debt problem

I understand the psoition the OPs in. I was in debt to the tune of £13k until 18months ago.
I’d been in a debt management plan for a couple of years, a company recommended by the bank actually. They basically go through your income and expenses and work out how much you can afford to pay back to the creditors. They then negotiate with the creditors how much they are prepared to accept from you per month.
The next thing would be an IVA where your debts are written off after a period of time and finally bankrupcy.
There’s no keep some money aside for a rainy day unfortunately, so if you need to put some money by for eventualities, you can overstate your monthly costs. But basically you owe and they want their money back.

A car is also needed for my job as I need to go out on site

TopTip : You don’t have to give any explanation as to why you have to have a car – you don’t need TJ’s approval.

jools182 – Member

A car is also needed for my job as I need to go out on site

In that case it really is a need then.

ernie_lynch – Member

You’re starting to sound like a Tory TJ….. “many people claim they need a car when infact its very much a luxury, blah, blah, blah”

So you don’t want a car and it’s your choice. Jools wants a car.

Ernie – the point is he is looking for ways to save money / make his money go further. Getting rid of the car would give him thousands more a year. Its not about my approval – its about practical ways of reducing expenditure

Ernie – the point is he is looking for ways to save money / make his money go further.

I can only see one question in his original post : “Would I be better off seeing a Solicitor?”

I can’t see the bit where he’s asked for your approval/judgement.

Can’t the company provide a pool car?
Is your car insured for business mileage?

Speak to your boss, see if you can use a car that’s theirs. A car is a huge expense each month.

Part worn tyres can be cheap. I bought two Toyo Snowprox for 50quid fitted recently.

My old widescreen tv that lives in the back living room, still works! was bought from a STW’er 4yrs ago for £40.

The moneyforum is a good place as suggested 🙂

OK, but the TV has already been bought
My point is they are leaving me no contingency for things like washing machine breaking, etc

read that back to yourself. if you can’t see the idiocy of that statement it’s not a solicitor or CAB you need but a dose of reality.

no wonder they call it an ‘idiot box’

http://www.cccs.co.uk/Services/Debtadvice.aspx

These people are really good
I’ll second that – I had lots of debt, and don’t earn very much, so ended up with a Debt Relief Order, wipes out all debts after a year – ****’s up any possibility of credit, but that’s a good thing 🙂
And if my washing machine breaks – there’s always hand washing!

I don’t spend much more than £60 for food for 2 of us and that’s without trying. When I was on my own I was spending £30/week ish. Look at your energy bills, turn off lights, turn down heating, use the TV less. Drive like an old man, especially for work, they aren’t paying you to drive fast. Could you reduce your housing bills? Rent a cheaper place, sub let a room?

Contingency is a luxury I’m afraid, you put it away in case of emergencies, well it sounds like you are in one just not admitting it.

Is there anything substantial that will give you a head start on the debt? i.e sell the car for £5k, replace with a £2k car , got a second bike in the garage? Payment holiday on the mortgage? Or even rent out the whole house, and rent a small flat for a year or two until you are back into shape.

Rent out a spare room? Got a sky contract you can cancel, and go freesat with your existing equipment? Any unnecessary insurances you can cancel (laptop/mobile cover, separate bike insurance) Super dooper broadband contract where you don’t actually need 20mb/s and unlimited data that you can downgrade?

Part time evening job? Pizza delivery (you may sniff at it, but if you are out delivering/earning, you ain’t spending money on lighting/heating/emptying the fridge)

If the washing machine breaks, just use a laundrette for a couple of weeks until you see something suitable on freecycle.

I know a guy at work who won’t do any overtime as he has to declare it and pay off big debts accumulated by his ex, I don’t think I managed to convince him that he might as well earn the cash whilst its on offer, and pay it off a couple of years sooner. After all, he just sits on his backside all evening watching the box anyway 🙂

If you do consider an IVA do your research VERY carefully – there are a lot of rogue companies out there who make a fortune out of people like yourselves. Try and do one through CCCS, National Debtline or CAB.

Another option may be a debt relief order…
http://www.cccs.co.uk/InfoCentre/EnglandandWales/Debtsolutions/Debtrelieforder.aspx

You need to be serious about reducing your debt though because entering into an IVA, DRO or bankruptcy will leave you with a lot less ‘free’ cash than sorting things out yourself. If the bank wants £500 a month and you can only pay £200 a formal arrangement may be the only option.

or do a day’s labour cash in hand?

Because being done for tax evasion would be a big help.

