Help - where do I start

PennyLessons

My partner was made redundant 3 months ago - and is still not bringing in an income - As a result our joint income has dropped by £2,200 a month. We have debts of almost £40,000 and with just my salary we do not have enough to pay even the minimum payments. Unfortunately most of the debt is in my name as he has a bad credit rating.

I feel stupid to have got myself into this mess, and now with "death threat" style letters arriving most days - and christmas just around the corner I don't know where to start.

help

jcr16

if you list your SOA , state of affairs ( your in and outs basically ) then i'm sure everyone will try and help you out.

but please don't feel stupid . we have all been there at one point.

Hawksmuir

First if you make a list of what you owe, to whom and at what %age, and post it on here fellow posters will help

PennyLessons

Thanks - OK here we go:

I owe nearly £24,000 in credit card debt - to J Lewis, Sainsburys, Barclays, Abbey National and Egg

I owe £4,600 on store cards - Debenhams, House of Fraser, M&S

I owe £1,300.00 to Next and I am repaying for a Sofa (DFS) with £1,294.58 outstanding.

I also have a £6,300 loan with Egg, and £850 left to pay on a Lloyds loan - both unsecured and also a secured £11,000 loan with black horse.

Incoming - my salary after tax etc etc is £1700.
My mortgage payments are £850
£122 for council tax.
£35 for gas and electric - £20 for water - £22 to BT -£10 TV licence - £24 house insurance.

ms_london

PennyLessons wrote:

Thanks - OK here we go:

I owe nearly £24,000 in credit card debt - to J Lewis, Sainsburys, Barclays, Abbey National and Egg

I owe £4,600 on store cards - Debenhams, House of Fraser, M&S

I owe £1,300.00 to Next and I am repaying for a Sofa (DFS) with £1,294.58 outstanding.

I also have a £6,300 loan with Egg, and £850 left to pay on a Lloyds loan - both unsecured and also a secured £11,000 loan with black horse.

Incoming - my salary after tax etc etc is £1700.
My mortgage payments are £850
£122 for council tax.
£35 for gas and electric - £20 for water - £22 to BT -£10 TV licence - £24 house insurance.

Hello PennyLessons.

Well done on posting, that's definately the first hurdle!! I can appreciate how worried you must feel, especially with nasty letters arriving in the post - I used to get hundreds every day (ok, so not quite that many, but lots!!!).

Right now, the most important payments will be for your mortgage/gas/electric/council tax/water (as you kindly listed above). After these payments, this leaves you with £617.00 each month.

Are there any other outgoings that you have missed? Do you have a car? If so, money will be needed for petrol/car insurance. Or do you use public transport? How much does this cost each month? How many people in your family? What do you spend on food/household budget?

I suggest that what you do is cancel any DD for your debts, and phone them tomorrow explaining the situation and offer them a token payment each, perhaps follow it up with a letter, ask them to stop the charges/interest and explain that as soon as your circumstances change (i.e. hubby finds work), you will be on the phone to them straight away to renegotiate payments. Some will accept the token payment, others might not.

What you need to do is decide how much out of the £617.00 remaining you can afford to give to your creditors for the time being (bascially to keep them off your backs!!). You need to make sure that all of the above is paid, and you leave yourself a reasonable allowance for living expenses/food. So if that means you can only offer your creditors £10 each for the moment, that will have to be (you do have quite a few creditors I noticed).

Its tough, but you will feel so much better after you have made the calls. This is only a temporary measure, and as soon as your hubbie finds work, things will ease off.

You did list your creditors, but it would be handy for us (and you) to know a) Who your creditor is, b) Your current balance, c) Your monthly minimum payment, d) the interest rate, APR....

Certaintly dont feel stupid, we've all done it, (hence the reason for our own section on this website!!) :0) - we are here to help, so moan/whinge/rant away.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Try and enjoy Christmas if you can.

xx

southernscouser

Hi Penny,

As ms_london has said your priority debts are your mortgage, and the secured loan. Also try and keep on top of the council tax and utility bills.

Have you considered going into a debt management plan? Basically you speak to someone like the CCCS who will negotiate how work with you to see how much you can afford to pay your creditors each month.

Payplan are another one. Both are highly reccomended as they are both charities and won't charge you a penny for their services. Other DMP companies will take a ridiculous ammount of you for their services which means you end up going round in circles.

Both of their contact details can be found in this thread.

helenp33

My husband went through six months of unemployment, so appreciate exactly where you are coming from.

Has your husband started claiming job seekers allowance?

Have you spoken to the Mortgage company to explain the situation? I contacted our mortgage company and exlained the situation to them and they were great and so we only paid back the interest until he was working. Not sure if it is a good idea, but it certainly helped out when it came to buying food!

Also - can your husband get any kind of temping work? Again, this helped keep our heads above water whilst he was looking for work.

Keep smiling!