advice for a friend

uolypool

Hi I'm after some advice for my friend, she is a single mum with a teenage son (15) and a younger daughter (8) anyway until recently I didn't know she had any debt problems until she broke down one morning at my house, she has several debts all aquired since her husband walked out on her , anyway the problem she has is she has been recieving debt letters for quite a while now and just threw the letters away without doing anything about them well today her son who is off school after having his tonsils out end of last week has opened the door to a bailiff the bailiff spoke to him in the hallway to her house but left when her son said he was only a minor she is now in a blind panic as the bailiff has entered her house.

GeorgeUK

If there was no walking posession order signed then it should be okay.

She really needs to get on top of the debts though, especially if bailiffs are now involved.

Is she getting money from husband?

It would be best if she can get in touch with one of the free debt charities - CCCS or Payplan

Tixy

You could also advise her to check she is getting all the benefits she is entitled to now that she is on her own www.entitledto.co.uk

Hopefully she will have learnt not to ignore letters in future. If she would rather talk to you about things to start with then you could help her write out a detailed statement of affairs http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html to fully understand her own position. But agree with George that she is going to need professional advice.

Do you know what the baliffs called in relation to? If it was council tax then this is a priority expense and she should be paying this before any unsecured debts etc.
Effectively her priorities should be rent/mortgage & food, council tax, elec & gas, water, other basic household costs, then any unsecured debt repayments.

If the baliffs do call back again advise her not to let them in. You may want to look at http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ this site for what she should do.

Hope you can help her

RAS

uolypool wrote: »

when her son said he was only a minor she is now in a blind panic as the bailiff has entered her house.

Thank heavens the son has sense. The fact that a minor let the bailiff in the hosue invalidates any claim to have made a levy or WPO. Seems to have been an usually well-trained bailiff.

She needs to send a pm to Herbie21 who can help her.

Is this debt Council Tax or what?

gfplux

If you are close enough to this person why not work through a SOA with her.
If you make out the SOA (link - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html ) Try not to guess at the figures, get her to dig out the paperwork! However remember a partial completed one is better than none. It is in fact one of the most IMPORTANT things she will ever do to start on the road to recovery. If you her to get a lot of help on this forum, posting the SOA is the first and most important step. After it is done it is very easy to keep it up to date. In my opinion everyone should have an up to date SOA even if you have little or no debt. It is a great tool to manage your life with.
If you post it on the forum answer the obvious questions before they are asked so you get immediate feedback, such as :-
If she has other Income explain what it is
Mortgage – interest only or not.
What is the age of any children.
Council tax over 10 or 12 months.
Electricity and gas any arrears.
Water rates meter yes or no.
Mobiles, how many and when are the contracts up for renewal.
If no contents insurance is it include with buildings insurance.
If her pets cost money, what are they.
House or flat value, has it been valued by an Estate Agent and when.
The more you can explain about her financial figures and circumstances the quicker you will get advise for her rather than questions.
However she has had a shock today but has she had the light bulb moment?
Good Luck with your friend.