Drowning in debt and cannot talk to people in Real Life? A problem shared is a problem brought into perspective - come and join the lens.

[Ta1kinPeace]

This thread is loosely linked to several previous ones on the same topic.

We live in a society that makes it horribly easy to get into debt but makes it incredibly hard to admit you have a problem and even harder to get out of debt.
Everybody is welcome to share problems, ideas, solutions, but not be judgemental please

I am not in debt, any more.
Here is a link to some spreadsheets that might help explain how
SPREADSHEETS-for-Debt-Control-Budgeting-Mortgages-etc

and lots of people use this
YouNeedABudget

The important things to remember are

• yesterday is as past as the Crimean War

( we will not judge how you got into debt, but we will support you on the way out )

• this is an anonymous forum

( we will not tell your employer, family or friends of the reality of your numbers and we are here day and night )

• this thread is about supporting people through the huge mindset changes needed to come out of debt

( feel free to offload all of the feelings that drive you to want to spend, that make it hard to save and that generally make life crap at times, including getting those closest to you to recognise the changes needed )

Join in, bare your soul and come out the other end.
Its worth it.
You are worth it
The long term results for you, your partner, your children, and your friends and family are worth it.

Thanks ta1kin . I have 2 credit cards (roughly 2k on one, 3k on the other). What is this standing order thing? I've seen it mentioned a few times but I can't see an explanation anywhere?

The problem is that I am physically paying out more than bringing in now so there is nothing to save. Let alone when I go on leave and will then be bringing home £900 less a month than my current salary.

In thinking I need to either set up a debt management plan, or ask my creditors if I can just make token payments for whilst I'm on leave with a view to reviewing/upping the payments when I go back to work and have a new budget.

Since December I got to the point where I went over my credit limit on one card and so ended up having to make an extra large payment in January and then was short that month and it tipped over to this month etc. So I'm now just scraping the minimum payments on everything and have nothing left over.

I have my mot in a few weeks and I just don't know what I'm going to do because I know it'll need work and I simply won't have the money to pay for it :(. If I was on maternity leave earlier I could do without it for a few months but I need it for work until then.

Placemarking as I need this thread - but too tired to think right now!

positive
In the opening post is a link to my "spreadsheets" thread that explains the magic that is the standing order trick.

But yes if your nose is only just above the water before your income drops you need to talk to Stepchange or the CAB to get your creditors in the picture and working with you.

Othercat
Feel free to offload onto here when you are less tired.

Positive...I suppose I do have something to show for my debt - a fixed roof and working kitchen and boiler!!
BUT when I go through my "everyday" spending at the end of the month I'm always horrified by what I fritter away....
A coffee here, a bath bomb there, a treat for the dc from Amazon...
So I can very much believe that you have nothing to show for it
Follow tips advice...she is VERY knowledgable Wrt debt
Good luck x

Hello everyone!
Been busy here hope you are all ok?
Had more stuff break/blow up 😀 so had some more unexpected expenses;
New tumble dryer
More roof repairs
New mattress for ds2 (his had a manufacturing fault so we did get some money back for that)
We still have the £1000 emergency fund and are chipping away at the cc
Holiday balance will be paid at the the end of this month
Still feels like a long road but we are on the right track

You're doing great Badders...and appreciate your updates (note to self must do better with mine!). All change and no change all at the same time here. Still plodding along with store card almost taken care of, it should be done in the next couple of months. Expense wise...taken a few hits but all manageable in the end. Quick question for you guys...DO and I have now officially moved in together and everything is going into one family pot as we'd always agreed. Challenge is he is predominately paid cash in hand (self employed musician) and I find we dip into the cash pot more often than we (I lol) would like. Between one thing and another it's a real pain getting to Bank to pay it in...and I've tried enveloping it all up with a spend category, but still think we could do better (by way of an example, he's been gigging all w/end and there is currently over £600 in the teapot!)...any thoughts?!

Hello

Thank you for this thread. I am heavily in debt about £40,000 from a few years ago and everything had been ok only that our outgoings now exceed our income. We have 2 little kids and don't own home. DH works part time so he can look after the kids and I work full time.

The thing is we have 2 guarantor loans which require a payment of £605 monthly. I've approached Step Change who have kindly offered to help however they have advised that the 2 companies with the guarantor loans will NOT accept a debt recovery plan instead they'll go after my guarantors which I can't allow as it would be very unfair on them.

I'm at the point where I'm having palpitations just thinking about the guarantor Loans. They both total £12,500.

Going bankrupt isn't an option due to my job but I just feel as if there's no way out.

If the companies agreed the debt recovery plan, we'll be paying out £570 a month rather than the £1400 we're currently paying.

I really don't know what to do.

I think the companies will accept your payment plan...they want their money back after all!
I agree re the guarantor loans but could you approach the guarantors and let them know the situation? Are they family members?
💐 for you.
It's a horrid feeling

Things here are plodding along...I think that's why I'm a bit down about it...it's so slow!!

