Can't believe its Happening

mickado

Hi there,

Please can someone out there help us!!!!! can't believe how quickly things have turned around??? a month ago we where enjoying our holiday and now we only see a black hole sucking us in!!!!
I was self employed up until three weeks, i've had no new contacts so we've gone to the jobcentreplus and registred with them, I'm claiming job seekers allowance and my wife is claiming incapacity benefit, yet we still haven't received a penny yet, we don't know who to turn too, or what we should do for the best!!!!

Apart from the usual living expense's we have our mortgage, one loan, one HP agreement and CSA arrears repayment, but because we have no income at the moment we dont know where we stand!!!!

Please Help

GeorgeUK

I would contact CAB in the first instance - they will not only be able to advise on debts, but also the benefits and how long it may all take.

--Gem--_3

Hi there,

Try not to worry to much. It will not do you any good.

Seek advice from CAB asap, as george said they will be able to help by letting you know where you stand fully at this moment in time as well as timescales for the benefits.

I would reccomend you put together a financial statment asap and list all your outgoings, no matter how small.

If you have no money in your bank accounts dont go overdrawn to face return/excess fees. Try to stop any direct debits etc. Let the companies invloved know what your doing. If you dont want to call them then a simple letter should suffice.

My top tip is dont bury your head. Grab the bull by the horns & face your demons. Lenders & creditors, especially your mortgage company will see this as a responisble move & be more willing to come to some form of arrangment with you.

Remember, with all banks you will hit red tape & may sometimes feel like your losing the will to carry on. Dont get mad over the phone.

In my experiance the nicer you are to the call centre/bank staff the more willing they are to help.

Let us know how you get on with CAB.

Night, Gem x

lauzjp

--Gem-- wrote: »

I would reccomend you put together a financial statment asap and list all your outgoings, no matter how small.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

--Gem-- wrote: »

My top tip is dont bury your head. Grab the bull by the horns & face your demons. Lenders & creditors, especially your mortgage company will see this as a responisble move & be more willing to come to some form of arrangment with you.

I would strongly advise you to resist resist resist - some companies will no doubt try to offer you loans to cover you - please do not get into more debt!

The only way things turn round is when we have the lightbulb moment so often mentioned on here - what am I doing? robbing peter to pay paul, etc.

You could also contact CCCS who can advise you on what path to take. Brilliant though the Citizen's Advice are - I know in my town there is a daily fight to get appointments to see them.

mickado

Hello again,

We took your advice and went to visit the CAB today they advised us to take out an alternative bank account just incase Barclay's got a bit funny, and to get in touch with the finance company concerning the HP to see if we can settle with them, and to speak to our mortgage lender, Oh and they also arranged an interview with thier debt crisis adviser.

We decided to go with Lloyds Tsb as there in town, no problem there, all facilities and online banking, next we got in touch with our mortgage company "The Woolwich" which is an openplan mortgage, they adviced us to utilise our mortgage reserve account, which will help make the payments, its not ideal but it keeps the wolf from the door, we know we have to pay it back at some point, ( NOT TO LONG I HOPE).
Spoke to Hyundai Car Finance the settlement fee for the car is £456.43 so we are going to sort that out with some family help.
Haven't had time to sort out the SOA yet, looking hard for work!! but I will do.

Oh one last thing to mention, the wonderful DOLE OFFICE has misplaced our application!!! ERRRRR:mad:

Nite, Nite for now.

GeorgeUK

Have you put your CV in the online sites such as monster.com?

mickado

Yes have uploaded CV to all the major online sites and checking at the jobcentreplus as well each week, just had some news back from the unemployment office, my wife's claim for incapacity benefit has been excepted and her back dated benefit will clear in five days.

mickado

Regarding the D/D's did this cause a problem???

lauzjp

glad things seem to be going well for you - if you are registered for online banking, you can check these yourself and amend them if needbe. I found it easier to change them to standing orders so we could pick the date monies were debited.

Also, if your wife is claiming incapacity, it is possible that she would be entitled to Disability Living Allowance also - and you could claim carer's allowance or whatever it's called nowadays. Go on the dwp website, there are likely to be forms to apply online or at least a phone no.

dmd12577

As long as your home and other essentials are paid, the others play 2nd fiddle for a bit while you get back on your feet mick. This all happened to myself and my partner which is why we are were we are at this moment in time but getting there slowly now we have an income coming in. He was made redundant twice and the 1st time was out of work for 4 months and fell back with everything. 2nd time was only a week, I dont work as i take care of our daughter just now but sell home-made girly bobbles and bows to make a bit extra. There is light at the end of it all cos basically anything that isnt priority cant demand it if you havent got it simple as that. You can only do your best and give them what you can afford £1 if need be, so Good luck with the job hunting though. Maybe think about doing something you havent done before, my partner was in shipping and now hes selling ford cars at a dealership which is bringing the money in, he took the chance and got the job hes been there 2 weeks and already sold 4 cars which wasnt expected of him in his first month. The thing is though you have to let people know your situation and they will understand if they have to take a smaller repayment for now till your back up and running again. we did get alot of help from family aswell which made alot of difference, so it does help to talk to family memebers

mickado

Hi Lauzjp
regarding the direct debits how did you manage to change them over to standing orders?? some of the companies have asked us as to what dates we wish the monies to transfered on, mind you some have told us which date they are prepared to recieve the monies how acn we alter them???

concerning my wifes incapacity claim, I'm not sure if she would be entitled to it, as she is not psyhically disabled, she's more mentally affected.