HELP! Br & Renting - are we panicking too early

Jubbly1868

Hi - soz, mega long post as usual!

Ive posted threads before and probably asked sme questions before (so apologies to the kind people who have already replied) but my OH and I are getting ourselves into such a state about Br.
Our papers are ordered and our wonderfully helpful CAB advisor is helping us to complete them on 9th Feb. She has said she will leave it up to us when we want to ?'apply'/post papers in etc
Under CAB advisement, we have not paid our credit card creditors since Oct/Nov 08 so they are hassling us non-stop. We have neg equity in our hse of about £11k & we were paying int-only fixed rate (til May 2010) mgage payment of £968 per month. We did various SOA's with all the debt remedy specialists & it always came out that we were in a deficit per mth of fm £60-£200.
Based on this, OH & I were advised to give up our hse, stop paying the mgage and look for rented accom to move into. We stopped paying our mgage in Jan (till then up to date, no arrears) so have only missed one payment so far. CAB sugg staying in house as long as poss to give us time to save up as much as we can for Br fees (as Im not exempt as on incap benefit); deposits etc..
We have sort of gone into panic mode and have been frantically trying to find rented accom. We had applied for one (which I started thread on as I had bad feeling about it!) and it fell through (psychic or what?) as 2 landlords fell out and one is buying other out.
I digress: Problem we are having (cause of panic) is trying to find a suitable rental that accepts us (2 very tidy adults) & 5 dogs (equally tidy & v.well trained but dogs all the same!). We live in NI (we're english, all family in england) and no one seems to want to rent to people with dogs. This is causing OH and me to fall out as I want to wait and save as much money as possible but OH is struggling with Sainsburys ringing his mobile every 2 hrs! For a ridiculously low sum too!!!
We are petrified that if we wait & declare BR before renting, it will be impossible to rent. I feel really pushed and pulled about what to do. We have seen 1 place that will take the dogs but it is quite small and although ideal in that it is surrounded by fields, the garden is not secure. They also want an NI based guarantor so we are stuffed there too. The CAB advisor (who bless her keeps taking our panicked calls!) says to try and take a step back and chill a little - take each bit of the process a step at a time, whereas I suffer from health problems that make me so stressed that I just cannot think clearly anymore. OH works permanent nights, 5 days a week so is permanently tired (and grumpy!) & all the donkey work of looking for rental etc is falling to me. I dont work, not through choice but because I am ill and Im doing more blinking work than if I was....
I know there are some wonderful people on here who have been through this awful rollercoaster - ANY ADVICE PLEASE. Are we panicking too early or should we be prepared. One of C.card companies threatening CCJ which assume affects rental. Has anybody in NI had any luck with getting rental accom, either with bad credit; dogs (!); ccj or worst still Br.
I know we are having to go through this process because I made some stupid but major errors with money whilst very ill but I feel like we are being so punished. We have been to view some real dives. Mould growing in the carpet. Rain leaking through conservatory; beer bottles strewn round garden etc... It is making our house look so appealing that OH is talking about wanting to stay now but I'll start another thread about that as rambled on long enough already. Any advice gratefully received, even if just to tell me to wind my neck in!!!! Lisa

Lensman_2

Calm down Jubbly.

If you were in England you would have realistically 6 months to find a rent. You are going to have a tough time of that with 5 dogs. On the assumption that 1 in 100 LLs will accept you, you are going to have to follow at least 100 leads. Keep busy on that one. There are lots of people here that have got a rental post BR so it CAN be done at that late stage. Even if you have to stay in mortgaged property for 6 months to save the required post BR rental deposit.

There is an easy way to stop the phone calls. Buy a PAYG SIM and write to the creditors informing them that you will only correspond in writing. This is not illeagal or immoral and will probably slow things down a bit. It will certainly reduce your stress burden.

You may have made some mistakes in the past, but you have to forgive yourself for them right now. It is now water under the bridge. You won't be doing that again so, in a way, you have already moved on.

So, I am not saying "Wind your neck in". I am saying "Get over it". There is no changing the past - no matter how good or bad you feel about it. .

Getting a hold of yourself and your situation is what this site is for. Go find the letter template that tells creditors to correspond by letter tonight. In fact do it now. Tomorrow, you can sit down and start tailoring it for your own use.

Only by taking control will the panic go away. And, although it is desperate, you CAN get control of it.

All the best.
Jim

Jubbly1868

Cheers Jim. Off to find letter... havent even been opening creditors letters anymore but know it doesnt really help so have them here to do and get in some order for completion of Br papers on 9th Feb.

Thanks Lisa

Lensman_2

Opening a letter is done on your time and your terms. As long as you open them and reply to the important ones, you are in control. The trick is to open them and reply to the important ones...

Unlike getting a phone call every 2 hours while you are at work.

You really are much closer to turning the whole lot on its head than you might think.

Good luck with the letter.

Jim