Ultimately I find it hard to sympathise with someone who has massive self imposed debts and is still upset about having to spend money on TVs, TV licenses, cars etc. Sure a car might be needed, but is a TV (and associated license costs)?

Not wishing to sound harsh but there’s loads of things people assume are required that really are not, they’re a choice, and you got yourself into the position you’re in now so you have to take a hit and get yourself out of it? Won’t take long with a concerted effort.

Hows about a second job? Plenty of Taxi work available round here. Plenty of fast food places taking on people for a few hours a day.

Worse-case your creditors get an order for a sum you can’t (or won’t) afford.

Other than that:

– If there is just you, let them take you to court and then (hopefully) the court will set your payment at an affordable amount – based upon sensible numbers from yourself.

– If you really can’t see yourself been able to pay back your (total) debts in a sensible timeframe (ie 2-4 years), then let a creditor make you bankrupt – or, go for voluntary.

Oh, and ignore anyone who says they lived on £30 a week – that’s like the Tory MP’s who spent a week on the dole and say its fine…

i work in collections, in fact im ther right now, serously people like you make me lol… YOU CANT AFFORD THE STUFF YOU BUY, STOP BUYING STUFF!!!

helpful 🙄

I know BT3a isn’t the first site you would assume for help on debt matteers.. but check this QOTW thread out…its the 1st entry..BT3A QOTW[/url]

@ jumpupanddown

I lost my job, I already had some money owing on credit cards and an overdraft when I lost my job. I contacted the bank regarding my circumstances, they refused to freeze interest or take into account I had hardly any income.

The majority of the debt is due to the fact they just kept charging me interest until they finally took the card off me.

I was not spending it or leading some extravagant lifestyle. As stated before I don’t go out drinking. I don’t go out for meals. I don’t own an x-box, ps3. I have one bike. My car cost £1500 (a grand of which i had to borrow to pay for it)

I have been in the same boat

We used these guys http://www.payplan.com/

Excellent help and advice and dealt with all the creditors.

I lost my job, I already had some money owing on credit cards and an overdraft when I lost my job. I contacted the bank regarding my circumstances, they refused to freeze interest or take into account I had hardly any income.

my advice to any one is the same… dont borrow money full stop. I work in collections and thats my advice, take it as you will. But i have no over draft no cards, nothing and i never will. Banks are there for one reason only to make cash they are not charities!! You spent £300 on a TV..why?

i got my stereo, sofa and pans out of a skip

..

bigyinn – Member

I understand the psoition the OPs in. I was in debt to the tune of £13k until 18months ago.

I dream of the day my debt is so small.

Credit card #1 £11k
Credit card #2 £2k
Overdraft #1 £8k
Overdraft #2 £6k
Mortgage £110k
Vehicle loan £7k
Personal loan #1 £10k
Personal loan #2 £6k

Total £160k

Plus other bits. The only ones that annoy me are the credit cards – some of the others are business related, but being a sole trader are ultimately my debt. The overdrafts go from sod all to fully loaded on almost a monthly basis, saying that I was owed £54k a couple of weeks ago.

my advice to any one is the same… dont borrow money full stop. I work in collections and thats my advice, take it as you will. But i have no over draft no cards, nothing and i never will. Banks are there for one reason only to make cash they are not charities!! You spent £300 on a TV..why?

i got my stereo, sofa and pans out of a skip

Perhaps some people have a desire not to live like a tramp/student/hippy. Debt is fine, as long as it is manageable and you have some form of contingency in place.

Perhaps some people have a desire not to live like a tramp/student/hippy. Debt is fine, as long as it is manageable and you have some form of contingency in place.

people should live within their means.

Would you say I’m living within my means jumpupanddown?

Would you say I’m living within my means jumpupanddown?

spend what ever you want mate, was just saying that from my experience in the money collection industry i would never borrow money.

spend what ever you want mate, was just saying that from my experience in the money collection industry i would never borrow money.

Whilst i agree don’t borrow money, life gets in the way, i need a car to get to work, having only just got back on my feet after redundancy not much choice but to get a loan to buy a newer car. OK i made the choice to get a decent car in warranty so if it goes wrong it shouldn’t cost me money. Not having any savings because of redundancy meant i wouldn’t be able to afford to fix the car.

And i wish i could get rid of the credit cards that subsidised the £67 a week i got whilst on the dole. That paid for me to get to interviews, buy clothes, pay the rent, etc.

