I'm realy worried

bellrooster

RAS wrote: »

Hiya

Are you aware that you can recalim the charges made by catalogue companies in the same way as for bank charges? And even better that there is no court case and therefore no halt on reclaim cases?

No, I didn't know this - what I would be concerned about is if they wanted to the outstanding balances straight away? because I don't have the money to pay them - mind you, the charges that I got back would certainly help to pay them off.

I need a whole day without the child (she keeps trying to drag laptop off me, bless her) and get my other half to sit down with me, go through EVERYTHING and sort it out.

RAS

bellrooster wrote: »

No, I didn't know this - what I would be concerned about is if they wanted to the outstanding balances straight away? because I don't have the money to pay them - mind you, the charges that I got back would certainly help to pay them off.

If a creditor penalises you for making a recalim then you can go to the Financial Ombudsman and the OFT and they will get very sore wrists, and you might even get compensation. A few banks tried it and got a going over.

Will post the links plus the link for credit unions here later.

bellrooster wrote: »

I need a whole day without the child (she keeps trying to drag laptop off me, bless her) and get my other half to sit down with me, go through EVERYTHING and sort it out.

If you can show him that you are doing something postive to sort things and have the rudiments of a plan, he is much more liekly to cooperate than if he thinks he is being moaned at.

bellrooster

In all honestly I'm totally guessing what he earns a month, its never consistant. perhaps I should revise it - I'll speak to him and look at some invoices, but it's only ever going to be more a guess because it varies so much.

RAS

Hi

When you know what the situation is, come back for more help. it is important that if most of his mileage is for business, he lists it as a business expense, against tax, ditto insurance, part of the cost of maintenance, telephone calls etc.

In the mean-time you might want to learn about credit unions? This will explain them and you can find the nearest one to you.

http://www.abcul.org/page/index.cfm

They specifically work with people on low incomes, so they will understand exactly where you are coming from.

Here is the link for credit card recalims, the same applies to catalogues

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/credit-card-charges

And this is the up your income info - stuff the baby can help you with when she wants to play with the laptop!

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money

petrafyde

Hiya Bell.

How ya doin?

Thanks for posting that up. Have you shown OH this thread yet? You need to show him how the sporadic earnings are effecting your household in black and white. You simply cannot afford to allow this to continue any longer

Let us know how you get on, then we can tackle the money side.

rgb83

Hi, i am also new to the forum and really feel for you and your family, i had a few thoughts on the matter:
Always be honest with everyone you owe money to, by that i mean let them know the extent the problem has got to. dont make promises you cant keep they may respect you for it and you could find they assist you more. Companies like littlewoods have a terrible habit of putting credit limits up and up and up and send you discounts etc to make you spend. Are you bringing the limits down as you are paying them off? The only reason i ask that is i was very heavily in debt to catalogues and my biggest problem was i would pay them but was too scared to lower the credit limits 'just in case' and before long i was back up again. Also them making you pay such a high minimum payment is ludacrus, i would phone them and the other companies and make them aware of the situation. I work for a bank (lucky me eh!) and they key words to use are " serious financial difficulty" , ask them to stop adding on fees and charges and let you work away at the debt at an affordable amount each month, then once its gone close it down. I know its hard to do but you will feel so much better in the long run.
Same with the council tax etc call them up, explain the situation and see what they can do. As for your partner, he also needs to admit the problems are there and assist you, let you see the finances, help deal with the companies. Does he have a business manager through his bank? arrange an appointment.
Too many people have buried their heads in the sand so to speak and all it does is suffocate them, be proactive, make the calls and enjoy your family, i bet your little girl is growing up fast , you should be enjoying it not worrying xxxxxx
These are all my experiences from dealing with debt, obviously you have to do whats right for you and you family, i hope it all works out for you:rolleyes:

bellrooster

Well I can't thank you all enough!

When my partner came in yesterday evening I sat him down and talked things through with him, I took a totally different approach, I was upbeat and positive and explained that by working together we can get through this!

I told him that I had sought some advice and we had lots to work with so what I've suggested is instead of snatching an hour here and there to go through all our finances/paper work etc, we're going to dedicate Saturday in it's entirety to sort through EVERYTHING, I've asked my mum to have my daughter all day and she's more than happy to help.

My partner says he feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulder as he admitted he was getting increasingly stressed by the situation but sometimes things like this get 'bigger' than you and you just feel you can't do anything.

But thanks to you wonderful people, we can - and more importantly we will!

So on Friday I'm going to make sure we have everything we might need, printer paper, envelopes, stamps, paper, pens, fresh ink for the printer and most importantly, Asda value digestive biscuits!

I think that when all the information is organised and in black and white in front of my partner it might bring home to him how much we need a regular reliable income, and then we can think about finding work for myself at weekends.

In the mean time I'm going to gather as much information as I can, and check out all the survey sites and things - I checked out the competition part of the forum yesterday and have already won a tub of utterly butterly!

I've bookmarked all the websites that you have all suggested to me, and I'm very sure we'll make use of all of them.

Thank you, thank you - just feeling like this is going to get sorted is amazing.

I'll keep you posted!!

RAS

Hiya

This sounds a lot more like it. The problem is still the same but you have a decent chance of sorting it out.

Once you really know the situation, come back and we will try and help you more. You may or may not need to talk to one of thedebt charities, but they really need to know what is in theat SOA before they can really help you out.

Re you working - good idea as you will not have to pay NI and tax whereas he will.

misspoppy

Hi

Does your partner have a business banks account because if he does he can get help from the bank about running the business.
Business link is there to help you, check out this website they do lots of courses that can help you with running the business. http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home?domain=www.businesslink.gov.uk&target=http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/
Little things like giving a written quote stating a % that has to be paid before work starts will make a difference to cashflow as you will be paid to buy the materials, you could also write in installments for long jobs.

well done you really sound like you've got your head around the situation.

tyllwyd

Wow, that's fantastic. I expect Saturday will be a tough day for both of you, but it's got to be done and then hopefully you will have a plan for what to do next. Fingers crossed you can get things back on track.