Finally Admiting up to my debt worries!!!

caz876

Hi,

Well I have finally after viewing the site over several days now decided to come out and face my huge debts, and would appreciate any help and advice anyone can give me. To date my unsecured loans and credit cards currently stand at approximately £35000... There ive said it!!! im not sure why I feel that having hid the extent for the past couple of years from my family why I feel i need to unburden myself to a group of strangers! I guess its because having read the advice people have received I feel that people on here instead of judge me will point me in the right direction in getting the help I need..

Well ive made a start and been on the cccs website and completed the debt remedy questionaire and will telephone the number tomorrow given on the site for further advice. I also nned to fill in an SOA but are not sure where to find these.

Points Ifeel should probably be worht mentioning untill this month I have always made the minimum payments on all of my debts, but due to unpaid absense from work this month have been unable to meet most of the payments

I am also a single parent home owner with a small mortgage of approx £7500 outstanding with four years left to pay so therefore bankrupcy is not an option. I would like to deal with paying off my debts and have heard about payplan but not sure what it is! Also am a bit frightened by the word IVA in casr they come after my house... Please advise if anyone can HELP!!!

Thankyou for taking the time to read this...

Bismarck

Hi, well done for posting...it's a small outstanding mortgage compared to the unsecured debts...

I'm guessing there's some equity in you property so isn't remortgaging a possibility or is that not an option?

I know some folks will jump straight in about securing unsecured debt so I'll leave it at that for now.

RedDino308

Hi Caz,

Welcome and well done. There are many people here who will be able to give you lots of useful advice. I just wanted to say don't panic and thinks can (generally) be worked out

RedDino308

10past6

Hi Caz

Welcome to the forum :hello: and well done for taking the first step.

As it stands right now, everything re your debts may seem way out of control, just bear in mind given time, THINGS WILL SETTLE DOWN

As for you SOA, you will find it here, once completed post back on the thread, other will give their advice.

Try and keep upto date with your priority debts, council tax, water, utility bills, mortgage, these are your PRIORITY debts, as for your other debts, loans, CC, O/D, etc, etc, only make token payments to these companies of £1.00 postal order to each, until your DMP is up and running.

You can use the letter below to send to your creditors expalining the reason for your £1.00 P/O.

One more thing, NEVER LET A CREDITOR GET TO YOU, if any creditor becomes heavy, POST HERE FIRST FOR ADVICE, before dealing with a creditor.

Your address
Date
Creditors address

Dear Sir/Madam

Re:− Account/Reference Number XXXXXXX

We are writing to inform you that we are seeking advice and assistance regarding our current financial difficulties.

To this end, we would appreciate if you could hold any action on the above account for a period of at least 28 days.

Also, during this period, could you please freeze interest and/or any other charges accruing on the above account.

We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully

Poosmate

Hi Caz,

Again, welcome and well done. You have made the first and often the hardest step. Keep posting and everyone on here will help as best they can.

As you've probably already seen, there is a wealth of help and support on this forum alone!

Just to get you started on here, there is a site you can use to fill in your own SOA and there is a facility for you to be able to post it on here for the "experts" to pick over to see how/where you can cut back a little.

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

You may also want to find out the cheapest and quickest way to pay off your debts by using this site:

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

I've used "whatsthecost" with mine and it scared the living daylights out of me to be honest! Oh well, they say the truth hurts! At least I know what I am dealing with now though and also you can play around with the figures, put in different scenarios, like pay an extra £5er here or there and see what happens to the figures.

Hope you get it figured out.

Good luck

Poo

Poosmate

OK, I just read your OP again. You seem as though you have managed fine up till now and it's only the unpaid absence that has caused this problem.

What I am wondering is if this unpaid absence is a one off, are you in panic mode? If so, then is going into a CCCS or DMP kind of thing right for you? I can't advise on this because I've never done that (I too am managing atm but I will lose 2 day's pay at the end of this month so will struggle next month to make the payments on my CC's).

It's just a thought, I mean could it be worth you calling your creditors and explaining that this is a one off and asking how they can help you? Or maybe suggesting that they could help you by accepting a reduced payment this month (if it's pre-arranged then surely you won't get charges, is my way of thinking).

Of course, if the unpaid absence is or will become a regular thing then you are probably going down the right road already.

Just thought I'd throw that into the pot.

Post your SOA and we'll see what we can do. There will be others who are on or going through DMP's who will be able to advise you further on that side.

Hope that helps

Poo

caz876

Hello to everyone,

and a big thankyou for all your kind advice and kind words of encouragement, last night was the first time I have slept properly in nearly three years and when I woke up this morning I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and having expalined my situation I now feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I am now going to complete a SOA and post it on the site in hope that others can see further ways for me to save money.

I just though I would mention that all though I have been meeting all of my payments on my debts up until this month, it is only because I have stupidly been using my credit cards to fund this.

Thankyou again everyone who has offered me advice.

Caz

caz876

Hello to everyone,

and a big thankyou for all your kind advice and kind words of encouragement, last night was the first time I have slept properly in nearly three years and when I woke up this morning I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and having expalined my situation I now feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel. :j :T

I am now going to complete a SOA and post it on the site in hope that others can see further ways for me to save money.

I just though I would mention that all though I have been meeting all of my payments on my debts up until this month, it is only because I have stupidly been using my credit cards to fund this.

Thankyou again everyone who has offered me advice.

Caz :T

poorandindenial

Hi Caz

That feeling of realising that you can take back the control is brilliant isn't it - just remember how good it feels so that when you have low points in the future (we all have them from time to time, we are hman and skint after all) then come back to this post and your first one (save this page to favourites or print it out) and read it again and remind yourself what a relief it was to start sorting it out and how much better you felt than before.

Good luck with everything

SamanthaA

Your in the right place, with a nice bunch of folks. Just mind the trolls!

Things can only get better, we all start from square 1, its just that some are further from the finish line.

Best wishes & hugs for the journey.

Angel_Cake_3

Hi there, I have just joined this forum and already have had loads of help and advice, suddenly feel i am not alone!

Like you, have a pile of CC and loans and was robbing peter to pay paul each month and was using to credit to make monthly payments. Also, not sleeping during to worry takes its toll. We have no spare money at all - in fact once everything paid are in negatvie figures!

Last week, I decided (after lots of research on line and this site ) to contact Payplan.
I called them last Wednesday and has a phone interview Friday just gone. They have suggested a DMP and are sending me through all the paperwork. They contacted me yesterday to say the paperwork is on its way and I should ring them when i receive it.
They will contact all my creditors to explain the situation and work out payments and hopefully get interest forzen so money paid back, pays the debt and not the interest.

Payplan (so far) have been great and there seems to be lots of positive comments about them on this site.
They have worked out our income V spend and from there worked out payments for us. For once we will have money left over each month, they have even budgeted for hair cuts and dentist, something I have never done.

I have spent the whole weekend sorting out my life. I have got a new bank account, am transferring DDs over and have started to plan forward with a budget, something I have never done, as I knew it would make ugly reading! I have sent all my credit card bills a £1 payment with a covering letter explaining the situation and giving them my PayPlan ref number.

I feel a huge weight has been lifted, coupled with discovering this site. The advice and support given over the last few days has made me feel so much more positive.

If you are now using credit to pay credit and have not slept for 3 years, I would suggest contact Payplan of CCCS, believe me, you will feel so much better. I have had so much support from the guys on this site saying the done the same and wished they had done it earlier!

Hope this helps, even if it lets you know you are not alone. I will keep you updated and would love to hear how you are getting on.

Go girl and be strong, you are doing something about it !!!! :A

Angel Cake xxxx