Then there is the biggy, Mortgages, i rent and it sucks. i don’t know many people in the fortunate position to put down £100k cash and buy a house, depends on where you live as to whether you can get anything that cheap, but house prices in Cheltenham are definitely down as a fair few houses are now getting to that level.

As for the OP, it sucks, just look at what you can cut corners on and do it.

I never fail to be heartened by the number of perfect people on here who are always willing to judge how shit you are in their opinion share their valuable knowledge with you. Good luck OP.

Perhaps some people have a desire not to live like a tramp/student/hippy. Debt is fine, as long as it is manageable and you have some form of contingency in place.

Disagree. Ultimately it’s your choice but I’d rather drive a shit car than worry about feeding myself that day.

If your borrowing is business related it shouldn’t be linked to your personal accounts (for better or worse, I can argue it both ways) but if you’re borrowing like crazy just to keep up with the Jones’ you’re wasting money. Do you read the Guardian, perchance?

Sadly when you are in this position I’m afraid the expectation is that anything ‘surplus’ to just living is considered fair game for paying back your debts.

As an aside, i read a brilliant article in our paper about how the young first time buyer would never get on the housing ladder, how it was unaffordable etc etc The example they gave was a 28yr old woman who was complaining that she couldn’t afford a house. Actually what she was saying was she couldn;t afford a house in the exact posh area she wanted to live in. Which is a bit different. It’s the expectation thing, she could afford a perfectly reasonable house just not in the most expensive part of Wellington. Funnily enough that hasn;t changed – when i bought 12 years ago I couldn’t afford one there either. Gets on my t1ts that sort of attitude – the report was pathetic.

If your borrowing is business related it shouldn’t be linked to your personal accounts (for better or worse, I can argue it both ways) but if you’re borrowing like crazy just to keep up with the Jones’ you’re wasting money. Do you read the Guardian, perchance?

You do know what a sole trader is do you? You are the business and the business is you, you can’t separate yourself from the business.

jumpupanddown – Member
i work in collections, in fact im ther right now, serously people like you make me lol… YOU CANT AFFORD THE STUFF YOU BUY, STOP BUYING STUFF!!!
POSTED 10 HOURS AGO #

U SOUND LIKE A REET NOB!!!!
I bet your one of them nobs that gets a kick out of taking kids toys away from them!!!
Op- I feel for you, I’ve been there, ignore all the w#%^ers going on about the tele, they haven’t an f’ing clue!!!

“i work in collections, in fact im ther right now, serously people like you make me lol… YOU CANT AFFORD THE STUFF YOU BUY, STOP BUYING STUFF!!!”

That just confirms my thoughts that all the people who work in that industry are complete nobs.

To the OP. There has been some very good advice above about how to deal with debt, ignore the people who quite obviously have never been in debt and just want to flame you.

I have been in big debt problems in the past, as has Mrs FD, both having gone from having big disposable incomes to having none and big debts.

You MUST right down all your income and out goings, and see where you can save money, you will be able to save money, even if its £10 here or there ie go interest only mortgage, ditch the land line or mobile, turn the heating down a bit and put a jumper on. Life will be hard for a few years, and you have to accept that unfortunately, every penny must go back to the bank that you can. Keep them updated regularly, dont ignore them.

Ignore the car comments. I was in a similar situation and for me it was more cost effective to use the car to get to work where I did and earn £x than ditch the car and have to find alternate work etc.

Avoid bankruptcy at all costs IMO its a chickens way out, and will make the rest of your life very hard.

I know in the depths of debt its hard to see a future debt free, but if you sacrifice now, you will become debt free again and live a normal life, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the minute.

I can sympathise with jools182 and totally understand where jumpupanddown is coming from.

At the end of the day it is as bigyinn says banks are no longer there to be your friend (if they ever were), you owe them money and they want it back as quickly as possible. Try and think of it from the other side if you were owed the money and you found out that the person who owed you it was not doing everything possible to pay you back.

I admire your want to try and put some money aside for emergencies, however the banks will not see this as the sensible approach as it is simply money they could be taking off you to re-pay your debt.

There is a lot of good advice in this tread already on how to live frugally for the next while till you get your debt paid off. Try and not let yourself get too worried about how you will afford to pay for something if it breaks as second hand stuff will often get you through this tough spell till you are back on your feet. Used car tyres will still be legal, free cycle can be a great resource for some top quality kit that people no longer want. Basic car maintenance can be done by yourself even if you are not that technical most of the time it is just stopping and thinking about how to do it.

