My story

clawdipuss

Hi to all you wonderful people, you are all such an inspiration and I wish I'd found these boards a long time ago.

My story starts approx 6 years ago. I won a bit of cash at the Bingo, not a huge amount but enough to sort out my credit card and store card and put some in the bank. I was working 6 days a week to keep afloat and winning the money was a godsend! It's then that things started to go wrong. Being young and stupid I started applying for other credit cards just to see if I could get them, and I did, 7 of them to be exact. i used them once or twice, paid the balances and put them away for a rainy day. How I wish I had cut them up!!!
Fast forward a couple of years, I met and married my OH and we bought a home together. OH suffered a severe back injury and as a result could not work for a long period of time. We started using the credit cards just 'to help us through' as I was not earning enough to cover all the bills. Slowly and silently the balances started to creep up. We both buried our heads in the sand and thought it would be ok.

We then relocated 100's miles away from my family and friends to Scotland. Sold our little 2 bedroom place for a tidy profit and managed to buy a flat outright in Scotland. We then had the bright idea that we could consolidate all our CC debts into a secured loan against the lovely home we had just bought. So we did that, and thought everything was ok again. There was one minor flaw however, we didn't cut up the credit cards and yep, you've guessed it, we ran up HUGE amounts on the cards. Partly due to the fact that I had an accident at work after living here for only a year, couldn't work and wasn't entitled to any benefits as my NI contributions were not enough. Hubby's wages didn't cover everything ( sound familiar?) and partly due to us thinking that everything will be ok cos we're both ostriches and it doesn't matter, it's only money.

Well it did matter, it mattered a great deal.

I had my 'Lightbulb' moment when I found out I was pregnant.
Here I was, in debt up to my eyeballs, pregnant and 700 miles away from my family and friends. Believe me that lightbulb was very very bright.
My OH took some convincing but I booked an appointment with the debt councellor at Trading Standards. He was great, but he said that we were in very deep doo doo and had absolutely no way of paying back what we owed.
His advice was sequestration ( bankruptcy). We had to stop paying all the debts and wait for someone to make us bankrupt, he said we would also lose our lovely home.
So we did that, and believe me it has been a living nightmare. Phone calls, letters, debt collectors on the doorstep ( some very nasty) etc etc
We accept that we ran up the debts and had there been any other way we would have fought long and hard to pay them. At this point we could no longer even afford the payments on the house and were facing repossession.

So, we put ourselves on the council waiting list and hoped againt hope that we would be offered a council house before I had the baby or we were repossessed.
Fortunately we were, due to my state of health etc, offered a house after I had the baby and we managed to sell our home before it was repossessed. We have both just been accepted for Protected Trust Deeds (similar to an IVA i think) as we can use the proceeds from the house to pay into it. So we still have another 3 years to go, but we're getting there slowly.

I don't expect anyone to read all of this but it has been very theraputic writing it all down.

At times I have been so frightened and felt so alone with just hubby for support, facing homelessness whilst pregnant and all down to my own stupidity and downright greed.
Believe me, it is/was a hard, frightening, humiliating lesson to learn.

I am now looking forward to the future with our daughter and have learned to respect the part that money plays in all of our lives.

Best of Luck to you all, I am amazed at the support you all give each other

clawdipuss
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dmb37

AWWWW (((((((((((hugs))))))))))))).......good luck for the future.

sans_2

All the best..

tigerlily

Just wanted to say good luck. It sounds as though you are on the right road, and you have the security of the council house which is always a big weight off!!

moozie_2

What a story! Hope the future is much brighter than the past has been. You seem to be on the right track.

Best of luck :grouphug:

HueyBuey

Good Luck - I think that this site shows if anything that there is always someone more desperate than you, just make sure that you don't do it again as babies can be expensive - Luv & Hugs !!!!

little_miss_broke_2

Wow. what a touching, from the heart, story.

The bit that really struck home with me was your comment "it's only money", i was just like that too. I wish (hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it?) i had had more respect for money, i never did, i was just spend, spend, spend and worry about it all another day.

Best of luck to you for the future !!!!{BIG hug}}}

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

I really felt for you when reading your post, and ended up a little teary-eyed I must admit!

Very best wishes for the future, lots of love & luck xxxx

tattooed_lady

Hiya! Thanks for a great post:grouphug:

It's good to hear from someone who is coming out of the other side of a bad time like that.

Sydney_2

Just wanted to say that I was very moved by your story. Well done for facing your up to your financial problems - good luck to you.

clawdipuss

Thank you so much to everyone who has posted a reply. I never expected anyone to read my ramblings but it is nice to know that I'm not alone. I have learnt so much about myself over the last two years, mainly that I am rich in so many other
ways. I have a loving husband, a beautiful daughter and wonderful family and friends. And that, as they say, is worth more than money.
Lots of love and luck to you all,

Clawdipuss
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