Debt

MARY_B_3

Hi
I Am In Real Trouble And Need Advice I Currently Owe £70000 On Credit Cards Loans And Overdrafts With My Partner We Have 4 Kids And Want To Begin A Debt Management Plan As I Dont Want To Go Bankrupt. The Trouble Is We Have About £200 Spare Each Month After Our Expenses And Mortgage But The Debt Management Companys Expect Us To Spend At Least £600 A Month On Housekeeping And Expenses When We Only Spend £300 And Therefore Say We Have No Money To Give To Creditors. I Know How Much We Spend On Living And Have Never Spent £600 A Month.
Please Help Because I Don;t Feel Anyone Can Help Us And I Can't Cope Dealing With The Creditors Alone. I Want To Pay Them Back As Much As Possible And Don't Know Where To Turn Too.

poppyg_2

Hi Mary

What debt management plan company have you been in touch with? Have you tried speaking to CCCS or Payplan?

x x

skintas_2

is that £70,000 pls post ur soa,, statement of affairs see if we can help you on here

skintas_2

are you getting all the tax credits you are entitled too

claireabelle_2

:hello: Hi Mary,
You've come to the right place, so welcome... I won't offer advice as others will be much more informed than me, but I just wanted to say "don't panic", and advise you that there is an advice for newbies sticky thread at the top of the forum, and that people might want you to split out your income and outgoings in a Statement of Affairs (SoA).
Hugs
Claire

GeorgeUK

Here are some links that may help with the suggestions above.

These are the free debt charities we usually refer people to:
(Taken from Fermi's signature)

Professional, free and impartial advice on debt problems can be obtained from several charitable and 'not for profit' organisations. They never make a penny from the advice they give, which means it will be given with only your best interests at heart. You can contact:

Your local CAB Office and ask to speak to a 'money advisor'
The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111
National Debtline - Tel: 0808 808 4000
Payplan - Tel: 0800 917 7823

SOA calculator: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

check your entitlement: http://www.entitledto.com/

I take it none of the debts will be statute barred? Was there a period of 6 years where you did not make any payments or acknowledge the debt in writing?

If you are paying a Debt Collection Agency, have you requested copies of the CCA?

Can you check if you were missold an endowment mortgage or PPI?
Have you tried reclaiming Credit Card charges?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

MARY_B_3

Hi I Have Tried Cccs National Debtline And Payplan None Of Them Could Help Me As They Think My Family Should Be Living On £680.00 Housekeeping A Month When All I Need Is £300

CCCS_Matthew

Hi Mary,

When did you last have an appointment with ourselves? £680 a month for housekeeping seems very high for a family of your size and would be above the figures we would tend to suggest.

Have you perhaps tried using Debt Remedy? Debt Remedy allows you to complete an online appointment. It allows you to enter your figures online and be provided with the best way to move forward with your situation.

Regards,
CCCS

MARY_B_3

Hi Matthew
I Spoke To Cccs Last Week And They Have Guidelines From The Government About Housekeeping When I Did The Debt Remedy Online They Suggested Bankrupcy And I Dont Want To Go Bankrupt I Feel I Will Have To Negotiate With The Creditors Myself Because I Can Lower My Standard Of Living To Pay Them More Than A Small Token I Believed Payplan And Cccs Could Help People Like Me Who Have No One Else To Turn Too But If They Dont Lower My Standard Of Living Then I Will Never Be Able To Pay The Creditors Anything More Than A Token Payment. I Know That A Family Of Six Can Life On £300 For Housekeeping And Shoes A Month But The Debt Management Companys Stick To Government Guidelines And Unless Our Income Dramatically Increases They Will Never Be Able To Help Us . We Will Have To Send The Creditors Letters This Week Explaining We Cant Pay Them The Minimum Payment And I Am Scared They Will Be Very Unhelpful And Will Ring Us Up On The Phone Constantly And I Dont Think I Wil Be Able To Cope With That Expecially Trying To Look After Four Children

GeorgeUK

Mary - there is nothing stopping you from making arrangements with your creditors yourself, but are you sure the sums add up? Can you post up your SOA so we can go over it to see if there is anything missing or that might be a bit tight and get you in trouble later on if you can't meet the payments?
SOA calculator: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

I have no idea about IVA's, but if you don't want to go bankrupt (can we ask why this is? If you have a read of the bankrupcy board you may have some of your fears allayed) an IVA may be a possible solution, but again - i'd ask advice from the charities about this. They'll be able to go through the numbers with you and advise as to the pros and cons of the idea.

If you were adamant on going the DMP route, you could use the snowball calculator to see how long it would take to clear. http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

There are template letters available for contacting creditors when you are no longer able to meet your commitments, but £200pm going towards a £70,000 debt does not look good - especially if you can't get them to freeze interest payments or they only do so for 1 year.

Good luck with this and please let us know how things are going.
There are lots of people on the board who can offer advice so any questions you have or any concerns - please just ask.

MARY_B_3

Hi I Have Written My Income And Outgoings .we Were Doing Ok Until We Suddenly Lost £600 A Month And Got In Trouble I Dont Want To Lose My House Its All I Have Got And That Is Why I Dont Want To Go Bankrupt. My Children Need Somewhere To Live.
Income £1338.00
Family
Allowance £219.00
Tax Credits £421.00

Total £1978.00

Outgoings

Mortgage £1048.00
Life Ins £50.00
Income Protection £50.28
Water £36.00
Electricity £75.00
Gas £35.00
Tv £11.50
Car Tax £16.50
Car Maintanance £10.00
Phone £30.00
Food &housekeeping £300.00

Emergencies £30.00

Total £1685.78

I Cant Change My Mortgage As It Has Just Been Changed And I Have An Emersion Heater And No Central Heating And That Is Why My Electricity Is Very High