Advice please!

National_Debtline · 4 July 2018 at 10:46AM

Hi stressedmummy

Having read the thread and looked at your SOA, my instincts too are that a DRO makes most sense. I wouldn't necessarily let that car valuation blow this out of the water altogether - bear in mind that will be a very general valuation and won't account for the specific condition of your vehicle. The mileage you do will probably mean the car's value is depreciating at a faster than average rate, so if it's not already worth <£1K, that may become the case quicker than you expect.

By the time you redo that SOA to incorporate some realistic amounts set aside for car maintenance/clothing/birthdays/Xmas etc. (i.e. things that might previously have been stuck on a credit card), I suspect that there'll be very little left over and so a DMP won't be viable.

On a separate note, I'm guessing that your property may have more than two bedrooms and that any housing benefit you may get only covers a smallish portion of the rent? I ask because the council tax seems very low for a property with such a high market rent value. I get it that you've no desire to move if the landlord has been charging below market rates for some time, as you may not necessarily save any money even by moving into somewhere smaller in that area.

Why not get in touch with one of the free debt advice charities like us or Stepchange as others have suggested so we can look at your options in finer detail?

Dennis
@natdebtline

Stressedmummy · 4 July 2018 at 11:11AM

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi stressedmummy

Having read the thread and looked at your SOA, my instincts too are that a DRO makes most sense. I wouldn't necessarily let that car valuation blow this out of the water altogether - bear in mind that will be a very general valuation and won't account for the specific condition of your vehicle. The mileage you do will probably mean the car's value is depreciating at a faster than average rate, so if it's not already worth <£1K, that may become the case quicker than you expect.

By the time you redo that SOA to incorporate some realistic amounts set aside for car maintenance/clothing/birthdays/Xmas etc. (i.e. things that might previously have been stuck on a credit card), I suspect that there'll be very little left over and so a DMP won't be viable.

On a separate note, I'm guessing that your property may have more than two bedrooms and that any housing benefit you may get only covers a smallish portion of the rent? I ask because the council tax seems very low for a property with such a high market rent value. I get it that you've no desire to move if the landlord has been charging below market rates for some time, as you may not necessarily save any money even by moving into somewhere smaller in that area.

Why not get in touch with one of the free debt advice charities like us or Stepchange as others have suggested so we can look at your options in finer detail?

Dennis
@natdebtline

Thank you Dennis.
My house is a small 2 bed terrace, the £60 council tax is a reduced rate for low income. I guess I should give them a call then. I'm so nervous

Stressedmummy · 4 July 2018 at 11:13AM

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

Having looked at your SOA, I can't see that you have any option but to go for the DRO.

And I think you need to set about getting it done quickly before your situation becomes even worse.

Thank you poppasmurf

saajan_12 · 4 July 2018 at 11:54AM

Sounds like you're doing your best on a tight budget, other posters can advise better on how to manage on the debt side. Only place I can see where you might be able to give yourself a little more room is here:

Stressedmummy wrote: »

Mobile phone............................ 45

are you still within a 12/24month fixed term in which you got a phone? If not, you can switch to a sim only, paying only £6-10 monthly once you take cashback into account.

Stressedmummy · 4 July 2018 at 12:58PM

saajan_12 wrote: »

Sounds like you're doing your best on a tight budget, other posters can advise better on how to manage on the debt side. Only place I can see where you might be able to give yourself a little more room is here:

are you still within a 12/24month fixed term in which you got a phone? If not, you can switch to a sim only, paying only £6-10 monthly once you take cashback into account.

Thank you, yes this is the one bill I am trying to get down! There is £138 to pay off to end the contract, and then I'm ditching it for a PAYG, I would never get a contract phone again. This is the only bill I see with any wiggle room. Last year I argued my car insurance down, they tried to double it on the renewal :mad: and I have already changed energy supplier...

January2015 · 4 July 2018 at 1:05PM

Stressedmummy wrote: »

Thank you, yes this is the one bill I am trying to get down! There is £138 to pay off to end the contract, and then I'm ditching it for a PAYG, I would never get a contract phone again. This is the only bill I see with any wiggle room. Last year I argued my car insurance down, they tried to double it on the renewal :mad: and I have already changed energy supplier...

You can have a contract without buying a handset. I have an O2 contract with 5Gb of data, unlimited texts and unlimited minutes. That costs me £9 per month, which I don't thnk is bad. I also benefit from the O2 Priority moments app, which is not as good as it used to be but I can still benefit from some nice freebies / reductions (only if I was intending to purchase items anyway though :rotfl:)

I think PAYG would cost me more than that (although I haven't checked).

enthusiasticsaver · 4 July 2018 at 1:13PM

You need to up some of those categories when doing an soa in the future to get to a lower surplus than £157. You need something in car maintenance and entertainment/presents and emergency fund as you will have no access to credit. I would default immediately and divert the credit card payments to an emergency fund while you sort out the DRO. Write to your creditors and ask them to freeze interest for 30 days to give you time to sort it out.

Stressedmummy · 4 July 2018 at 1:14PM

January2015 wrote: »

You can have a contract without buying a handset. I have an O2 contract with 5Gb of data, unlimited texts and unlimited minutes. That costs me £9 per month, which I don't thnk is bad. I also benefit from the O2 Priority moments app, which is not as good as it used to be but I can still benefit from some nice freebies / reductions (only if I was intending to purchase items anyway though :rotfl:)

I think PAYG would cost me more than that (although I haven't checked).

Yes this is what I meant

no handset contract

Stressedmummy · 4 July 2018 at 1:15PM

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

You need to up some of those categories when doing an soa in the future to get to a lower surplus than £157. You need something in car maintenance and entertainment/presents and emergency fund as you will have no access to credit. I would default immediately and divert the credit card payments to an emergency fund while you sort out the DRO. Write to your creditors and ask them to freeze interest for 30 days to give you time to sort it out.

Thank you, so I should write to them before starting the DRO? Would I need to include a budget in the first letter?

enthusiasticsaver · 4 July 2018 at 1:16PM

Make sure you open a basic account with no overdraft with a bank which is not Halifax.

Advice please!

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