To think I’ve really fucked up - not sure what to do

[frostedstrawberries]

After a long period of temporary work and sometimes not getting any work for periods of time, I finally got something permanent in January.

I’ve got a big backlog of debt, though, of things that I hadn’t paid for a while because I couldn’t when I wasn’t working.

So now my take home pay is £2050 after tax NI etc.

But my outgoings are:

Mortgage - £800
Electricity - £200 (it’s so high because I’m repaying a backlog)
Council tax - £100 (I owe money on that too)
Car insurance - £70
Mobile phone - £40
Internet - £40
Petrol costs are sky high due to long commute - £300

So in theory I have about £600 left to play with. But it just vanishes. I have pets eating me out of house and home and I have wondered about possibly finding alternatives for them but I just couldn’t. Every day I have phone calls about debts I didn’t even know I had springing up seemingly out of nowhere. I am well aware I am a complete disorganised mess with it all.

I really, really don’t want to go down the route of a DMP - what are the alternatives? I naively thought all would be OK once I started working, but it’s not.

It is ridiculous to not pick up the phone and face the music from the debt collection companies. If you go on doing that you will eventually be taken to court and end up paying the debt and court charges [don't ask me how I know] which will fuck up your credit completely now and in the future.

And debts don't "spring up out of nowhere" - you have ordered things on credit and not paid for them and you must know what they are - you won't get anywhere with this situation unless you stop lying to yourself.

You haven’t budgeted effectively.

You have missed out water, car maintenance, food, personal care, Christmas/birthdays.

All of these things need to be added to a budget to see how much you really do/don’t have to play with each month (unless you genuinely do not spend money on these things) Otherwise your budget will never work and you are just kidding yourself.

Once you have done this then look at your non-secured debt. If you have no money left or just a little, you can set up a repayment plan directly using template letters from debt camel or go more of a formal route. Stepchange are fantastic.

All the cat food suggestions are pretty pointless....because 80 pouches of whiskas is about £20 in pets at home and the OP is spending more than that a week...

So when it’s that much cat food you’re talking about you’re not going to save much just by switching brands.

You can get a new oven off freecycle, or really cheap from gumtree/ebay.
Have you got anyone (family/friend) who could fix the shower for you?
If not could your brother lend you a few hundred quid to fix the shower?
You could easily get a few hundred £££ from a lodger (use the first months rent to pay for the shower to be fixed).
The amount of debt you are in is manageable, especially as you work and earn a reasonable amount of money, you will have to make some sacrifices to pay it off, but don't we all have to make sacrifices?

Have you got support from a friend/ family member who could help you in real life go through your finances? You sound like you are over-whelmed and not thinking clearly.

It is not going to happen overnight it will take some months to sort through.

Re the cat food. Pouches are a rip off if you have several cats. Buy tins.
5 cats, 2 tins of cat food / day and a handful or 2 of dried food before bed between them. They are chunky cats so not starving them.

If you are paying backlog on council tax and electric, I'd contact them and say that you need to pay it back slower as you have other debts you need to manage. You seem to be paying a lot for your mobile. I have a contract for less than £10 a month. If it's data use, try tapping into your wireless at work, when at home or anywhere. It will save you a lot.
Answer that debt company call. It could be that someone has sold a debt to them, but actually you're under no obligation to pay them, or if it is a known debt then you can arrange payment at £1 a week. Many of them have a credit card line which suggest you owe them the full amount now. Find out the company name and ring the Company. Insist you talk to a person regulated by the Law Society or a member of the Institute of Credit Management. If they don't play ball, saying you will be writing to them and charging them for letters and phonecalls at a rate of £100 an hour.

They could also be "we heard you were in debt", management company. You can ignore them (they will charge you to help!) But you need to reassure yourself first.

I may have missed this from the thread but do ask your bank if you could temporarily increase your overdraft to consolidate debt and pay other things off. If you explain the situation and show you're now earning. They might help. You could also consider a Season Ticket Loan if your work offers them. Mine never used to check what it was spent on. A loan of a couple of grand, tax free, which then comes out of your salary might help.

I would also consider setting up a direct debit to a savings account for about £50-100 a month. That way, you ring fencing money to pay off debts with. I wonder how much you spend on water, food, takeaways, presents, going out, clothes, haircuts etc. It may not be monthly but if you work it out over a year and divide by 12, it soon adds up.

Finally, ask all these phone calls to write to you, explaining what you owe and why. We've had people chasing us for debts that weren't ours but a person with the same surname! One company did a CCJ and we had to get it struck out which is a real hassle. If they write you can then see who, what and any interest you have owing. You can then work out for yourself whether you can afford to repay it. It may be one company but it feels like several. The best thing is to face your debt straight on. Things can be managed but if you don't act, things can only get worse.

Most decent companies don't want to resort to bailiffs and CCJs, their staff have families. Just refuse to talk to untrained call centre staff who only want your credit card details! Good luck!

You 100% need to speak to someone about the possiblity of writing off/reducing your debts. Speak to Citizen's Advice as a first step

I was in a lot of debt too and I tried to manage it all myself. I owed nearly 7000 and was paying out over 500 a month to debts. I am now in an IVA with creditfix, I pay 90 a month to them and they split it between all of my debts. This is for 5 years and then they write off any remaining debt. After another year the IVA is removed from record so your credit will be cleared. IVA will include all of the debts you mentioned plus when you are in one the people you owe money too cant contact you anymore. If anyone contacts you about a debt that isnt in the IVA then you give them a reference number and a phone number for your IVA person and they deal with it for you. I know you dont want to do one but you seemed to be worrying about your credit being wrecked and this will stop it. It will include your bank overdraft but you would have to change banks.

Anyway I hope you get sorted as I know how suffocating being in debt can be.

Been there done that and a dmp was my saviour it may be yours. They contact your debtors and sort everything it saved me so much stress. Good luck

OP, please lets know how things are...

@pollymere how are you doing?