Worrying debt - anyone got any advice?

mking3181

Hi

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for me for my situation.

I am just about managing to scrape by making my payments on loans, cards, etc, but it leaves me literally nothing each month, and i usually have to borrow a bit from my dad.

My debts arent over 7k, so i cant get any help from anyone. Payplan has advised me to send letters to each of my creditors asking them to freeze interest and accept lower payments, does anyone know how these sort of letters are generally received by the banks? My main debts are with barclays, a loan (which i only took out in december for a car - really regretting it now), credit card and big overdraft, and halifax.

If they say no and make me carry on my usual payments, does anyone have any advice for what the next step i could take would be? Please help, im starting to think the only option to me is selling my kidney! :sad:

GeorgeUK

Post up a statement of affairs and we'll see if there are any savings you can make. It may also be possible to reduce the interest you are paying on the cards if you haven't had late payments or defaults.

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

CCCS_Matthew

Hi there,

If you are stuggling making your repayments, we can certainly help advise regarding your options. There is no minium or indeed maximum level of debt needed in order for us to be able to help. As George has suggested, it might be worth drawing up a SOA on here in order for people to be able to help review your situation.

I'd also suggest putting your income and expenditure in to Debt Remedy. Debt Remedy will allow you to input all your personal income and expenditure, as well as the details of your debts, before giving you the options you have regarding your situation.

CCCS is a registered charity, and there is no charge whatsoever for the services we provide to our clients.

Hope this helps,
CCCS

jimbobc_2

Take the advice from CCCS_Matthew and phone them, they are very helpful, non judgemental and totally professional.

From my own experience put everything in writing and keep records. I currently have debts with different companies and the number of telephone calls does get a bit ridiculous.

If you are able to, go ex directory and change your number. I had to move back in with my family and various companies started phoning on their number, it has caused a lot of stress for my Dad. Some of the people that call can be extremely rude and annoying. They are also quite clever and will do anything to speak to you, such as asking for you by your first name as is they are an old friend or something.

Best advice though is not to panic, there is help out there regardless of whether you owe £7k or £70k, just don't ignore the problem, I did for a while but you have to deal with it sooner or later.

mking3181

right then, heres my SOA...

monthly wages: 1083.00
Family allowance: 70.00
Maintenance: 10.00 (!)

Rent: 420.00
C tax: 85.00
Electric and gas: 70.00
Mobile: 40.00
Car (MOT, tax, AA etc): 85.00
Petrol: 60.00
Oyster card: 50.00
Housekeeping: 100.00
Clothes / shoes: 30.00
TV Lic: 20.00
Haircuts: 15.00
Broadband ad home phone: 20.00
Home ins: 15.00

This leaves me about 150.00 usually to pay all my debts:
loan: 100 p/m
another loan: 30 p/m (this i got from the government, its interest free so not so bad)
2 cards, about 400 on each (one was interest free til oct, i was trying to get it cleared by then but dont think i'll manage it)
1400.00 overdraft, used right up to the limit

when i write the debts down like that they dont look so bad, its just i borrowed a bit beyond my means and i literally do not have a spare penny each month. this gets a bit tricky because ive got a 3 year old, and it means i can never take him out or do anything nice for him.

So what do you think? shall i send out letters to the banks asking them to freeze interest for now? do they usually do it, or just say sorry but no chance?

thankyou in advance...

Poosmate

mking3181 wrote: »

right then, heres my SOA...

monthly wages: 1083.00
Family allowance: 70.00
Maintenance: 10.00 (!)

Rent: 420.00
C tax: 85.00 Do you have 25% single person discount? Can you pay this over 12mths (some councils will allow this but you have to ask).
Electric and gas: 70.00 You could probably cut this down a little bit. I pay £53 for both on a 2 bed semi.
Mobile: 40.00 Can you get rid of this and go Pay As You Go? Much cheaper.
Car (MOT, tax, AA etc): 85.00 This seems high. Does it include insurance?
Petrol: 60.00
Oyster card: 50.00 What's the balance and the APR %? Der! Ignore this sorry I'm so thick! LOL!
Housekeeping: 100.00 How many are you feeding?
Clothes / shoes: 30.00 You need to cut this down, maybe to £10
TV Lic: 20.00
Haircuts: 15.00 You can reduce this by going to your local college
Broadband ad home phone: 20.00
Home ins: 15.00

This leaves me about 150.00 usually to pay all my debts:
loan: 100 p/m What's the balance and the APR %?
another loan: 30 p/m (this i got from the government, its interest free so not so bad) We like loans like this! Yay!
2 cards, about 400 on each (one was interest free til oct, i was trying to get it cleared by then but dont think i'll manage it) How much are you paying on each and what's the APR on the other one?
1400.00 overdraft, used right up to the limit Me too! lol I'm keeping mine out of the equation at the moment though because it's paid off on payday

Hi and welcome to DFW on MSE.

You are in almost exactly the same situation as me and I am sorting mine out myself. It can be done. It's not going to be easy and it's going to take a while. Actually, I have less income and slightly more debts! EEK!

Sorry there are so many questions but I was wondering how much your car was worth and if you could downsize it or downgrade to pay off one of the loans?

I bought an N reg Ford Escort off Ebay for £350 last June and it's been great, I've only spent £300 on it (tyres/breaks/MOT).

I would suggest you visit the "Up Your Income" board for tips on how to make a few more bob to help you out at Christmas time (Yes it is time to start thinking about Christmas already! The ad's will be on tv soon enough!!).

Also, take a look at the "Money Making Old Style" board to help you with your groceries.

Hope that helps a bit I'll post again when I remember what I've forgot!

Keep the faith and don't stop trying!

Good luck

Poo

Ames

An Oyster card is a travel card for London that saves money, not a credit card.

Poosmate

Oh! I knew I'd remember after I posted!

As I mentioned above, I am working on my debts myself. I did think about going on a DMP (Debt Management Plan) through one of the debt charities but it would mean that I'd have to surrender my overdraft and count it as a debt to be paid off. I wasn't prepared to give up all control over my finances whilst I am still managing even if it is just about.

First off, I wrote a DAP (Debt Action Plan). I wrote every way I could think of that I could increase my income, joined loads of websites that give points for exchange for shopping vouchers (these will help at Christmas), online survey sites which pay out cash and/or vouchers. These are slow earners but it could be that it will get you £20 when you most need it (MutualPoints give £20 every 3000pts). Toluna = earn points for vouchers, Pigsback = points for vouchers, Ipsos Online Surveys, Valued Opinions, Online Opinions there are probably loads more but I can't think off hand. There is also SliceThePie which is a music site who pay cash through a PayPal account.

Oh! Talking of PayPal, you could try Ebaying stuff - I mean selling not buying! lol!.

Also, I was thinking, as you have a 0% credit card already, sounds like your credit rating is ok at the moment. Rather than call the credit card companies and asking them if they will freeze the interest and accept lower payments (this will have an adverse affect on your credit rating) why don't you play the one off against the other and ask if they can reduce the interest rate, threatening to tranfer the debt to your other card. Can you transfer the £400 to your 0% card now? Save a little bit of interest till October, then in September apply for another 0% card and transfer the balance to that?

Just a few more thoughts.

I know there's a lot to take in but you've made the first step and at least you had your LBM (Lightbulb Moment) before it's too late!

Remember knowledge is power so get learning! Yay!

Hope this helps

Poo

Poosmate

Oh thanks Ames, I didn't know that.

LOL! I guess that's pretty obvious! LMAO!

Poo