Need some help

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Need some help
3
Mon, 11-01-2004 - 12:37pm
My fiance and I are in debt, we estimate about $6000. I know it doesn't seem like much compared to say, $20,000, but for us, it's a lot and it weighs heavily on my mind. I don't know where to start. I've heard of getting debts consolidated into monthly payments, but I can't seem to find a company to go to. I live in BC, and am wondering if anyone has any advice on a reputable company to go to. To give you a little more of an idea of what we have to pay off I'll give you some of the details:

We owe about $2000 to our ex-landlord (a friend robbed us and got two month's rent out of our bank account before the landlord cashed the cheques. Fun stuff :S

About $2300-ish to cell phone companies Rogers AT&T and Bell. Those are mostly our fault, we signed a contract with Rogers and since their security sucks (someone charged a call to Japan to his phone) we went to Bell instead, even though we still had accounts with Rogers. Why we did that without cancelling the contract first, I'll never know. It was stupid. We also had a run-in with Shaw cable, they charged us for pay per view that we never ordered (the bill right now is about $400) It was $600, but after we proved that we weren't even in the house that week, they reduced the charges. To this day I'm pretty sure that someone in our building hacked into our cable box somehow and messed with it. Also, a bill from Shaw under my name, where we had 3 months free cable and internet and we had specifically requested to have our pay per view shut off so we wouldn't get another monstrous mystery bill. Turns out the guy who installed it lied to us, there is no way to turn it off, there is always access to it. So a friend (probably the same guy who robbed us of our rent and bills money) most likely ordered adult films while everyone was sleeping. That bill is only $200, but it shouldn't have been anything. Still, I have to pay it because there aren't many options for cable around here. I think we also owe about $50 to Epcor (Edmonton hydro) and other small assorted bills. We have the old bills and everything in our little file cabinet back in Edmonton (we moved back to BC in September.)So yeah, now we just want to wipe our slate clean, the creditors aren't calling, yet, but they will and I want to get on this before they do. Any advice or helpful hints for me??? Sorry this is so long, but you know lol

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Mon, 11-01-2004 - 12:47pm
I'm not sure a consolidation would help you. The main reason to consolidate or use a debt counselor is to get a lower interest rate. Are any of these individuals/companies you owe money to charging you interest? Are there any fee's racking up?

Let's start with this: How much money from your budget to have to pay towards these debts each month? Have you made any arrangements to pay any of them already?

I only added up $4,750 in debt from your post. $2,000 to the landlord, $2,300 phone bill, $400 for pay per view, and $50 for I'm guessing a water bill? Am I missing some other bills to get to $6,000?

Have you done a monthly budget? Do you track your spending?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Tue, 11-02-2004 - 12:40pm
I sat down yesterday and spent 2-3 hours working out a plan. It seems quite feasible.This month will be the killer because we are going to pay $100 to the ex landlord, $1000 (500 every paycheck) to my grandma, and $137 to my old bank account because although it is closed now,I still owe that for bounced cheques,etc...Also, the other 250 for rent. After my grandma and the bank is paid off, the next months will be a bit easier. It'll be $100 every month (or two weeks depending on cash flow) to the ex landlord, 175 for the bundle of bills (I lumped Bell, Rogers, and Shaw together)so now it's manageable, and $250 every two weeks to fiance's Dad for rent. We are reluctant to move out until we have at least $1000 savings in the bank for emergencies,etc... But after that is in, we will reduce the monthly payments down to $85 for the bundled bills, while still paying the ex landlord the $100 every month or biweekly. I calculated that the minimum we will make every month to be around $2480. I've budgeted for rent of our own apartment, food, bills, even budgeted for misc. and unexpected expenses best as I could. I really feel confident that we can do this, and an enormous weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Since our wedding will be in 1.5-2 years, and we only want a smallish one, we will be able to save up bit by bit every paycheck. The ring is his business though, I know he can take care of that one with bits and pieces of his paychecks. The total max time to pay everything off should be a bit over 2 years, depending on how well we do while we are still living with his family and not having to pay bills or buy food. He also got a second job now, so he is going to be working 5-9am then 10am-6 pm 5 days a week. The second job pays $9 and the first one is $8 plus a whole whack of commission, bonuses,etc... I'm going to try to work two jobs as well, right now I'm in limbo. Wondering if I still have a job because after 42 ish hours last week, I'm down to 0 this week. So this week I am just going to wait it out and if I don't have a job there anymore, or if it's only part-time, I will get a second part time job. I think I pretty much took care of everything, and I feel no more stress! :)There's actually a light at the end of the tunnel now!!
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Tue, 11-02-2004 - 12:52pm
Good for you.

The next step is making sure you live within your budget. I had been horrible at going back and looking what I spent for groceries, gas, etc., although I always track those things. When I did so recently, I was shocked how much I was spending at the grocery store! I upped my budget a little, since it was apparently unrealistic, and then made a concious effort to spend less... and for October I did! I knocked $100-$150 for the month off my grocery bill just by paying attention to what I spent, and getting by with what I had when I was near my budget amount.

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