Student in need of help

Jaymo

Hi,

I'm basically in a slight jam at the moment when it comes to my money with my bank, rent and being able to live while somehow pulling money out of thin air to buy my xmas presents for people.

I do have a part-time job of £6.20 p/h 8 hours a week (not a lot I know but better than most of the non-working students).

Right my rent is paid termly to private-rents 'student' living halls (which aren't part of the uni). The termly rent is £1381. At the moment my account has about £350 with a £1000 overdraft limit at 0%. During July/August time I tried to increase my limit but was denied because I had originally increased it from £200 to £800, then a few weeks later increased it to £1000.

My student loan has only just came though on monday and so my balence went from -£991 to in credit of £350 (so im hoping the will like me a bit more). My rent at the moment is overdue and I am being threatened with debt collectors, however when I asked if we could come to some payment argreement where I give them £1000 now and the rest in Jan 09 they wouldn't accept this and want payment in full.

This is really stressing me out, im in my 2nd year at uni (again after changing course)and i am considering just dropping out altogether, get a job and pay off the rent and move back home leaving everything behind. I don't know where to turn to.

On top of this I took out an emergency welfare loan of £50 which is overdue now to the uni which must be paid back on the 19th dec.

Summary of debt and account:

Account balence: £350 (with £1000 overdraft) at barclays student additions

Owed Money:
Rent: £1381
Welfare loan: £50
Parents: £150
Girlfriend: £120 (EDIT: Paid off this now - account balence is still the same, as i got paid from work).

I also dont get paid until the end of dec from work.

ANY help would be brilliant, otherwise I fear its stacking shelves in Netto's for my life.

Oldernotwiser

Can you not pay the £1350 which is available to you in the bank for your rent and then live off the £24 you're earning weekly? I doubt very much that they'll come after you for £35, particularly if you offer a couple of pounds per week so that it's cleared by the time that the next payment's due.

Unless you're going to be working more hours in the holidays, you need to forget about Christmas presents. Nobody who cares about you is going to want you to get in more debt just so you can buy them something and the idea of dropping out of university for this reason is just madness!

In the longer term you need to either work more hours or find somewhere cheaper to live; you seem to have taken on accommodation which is far more expensive than you can afford. Is your contract for a term or the whole year?

Jaymo

accomodation is fixed contract for 43 weeks.

The only problem with the living off wages is that i get paid monthly and not weekly.

I've set up a meeting with the people who run our living halls/flats to fully explain the situation and hopefully if they can agree on £1000 i can afford to pay them the rest when I get paid from work at the end of the month.

thank you for the reply!

Oldernotwiser

Jaymo wrote: »

accomodation is fixed contract for 43 weeks.

The only problem with the living off wages is that i get paid monthly and not weekly.

I've set up a meeting with the people who run our living halls/flats to fully explain the situation and hopefully if they can agree on £1000 i can afford to pay them the rest when I get paid from work at the end of the month.

thank you for the reply!

I'd make your offer a bit higher, after all, you have an additional £350 still sitting in the bank and, even getting paid monthly, you won't need all that to live on. If you have to pay the next payment of £1381 plus the outstanding amount of £350 out of your next loan installment of £1340 you'll start next term already £400 into your overdraft and you'll never catch up.

I hope you manage to arrange something.

poet123

Why has your loan only just come through? and is the next instalment of rent not due in Feb,if so this may be why they will not wait,as it would have been due in October.

Have you explained about the loan only just coming through? that is a mittigating circumstance and has obviously added to your problems. If you claimed late don't mention that!!

I think you should stress this at the interview with your landlord,and maybe take a student union rep with you. If they think you have tried to get help and that the Uni are involved, they may be more lenient.

Only other option I can see is approaching parents/girlfriend and uni again for cash to tide you over. As has been said xmas presents are not vital weighed against the loss of your course/future. Can you up your hours any to prevent this happening again? Good luck

Jaymo

I did apply for my loan late 'ish' because I was changing course and couldn't apply until I knew what course I was doing.

A student union rep is a good idea thank you.

I'm not really to bothered about being in my overdraft at all as it is 0% interest and I can clear that when I finish uni. Well im hoping I should be able to come to some agreement with the landlord people. Im thinking i might offer them £1150 - £1250 at least that way I have £100 to sort of live off of and mayb just get some cheap xmas presents.

just had a bit of a panick attack about the whole thing last night as its been such a big stress factor on my work this year at uni. love u guys (in a very plutonic way!) :rotfl:

Fire_Fox

The best option for immediate access to cash is to increase your overdraft limit again. Do you actually have a student current account? Have you officially advised your bank you are a continuing student? Most banks offer a standard overdraft limit to new students, increasing year on year. I am year two, and have a £1700 limit. It's fairly easy to switch banks (but considered fraud to open two student accounts).

Also do you only have a Student Loan and not a Maintenance Grant? If you are not entitled to a grant your parents are expected to help you out financially. If you are not in contact with them you may be classed as an independent student and can apply retrospectively for a Grant.

You can't legally be threatened with debt collectors if you have kept your creditors fully informed of your circumstances and offered to make a payment. Have you made all offers in writing and kept a full record of your correspondence?

The final option is to apply for a student credit card (ONLY if you can be sensible with it) to buy Xmas presents, although you don't have a lot of time. Whatever you opt for, sit down and calculate your income and outgoings for the rest of your course or you will spend the entire time stressed out. This will also be a useful exercise to demonstrate to the bank that you can be responsible around money.

Crap_with_money.com

Re: Xmas pressies, if you really feel you can't scrap them altogether, keep it to an absolute minimum.

Try this website: www.halfcost.co.uk they are a clearance site, and by buying token gifts, we managed to shop for my OH's full family (7 people), and only spent a grand total of £16.50 - and that included wrapping paper!

Some of the stuff is a little junky - and it is a bit hit and miss - but if you've the patience to trawl through it, you do get some really good bargains!!

xx