In a financial mess and I'm scared

LondonGirl08

I am in a huge mess that I have no idea how to sort out. I can't even afford to eat at the moment and I'm terrified.

Basically I'm crap with money. Simple as that and during my time at university I got stuck in a difficult position where I needed money and the guy at the bank (Oh, how I hate him now) told me to apply for a credit card and that's where this all started.

Now I have a credit card that is over the maximum limit. I've not been able to pay for two months. I've spoken to them and they told me to speak to the Citizen's Advice Bureau and, for the time being are leaving me alone.

After graduating I worked with one company for two months, however was about to be sacked for illness (My mother recently died and has left me in a sort of depression of sorts, however I'm not registered with a GP and even if I was it's impossible to get an appointment anyway) and thus I left. They refused to pay me for the second month because I had apparently been overpaid in the first month and even though I know there are a number of days I should have been paid for they are refusing.

I also have a part-time job, which brings me in from around £100-£500 per month, however it was always cash in hand and now they've gone legit. I have to wait till the end of the month to get a cheque and has proved filling out any benefit forms etc impossible. I don't want to lie because they were being dodgy etc.

My flat itself is the biggest problem. I am a graduate and I live with four students, we all pay our rent seperately and share a kitchen, bathroom and hallways. It says on the benefits thing that I have to declare other people but not if they only share a bathroom, hallways... what about kitchen? Two of them I know are not supposed to pay council tax but the other two are. The landlord offered to pay one of their's share and hasn't, despite my haranguing and the other is denying he is liable even though he only attends university 1/2 days a week. I am thus 4 months behind on paying any council tax and they are now threatening me with baliffs. Also, my rent is due in 11 days and I have no way of paying it whatsoever. I have a cheque that I'm about to cash for around £133, but that is all. I'm also starting a new job this week on Wednesday, but I need to do training for Weds, Thurs, Fri and then need a briefing before I can start work. It could take me past my rent date.

Also my landlord is utterly dodgy, we have no home address for him (which benefit people need) and he won't give me a new tenancy agreement. Also, I'm scared about approaching him as a few months ago, I paid my rent and told him. He said ok and it returned to my account as I had accidently sent it to his wrong account. I didn't realise this at the time and accidently spent it (yes, yes... I know but it was on my credit card bill) but he's said nothing about it. I paid the next month's rent and here I am a few month's later and he's said nothing.

I have the grand sum of 30p in one account (out of an overdraft of £2000), nil in the other, a building society account I cannot touch of around £30 because my signer (my mother) is dead and they won't give it to me without her death certificate (which my dad won't give to me).

I'm basically in a financial mess. I've tried writing down what I owe and stuff and tried to sort it out but it just leaves me utterly confused.

I have had far too much help from my father in the past and he has just retired. There is absolutely no way in hell I am asking him for anything as he cannot afford it and I would never want to ask. I was thinking about taking a graduate loan out as my bank said to come in and talk to them about it around a month ago, but given my new financial situation I'm scared that my credit score is so abysmally !!!!!!ed up that they won't touch me with a barge pole. What I really need is like a big lump sum, with a pay off date that gives me a bit of leeway to sort through all this. Do you reckon they would help?

Please, please help me

fortune_pete

Hi LondonGirl08, relax, please don't get stressed, you have a short-term cash flow problem and not a huge debt problem.
You don't want to but at times like this it's often best to let those who love you help you in any way they can. If you borrow some cash from your father for food and living expenses it will be cheaper than a short-term bank loan or overdraft facility.
Speak to the council about putting their bailifs on hold for a few weeks to buy you time to get some cash together from your jobs.
If you can show your landlord and others who need paying urgently that you are working or will be working soon they may be understanding of your situation.
Folks here can help you with suggestions on how to quickly improve your debt situation but it's important you don't let it get you down.
Pete

gravitytolls

Do you have to live there? Rather than a loan from your dad, could you not move in with him? In light of losing your mum, it would doubtless do both of you good, as well as giving you some respite from financial worries.

Bismarck

hi.

some good advice there.

take a breather.

it seems you're trying to deal with a whole load of stuff at once (understandable) but you need to look at each part bit by bit and find solutions one by one.

gravitytolls has a point : some stability would do you some good and could really help your father.

as fortne-pete says, it 's a cashflow problem...not a huge one in the scheme of things...the important thing is to breathe, take it in your stride and it will get better.

take care

hypno06

Ok, a couple of things spring to mind.......

- you can get a copy of your Mum's death certificate from the Registry office..it will cost you about £7 (yes, I know you say you haven't got it, but you will get it sooner or later) and then you can access the £30 in the building society - so spend £7 to get £30 back.

- Go to your local CAB or student welfare office to try and sort out the issues with the landlord/other people renting in the house. I don't have any personal experience of this so have, unfortunatetly, nothing constructive to add in this respect.

