stopping-shopping

A busy couple of days in the stopping shopping household. I managed to get a phone consultation with Payplan on Sunday. Spent an hour and a half talking to their rep Bill who was very thorough and seemed upfront and honest. He doesn't think an IVA is the best option for me/us as we would be repaying more than I currently owe and Dh's disposable income is factored into the debt payment. He suggests a DMP as the better option. Pros possibility of freezing interest. Only takes my disposable income into account when working out payments. We would be paying £100 less on debt than we are presently. Potential to be debt free in 4 yrs 9 months Cons Shags up my credit rating. Would shag up Dh's credit rating too as we are joint account holders on a v overdrawn bank account. IVA Pros legally binding on both parties so creditors can't ramp up interest etc All interest frozen. Debt free in 5 yrs Cons Shags up credit rating Shags up Dh's credit rating My name goes on the persona...

With a heart full of trepidation and angst I went to the RBS for the meeting today with Jack my "customer adviser" It all went pretty well! I was immediately upfront, probably too upfront but hey ho at least he knew where I stood and said "I'm in the poo and don't want you to try and sell me any products or further credit please" I went through my big debts and the impending issue of DD2 and basically asked for his suggestions on how to reduce my level of overrall debt. In a nutshell his suggestion is to approach our mortgage provider to extend our mortgage to 90% loan to value and then repay a big chunk of the debt. He feels that nuking the credit rating is too risky as we may need to remortgage / move in the future and lenders are being so hard core in terms of high risk borrowers that he thinks it's worth protecting the credit rating if possible. My initial reaction is "gaaaaah a secured loan to pay off all the rubbish I've spent money on is ...

I am having a tough time at the moment, the IVA looks like being a non starter and the payplan and CCCS people are all hugely busy with other new year destitute types. I found myself revisiting some very dangerous websites yesterday and was in exactly the right frame of mind to buy a Mulberry Roxanne bag in Antique Glace Plum leather for £200... ahhh the purse forum and ebay how I miss your temptations. I didn't buy anything yesterday though unless you count my chicken slice from Greggs at lunchtime! I feel very "at risk" in terms of my spending, so I've given DH my debit card and asked him to give me a cash allowance every week for the foreseeable future. I just don't trust myself not to have a massive splurge. If I had access to credit right now I would buy literally anything to get that brief glow of satisfaction and feeling of worth and belonging, only problem is that they charge 17.9% APR on it and the brief glow is replaced by hours of nausea and self ...