Hi All I am back again after a couple of years breathing space. Happy in my life, not so with the financial situation so here goes: I plan to move out of my house in about 3 months but have negative equity, arrears etc. all the usual worrying stuff. Irrespective of all of this we are still moving and there are so many options to us but which is the best? House is worth about £150k probably less if a quick sale was needed. Mortgage £172k (Yes its a NR Together Mortgage) and £43k of Paragon secured attached to it. I may sound cheerful! I suppose the realisation that I will never pay off the house no longer worries me now. I just want the best way out of it all. So whats the best thing to do? Lease option? Hand back the keys? Go bankrupt ? I know there are lots of options but I am sure there will be some good advice out there. Can anybody advise please!

Hi all Just a quick note to say that all is well, not exactly under control, but manageable at the moment. Its just a case of patience and paying those who are the most important. The DCAs continue to kick and scream but I just let them get on with it. Its interesting watching my unsecured stuff being sold from one DCA to another! A year a go I was desperate. A year later not quite as desperate, working and now have a grandchild on the way. What will 2009 bring? Slow improvement I hope and the same year after year. The message to those who are in the situation that I was last year is to stay positive, take advice and don't be bullied or panic! Fairbank!

.........and ask for a better tariff as well!

Lets all keep on making Harvest positive at the mo folks

........oh and change your phone number mate. It all goes quiet.

Harvest God to hear from you. Sorry to hear the sad news mate. I can appreciate where you are at the moment..........but hang on in there if you can, talent will always pay and 6 or 7 years aint too long to be honest. Once you have got past one stage in life you get to the next and you are clearly quite able to deal with whatever comes your way. If you want a PM wouldn't go amiss mate FB

Hi Folks, About time I logged on again. Very busy earning money and trying to get life balanced. It seems ages since I logged on and things have improved significantly for me. I a now in control of the mortgage and secured payments. NO hassle there any more. I have slipped with the unsecured stuff but am starting to deal with that now. Just sorted out a pile of letters and will do a statement of account and offer payments to them all this week. Payments will be based on a minimum income figure but I do hope that I can become (unsecured) debt free within 18 - 24 months now. Job fantastic. Will take home in excess of #3000 this month. Averaging about 55k a year. So that will form the platform for clearing the debts No joy on the PPi front as yet which has really dragged out. Success in that will have a serious impact on clearing my debys quickly Hope you are all keeping well!! Fairbank................

Thanks Hopeful1Hopefully(!) a new signature will appear at the bottom of the page!

........continued my new boss paid a surprise visit. Anybody reading this there are some very important lessons that I have learnt in the past few months in particular you HAVE to maintain the secured payments and other priority debts. NO matter how much others scream they are the ones that have to be paid. Keeping on good terms and speaking with the important creditors is a must, it really is. I am not saying don't pay the others, it is after all debt but don't be pushed, bullied or harrassed into paying what you can't afford at the expense of the important payments. Remember you also have to have a life as well, so be generous and don't skimp on the day to day items that you need. DCAs are a pain at times (well most of the time actually!) and I suspect with the current mess the country is in will become (credit crunch/squeeze) they will become even busier but the rules of engagement remain the same as they always have: Don't speak to them Get them to put everything in writing IF they are threateneing, abusive etc. Report them Get your CCA in the first instant so that they hjave to prove the debt. The most important factor is TIME though, we all have lots of it and it is a matter of using it wisely, no panic, and getting good advice End of sermon!!

Quick Update Things going well. Mortgage payments up to date and on time. Now starting to deal with DCAs who don't seem to be able to cope without being able to ring me every hour of the day on my home phone. Very little post in fact hardly any at the moment, the DCAs don't seem to like writing to me. Well that's their choice after all. Yes there are lots of threatening letters, but aren't there always. At the end of the month I am going to sort out my Council Tax arrears for once and for all

Hi Am still alive and kicking. Have made about £3300 in my first two and a half weeks at work, so money will be soon rolling in. If anybody out there is sick of the DCAs calling, I have a good tip! I do use the internet quite a bit so have invested in mobile broadband and done away with the phone line completely! It is so quiet and the DCAs can write to me from now on. As a family we use O2 mobiles so never have the worry about not being in contact with each other free calls texts etc. I should be on top of everything, by September now possibly before and it is then that I will be dealing directly with the DCAs. Its strange how these debts keep passing from one to another, and then end up back at the same place. Importantly the priority debts are being paid. Mortgage etc and it is a good feeling to know that the house is secure

Sorry butheard nothing as yet. Will be calling them this week

My repossession order has been suspended. Things much better now, was headhunted and changed jobs. Earning close to £50k with commissions! Still need to sort outthe DCAs but at least the secured stuff is now in control Yippee!

I don't think that they will just cancel it. After all they are getting loads of interest on this every month. I would certainly recommend if you don't think you can pull it off yourself to use a third party and let them take the hassle and pressure from you. You will have to give them 20% but at the end of the day at least you will get the money back in time

Thanks 389shell We all need optimism. I am a long way off being solvent but the journey is most interesting. Some of these companies have used 3 or 4 Dcas so far. I will pay them one day but only when I am secure in my home and know that nobody can touch it. As for the rest they will have to wait...........patience is a virtue and they will thank me for it!