Redundancy and Full & final Settlements

Morgan2010

Hi All,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this but I'm getting very frustrated right now and I could do with some information or suggestions from other people who have been in the same/similar situations.

Brief Background to my situation.

From February until August this year I was off work with severe depression and moderate anxiety. As I had been with my employers for over 5 years they paid me full pay for the almost 6 months I was off and paid for me to see a psychologist.

In August I returned to work on a phased return and I have been in work full time since the start of this month.

While I was off they decided to make some people in my department redundant. As I was not fit to sit the assessments and interviews they used my previous Performance Review to determine my score. I was selected for redundancy and informed of this on 18 August. On 1 September 2008 I was informed that I would be leaving as of the end of this month and the rest of my 8 week contractual notice period would be paid as lieu. This gave me a payment of slightly over £8,000, I will also receive all the shares I have been given and bought over my time with the company but I don't currently know the likely number or value of these..
I feel that the following factors mean I will struggle to find another job

• six months sickness on my recent record
• the fact I have been working in financial services (which is being hit hard by redundancy)
• I suffer from Dyspraxia (which is a specific learning difficulty) which means that while I'm intelligent and able to do an office based jobs it tends to take me longer to do the same job as other people. This has resulted in problems with meeting productivity targets in my current job which means that, despite being praised for the quality of my work and my contribution to the team, I have been placed under constant pressure to produce more work.

Based on the above I feel the best option now is to try and start my own business in photography(a long term hobby that I have been told I have talent in).

Currently I owe

Overdraft £1532.79
Spending Credit Card £227.58
(I use this card to buy things over the internet and pay it off each month)

Balance Transfer Cards (all at 5.9% or 5.99% for the lifetime of the balance transfer)
Card A: £2,179.85
Card B: £1,214.69
Card C: £2,044.75

Mortgage:
Total Value: just under £44,000
Equity: approximately £100,000
Monthly Payment : £250 (next reviewed April 2010)

What I've been currently thinking was

1. Have September pay and redundancy payment paid into current account effectively paying off overdraft. This is because the account is linked to my mortgage and I can opt to receive the same rate of interest paid on the credit balance as I pay on my mortgage.
2. Pay off spending card as it has a high credit limit (and high % rate if not paid off each month) and would be handy in case of emergences
3. Offer to pay 85% of balance of other cards in full and final settlement. This would be £4,500 which would leave with approx £4,500 (including shares) to pay high priority bills such as mortgage and utility bills while attempting to get business up and running.

Questions:

1. I asked my credit card companies if they would be willing to discuss a smaller payment in full and final settlement. None of them was willing to even discuss it until I was at least 3 months in arrears. Has any one else had any luck in reaching agreements with CCs before they were actually in trouble?
2. Does any one have an idea of what benefits/help is available if you want to start your own business? I understand I may be able to get some training under React, has any one else had any luck with this?

I would really appreciate any help or suggestions people can give as right now I'm really struggling with all this while still feeling very fragile and tired due to the depression and the side effects of tablets I'm on.

Tixy

Hi Morgan
Sorry I don't have any specific advice to give you but want to BUMP this thread back to page one so more people can see it and hopefully someone will offer some advice.

Morgan2010

Thank you Tixy.

After doing some calculations I've stopped worry about the credit cards for now. Realised that the reduncay payment plus Jobseekers will keep me going for at least a year.

Though will lose some money from Jobseekers allowance as have over £6,000 in savings & investments (after reduncay pay and the company shares transfer to me). But according to Jobcentreplus website from 9 November 2009 the limit will increase to £10,000.

GeorgeUK

It might also be worth checking if you have any PPI on the cards - this may kick in if you have been made redundant.

As for starting your own business, i would probably see if you could get this to pay part-time or as a hobby before trying to go out on your own. You will need to get a proper business plan put together so that you know what a competative price would be and what your likely client base is - also could you make this pay full time.

Hopefully it will, but it's best to look at everything now. Just because we're good at something doesn't mean we can make it pay.