Try and keep your chin up jools182 some times it will feel like you are never going to get the monkey off your back, especially at this time of year but try and stay focused on getting rid of the debt so you can then get back to a normal life.

Would the bank accept a financial statement from me?

Or would it have to come from the CAB or someone?

You can deal direct with your creditors. Do not be intimidated by them

Your options are
IVA
DRO
Debt management plan
Full and Final settlement
BR.

Your first thing is to complete an HONEST income and expenditure sheet. Guideline allowances for items are available at CCCS, any more and the bank will not stand for it.

When you have finished your I&E sheet, see how much you have left and then you must offer that payment to the bank.

MAKE SURE THAT THEY STOP THE INTEREST PAYMENTS THOUGH. If they dont, your wasting your time and may have to consider another option.

Alternatively, do you have any assets?

House, car ? Pension ? if the answer is no, then consider going Bankrupt. Pay £600 for a petition and your debt will be wiped out. Dont worry about your credit rating as that will be shot already.

If you do have assets like equity in a house, then you will loose that in any BR case.

Do you have a parent or relative who could lend you a lump sum ?

They will generally accept an offer of 50% in order to settle.

Dont worry about the banks taking a hit. They probably made more then enough money from the interest they have added to your payments over the years.

Good luck.. email in profile if you need any more advise.

“Would the bank accept a financial statement from me?

Or would it have to come from the CAB or someone?”

It sounds like you have not already talked to your bank from that. Personaly I would deal with http://www.cccs.co.uk/ rather than CAB

I cant beleive that your bank havent already asked you to complete a statement of income / expenditure. They usually have their own paper work for this. To be honest I’d be tempted to go in to a local branch and ask to sit down with some one and go through what to do next. Speak to http://www.cccs.co.uk/ first though.

Re Bankruptcy

Pension…
They won’t take your pension fund even if you go bankrupt (unless there is evidence of you using the pension to hide assets).

House…
Depends if there is any equity in it. If there’s none they won’t be interested. You will of course still have to pay the mortgage.

Car…
They usually allow you to keep your car if the value is under 2k and you can prove you need it for work. If its more than 2k they expect you to sell it and buy a cheaper one.

+1 for an evening job.

“House, car ? Pension ? if the answer is no, then consider going Bankrupt. Pay £600 for a petition and your debt will be wiped out. Dont worry about your credit rating as that will be shot already”

I completely disagree with this having bankruptcy on your record last 6 years and means you WILL NOT get credit in that time. After 6 years it makes it very difficult to get a competitive mortgage and many insurers will not insure you. Most financial products have a caviat (sp?) saying that if you have ever been declared bankrupt they will not touch you with a barge pole.

My mates 26 – went bankrupt at 19 after having a very flashcar for his age.

Id say its ruined his life to date as his girlfriend is now desperate to buy and settle down but they cant get considered for a mortgage due to his past without a monsterous deposit – even then his rates are stupidly high.

Then again i know someone else at a later stage in life whos used bankruptcy as a time to learn again and it seems to be working out well atm for him

But i wouldnt be fooled it doesnt dissapear after 6 years …..more chance of getting credit with a 10 stretch for robbing a bank on your record !

Honestly, I despair at some of the condascending, antagonistic and down right disrespectful replies to someone’s genuine request for help. I can only presume the TJ type keyboard warrior types on here have never found themselves in a position where they may have fallen on harder times to feel morally fit to disperse such plumb mouthed, silver spoon enhanced shit that I’ve seen on this thread.

It appears if you’re not either a graduate trained Etonian then you should live like a hermit and not spend any of your daily pittance earned on living, because living has what’s got you in this mess. There never seems to be any compassion or sympathy for people in debt, the OP lost his job, the fact that he probably paid his bills/debts adequately whilst employed is irrelevant but sadly debts and the cost of living doesn’t cease when employment stops.

I had my own business and was doing well, I had a shed load of debt but the promise of more profitable work seen me borrow £50k from the bank in 2006 which I invested to grow my business and within three months of investing it the same bank took it back illegally. I was made bankrupt for £130k and the official receiver pursued the bank and got the money back only three months ago, but I can honestly say none of my customers (some of them I owed over £10k) looked down on me, belittled me or treat me in the way some of the people have in this thread.

I do wonder if people like TJ and others would treat people on here the same way if they were stood next to them in a pub after a ride, presuming the attendees had all been financially vetted for suitability to buy a pint by the Tory Social Acceptance Committe that is TJ and co…