Just trying to arrange a new fixed rate deal for the mortgage - and a new 0% cc deal

I've found a really good deal for 1.29% for 5
Years which I'm happy with. We are also going to shorten the term a bit.

Also a 0% cc for 36 months - which is our time frame for paying it off

So....plod plod plod

Just re did our home insurance
Saved £150 and will get£50 in vouchers

I'm in quite a bit of debt, and I am quite young. I'm in a bit of a nasty circle at the minute. The debt gets me down, then I spend to be happy. I'm controlling it a little better now however still an on going issue. I owe my ex £14000 which I spent on credit cards when we were together. We had a very nasty break up (abusive relationship, poor excuse but still) £5000 was on my car but it has massively depreciated since we bought it and I'd be looking at £1500 for it now, providing it would sell (I am trying). The problem is the debt is in his name, which means he is still contacting me all the time chasing his debt, threatening me. I currently pay £350 a month to him, but its not enough to keep him off my case and I physically can't afford to pay anymore. Just letting off some steam, wondering if anyone else has had this and what can I do, if anything?

If there's nothing in writing saying you owe him the money then he can whistle for it.

Threatening you is illegal though, you can have him arrested for that.

Agree with fluffy here
It's intimidation - report him
If the debt is not in your name you are not legally liable

Hi I need a bit of advice. I'm in a bit of debt but it's manageable and now I'm back at work it'll clear itself down naturally because I budget quite well. My issue is my husband. We have a joint account but also both our own accounts and both have our own credit cards. The problem is he got a letter today that's "not a circular" and I recognise it as a debt letter. The problem is it's vanished. Like completely hidden and it makes me worry. I have no money to help out for the next few months and I think he's pinning all his hopes on selling the house but then we'll need a mortgage. He's borrowed money in the past without saying anything and I've confronted him and he's explaining ed it away as him having a loan and paying it off with another to keep the interest down when the introductory rate changes. The problem is it's all done in secret and if I didn't snoop I'd have never known. I feel awful snooping I really do. Tonight whilst looking for this letter I have found two others about him being over credit limits and needing to pay because he has charges on them. How can I deal with this? I feel awful if I bring it up but he's being secretive and I'd rather know how much trouble we are in. I'm happy to help as much as possible but it's hard if he won't tell me what's happening. I also don't understand why it's happened as he makes good money and should be fine!

Well if he's defaulting you won't be getting a mortgage in his name.

What's he spending it on?.

You need to find out what's going on
Also make sure he has not put any debt in your nAme!

I don't know what he's spending it on. We haven't made any big purchases and our last holiday was paid for using our wedding money. A lot of my credit card debt is from paying for the wedding but he didn't pay for much except the suits and presents for our bridesmaids etc because his parents and my parents helped. We each have our things we pay for out of our personal accounts (I pay for my prescription card, medical bills, contact lenses, glasses, credit card, council tax, phone) and he pays the mortgage ATM till we move and get a joint mortgage. The rest like food and petrol we pay from the joint account. I had to pay his phone bill this month because there wasn't money in to pay it and I'm worried. The mortgage comes out the day after he gets paid so I'm confident that's paid properly but the rest worries me. I've asked him if everything is ok and if he's worried about anything like money or work and he said no we are fine. He's singing in the shower so can't be too stressed. I might be over reacting.

I don't think you are.

Me either
You need a full and frank discussion about his financial position
Before dh and I got married and a mortgage we both sat down with our bank statements. Savings info and made plans accordingly
If he becomes evasive or angry that you are asking for this then that would ring alarm bells with me

Dh and I have an agreement in principle from a bank for our remortgage
It's such a good deal that we have decided to add on the cc remaining debt and shorten the term slightly too
It's actually cheaper than a svr or tracker!
So it will mean our only debt is the mortgage and we will be able to pile some money into our savings at last!
I'm feeling hopeful that once we have a savings buffer we will never end up in the position of having to use a cc for necessary repairs/emergencies
Hope everyone is ok x
And thank you for all the help and advice and sympathy on this thread!
❤️

Well done badders

Mummydider
If your other half will not let you see all of his bank and card statements you have a problem

Thanks tip!
0.99% - too good to pass up!

Ok daft question of the day...
We can make 20% overpayments and would like to do this as a one off lump sum 1 x per year
I'm assuming the first overpayment lump
Sum would be after the first year (so 2018)?

Badders
0.99 is absolutely splendid - it shows that your credit rating and finances are on a really sound footing now.
Overpayments - you need to read the small print.
When I had a mortgage we were allowed up to 15% in any variants in multiples of £1000
so whenever we had a spare £1000 we paid off a bit adding up to the limit across the years.

Has anyone here had dealings with UK Credit before?