Maternity leave and Messy Money!

Aimee-lou

Hi guys, I'm hoping that someone will be able to offer some advice.

I'm currently 8 months pregnant and have been off work on sick pay since I was 3 months due to being bullied at work. I'm currently trying to get the money I am owed from this period back (some £1500) which to be honest would come in very handy right now!

Because of all of this, we've gone into arrears on the personal loans we each have (by about 3 months - about £1000 in total). There's no way that we will be able to re-pay all of this in one go and still buy the things that we desperately need for the baby in a month! (Oil for central heating, cot for baby, etc) plus the car needs an MOT/service and 4 new tyres (never rains eh!?).......otherwise we're going to have to get the bus to the hospital! :rotfl:

We can just about afford to get the car sorted and a few bits but we will have to miss another months payments in order to do this! (Neither of the loans are secured so I'm not too worried about any re-possessions or anything, I've just worked so hard the past 2 years to get some of our debts paid off it's heart breaking to see them creeping back up or not getting any smaller!

Please can someone offer some advice on how we can get out of the habit of missing payments (I've tried re-negotiating the payments but they wont have any of it as we missed the payments and now we're in arrears they want MORE not LESS! )

Any advice welcome....I'm at the end of my tether!!!

flea72

what are your employers sickness terms? if you have been off with a sick note for the past 5m, then you should only have been getting stat sick pay, via your employer. if you havent been receiving this, when why have you not chased it earlier?

Also if you are off sick whilst pg, your mat leave can kick in early, so for at least the last 11wks of your pregnancy, you would have been forced onto SMP/MA (which by my reckoning, you should have been receiving for at least the past 5wks)

Dont have any help on the arrears, as i dont think many credit companies are keen to reassess terms, unless you have gone down the IVA route

Flea

Aimee-lou

Without going into too much detail I was forced onto sick leave due to my boss bullying me. I have been found to 'have a case' that this shouldn't have happened and therefore I'm owed money (wages for the months up to week 29 then the money that should have been taken into account on my SMP). At the moment I'm stuck in a rut but things look like they may move soon (have an appointment with a solicitor later this week).........but the fact that I've been on SSP since May has left us so short that it has caused these problems.

dancingfairy

I guess the best thing to do it to do an uptodate SOA - not sure if you have done one before or not but a new uptodate one wouldn't hurt. Then you will see where you are and prioritise accordingly.
Whilst it would be great to get the money you are owed you cant really count on this coming to you shortly so budget on what you have got now.
Also decide what needs to be sorted first eg car etc.
If you haven't got it they can't have it and will have to make do with token payments at least until you get the money you are owed.
df

dancingfairy

I would also check out moneysaving in families and relationships board (or whatever it is called) you should be able to join up to loads of baby clubs ie boots, tesco etc etc and also I think pregnant women, or women with children seem to be in demand with survey sites etc.
Is there any way you can get the bits you need cheaply for the baby.
Ayway sorry things haven't gone well for you so far but hope things improve and you enjoy your little one.
df

Aimee-lou

Thanks - I have done an SOA about a month ago but it's really difficult as I was already paying arrears to the electricity company and the phone company.

My priority at the moment is the baby and making sure that I'm not stressing too much! I've had enough stress to let this get to me now....I just wondered if anyone had any advice and thanks for the supportive response. You have described what I've been doing (prioritising the car etc) so I guess I'm in the right track!

Thanks again x

dancingfairy

Well I don't know what you're living on now - whether you have some benfits sorted for now but if the circumstances have changed maybe you need to get back on to the electric people and try and spread the arrears especially if you are classed as being in hardship.
Sounds like you are prioritising and like you said you have to take care of yourself and the baby - how exciting a few more weeks to go.
Would definitely look at doing some survey sites if you have time -a bit of money is always useful.
You can't really do anything about your company messing you about - that's not your fault and the only thing you can really do by the sounds of it is get the solicitor involved - hopefully they can take some of the stress of you though and get things moving along.
Anyway take care and good luck
df

Aimee-lou

Thank you!!