Current Financial Situation = Fucked up
I've been stupid with my money - I'm 22 and have 1 grand of debt for every year I've been alive - which is a pretty hefty sum for someone living in Wales (where wages do not increase with inflation!!!)

I've been running from my creditors for the past 3 years and have finally got an attachment of earnings order (the bit after a CCJ where they take directly from your wages) - for £90 a month which ain't too bad on a 12.5k loan (the fuckers gave me a 12.5k loan when I was 19 (coz I lied and told them I was earning 18k as a security guard!)

Anyway, being somewhat near desperation last year I took out a credit card with a company called 'Vanquis'. For anyone who hasn't heard of this company - you start off with a £250 credit limit and pay about 60% APR on purchase transactions. Cracking Deal!!. Advice - NOT WORTH THE HASSLE

This year - even worse scenario - car breaks down and have to put up with a 2.5hr bus journey one way (Wales remember) to get to work. Need some quick cash to fix car. Apply for a loan. Company offers me 5k over 5 years at 15% - which is reasonable for someone with my credit history. I cough up an £80 admin fee - they then tell me that they can only offer me 2k over 3yrs at.....55%apr!!! wooo. I had nowhere else to go (lack of family) so I took the offer (and went to financial ombudsman and asked them about the initial offer and final offer and the fee - which I was told was highly illegal and breach of FSA rules but I can't be arsed chasing £80 at the moment). Anyway, I've ran out of money again, and this loan company - Welcome Finance - charge you £5.00 every time they have to phone you or send you a letter! Twunts.

I've gone to the CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Service) and they've been really helpful - I was with a debt management company before them called Harrington Brooks / Allclear Finance - they were total shits - took 17.5% cut and fucked up all the paperwork.

CCCS do it for free and come up with a plan for you - they do all the work coz it's a charity - and it's all free.

Ideally, I'd go bankrupt (a hell of a thing at 22) - it's my fault I'm in this position - I don't deny it - it's my fault I blew the cash on boozing at 18, and keeping up with the trends, clothes, nice food, technology all that shit - and I know I'm in a much better position than someone who was forced to go into debt simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

However, the credit companies make it too easy for you - it's too tempting - I mean if I could get a loan at 12.5k from a high street bank at when I was 19 - who else are they doing it too?

I wanted a 3k loan back then, and they instantly said I can have up to 12.5k - it wasn't me going back and asking for a bigger loan. It was there on a plate. I was out of work and had been chucked out by my parents - it was the only thing I could do to afford to live.

Again, I would go bankrupt but I can't - I'm doing my accounting qualifications at the moment so I can maybe one day become chartered (you cant become chartered with a bankruptcy order against your name).....

so I'll just plod on - paying my debts back at the most I can afford (fuck all at the moment) - and hope that one day I'll get that high paying job where I can clear my debts within 3 months of working, rather than the 15 years it's gonna take me at the moment.

Or I'll leave the country! (not such a bad idea seeing the way the country's going at the mo!)





Apologies for length - But at least I can see it going in.
( Chicken Skin Bag Making pearl necklaces since, Mon 27 Nov 2006, 16:33, Reply)