we cant live anymore

cutchie

Hi, this is my first post, i went onto a different forum asking for help, but almost all of them told me to come here as its a good place to get the advice i am looking for, so here i am

my boyfriend and i are really struggling right now. three months ago i lost my full time job. i have been looking for a new one since, and nothing is happening, i am applying for night jobs,part time/full time jobs, jobs i have experience for, jobs i dont have experience for, im with all the agencies in town, still nothing.

we cannot survive on just my partners wage. he works full time, and makes 12k as far as i know.

he is paying all the bills, food,mortgage, and our debts, and to be honest, we dont have enough money. for instance, we went to the bank machine last night to get petrol, and we could only lift £10 out, we are over drawn again, he only got paid last friday. thats another 2 weeks of us having no money at all, and bills still need to go out. its like this every month. the more we try to pay off, the more we seem to owe out if that makes sense. he raised his over draft limit a while ago, so called to see if they could raise it a little bit more, they said no.

we have got rid of the TV licience, got rid of sky, my mobile contract was up so i cancelled it and sold my phone, even down to selling dvds just to make a few pounds. we never go out anywhere, we stopped smoking, it is at the point now where we have nothing else to really sell or cut off.

we have debts, 2 credit cards which i think total £2k, a loan from three years ago which we still owe £1k on, a £350 electricity bill ( dont ask! we called them many times to dispute this) and obviously we keep getting bank charges which is eating into next months money, and we pay his dad £100 per month to pay back money he lent us for another debt (the £100 per month to his dad is easier to us than the £269 we were paying).

we have decided to sell our house, as obviously it is too big for us, we have no children and are living in a three bed house (he bought it before we met) so now its time to sell and get something smaller. thats if we dont lose the house first..

i applied for jobseekers allowence when i lost my job, i dont qualify as my partner "makes too much money"

does anyone have any advice for us, no matter how small? we dont know what else to do now, its like we are basically waiting to lose our house.

Lula-Hula

Hi cutchie,

welcome to the board & please dont despair, there is always a way to sort debts out.

Usually the first step is to fill out a Statement of Affairs where you list all your income & outgoings. This will then help to see where you could possibly cut down. It sounds as if you are really doing a lot to help yourselves so well done for that.

Are you sure you're not entitle to any jobseekers allowance. I'd always believed this was based on your contributions rather than a parnters income. Check out the site www.entitledto.co.uk just to double check.

Would it be possible for you to rent our a room in your house to alodger. I beleive you are allowed to receive approx £4,000 a year from lodgers before the tax man requires his cut.


Have you checked out the Money Saving Old Style board for tips on how to stretch your grocery budget even further ? There are loads of cheap recipes there & many people also grow a lot of their own food to help out.

Dont panic & worry, there will be a way to sort this out & now that you've joined Debt Free Wannabe, you wont be alone

Have a go at the Statement of Affairs

Lula
xx

ps - forgot to say : Have a look at the www.cccs.co.uk site, you'llbe able to fill ina budget sheet & maight be able to get some good advice there too, there is a help line number to call too.

Charco_2

First thing is first,

MOVE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE! Start a new account and get wages paid into it instead. Some bank that you dont currently owe money to!

You have an overdraft ok and various charges are already eating into the money you're waiting on to live off for next month.

You need to re-evaluate your position and just sum up ALL your debts. Move accounts and whatever is outstanding on the overdraft and those charges are now going to become just another one of your debts! No point in allowing one of your creditors to just reach into your pockets and help itself to your money... Now they can just wait like all the others.

Draw up a budget of what you can afford to pay your creditors AFTER YOU HAVE SATISFIED YOUR OWN NEEDS - YOU ARE THE PRIORITY!

Then let your creditors know you're in diffs and ask if they'll hold charges and interest and accept reduced payments until you can find work etc...

Also have a snoop around here to find all the money saving tips and ways to reduce your outgoings (eat better, cut bills, cuddle for warmth so you can knock the heat and lights off - that type of thing!)