- Get registered with a GP. You say it would be impossible to get an appointment, but that is just not true......it might be a while before you get an appointment, but it won't be impossible. Even if you have to wait a few days, or weeks to see someone, at least you can start getting some sort of support from that direction, whether that is tablets, counselling, or just the opportunity to talk to someone. This is really really important.

- Focus on what you can do things about. Rather than wasting your energy on fretting about your landlord, when you don't have the ability to get his address, or whatever, channel your energy into sorting YOUR situation out. Find out the legalities - if you have no tenancy agreement, what does this mean? Ask on the various boards on this site if you want, or get on google etc.

- make money......ebay whatever you can, join quidco, cashback sites, etc etc. Look on the "make £10 a day" thread on this board for ideas on getting extra income in, look at the "up your income" board to find ideas that you can fit in to your other stuff. With a little focus and effort you can sort this out.

- address the reasons it went wrong. OK you KNOW you shouldn't have spent the "returned rent" the other month, but WHERE are you spending? Unless you sort out your spending, and your bad habits you will just make the whole thing a lot worse. If you get a loan that you say will clear everything off and allow you to just pay one payment, but you haven't addressed the spending issues, you will only end up with credit card debt, overdraft AND a loan and will be in even more bother. Get a spending diary and write down EVERYTHING you spend money on, however small it may seem.

It might sound simple, but the first thing is to take control. Tell yourself that you are taking control of the situation, rather than letting the situation control you.

LondonGirl08

Thanks guys. Some great advice there. I've calmed down quite a bit and am awaiting my flatmate to wake up so I can list some books and DVDs on Amazon etc.

I really can't ask my dad for any money, it's just not possible. He helped me out lots in the past but there are issues around my mum's death etc that basically cleared him out (they were living abroad, their health insurance ran out etc) and as much as I would like to live with him, there is a bedroom for me it's just not big enough and he lives out in the styx where there is a sincere lack of work at the moment. I think my best bet is staying put for now. HOWEVER, I'll give it a week and if I haven't managed to sort something out I'll ask my dad for a loan on my rent.

Going to talk to the flatmates today, hopefully get them to cough up their dues and ask for them to take some of the bills on in their name, it's not fair at the moment that I'm shouldering all the responsibility. In addition to this I'm going to try and contact my landlord again before speaking to the council tax people on Monday.

I've got a short term job on Monday to earn a bit of extra cash, doing something I reckon I'll be quite good at. It's only a days work but it's better than nothing and I start my new job on Wednesday.

I'm also going to go and talk to my bank. They've been really helpful in the past and have often never charged me for things that they should have done. They've also put a pause on my credit card issue until I can talk to the CAB. I think I'm quite lucky as my bank account is held in a really small town so they actually know me by name and face and makes it easier for them to be nice to me!

Council tax... well that's my main concern. But I think if I talk to them and work out some sort of repayment scheme I think they'll be quite understanding. I guess you get into most trouble by ignoring stuff so I'll take the opposite tack.

And yes, I certainly need to sit down and work out my finances. It's my own fault, I need to appreciate the value of money a bit more and pull my head out of the sand. Hell, maybe this time next year I might even have some savings hehe.

Thanks again guys.
X

PoorPrincess

LondonGirl,

Just wanted to say well done for posting on here. I am sorry about the loss of your mum, but you are obviously a strong person to have coped this far, so chin up sweety & good luck

Princess

x

hypno06

Have you had chance to talk to the flatmates yet?

LondonGirl08

Not really, but one of them (who is a star and been in the situation previously) said I should make invoices of what they owe me and then sit down and discuss it with each of them individually. One of my flatmates is avoiding me completely though, and his psycho interfering girlfriend is turning up this week and will not let me through to talk to him so a bit worried. If need be I'll talk to my landlord to it as he's managed to get the phone cut off and everything We're missing important calls because he's not paid his share and it's not fair.

JAMIEDODGER

sorry you are having such a rough time of it atm.

just a suggestion from me but, how about ringing your landlord, giving him notice (i am assuming tenancy is in your name only)

then call up your dad, ask him if he will lend you the train money to get to him, pack up your stuff and stay with him for a while until you can get your head together. Register there at the GP and then you can get help with your depression. You say your dad has a room for you but its not very big...well you are only one person! take with you what you need etc.

give yourself a month to speak with GP, go and see Citizen advice too, speak to the bank again about your situation etc. you say your dad lives in the sticks but there is plenty of work coming up at this time of year on the run up until xmas. try and find yourself a little part time job to start....give your dad some rent money, make a small payment gesture to the bank and arrange a payment plan, sell ebay/amazon everything you can. you might just give yourself the chance to start afresh. explain to land lord what you are doing and that you will pay him back the rent you owe him in installments.

Happytogetdebtfree

Hey london girl, welcome to the boards, plenty of good advice here and i think jamiedodgers is a wise move get some me time and get some organisation you need to sort the flatmates out .... its not very fair who knows maybe the person avoiding you has cash flow problems also... chin uo hope things sort out xx