Help I'm up a creek & no paddle

Tixy

Hi Pink Mouse

Hope everything is okay with your Dad

When you are ready to start thinking about your finances again the first question I would ask is whether you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to? Is this amount the DLA and your tax credits?
There is a handy website www.entitledto.com which you could look at to see if you could get more help.

Your expenses don't look excessive, though I think you could cut your groceries further - you have said you are busy and often tired - if theis means you reach for ready meals or takeaways perhaps you could try bulk cooking meals and freezing in batches in your day off so you can just take them out and cook them quickly. Also look on the oldstyle board of MSE for tips of meal planning, drop a brand and bulking out meals with cheap ingredients.

What does your 'other insurance' relate to? check you are getting the best deals for all insurances by using the comparison sites and if you switch look to see if you can earn cash back using quidco or other cashback sites.

With regards to fuel - is your car fuel efficent? Read this guide for some tips of getting the most from your fuel (efficent driving is boring but apparently can save up to 1/3 of you bill - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheaper-fuel)

Even with cutbacks your are still going to have a large shortfall each month. I'd suggest you speak to Citizens advice or CCCS for some free professional advice - they will advise on a way forward for you. They may advise you to write to your creditors offering token payments until your situation improves - they will help you with the letters and everything.

Good luck and hope your Dad is okay. Take care.

tallyhoh

Your building insurance is really high, I paid £107 this year for building & contents. Is it income protection you have for your mortgage?, please check the small print carefully to see if its really worth it. Some will only pay out for a few months.

Hope your Dad is okay.

Pink_Mouse

Hi All

Many thanks for your replies and also concern over Dad. This was another fall and although not particularly hurt paramedics took him to hospital. He has various physical problems along with dementia and looks like he may now have to go into care as Mum can no longer cope. Seems they are going to need quite a bit of my time from now on.

Well back to finance:

House & contents insurance on the high side as we live on the coast and there is a flood premium.

Other insurance is mortgage protection including critical illness but is also high as original mortgage was over 18 years instead of 25. This also affects the cost of the actual mortgage and the endowment policy payments.

I have looked at entitled to and I think am getting correct benefits, I checked a few months back with local council and have to bring home less than 200 per month to get help with council tax. Am getting joint Working Tax credit with partner but is all paid to me to help with household bills. Partner gets DLA at the lowest rate but as that is his only income he really needs that to pay his own credit card and he helps with bits and bobs like buying a newspaper on Saturday or when we run out of milk, bread, etc. so have not included DLA. I really want to keep him out of it as much as possible, due to his illness he finds it very hard to cope with stress and if he becomes worse because of it then that just puts more pressure on me.

I now keep all my food receipts and am aiming to cut the supermarket shopping down further, I don't buy many ready made meals, buy a lot of stuff off the reduced counter about 7.30pm and use shops like Aldi & Lidl for fruit and veg, picking up whatever it is that they have on good offers. I am now also trying to only buy supermarket own brand value goods where possible. Hopefully within a short time this will start to show results. About £15 of groceries is for puddy tat's food and litter.

Tried CAB a few weeks ago they are so chok a blok with people in debt that they have had to close their books to newcomers in our area. Spoke to CCCs and also Pay Plan on the phone, thought it might be good to get two different opinions and both said to send letters offering token payments so I guess that is my next step.

Any further ideas or comments, is there anything else I need to put in place before I go down that route?

Many thanks

Tixy

Hi Pink Mouse

Before you start offering token payments do move your income to your newly set up account and do cancel the direct debits (if you haven't already)

Here are a couple of template letters for token payments that may help
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=21937969&postcount=54
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=21654579&postcount=52

misspoppy

Hi

is your partner getting all the benefits they are entitled to? I would expect them to be able to claim incapacity benefit.

pepe2008

You need to talk to CCCS, they may not be able to help because you currently have nothing to offer in terms of debt repayments.

Separate your income, pay the Mortgage and essentials like C Tax, electric etc.
Put the Creditors in the picture, ask for int to be stopped, offer £1 per month.
Your LTV on the Mortgage is high enough for no-one to be interested in forcing a sale.
Honesty to your Lenders is the best way.
Good Luck

Pink_Mouse

Hi,

Thanks for all the help and guidance, due to my various jobs I am around at odd times of day so will keep working on my problem whenever I have a few minutes, obviously that includes reading this forum.

Will start notifying the various companies I work for about paying into my new account. I find cancelling the direct debits a bit scary but I suppose it has to be done sometime so will do that as well. If I give my new bank a list of the priority dd's (names & a/c numbers) presumably they will be able to take care of transferring them.

Partner receives lowest rate of DLA plus has NI credits from incapacity benefit but because he has been ill since he was about 11 yrs old he has never managed to make enough NI payments to warrant proper incapacity benefit. He has tried over the years but everytime the slightest thing goes wrong he goes into a complete panic and does a runner, last time he did that it resulted in him being in hospital for a few months.

Had a chat with CCCS and they reccomend offering token payments.

Sorry to be thick but what does "LTV" mean. pepe2008 says it is high enough for no-one to be interested in forcing a sale on the house?

Oh well, time for a quick bite to eat, jacket potato & baked beans, cheap & nutritious, I really am trying to cut grocery bills so will be interested to see what I have spent come the end of the month. Got to visit hospital for meeting with social worker for Mum & Dad this afternoon and then got some work to do and back to hospital on my own tonight. Dad seems to settle better if I go in the evenings, I think it's because I am happy to sit and talk nonsense with him instead of trying to get him to understand reality, dementia is a strange illness.

Will log on again either after 9pm or during the day tomorrow.

Thanks again.

kissjenn

Pink_Mouse wrote: »

The mortgage is in my name and at the end of June was 66,500 outstanding, with Northern Rock at 450 per month and then endowment at 143 per month with scottish widows and insurance for mortgage with L&G at 31 per month.

Hi, glad your dad is ok.

Can you tell us a big about the mortgage.

Is is interest only or is it repayment?
What's the interest rate and is it due to change soon?
How long does it have to run?
How much is the endowment for?
How long does it have to run?
What was the most recent valuation?
What status did they give it - Red, Amber or Green?
Is the endowment premium on your SOA?

Given the possible change in family circumstances if your dad has to go into a care home, would it make your life easier financially and as a carer, if you moved in with your mum or she moved in with you. I know it's a massive step but it may give you a number of benefits.

Do you think OH will work in the near future or do you need to plan your finances on just one income?

Tixy

LTV is loan to value (the amount of your mortgage compared to the value of the house).

Pink_Mouse

Hi

My mortgage is 40,000 on endowment and the rest on repayment.

Repayment is at Northern Rock standard variable rate, came off fixed rate in July when the two years ran out.

Mortgage taken out over 18 years in 1999 so eight years left to go.

Endowment status was amber but is in a better position than predicted cos when I moved to this house in 2003 I transferred a bit more from interest only to repayment and the endowment is on track to cover it.

Have just checked my SOA and can't see my endowment payment of 143 per month on there.

Unfortunately moving in together with Mum is not really an option, she lives in one bedroom bungalow on sheltered housing. My partner and I live in small terrace with very steep stairs and only a downstairs bathroom, not really safe for Mum.

Definitely need to plan finances on just my income, partner is nearly 60 and not been able to work at all for many years so unlikely to start now. Although I am trying to get a network marketing business off the ground and have wondered if he may be able to help me.

LTV makes sense now.

Thanks