Debt so high - gotta wear an oxygen mask

Thought I would post this in the hope it will show me that there is light at the end of the tunnel and the numbers are going down. Long story short husband ploughed a lot of money into a business over 10 years which has now gone into voluntary liquidation and we are left with personal debts and business debts as he had to give some of his suppliers personal guarantees (including 2 shop landlords). We are on a TPP with Stepchange.
So the damage at June 2017 was:


CC1: £3000 Now £2992
CC2: £16000 Now £15991
Overdraft: £750 Now Closed by Bank
Personal Loan: £6250 Now £6207
Another Personal Loan: £9435 Bank seem to have written this off have closed the account!
CC3: £2223 Now £2215
CC4: £16500 Now Written Off
CC5: £14000 Now £14358 passed to Westcot (previous figure incorrect)
Supplier 1: £3000 Now paying off £100 per month by Tomlin order £2800
CC6: £15150 Now £15141
CC7: £975 Now £918 passed to Westcot
CC8: £7282 Now £7223 passed to Westcot
Supplier 2: £2144 Now CCJ being defended awaiting outcome
Supplier 3: £1000 Now CCJ hopefully will be set aside awaiting new claim
Van Repossession: £5750 Now fees added as CCJ issued trying to defend


Total: £103,459 New Total: £76739


And that is without the rent arrears on 2 shops - still not sure what the landlords are going to do.


Feel like we are battling against CCJs every day - one small one (£350) was withdrawn as I'm guessing the amount wasn't worth the solicitor travelling to the hearing so at least that's one less to deal with.


Found out one of the CCJs was registered at my neighbours to the point where they were getting a Charging Order on the wrong house - and the solicitor is still not admitting they did anything wrong - so another battle. Sent the AOS on one of the CCJs to the wrong email address so that will probably mean bailiffs at the door soon.

Any advice very welcome - my husband is well aware we should have cut our losses long ago, but we don't want to lose our house and therefore bankruptcy is not an option.


Thanks for reading!
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Comments

  • I don't have any useful advice but didn't want to read and run. Welcome to DFW and good luck with it.
  • Morning all
    Just realised I forgot the money we owe to family too:
    CC1: £3000 Now £2992
    CC2: £16000 Now £15991
    Overdraft: £750 Now Closed by Bank
    Personal Loan: £6250 Now £6207
    Another Personal Loan: £9435 Bank seem to have written this off have closed the account!
    CC3: £2223 Now £2215
    CC4: £16500 Now Written Off
    CC5: £14000 Now £14358 passed to Westcot (previous figure incorrect)
    Supplier 1: £3000 Now paying off £100 per month by Tomlin order £2800
    CC6: £15150 Now £15141
    CC7: £975 Now £918 passed to Westcot
    CC8: £7282 Now £7223 passed to Westcot
    Supplier 2: £2144 Now CCJ being defended awaiting outcome
    Supplier 3: £1000 Now CCJ hopefully will be set aside awaiting new claim
    Van Repossession: £5750 Now fees added as CCJ issued trying to defend
    Loans from family £13000 Now £12500


    So new revised totals:

    Total: £116,459 New Total: £89239


    I've put a PPI claim in for MBNA this morning as they wrote to me finally terminating the credit card agreement and telling me the insurance I didn't know I had has now been cancelled!
    Wish me luck
  • PETRA798
    PETRA798 Posts: 24
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    Good morning to you all.
    Well it's been a rollercoaster these past few weeks. My husband's email got hacked and whoever they were sent messages to his employer asking them to pay his wages into another bank account - which they did despite several emails written in dodgy English. The company has a crime number but my husband is still out of pocket and awaiting his wages!
    The landlord's agent handling the shop lease are now demanding £15k in rent arrears but want him to surrender the lease as my husband has had another tenant lined up for the last 6 months - so he is trying to negotiate. Does anyone have any advice on this?
    On the upside, we have now had an offer of discontinuance for one of the CCJ claims (as they were trying to make a personal claim against my husband on a pro forma account opening form that he hadn't even signed), so a sigh of relief there. So new totals:


    CC1: £2990
    CC2: £15988

    Personal Loan: £6205 - now passed onto Westcot
    CC3: £2213
    CC4: £14356
    passed to Westcot
    CC5: £15138
    CC6: £916 passed to Westcot
    CC7: £7220 passed to Westcot
    Supplier 1: £2700 paying off £100 per month by Tomlin order
    Supplier 2: CCJ being discontinued
    Supplier 3: £1000 CCJ hopefully will be set aside awaiting new claim
    Van Repossession: £5751 Now fees added as CCJ issued trying to defend
    Loans from family £13000 Now £12500
    Landlord 1 Rent Arrears £15,000


    So New Total: £101,977 :(


    I am having a spring clean at home and currently have 40+ items on Ebay but its small potatoes in making inroads in this. Its not like we're big spenders and never spend any money on ourselves - the kids do get their activities still as I don't think they should suffer, but I need to make more money on the side - any ideas on things that are profitable to make and sell from home?
    Need to keep focused and bear in mind that the TPP will be changing to a DMP in the next few months and we will need to start making bigger payments off these debts.
    Thanks for listening - sorry for the long post.







  • Hello Petra798,
    Welcome to the Forum, I think you are doing the right thing - defending where appropriate and chipping away at what you can.

    It is hard when kids are still dependent but I think you can manage to balance both as long as you are sensible and see the whole picture.

