Urgent debt advice needed

sillysausage1977

My husband has had 3 mini strokes at the beginning of the month, luckily he is ok and so far hasnt had any more. Unfortunatly he is an HGV driver and because of the strokes he is going to have to hand his licence back in which means he no longer has a job until he is fit enough to go out and get one.

I would be ok to pay for the mortgage and household bills if we were not in so much debt.

We have added everything up and we owe £40,000 to various credit card and Loans.

We have been paying our mortgage for 5 years and we now owe £62,000, our house is valued at about £100,000. My first thought was to put our debt onto the mortgage but from what I have read I think its going to be too much to add to it.

Has anyone got any advise regarding what we should do regarding this problem, we are terrifed that we are going to lose our house and we really dont need this worry on top of my husbands health. We have got an appointment with our mortgage lender in a weeks time.

Any advise would be gratefully received.

Thanks for taking the time to read. x

fatbelly

As long as you can pay the contractual amount on the mortgage you stay in your home.

The credit cards and loans are non-priority and get a pro-rata share of whatever is left. Or a £1 per month offer if thats all you can afford.

Try the CCCS debt remedy and maybe give them a call to check out a debt management plan.

Oh, and don't (whatever you do) convert unsecured debt to secured.

Actually that's so important it's worth saying twice.

Don't convert unsecured debt to secured!

GeorgeUK

Also check your mortgage, cards and loans to see if you were paying payment protection insurance (PPI). If you were, they may be paid for a year.

sillysausage1977

Unfortunatly no PPI on any of the Loans/Credit cards...

sillysausage1977

One of the loans is with the same bank as the Mortgage, we have made an appointment to see them next saturday, I think they are going to say we are going to have to put this loan onto the mortgage...

lmclean100

Hi Sillysausage1977

I understand how your husband feels, I had four mini strokes about 10 years ago - three in the space of a month and the last one about three months later.

Have they discovered what cause the mini-strokes? My ones were cause by an allergy to food colourings - they make my blood pressure soar and caused bleeds on the surface of my brain. One strange side effect was that the hair above the site of the mini-strokes stood up on end for about 9 months. Made me look a bit like Ken Dodd on one side of my head - weird!!

Your mortgage provider may let you have an interest only mortgage for a while to help out.

I would suggest going to one of the free debt charities and seeing about the DMP. It may take longer to pay off your debts but you'll only pay out what you can afford and you hopefully won't get any of the phone calls or letters. And it will reduce some of the stress.

I kept my driving license but I'm not an HGV driver. But I didn't drive for a year after my last mini stroke - remember that after you've gone a year without having any more mini strokes then you are no more likely than anyone else in the population to have a mini or full stroke. Your husband will probably have to have a medical before he gets his license back.

Please reassure your husband that it does get better and you or he can always send me PM if you want to talk about it.

Forgot to say that you should contact the Stroke Association, they are a great source of help for getting benefits and can advise on what your husband can claim for.

Good luck

L

monks28

Do you not have any critical illness cover?

dancingfairy

I would definitely have a chat with one of the debt charities - also find out what the loan company think and run it past one of the debt charities - do not feel pressurised into signing anything - make sure you check out all your options fully.
If it is an unsecured loan then they will have to accept token payments as far as I am aware but if they can convert it and put it onto the mortgage and you can't pay it then your home might be at risk.
Please do get some freee impartial advice - try your local CAB, CCCS, National Debtline etc and you can always report back what the loan company say here and run it past people.
Also a small point but might be helpful to you - I think your OH might be eligible for a bus pass from the council if he is unfit to drive for medical purposes - I think out council do this- which might help a little with getting around etc.
Also check out what benefits he is enitled to - sick leave, any insurance through work etc, housing benefit, council tax benefit - check everything out - perhaps the hospital will have a benefit officer or perhaps CAB will be able to help with this.
df

sillysausage1977

Hi Monks28,

No, no Critical Illness cover

Butti

Hi,
You clearly need to go and get some advice before you go and see the bank. Definately get some advice about how to respond to the pressure you expect to be applied by the bank to converting unsecured credit to secured credit.

You don't 'have' to put your CC debts on to the mortgage because the bank want you to. They are a bank. They are not your friend.

B

GeorgeUK

Good advice from Butti - don't feel pressured into making a decision. Take time to get this sorted and get in touch with the debt charities. The banks are there to make money, the charities are there to help you.