Facing up to reality - advice please

lotto-dreamer · 9 March 2008 at 2:07PM

For the first time in my life I am facing being unable to meet all my financial commitments by the end of this month. I'm very scared and feel physically sick all the time. I am becoming very familiar with waking up panic stricken at 3 am in the morning...

www.cccs.co.uk has recommended three options - earn more money(not that easy, my age not helpful), remortgage (currently with Northern Rock fixed rate but ending August and they lent me max I am going to get anywhere) or sell house - I have to face I will have to sell.

There is a reasonable amount of equity in the house - even taking into account falling prices. I should be able to settle everything and hope to have something left over (£25,000-£35,000).

Does anyone who may have been facing a similar situation know what sort of reaction I am likely to get from Natwest my current Bank (and main creditor

) if I tell them what I am planning?

I have opened a separate current bank account as advised by CCCS although have not arranged for my salary to be paid into it as yet. Should I be doing this now before writing to creditors?

I can possibly borrow money from a family member to keep servicing my debts until I sell to avoid alerting the bank but I would hate to do this. If the house doesn't sell quickly I don't want to drag anyone else down with me (in terms of their losing money).

- this has been a long time coming -I should have acted sooner - lottery win is not going to materialise

Advice desperately needed please.

SortingIt_2 · 9 March 2008 at 2:38PM

Hello,

You have def come to the right place, lots of people will come along to give you some great advice :-)

I would suggest that you post a full SOA to give people an idea of your details. Make sure you include all income & expenditure.

Will keep my fingers crossed for that lotto win....I'm hoping for one too!

xx

mm2000 · 9 March 2008 at 2:47PM

Start using the new bank account now, get all income paid into it asap. I wish I'd realised this 7 years ago, but I found out the hard way, luckily I opened a new one before the CCj's were applied for so have full use of a current account.
I know how you feel with the feeling sick. Try not to worry yourself, it isn't really the end of the world no matter how much you feel like it is at the moment. You're with the cccs already and now you are here. Things will get easier, You're seeking help and that's what matters, You haven't left things too late.

lotto-dreamer · 9 March 2008 at 2:55PM

mm2000 wrote: »

Start using the new bank account now, get all income paid into it asap. I wish I'd realised this 7 years ago, but I found out the hard way, luckily I opened a new one before the CCj's were applied for so have full use of a current account.
I know how you feel with the feeling sick. Try not to worry yourself, it isn't really the end of the world no matter how much you feel like it is at the moment. You're with the cccs already and now you are here. Things will get easier, You're seeking help and that's what matters, You haven't left things too late.

Thanks for your kind words. It certainly feels too late - I feel like a complete failure.

Is it possible that even if I write to Natwest (and my other two creditors being Egg and Capitol One) - they could apply CCjs -even though I intend to settle everything I owe as soon as the house sells? I've never defaulted on any payments yet (I'm not on a DMP or anything) - but as I say this month is crunch time.

Hell1 · 9 March 2008 at 5:20PM

Hi Lotto-dreamer,

First of all, well done for posting here. People with more experience than me will be along in a minute to give you some good advice. However, why not use the help your family member has offered? Also do you have room for a lodger?

Things may just turn out not so badly....
Hell

lotto-dreamer · 9 March 2008 at 5:51PM

Thank you Hell1

- unfortunately, I don't have a spare room - or enough disposable income to go on a DMP or IVA.

I have three options - increase my income, remortgage, or sell my house - but I don't have the luxury of time to put any of those into place immediately. I have been in denial for too long

they're all difficult choices. I don't want to involve the family member if at all possible - their funds are not unlimited either but it would buy breathing space The only reason I might do this is simply if contacting my bank to let them know I am facing problems in keeping up payments will make things harder.(I've exhausted all other possibilities now including a three month mortgage payment holiday).

