The fightback starts here (I hope!)

redscared

Hi guys,

I'm currently stuck under a mountain of debt, and I'm looking for some opinions on it please...This is my first post so be gentle?!

I'm in debt to the tune of a frankly terrifying £16,000 (3 x 0% CCs, 1 x low-interest loan, 1 x overdraft).
It's been this way for about 2 years and I've been treading water (paying the minimums & almost coping). Now the small company I work for are going bankrupt. I'm also now doubting I have been paying NI for the past 2 years, my employer assured me the accountants dealt with it, but I have no proof.

As a result I'm now unemployed, and need a new job pronto!! As well as this, my minimum payments of £400+ on top of my mortgage and bills of the same again mean I'm in a right state.

I'm looking for opinions as to where I go from here - I'm willing to take on 2 jobs if necessary. My interest free cards have 6,9 and 9 months left before cranking up.

Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated...

(oh, and this is probably a daft time to post my first thread, as I'm unlikely to have PC access for a week, but maybe the opinions will have piled up by then )

moongarden

hi redscared welcome to DFW

you sound like you are in the same position as most of the nation - i read something the other day that said the average persons debt (excluding mortgage) is £17k.

you've come to exactly the right place anyway as the peeps here should be able to point you in the right direction.

you should start by reading the information on where to start with problem debts - putting together a State of Affairs (SOA) is a good place to start. also i don't know if you have already done this but get all your financial paperwork together in one place and organised etc.

good luck

moongarden

oh, and contact the Inland Revenue regarding your NI contributions - they will be able to tell you if they have been paid.

if not you need to get a claim in against the company before they actually have their bankruptcy hearing if you can - then at least you have a good chance of getting a share of whatever the bankruptcy administrator can give you.

CLAPTON

firstly have you been to the job centre and started getting JSA?
did you get any redundancy to help tide you over.
with the money you do have, prioritise your debts so you pay the important ones first e.g. mortgage (can lose your home), utilities (can be cut off), council tax (can be taken to court).

those you can't pay probably your CCs, phone/write to them explaining you are temporally unemployed and that you hope to get a job very soon but in the mean time you cannot meet your payments so
can they suspend interest and other charges during this difficult period for you , suggest you pay a nominal amount (say £1) as evidence that you want to pay them in full but can't at the moment. They will probably ask for an SoA showing your financial situation.

whatever you do dont simply stop paying and ignore the situation.

best of luck looking for a new job

lynzpower

redscared

Welcome to DFW!

As others have said do an SOA, if your bills are the same as your mortgage, I suspect that there are quite a few savings we can find for you.

You must phone the inland revenue with your NI no and check that your NI has been paid. Otherwise as I understand it the IR will add themselves in respect of your NI ( and other employees' NI) to the list of creditors so that they gain something from the liquidation, or at least try. This HAS to be a priority.

then pop up your SOA and lets see what savings we can find for you

:hello:

redscared

Wow, what a great response already, thanks guys!!

I'll get on to the Inland Revenue asap. As I said, my employer previously stated it was being dealt with, however I don't have a contract of employment, could I be liable??


Removed SoA as I'd missed stuff out...replaced further down page!

Emmzi

You may also be able to get a tax rebate -usually comes monthly while you are not earning-so ask about this too.

southernscouser

redscared wrote:

Glad to see the responses weren't slating me, I do realise what a mess I'm in!

If we slated you we'd be slating ourselves! We're all in the same hole. I'm in an even bigger one! :doh:

lynzpower

Hi there

I suggest you have alook at martins budget planner at the top of the page. It will give you a full idea of everything that you have to pay out for . Your overheads look VERY low and im wondering whats missing?

Also whats that account fee? Is that something to do with having a "gold account" or similar? What do you pay 15 a month FOR?

redscared

Ok, having another bash at my SoA.

I think the overheads probably look low as I've been struggling against my debt for a few years and have reduced my expenditure quite a bit in a vain effort to start attacking it! Also, I did miss a couple of no.s in my 1st stab.

I don't own a car so no costs there.
OUTGOINGS
Home:
Bank Account Fee £15 (this is basically an overdraft charge, there are other 'advantages', but none useful to me)
Mortgage £260
Factors Bill £15
Buildings Insurance £15
Council Tax £70
Gas/Elec £30 (recently changed, I assume they'll sneak up in winter!)
Phone £18
Internet £15
Mobile Phone £20
Mortgage Ins £12
Food £110
Eating Out £20
Debt Repayments:
Loan £200 @ 6% (29 months remaining)
CCs £230 (3 cards, 6m, 9m and 9m 0%repayments left)
Total: £1015 (oh dear!!!)

INCOME:
Salary was £1000/m, now £0!!!! Obviously hoping this is extremely short-term, and perhaps I need to get this sorted before asking for too much advice...

bargainbetty

Hi Red,

You say you don't have a contract, but do you have payslips etc? If you do, you should have been given a P60 at the end of each financial year detailing your tax and NI contributions. As long as you can prove that you have had the money deducted from your wages, the liability is on the company and not you. I had this last year, when I got a snooty letter from IR claiming that I had missed almost five months of NI contributions dating back to 1998.

Being a complete nerd about paperwork, it took me all of twenty minutes to find my old P60 and send them a copy. Got a much nicer letter back assuring me that it would be credited to me, and I need not worry further.

Do tell the creditors about your situation, and if you have that mortgage insurance then invoke it if you can. If you find out it's not worth much, then dump it. Get yourself down to every temp agency you can register with, scan the local papers for bar work and start bringing in the pennies.

I hope it works out for you - good luck x