date is appx 5 years from now through CCCS - I myself want to clear it alot sooner than that - and that is by cutting back, taking people's advise on here and being realistic about what I need to buy and being clever on how I spend my money - cashback sites etc...

I'd strongly reccommend that you take a look at www.cccs.co.uk you can have a look at what this means to you by taking their Debt Remedy - it isn't a commitment at this stage but will just show you what you need to do if you are truly serious about reducing your debt.

I wish you the best of luck and we say what we say on here because we want to help - you just have to decide if you're ready and if you're not then that's fine - its got to be right for you - but we are always here.

Lorne

I just wanted to say a big welcome and well done for posting here. You will see from my signature that we were in a very similar boat to you and that we have made dramatic changes in the way we spend our money in order to pay off our debts. Please consider this option first before bankrupcy.

If you post a full statement of account on here, every single penny which goes out of your bank account and wallet on here, you will get some very sound advice on how to cut back by being a smarter consumer. We cutback without realising it just by spending a day changing providers and changing onto better tarriffs for things - we saved just under £10,000 a year that day. Following the excellent advice on here, be a smatter shopper and I promise that it will get better - we are living proof!

Good luck

Lorne

Oh, and you will get a great SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com

ltm07

OVERSPENDING_IDIOT wrote: »

We don't do ready-meals or takeaways, we spend sensibly on food shopping.

I don't mean to come across in the wrong way but I don't think this is a case of choosing Netto rather than Tesco!

I beg to differ there. You will make absolutely massive savings by shopping at Netto,Aldi,Lidl etc. OH & I are saving over £30 a week by shopping at Aldi for ourselves & 13 year old Daughter, as opposed to Asda or Sainsburys & the food is great(and trust me,i'm fussy about my food)! I wish we'd started shopping there years ago. My mate summed it up when he threw a party for his Mother in Law's 60th. His wife & he bought all the food for the buffet from Lidl. There wasn't much food wasted at all. No-one knew that the food was from Lidl,i think it's snobbery to a certain extent that more people don't use the 'cheapo' supermarkets.

chevalier

I am sorry if you think that I was being harsh when I wrote about changes of attitudes to money. As others (who I don't know but hi guys!) have written on the same thing, perhaps now you might consider what I said again. I can understand if one person writes something you don't want to hear, then it is easy to dismiss. But there at least half a dozen posts after mine basically saying the same thing. Please think about what we have said

chev

kazmeister

Firstly well done for posting on here

Secondly my post may sound harsh and I apologise in advance but I feel it needs to be said.

My impression from your postings is that you are looking for a quick way out and hoping that some of your debt is going to be miraculously wiped away by following one of the payment plans and sacrificing your credit rating. You have chosen a user name that indicates that you are aware of what you have done, but from the advice you appear to be turning down you dont seem as if you are prepared to change it. We are nearly all here because we have been overspending idiots, but we spent the money and we should all pay it back. I too have been and am still in debt and the only way I will get out of it (with my partners help) is to pay it all back. That does mean cutting back and changing where we shop (we spend approx £250 per month on food for 2 adults a strapping teenage lad and a 9 year old and eat very well - OH eating lobster last night for his tea!), cutting out non-essentials, and changing suppliers where possible to make savings to pay it off. Sometimes it also means working longer or extra hours for extra income and yes all of this hurts.

I think you really need to have your 'lightbulb moment' because I dont believe you have yet and when you do, you will know that you have to make these changes, otherwise 5 years after your debt plan finishes you will be back in the same situation. I didnt have a debt plan but consolidated as others before me did but I didnt change and my debt doubled. This time around I woke up to the reality of debt and discovered MSE and the debt is finally reducing.

I hope this post hasnt offended you, but it is based on my interpretations of your postings and my experiences. I really do wish you well because as others have said we are all here to help.

EDIT - looks like my posting crossed with chevalier, so I'm not alone in some of my thoughts