Time to bite the bullet

kopmcginty

Hi, been lurking a little while trying to get my head screwed on straight. Not even close to succeeding on that but I can but try.

So a little history.

Was cruising along fine until 2003/4. Up till then was in a decent job and about to take up a buy to let mortgage as an investment etc. At that point some things from my past came back to haunt me. Always been prone to certain mental issues that I managed to cope with but that was too much. My mind went west, leaving the body behind and as a result lost my job and was forced to live pretty much on credit (credit cards and a loan that was taken out for house purposes) as benefits doctor refused to accept I was suffering from stress and depression. Perhaps because I had always muddled through and never sought help on that score before??

After a couple of years while got things straight with a payout from the nice people at Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. They refused to pay any loss of earnings thanks to the not so nice doctor previously mentioned. This meant the compensation only cleared most the debt that had been acquired rather than forming any real compensation or allowing us a safety net but that is another matter entirely I guess.

So excluding the loan was fairly debt free and semi in possession of my mind again got back to work. Got a job that pays ok per hour but have only ever been on a 20 hour contract. Never had to worry too much about that though as until this year was always plenty of extra hours.

Everything should have been fine but 18 months ago we sold our old 2 bed house and got this place as our third child arrived. This house has sucked up every spare penny and then some. Pretty much anything that could go wrong has done. Having sought advice to see if we should have been made aware of the issues by the people that checked the house, we were told no as it is all defects they couldn't have picked up anyway... aka tough luck That along with the economic climate has really turned the screw. House is in bits and even if in good condition would be in negative equity. Work are only giving minimal hours.. any time I manage to find more than 20 hours one week they just give less the next week to balance it out. The final straw is that my health is taking a downturn too. I do physical work but finish the day in agony as my back and shoulder are shot. All this plus the stress of being penniless and I can feel my mind getting ready to go awol again. Having been there before it is an unpleasant thought that I may have to face it again. Don't know if I have any option there other than forcing my way through the day till I find something else, looking into that elsewhere. Been advised to ask about incapacity and such but I don't want to stop work all together. Besides with past history of seeking help on medical grounds I wouldn't hold out much hope.

To get to the point, although things were tight, repayments on debt was always made, though not always on time. Until this month was never more than a month behind on any one thing. Have been trying to get work with more reliable hours but being in an Industrial town there isn't any to be had, if anything I am lucky to have work at all even without my health being in consideration We have hit a wall last few months though with the non stop house problems we have been fighting a loosing battle since we moved in here. Putting things onto black and white has brought home that in fact we only lasted this long by using credit to pay credit (paying minimum amount on cc and then using the newly available balance top pay something else) and seriously scrimping on everyday items. In fact with the kids back to school, it is only the fact that I haven't payed any debt that allowed us to get the uniforms. Despite not paying the mortgage or any of the debt that is in my name, we have no money left at all.

Called National Debtline seeking advice and was advised to take the one route I hadn't considered.. Bankrupcy.

Bit of a ramble I guess but err hello..

fiveyearplan

First and foremost your health needs to be considered first. Is your GP sympathetic to your situation? If not, go and find another one. I'm glad you've been in contact with National Debtline.

Check out https://www.entitledto.com to see if you are entitled to any benefits or tax credits. What do you want to do with your home? You could put it in your bankruptcy if it feels like a noose around your neck and find somewhere to rent - you may also then be eligible for housing benefit.

Why don't you try CAB as they will be able to tell you all the benefits you may get and help you move forward. I'm glad you found this site - sound like just what you need.

philnicandamy

Well....you firstly deserve a pat on the back for starting on the road to tackling your debt issues

and I certainly wont repeat what advice good FYP has already said..BUT anything else your not sure of just give us all a shout & we'll help best we can

and welcome.....

kopmcginty

Thanks for the welcome.

Yeah the house is definitely going. To be honest if we stay here I will take a sledgehammer to the place. Probably wouldnt knock anything of the value doing it either! Worked out that we need to spend another 15k to get it up to scratch and that would just add 15k to the sale price, if we were lucky (which we never are) and it would still be -ve equity anyway. We are sorting out a private rent (may mean living above a pub for a few months while we save enough to convince someone we are worth the 'risk'. Then I'm going to file and include it.

Funny (not haha though) seeing people think filing is too easy. I have spent months trying to get payment breaks or reduced payments off people and got absolutely no where. If creditors had been willing to work with us a little might have been able to avoid it getting to this stage. They do love adding their charges though. Now instead of getting their money back under different terms, chances are they will end up getting very little or nothing.

We have been advised that only I should file as the wife only has around 2k in her name which we can clear with mine (18-20k plus half the house shortfall - about another 15k). Down side is that half of the shortfall on the house will still be owed but by the time the come calling for it she should be finished Uni (starts this month) and we could afford to repay that. If something goes wrong in her studies and we end up back to square one she can file then. We would much rather keep it to just me and repay hers though. Don't see any point in both us going down this road unless we really have to.

We already get what we can in tax creds etc right now though not looked into housing benefits as yet. In an ideal world I would play house husband to sort my health and cut down on childcare costs but I don't think it is feasible while the OH is starting Uni tbh.

tigerfeet2006

Unfortunatly she won't be responsible for just half the shortfall but all of it. You are both jointly and sevrally responsible for the debt.