RAS

Hi

Where you claiming contributions JSA or income based JSA? You may not be entitled to the latter but could be to the former.

The other thing is that even if you do not get any money, being registered means that your current NI contributions are credited and that protects your future status if you have to claim again.

HAve you checked whether OH can get any help like WTC on www.entitledto.com?


If you have two speare bedrooms, can you not get in lodgers? The first £4750 ish is tax free income.

justbecause_3

Hi
Are you in arrears with your mortgage? If not, there is a good chance you could release some equity with a further advance? or have the term extended so that the payments would come down? Could you move in with relatives for 6 months and rent out your house for the same or even more than your mortgage payment? It's not really the best time to sell so try other options first. Have you applied for working tax credit. If your boyfriend works more than 30 hours a week and earns less than £17,000 you will get some extra money. (On £12000 its nearly £100 per month}
p.s it's not a good idea to be without a tv licence

dancingfairy

I agree with what others have said - it appears you should be getting more benefits. You should be able to get contribution JSA if you have paid enough Ni contributions in the past - it is done on the last year or two years and if you have paid enough then they will pay you for up to 6 months. The other type is if you don't have enough NI contributions then they look at household income which they appear to said you don't qualify for. And Ras said - even if you really don't qualify for JSA you sould still be signing on to get your NIcredits for the future - for pensions and the like.

You may be eligible for council tax benefit? or housing benefit? I am not sure but you need to look into it.

As Charco has said your first priority is to pay the mortgage, food, electric, council tax etc. After this comes you creditors - unless any of them are secured against the house - if they are secured creditors then they move up the priority list as not paying them could put your house at risk but unsecured creditors comebottom of the pile.

Have you spoken to National Debtline or CCCS or your local CAB for any help or advice? They can give you free advice and won't try and flog you stuff. You may have to wait a while but it might help to know you are on the waiting list?

I would probably do an SOA - from here http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
and post it below to see if there are any answers any one else can spot but you may have to pay each of your unsecured creditors just 1 pound and tell them they wil have to wait until you find a job - 'cos basically they can't have what you haven't got.
Best of Luck
df

dancingfairy

I would be very careful with changing the mortgage as by extending the term or taking a payment holiday or going interest only - you may end up paying for it in terms of more interest later on. Also with equity release once it's gone, it's gone.
Your problem appears to be a short term one - hopefully you will find a job soon and can get the debt under control so I would think very carefully about the mortgage and make sure you get advice on every angle before doing anything with it to be honest.
df

Snowy_Owl

Hi,

Agree with the above

Do a Statement of affairs first. Change bank acct (partner did this and he has a debt management plan - could this be an option for you?) & look to see if any banks have an offer/welcome incentive. Friend got £100 just for shifting bank.

Old style board a god-send for thrifty living - menu plans, household hints etc

Freebies (no spend board) also good - toiletries/household stuff - go for whatever floats your boat.

Also, keep looking for whoopsies at the supermarket and check out the supermarket coupons site.

Hope this helps
Snowy x

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Did you have any PPI on any of the debts that are in your name? If so have you tried putting in a claim?

cutchie

hi again, i dont qualify for contribution based JSA either, i worked last year at the same place for nine months then they let me go, then it took me a while to get my last job, they also let me go, so i was told i didnt qualify.something about i didnt work 2 years straight.

i will answer your questions as best i can, my partner is at work and he has most of the info, so some things i cant answer until he gets home.

as far as i know my partner swapped the mortgage payments over to interest only. we were paying a £600 per month mortgage and couldnt afford it, so he went interest only and we are now paying £300 per month.

as for housing benefit, we were told they wouldnt pay it if we have our own house? that they only pay it to council tennents? this may be wrong but a few people have said it.

my partner called to try to get working tax credits, he was told that he doesnt qualify.

we have cut down on grocery shopping too, as in, we now buy the supermarket brands and we only buy what we need.

RAS

have you considered lodgers?