    I am self employed and went through an awful divorce BUT because my company was a Limited Company there was a good audit trail - my ex-husband was claiming half the value my business during the divorce. My accountant was great and split out what had been my takings and his and showed he didn't really have cause to claim half as he had taken out so much - it wasn't an exact science but meant I was able to fight my ex-H on this issue (one of many sadly).

    Is there anything your husband can do to claim back monies etc from his business partner?? I am not sure what the situation is and I imagine you've considered it but thought I would ask.

    WEll done at being standing after all of what you've been through - keeping a clear head will definitely help you.

    ((hugs))

    WM x
  • PETRA798
    PETRA798 Posts: 24
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    Forumite
    Thank you for your reply working mum. My husband didn't have a business partner and the liquidators took most of the money from the stock in the shops etc and I'm not even sure if any of the creditors got paid anything. It was a Ltd company, but my husband and I used our personal credit cards and a loan to bolster the business and he had to sign personal guarantees for some suppliers for them even to supply him - and of course the 2 shop leases were down to him.
    Where the CCJs are concerned I was a bit of a novice, but the solicitors handling these claims seem so aggressive and underhanded (2 so far sent to neighbours addresses in a bid to avoid us defending them) it all adds to the stress. My OH was stressed enough having his own business for 10 years, and the worry of bankruptcy if he threw the towel in, but in the end the decision was taken away as he couldn't continue trading when no money was coming in. He doesn't deal with stress well, and its got to the point where we dread the postman coming every day. People don't realise just how much stress debt causes and how it affects your relationships and mental health. I'm a pretty strong person, but a few sleepless nights and the ability to cope fades away.
    I think he thought it was all on his shoulders, and now that I am helping him with letters, forms, emails etc I am in the direct firing line too, so at least we are battling on together.
    Anyway enough rambling and thanks for your reply. Well done to you too, sounds like you've been through the mill and come out the other side!
  • PETRA798
    PETRA798 Posts: 24
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Hi all
    More updates: MBNA have sold on the debt to the PRA group! Also just re-read the letter from Barclays saying they accept the token £1 payment, and got a letter dated the next day from Westcot saying they are working on behalf of Barclays Bank and want us to contact them regarding a payment plan - not sure what's going on there - have they sold the debt or not? And the amount has gone up so I assume Barclays were still adding interest.
    So latest figures
    CC1: £2990
    CC2: £15988

    Personal Loan: £6343 - now passed onto Westcot??
    CC3: £2213
    CC4: £14356
    passed to Westcot
    CC5: £15006 passed to PRA Group
    CC6: £916 passed to Westcot
    CC7: £7220 passed to Westcot
    Supplier 1: £2700 paying off £100 per month by Tomlin order
    Supplier 2: CCJ being discontinued
    Supplier 3: £1000 CCJ hopefully will be set aside awaiting new claim
    Van Repossession: £5751 Now fees added as CCJ issued trying to defend
    Loans from family £13000 Now £12500
    Landlord 1 Rent Arrears £15,000


    So New Total: £101,983 :(
  • PETRA798
    PETRA798 Posts: 24
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    Forumite
    Wondering if anyone has had multiple debts with Westcot and done a good F&F deal with them?
    Stepchange tell me you can negociate a F&F settlement and still pay it in instalments - any experience of this anyone?
    Thanks for listening.
  • brizzlegirl
    brizzlegirl Posts: 1,260
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    Keep plodding...hope a glimmer of light arrives soon x
  • Kitten868
    Kitten868 Posts: 1,785
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    I didn't want to read and run but I also have no experience with large business debt so I'm sorry if I'm useless. I am so sorry you're in the position you're in.
    All I can tell you is what I've learnt from here: if you can't handle the pressure of handling your creditors yourself then go for a DMP with a debt charity such as step change. Some do this and then once they feel they can cope they take over themselves, others see it out with the charity to the end. As for F&Fs, the most successful ones are achieved with patience. After receiving £1 payments for a while creditors are more open to low offers. In your position I would wait. I appreciate that step change may not tackle business debts but there are appropriate charities for that too. National Debt Line is active on here and you can call them. Right now I think you want to get interest frozen and token £1 payments to all creditors.

    Once you have finally had demands from all your creditors and you know where you stand and your payments are fixed you will feel better. It won't matter whether your debt doubles, once you know where you're at and what you're doing it'll be easier. I'm not surprised you're not sleeping! I wouldn't sleep either with my life turned upside down, solicitors trying to slide ccjs past you and new debts landing on the mat. Keep your head up. You will get through and sorry if I've repeated what you already know x
    Loan 1 £5200/£8000
    Loan 2 £300/£5800
    Total £5500/£13800
  • PETRA798
    PETRA798 Posts: 24
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Hi Kitten868
    Thank you for your reply - Stepchange have been brilliant so far, so I think I will start a DMP with them once the TPP comes to its end, and then as you say when I gain confidence, I will probably go self managed and try to negotiate with the parasites. I know we owe this money, but I cant help thinking that the banks and the landlord are insured against bad debt and the DCAs only buy the debts for a fraction of the face value, so I'm going to try not to feel any guilt. Its not like we've ruined anyone's life or business from our actions, and my husband's business would still be limping along had it not been for the lack of new customers last year (around election time). I think a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet, and as long as we have each other (and keep our home) they are the most important things.
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