My biggest worry is how to approach my bank -and of course how long my property will take to sell. I am so scared I will lose everything if I go about it all the wrong way.

mm2000 · 9 March 2008 at 6:34PM

If you do sell, it might be worth letting the creditors know this, they may be willing to take token payments and freeze interest till they get their money in full. Is the debt that big they would refuse this?
I had around £90,000 of debt 7 years ago, I'm now down to around half that, I do have 2 ccj's now over 6 yrs old but on the whole life ain't too bad. It does have a few ups and downs along the way but you get through it.
Chin up and hope it all comes out good for you.

jue3107 · 9 March 2008 at 7:04PM

You sound as if you are in a very similar situation to me. I posted on here for the first time on Wednesday.

I can't really offer any advice other than to stick around on here as they really have some brilliant advice to offer. If you post your SOA they can have a look at it, and perhaps point you in a few directions re what you are currently paying out.

Good Luck & Big Hugs :grouphug:
x

lotto-dreamer · 9 March 2008 at 7:19PM

Thanks mm2000 - it helps to know other people do eventually come out of this somehow

Okay - deep breath - I owe approx £40,000 (unsecured):
Loan Natwest - approx £14,700 on fixed rate (was originally £25,000 :eek: )

Loan Egg - approx £4950 (fixed rate)

Credit Cards (all now on limit) - Natwest - £7265.00
Egg - £5600 (with PPI :mad: )
Capital One - £4000

Overdraft - £4200 (hovers around limit now)

Mortgage approx £69,000 plus secured loan of £14,000 both with Northern Rock.

Mortgage valuation of house when I got mortgage with NR was £145,000 - (in 2005) Agent has suggested house marketed at £169,000 and I could look at getting £165,000 (but I am trying to be realistic and expect I'll probably have to accept less)

Thanks for the support. Do you think creditors will accept giving me some time perhaps on this amount?

the ghastly reality is that my total net monthly income is only £1500 (includes a contribution from older son). It was £1700 with WFTC but because I am no longer eligible (younger son's age) I stopped claiming six months earlier than I needed to as I kept being asked for money back (£800 last time) - but that's another story.

I am selling whatever I can on Amazon, eBay at the moment etc and taking as much advice from these forums as possible

I really should have been doing something about it all much sooner

(ironically, I got a call one evening from Natwest recently, my heart turned over, but it was simply to discuss if I was interested in any investing etc:rolleyes: )

lotto-dreamer · 9 March 2008 at 7:28PM

jue3107 wrote: »

You sound as if you are in a very similar situation to me. I posted on here for the first time on Wednesday.

I can't really offer any advice other than to stick around on here as they really have some brilliant advice to offer. If you post your SOA they can have a look at it, and perhaps point you in a few directions re what you are currently paying out.

Good Luck & Big Hugs :grouphug:
x

Thanks Jue3107 x

Let's hope we can both come through this together.

It's no good posting the rest of my SOA - I really have very little disposable income (if any) and I have tried all the suggestions possible to keep all my usual expenses down by switching providers etc (although there is always room for improvement) and I am learning all the time.

I so didn't want it to come to this and suppose that's why I've tried so hard to keep going and deny what was inevitable for too long (my name on here says it all

).

jue3107 · 9 March 2008 at 9:23PM

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

Thanks Jue3107 x

Let's hope we can both come through this together.

It's no good posting the rest of my SOA - I really have very little disposable income (if any) and I have tried all the suggestions possible to keep all my usual expenses down by switching providers etc (although there is always room for improvement) and I am learning all the time.

I so didn't want it to come to this and suppose that's why I've tried so hard to keep going and deny what was inevitable for too long (my name on here says it all ).

We will get there, though I'm sure that you can't see that at the moment. It's probably still worth posting the rest of your SOA as I thought I had swapped and changed aboslutely everything I could but there were still odds and ends there that I could tweak - I just couldn't see it at the time.

As for your last paragraph - SNAP!! If you are anything like me you've just put your head down and tried to keep going. I knew things were tight, but thought that somehow I could get through it. You've definitely done the right thing coming on here. It will helo you get through whatever is coming.

You definitely need to speak to Northern Rock - make that first job of the day tomorrow morning. It will make you feel so much better if you can get onto interest only and take a payment holiday.

if ever you fancy a chat, I'm on MSN just PM me and I'll log on

xx

Facing up to reality - advice please

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