Diary of a Poor Person aged 46 1/2

Happytogetdebtfree

i know i found some corkers this morning was well impressed :P ps

Happytogetdebtfree

I know i discovered some real corkers this am !! ps its primarni

mrscmr

im confused................... we have 7k or there abouts........... insolvency beckons.... i have tried so hard and now we will have to live on ccd's......... whats the point!

kissjenn

Hi Mrscmr,

There is a point. You've got a better starting point than the majority of people in this situation. You've already been through the house and the bills and jnow exactly what's coming in and out.

Things you may want to consider:


1) What sort of company did OH have?

• Was it Ltd and is his liability limited therefore?
• Are you are named director also?

2) What is the likelihood of getting some of the £400k in over the next few months?

• Are the creditors still solvent?
• Is it purely a cashflow issue?
• Is there any dispute over what was delivered as opposed to them just not able to pay?
• If any of the work is disputed can it be rectified qickly to get some cash in?
• How much of the £400k do they actually need to service the company debts including paying the bare minimum salaries needed by the directors to keep their peronal fianances afloat?

3) What are your priority debts and how much do you need to service them?

Your UK mortgage is priority to keep a roof.

• What happens if you default on Cyprus?
• How much of the credit cards and loans is secured versus unsecured?
• Can you offer token payments to cards meantime and ask them to freeze interest?
• How much equity is in your house?
• What would it sell for in the current market?
• Would that leave you with enough to start fresh?

4) Job market.

• Is there anything OH can take short to medium term to bring in an income?
• IT jobs still paying £500 pd plus in City (sorry don't know where you are)?
• Can he work away Monday to Friday if he picks up Contract elsewhere?
• If Ltd Company a problem can he work under umbrella of you or agency until company sorted?
• Alternatively, can you find work and leave him to ensure kids are ok, even if it's only til Christmas?

5) Day to day expenses

As you know all the money saving penny options I won't suggest those.

• Do you have a bank account separate from any bank you owe money to - in either company, separate or joint names?
• If not suggest that you open one on Monday morning and get everything like Child Benefit, Paypal etc all pointed to it.
• Make sure your current £7k cash pot is also away from all creditor banks. Put this money in the new account if necessary.
• The banks can offset debt and credit to ensure they get priority treatment, this could leave you strapped for cash very easily.
• Dump every non-essential DD you have now unless they offer a payment holiday (make sure that after the holiday you don't have to repay the money saved).
• Make sure you have basic Life Assrance for you and OH...freeze pensions and savings plans if at all possible.

You know all of this I'm sure and if i've offended you at all I'm sorry. The reason for the list is simply when I have been hit before with Oh My God moments having a tick list is easier than trying to start from scratch.

You have proved here time and time again how smart and resilient you are so you will get through this...may not quite seem like it at the moment though.

Keep posting - we're all happy to help any way we can.

PS The questions are for you. Not so we see the answers...simply so you can start to work through the issues.

mrscmr

oh kissjenn.. u are an angel to post such wonder and constructive things. there are some things that will not be affected. i think that its very scarey when you can appear to be bumbling along... and then it very quickly reaches crisis point. then to find out that you can really only survive 3 or 4 mnths before you realise you cant pay the bills.

the week ahead will be a challenge but .... it might still turn out well.

i am going to answer your points


What sort of company did OH have?

• Was it Ltd and is his liability limited therefore? yes limited co
• Are you are named director also? not named anymore

2) What is the likelihood of getting some of the £nope but some orders dont have p/o numbers400k in over the next few months?

• Are the creditors still solvent? yes will get it in over time
• Is it purely a cashflow issue? yes
• Is there any dispute over what was delivered as opposed to them just not able to pay? Nope
• If any of the work is disputed can it be rectified qickly to get some cash in?
• How much of the £400k do they actually need to service the company debts including paying the bare minimum salaries needed by the directors to keep their peronal fianances afloat? not sure - i dont have all the info but dirs now taking 1/4 of their monthly salary to ensure money left to pay employees and bills

3) What are your priority debts and how much do you need to service them?


Your UK mortgage is priority to keep a roof. yes i have a complete analysis of our outgoings and i know how much we need each month min

• What happens if you default on Cyprus? not a worry until jan 10
• How much of the credit cards and loans is secured versus unsecured? only mortgages are secured - loans and cc'ds not secured
• Can you offer token payments to cards meantime and ask them to freeze interest? - thats an interesting idea - but i dont know how to do that
• How much equity is in your house? about 100 - 150k equity
• What would it sell for in the current market? 499k
• Would that leave you with enough to start fresh? hmmm not sure

4) Job market.

• Is there anything OH can take short to medium term to bring in an income? yes he could take lower sal to bring some money in
• IT jobs still paying £500 pd plus in City (sorry don't know where you are)? we v close to city
• Can he work away Monday to Friday if he picks up Contract elsewhere? yes he would consider that too -
• If Ltd Company a problem can he work under umbrella of you or agency until company sorted? yes this is not a problem either
• Alternatively, can you find work and leave him to ensure kids are ok, even if it's only til Christmas? best he finds work as he can earn more than me and he has no idea how the house and kids work!!! hmm

5) Day to day expenses


As you know all the money saving penny options I won't suggest those.

• Do you have a bank account separate from any bank you owe money to - in either company, separate or joint names? all of these
• If not suggest that you open one on Monday morning and get everything like Child Benefit, Paypal etc all pointed to it. already do this
• Make sure your current £7k cash pot is also away from all creditor banks. Put this money in the new account if necessary. yes this is done
• The banks can offset debt and credit to ensure they get priority treatment, this could leave you strapped for cash very easily.
• Dump every non-essential DD you have now unless they offer a payment holiday (make sure that after the holiday you don't have to repay the money saved). ok
• Make sure you have basic Life Assrance for you and OH...freeze pensions and savings plans if at all possible. yes will look at

i think at the end of the day the best option is try to ressurect the business and save some income. he doesnt want to let anyone down - like people who work for them etc. i am trying my best to help him see straight. he doesnt want to walk away from the business - he wants to try and save it. he could just walk away and get ajob - might not be the best paying job but a job - probably quite easily.

we will need to get to the end of this week first.

xx

kissjenn

You're well in control.

The credit cards and loans threads will have lots on how you can ask for interest to be frozen or moving money onto lower charging cards. It's helpful if you know exactly how much you owe on each and the apr being charged so you can work out the most effective way of reducing them.

I know some companies will buy your company's debts for a fixed % in the pound and then vigorously pursue your debtors as they want the money to make their profit. Obviously you lose the full amount you MAY get but you do get money fast and there's no ongoing stress about whether or not a certain company will pay up. Even the veiled threat of this to your debtors may make them up their game and start making payments.

The only thing I discovered recently when setting up my new Ltd is that credit card guarantees are required from both personal and company assets. May be worth a quick check to see if they have any money on loans or credit cards and if any guarantees are ltd and/or personal liability.

savingholmes

hi mrs c - thinking of you - hope that you manage to find a way forward soon

Happytogetdebtfree

sounds like kissjen has covered it all I think everything will be ok x x keep positive night night x x x

mrscmr

well its monday tomorrow.. start of an unpredictable week... hmm what will it hold? dunno... fingers crossed we can salvage something out of this... OH stressed. i have a headache... im tired but we dont sleep ... gosh think of the wrinkles... but cant afford botox - bad news.....

will update progress in the week.

kissjenn

Best of luck. Try to get as much info as you can, knowledge is indeed power.

And you're not alone...we're all here for you.