Feeling scared

Brassic

I guess I don't mind you asking, although I'm not sure I'd be able to account for every penny.

About a third of it was debts run up by my husbands ex business which he ran with his ex partner (mother to his kids). About 3 thousand was a business I went into to try and get us out of the mess (doh). 15k is borrowed for the deposit for the mortgage, some was spent helping my ex out of trouble. The rest was living it up in the past, I used to have horses and compete them, that was my life. I ran up debts doing it but didn't see a problem as I had no other responsibilities at the time and thought disposbale assets would pay a lot of it off (they didn't). My husband had the standard car loan, few credit cards etc. Then I met him, his ex moved out and left the two children behind, I had to move in quickly and the rest is history. He got a ccj at this point due to the business failing, and debts mounted as we struggled to sell the pub and get out. Since then we've been firefighting, but not realising quite how deep we were in.

Now I'm/we're trying to fix it.

I've just used the snowball calculator link - that is absolutely excellent! :T My debt free date atm is July 2012. Can't wait to see that change to a closer one.

Cheers,
Brassic.

nelly05

@ Brassic, when you cancel your sky it effectively bvecomes a freeview box, and you should get everything on it that you would get on a freeview box

REgards

Brassic

Ok, need to say another thank you to all_hours. Just been going through benefits etc - what I have put in my SOA is child benefits, which I have just discovered is completely different to Child Tax Credit and Working family tax credit. When I went to the entitled_to link it reckons we can get 4,796.30
a year which we don't get at present. That would mean nearly 400 quid a month - is that right?!! That would help out no end!

Cheers!
Brassic - trying not to get her hopes up too much in case I've worked this out all wrong.

Rachman_2

So next question, do you want to repay it all or would you prefer to have some of it written off to make managing easier ?

Brassic

Well, it's something we have been talking about. We have made each other a promise that we aren't going to be taking any more credit ever, if we want something, we'll save for it - the mortgage was the last thing we borrow. However, talking about mortgages, we took a capped deal, which means in 3 years time we are going to need to look at re-mortgaging to make sure we are not paying too much, and because of that I don't think we can afford to destroy our rather pathetic credit rating totally.

Would you agree?

Cheers,
Brassic.

Nikki

Brassic wrote:

Ok, need to say another thank you to all_hours. Just been going through benefits etc - what I have put in my SOA is child benefits, which I have just discovered is completely different to Child Tax Credit and Working family tax credit. When I went to the entitled_to link it reckons we can get 4,796.30
a year which we don't get at present. That would mean nearly 400 quid a month - is that right?!! That would help out no end!

Cheers!
Brassic - trying not to get her hopes up too much in case I've worked this out all wrong.

Very unlikely on your income. We get around that for 3 kids(one on DLA)and we only earn £22k PA. Without the disability element we would only get around £200 a month.

dancingfairy

A debt charity will help you sit down, work out a realistic budget, work out how much you've got left over and which payments to prioritise. They should also be able to help you write a letter to your creditors with a token offer and explaining your situation, they will be able to tell you what benefits you can claim- or be able to refer you. They also should be able to explain bankruptcy proceedings to you as a final resort. They also should be able to support you in person and you might find talking to someone knowledgable will help. That was my understanding of what debt charities can do for you. It might be worth doing - it can't hurt can it.

My other advice would be join a supermarket loyalty scheme if possible- you don't get a huge amount back but it all helps. Tesco send me a couple of pounds of vouchers off shopping every so often and it saves a couple of quid.

Also as already mentioned try and get the best deal on all your bills and pay off the debts with the highest interest first if possible while making minimum payments on the rest (after you have paid your mortgage, bought food, paid rates etc).

Hope this helps

Good luck. Everyone on here is rooting for you.

all_hours

Brassic wrote:

Ok, need to say another thank you to all_hours. Just been going through benefits etc - what I have put in my SOA is child benefits, which I have just discovered is completely different to Child Tax Credit and Working family tax credit. When I went to the entitled_to link it reckons we can get 4,796.30
a year which we don't get at present. That would mean nearly 400 quid a month - is that right?!! That would help out no end!

Cheers!
Brassic - trying not to get her hopes up too much in case I've worked this out all wrong.

That does sound high based on your current income. I'm not clear on the details but they use last years income to work out the initial award then adjust at the end of the year. So if your income has gone up from last year, be prepared that next April you might have to pay something back and not be entitled to anything for next year. You could put this years income in the form as though it was last years and see what it says then.

Definitely apply and see what you get, I think you should at least get the basic £550 per year in child tax credit.

Brassic

Nikki wrote:

Very unlikely on your income. We get around that for 3 kids(one on DLA)and we only earn £22k PA. Without the disability element we would only get around £200 a month.

Darn, I did think it was a bit too good to be true :rolleyes:

Just been through it again, and all the info I put in is correct and it came up with the same figure, so there must be a blip on the site calculations I suppose.

Cheers,
Brassic.

sparkle84

Brassic wrote:

Ok, need to say another thank you to all_hours. Just been going through benefits etc - what I have put in my SOA is child benefits, which I have just discovered is completely different to Child Tax Credit and Working family tax credit. When I went to the entitled_to link it reckons we can get 4,796.30
a year which we don't get at present. That would mean nearly 400 quid a month - is that right?!! That would help out no end!

Cheers!
Brassic - trying not to get her hopes up too much in case I've worked this out all wrong.

sorry I can't believe this correct that would be crazy you and your partner earn almost £50k you can be entitled to anything more