New person to-day

[mish1953]

[:D]
Hi let me introduce myself , Im Hamish , age 53 single dad with a 14 yr old daughter who lives with me. I'm in full time employment as a civilian with the local police force.

I'm new on here, this is my first post.

I have the usual litany of grief, single parent for 8 years, 2 marriages, but on reflection being made redundant 2 years ago was the one that finally put me beyond normal debt, I just didnt know it at the time.

I did what seems to be normal here, paid all my bills , mortgage etc but ended up borrowing & consolidating to make ends meet and buy food, clothes etc . Struggling, stressing, feeling guilty, sleepless nights, life generally sucks. No girlfriend ( cant afford to date ), cant afford a holiday ( Im talking camping here ) .

I now find myself here, and reading all the posts, absorbing as much as I can, trying to get my head around all the pitfalls & problems and smiling at a lot of the posts, its so good to see people de-stressing and getting themselves sorted out.

I have already spoken to PayPlan, started the process 2 weeks ago before I found this place. and am aiming to go for an IVA . Then I read some of the N/Rock posts -- oh dear.

I have a weird N/Rock mortgage , interest free but it has a loan element , I couldnt get a 100% mortgage

so
£93000 intrest free mortgage -n/rock -this is secured - finishes 2018
£20000 loan - n/rock - unsecured - finishes 2018
£23000 loan - RBS - unsecured - finishes - 2013
£ 2680 Credit card - Halifax
£ 950 Cedit card - RBS

Just looking at the figures make me sweat.

PayPlan worked out some allowances for me , and a debt managemant plan based on what I could afford which was .. errr ... well I would be age 70 by the time it was paid off ( Im 53 remember ) . So thats not really feasible .

I have a 14 yr old daughter who lives with me, so I really need somewhere to live , so it looks like the IVA route ... then I read the N/rock posts .. arrgh !

Pay Plan have told me to pay my mortgage ( £457 out of total £615 due to N/rock ) and make token payments to the others .. this meant cancelling my diriect debits ... that was sooo much fun , I bank with the RBS , initially they refused to cancel my d/d for their loan £371 a month ! I had a hell of a row with them but they eventually agreed to cacel it provided I make a token payment with a covering letter .. initially they told me to pay them and not pay my mortgage - I pointed out that I need somewhere to live and thats when they eventually agreed to cancel the d/d.

Just in case, I have opened an account with the CO-OP , has debit card, cheque book but NO overdraft, Ive also told my payroll people to pay next months wages into my Coop account, I have asked the COOP to transfer my d/d -utility bills , poll tax, phone etc .

Things to do - I have SKY it cost me £15 per month for ther minimum TV package, I have BT for phones and broadband -- turns out I can get SKY, phone and broadband for £15 per month from SKY still have to pay £11 to BT line rental ) but that may save money.

Reading the other posts I may have some trouble getting an IVA - N/rock 'own' a faily high proportion of the debt.

Any advice would be welcome.
I think that I need to cancel my account with the RBS

Phew -- enough for a first post !

[MelanieGiles]

Hi Hamish and welcome to the forum

I assume that you mean that you have an interest only mortgage, not an interest free one (Oh I wish!!!)

Can you provide more details of your situation - ie how much is your house worth, and how much disposable income you have. Also when did you take the NR loan out, and how much are the payments to them each month (unsecured element).

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[mish1953]

Thanks for the response Melanie
"assume that you mean that you have an interest only mortgage, not an interest free one (Oh I wish!!!)"Sorry that was me being a berk - yes it's an Interest only mortgage

"Can you provide more details of your situation - ie how much is your house worth, and how much disposable income you have. Also when did you take the NR loan out, and how much are the payments to them each month (unsecured element)."
Mortgage ( secured) was for £93000 , taken out 12 months ago, the house is currently worth £115000 - possibly.
I put it up for sale 2 months ago when I realised that there was a problem , had an offer of £113k and one for £115k , I didnt accept either - see below.
Being financially stoopid I had estimated that I needed £115k - based on an mortgage update that N/rock sent me in Feb .. but whn I asked them to give me a proper repayment figure they want £118k .. so even if I could sell it for £115k I would still own N/ Rock £3k . The £118k figure includes the loan for £20k plus early repayment figures, and interest. They have had £8k off me since I bougt the house.
My monthly income is £1500 wages, child benefit £78 Tax Credits £42. total £1620
Outgoings £615 to N/rock ( of which £457 is the mortgage element ), £371 RBS loan , and minimum payments for credit cards - approx £175 , plus all the usual stuff gas/leccy,insurance, council tax, phone bills etc .
The phone bills are scary ! I have a 14 olf daughter ad our average phone bils come to £150 a month ( land line & mobile ) needless to say Im trying to educate her.
I have no debts other than the 4 above, haven't been out to the pub since Oct 2006 and my social life is a trip to Tesco's.
I do try to 'save' some money to let my daughter go swimming etc , usually by trying to keep our weekly shop down to £20.
Thanks again

[mish1953]

PayPlan estimate that my income is £1620.43
my expenditure is £1267.50 leaving Surplus of £352

Incidentially, Im dealing with a trainee at PayPlan and she has been very helpful, sending me emails of information from there web site.

Ta
hamish

[dorset70]

Hi Hamish

welcome and you will find this forum really useful point of support, everyone posting to my queries on here has been so helpful and friendly and not judgmental, which is such a relief. Have just started my iva process with dfd, figures etc agreed with them and just awaiting the draft proposal to go to creditors. Have just spend a tiring afternoon making token payments to all my creditors as advised via co-op online banking (just opened a new bank account with them in last week or two and they have been really helpful and everything went through very quickly).

Had my saturday night out doing weekly shopping at asda (trying to keep within budget of weekly amount for shopping as agreed with dfd, just to see if I could do it). I was actually 5 pounds below weekly budget, so that's a good start!!

Keep your chin up.

[mish1953]

Thanks for the support Dorset70 ..
Hey thats 2 of us that think that a trip to the supermarket is a night out !
He he I was naughty .. I spent £2.85 on a bottle of red ! Much better than 21 bottles of cheapest washing up liquid .. sad isn't it.

Chin up
Hamish

[BlueShoes]

Welcome Hamish
I wasn't aware there was a social life to be had other than Tesco, and ferrying one's offspring to their various social outings!
And we're not in our IVA yet!
Blue

[Kiska]

hello, it gets soooooooo much better especially when you go to sainsburys one night, tesco another then followed by asda looking for bargins.......

[MelanieGiles]

Hamish

Just a word on your Northern Rock position - the bank is only secured for the £93,000 and not the £20,000 loan. So if you sold the property it would only be £93,000 which would need to be repaid.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[mish1953]

Yep if I sold the house I would still owe £20k to n/rock, £23k to RBS loan, and approx £3.6k on credit cards .. and have find somewhere to rent, and a 2 bed rented house round here is approx £500 a month my mortgage element is £457 a month ) .
Paying the m/gage early by selling the house is an option but N/rock want a load of money in early repayment charges.

My heads is full of figures, and permutations .. it aches

thanks
Hamish

[Adam Davies]

Hamish
Northern Rock are playing a very hard at the moment and there,s no point saying any other.Your chances of them acceping an IVA are extremely slim as I feel that they would rather look to secure their unsecured 20k in time if you default.
My advice would be to take a second opinion on your situation from another IVA provider.
regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp