Finally Admiting up to my debt worries!!!

motch

Bismarck wrote: »

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.

When I first read the post seeing the £35,000 credit card / Loan debt i thought the mortgage was going to be at least this or maybe double.
So having only £7,500 must be a big relief.

If it was me I would think about trying to get it on the mortgage as the interest paid back would be less. BUT you'd have to live within your means and basically live on cash and not cards otherwise you'd risk doing what 60%+ do when consolidating and rack up more debt.

If you could possibly get a 0% rate credit card deal for a year would be a start, but perhaps difficult to obtain with your high cc debts.

Another option maybe a lodger? (someone you know possibly) if you have a spare room.

caz876

Hello again everyone,:j

I have now completed my SOA and posting it in a bid that anyone reading it may see further ways for me to save money...

Statement of Affairs

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 833.00
Benefits................................ 68.00
Total monthly income.................... 901.00

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 170.96
Ground Rent (leasehold )...... 1.00
Council tax............................. 82.00
Electricity............................. 25.00
Gas..................................... 25.00
Water rates............................. 40.98
Telephone (land line)................... 10.00
Mobile phone............................ 5.00
TV Licence.............................. 11.61
Internet Services....................... 10.00
Groceries etc. ......................... 60.00
Clothing................................ 10.00
Petrol/diesel........................... 60.00
Road tax................................ 10.00
Car Insurance........................... 14.41
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15.00
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5.00
Buildings insurance..................... 10.00
Contents insurance...................... 0
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc).... 10.00
Haircuts................................ 3.00
Emergency funds.......................... 10.00
Total monthly expenses.................. 582.96

Assets
House value (Gross)..................... 135.000
Car(s).................................. 500.00
Total Assets............................ 135.500

Secured Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 7.500.....(170.96)...6.25
Total secured debts........... 7.500

Unsecured Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco Loan ....................9.000......166.29.....5.9
Norther Rock...................9.000......124.54.....8.2
Lloyds Credit card ............5.076......102.00
Mbna...........................9136......242.00
Littlewoods Card...............1585......53.00
Captial One....................995.......30.00..
Citi Card......................2.072......55.00......0
Total unsecured debts..........36864.....77283.....

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 901
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 582.96
Available for debt repayments........... 318.04
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 77,283
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -76,964.96

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 135,500
Total Secured debt...................... -7,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,864
Personal net worth...................... 91,136

Thankyou for taking the time to read this :j

Deep_In_Debt

I'm no expert on this but your water rates seem high. I've got a water meter which was fitted free by my water authority a couple of years back. I'm now paying £12.00 per month water (previously £32.00 per month) and this is set to reduce again soon. May be worth giving your local water board a call and see what they say.

motch

Do you have any payment protection Insurance on any of your loans? as these can be a big rip off and is possible to reclaim against them.

the tesco Loan looks a good rate at only 5.9% not so good on the northern rock though.

caz876

Hi everyone,

Thankyou for all the wonderful advice I have received.

Well since Friday morning I have become extremly proactive in a bid to get my debts sorted out once and for all! Having missed quite a few of the bigger payments this month I have now come to the realisation that instead of surfacing the debt each month, I need to start paying it off, so it looks like a dept management plan for me is the best and only way forward.

Friday things achieved :j

• Letter to all my creditors including £1.00 PO explaining my circumstances
• Cut up all my credit cards
• rung the water board to see about possility and cost of going on a meter.
• Changed Gas and Electricity through quid co and earnt £82.00
• Contacted CCCs - now awaiting a call back
• admitted my debts to brother apart from children only family member reamining - result extremly understanding and thinks its admirable that I am making moves to pay off my debts.. (amazing I thought he would be lecturing to me about how stupid ive been - quiet irritated with myself now that I never told him earlier!! But hey ho I cant change the past only the future).
• looking at all the diffrerent types of bank accounts available (could do with advise with regards to what type of account would I now be allowed to have once entering onto the debt management payment plan) also would I be allowed an account with a debit card?

Things to do tomorrow include looking around the place for things to list on ebay, and draft a letter to try and reclaim my bank fees from A&L from when I was a student, when my loans were paid in late.

:rolleyes: Thought ive had in my head for the last few days with regards to myself, thankgod for the credit crunch as I think without that nothing would of put an end to my spending!!!!

Bye for now...And thankyou again everyone for the great advice...:j

Caz:j

chevalier

Just wondered.

benefits £68 - is that just the child benefit? What about working family tax credit, and maintenance payments for the child/ren.?

chev

mizmir

Well done for making so much progress in such a short time.

Re, your SOA something seems to have gone wrong with your monthly repayment figures - is showing 77K! :eek: How much are your minimum payments each month in fact? That will help us to see how much you have left to overpay/need to find each month.

As has been said your water rates seem very high compared to everything - if you have low usage you might well save with a meter - worth checking.

Have a look at the Up your Income board for ideas on how to do just that! Good luck - you are doing great :T.

Angel_Cake_3

Well done, bet you feel loads better, that was me this time last week!

Re your query re a bank account. You can still have a 'normal' bank account with a debit card on a DMP, the only reason why you are asked to changed your bank account is if your current bank account is linked to any of your creditors as they can freeze your account and 'arrest' any monies go into it. Make sure you get any monies going into your account transferred to your new one (not linked to anyone you owe money to) ASAP!

CCCS will advise you of they best people to get an account from as so many of the banks and credit cards are linked, eg Nat West and RBS are linked.

Your new bank will not even know you are on a DMP. Remember, you still have the same rights as everyone else, you are not a crook or outcast. On a DMP you a not 'getting' out of paying back your debt, just paying it back at a more managable rate and over a longer period of time.

Hope that helps

Angel Cake xxxxx

tiaramaker

Hi Caz,
I joined MSE yesterday and wish I'd seen your post then. I know this may not matter at all, but reading through your msgs, I feel close to tears - I now feel so much that it's not just me that's got themselves into a pickle.

Like you, I don't think that bankruptcy is an option for me, and as I've got my house on the market atm (and by getting a buyer, this could solve a lot of my problems) I'm waiting to see what happens.

£60 for groceries in a month doesn't sound much - is it just you?

Good luck!

susimuggle

Hi Caz, hi Tiaramaker,

I've only joined this forum a few days ago as well, and it's wonderful that there is such a variety of people, all at different levels of reducing their debts.

I intend to focus my energy on reading messages on this board and getting inspiration from them, rather than thinking about what else I could spend money on.

Thanks for your messages. :T