Help for single mum!

strugglingsinglemum

I'm a single mum, my ex-husband lives in California so is outside the CSA's jurisdiction and he stopped paying me child support last February due to financial difficulties.

I have a full time job and a mortgage but because I am now owed £15,000 altogether in unpaid child support I am struggling with £13,000 of debt. I have followed all the rules on here, transferring my cc debts to 0% or low interest credit cards but I'm still £700 short every month.

I receive all the benefits I'm entitled to (Working Family Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit as well as Child Benefit), we eat very frugally (mostly pasta!) and we never buy take-aways, rent dvds or go out. I simply can't see how I can cut back any more or increase my income.

I'm in despair as I can't see anyway things can get better.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also I'd love to chat to anyone in the same boat!

black-saturn

Hi there from another single mum :wave:

If you post us all your incomings and outgoings we could give you some pointers as to where to cut back.

southernscouser

Hi there, and welcome to MSE.

Have a look at this thread for a template about the information we need to help you.

homersimpson_3

agreed you should post soa (incomings and outgoings) and there are always savings to make.

moongarden

hi strugglingsinglemum

it is definately worth working out an SOA - state of affairs although you already possibly know that you are spending more than you have coming in - even if you feel like you can't cut back on anything further.

peeps on here will be able to make specific suggestions and you might find that you are pleasantly surprised.

i was going to say good luck but i guess on here you can replace luck with being organised and learning new ways to manage money.

No1Alicat

Hi I'm another single mum too!
I've managed to avoid much debt (apart from an interest free credit card spend for a holiday last year - just one more installment to pay off!)
My situation was pretty dire to start with but I'd rather not post too much info about that here (been there, done it, moved on!) but I just wanted to say there are probably small savings you can make and every little helps. So post your SOA and we can all have a lookie and see what we can come up with.
Feel free to drop me a private message if you ever want to chat though! I'm more than happy to help if I can.
Alison
x

cmjohnson_86

Hi there, welcome to MSE !! My mom is currently in the same situation and im trying to help her, Ive asked her to right all her incomings and outgoings down and I will post them on here. So i can sort of see how bad it must be as my mum is struggling really bad. As many others have said if you post you SOA on here im very sure people can help you as they have for me and sure they will for my mum in the future.

Good Luck for the future.

sarahlouise210

did you know that you can apply to the courts for child support even if your ex lives abroad ??? Your ex may have financial dificulties...but so do you !! The courts here can enforce payments from California - worth a thought !

strugglingsinglemum

One question - how do I 'post my SOA?

I have filled out Martin's budget - can I post that?

Nicola

black-saturn

Yep post everything thats on it :beer:

strugglingsinglemum

Until February I was receiving £2000 per month child support from my ex - which is why I have quite a high mortgage, overdraft limit etc. It's also made it much harder to suddenly lose this income - hence the sudden credit card debts (I'm quite frugal, rarely shop, we never eat out or get take-aways etc. and I have always shopped round for the best rates in Gas/Elec and phone etc....)

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,200
Part-time income (Kleeneze) £200 (varies)
Benefits - £500

Total - £1900

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £870
Gas & Electric - £45
TV License - £11
Phone - £35
Mobile - £60
Food - £300
Car Insurance - £60 (have a Rav 4 I'm trying to sell!)
Petrol - £60

Total: £1,341.00

Egg CC – Balance £5,897(limit £9,200) APR 0% until April
Sainsbury's CC – Balance £3854.98 APR 6.9% until balance paid off
Overdraft - £2,500 (limit £3,000) APR 15.9%
Barclaycard - £1000 (limit £1250) 0% until July
Northern Rock CC - £857 (limit £1,000) 8.8%

My other problem is a less than perfect credit rating due to a couple of missed payments on my Next account (stupid mistakes - I simply forgot).

My Dad has offered to loan me £7,500 to pay off the most expensive cc debts but I need to pay him 6% interest so that he doesn't miss out on the interest he would have earned to keep it in his pension savings account.

Any better suggestions? Is there any hope? Do I need the CSSS?


N x