Hit reality and grown up

spacemonkeypg

Hello Everyone,

I'm a new member and wanted to ask for some kind of help. About three years ago i had a bad seperation from my then wife and suffered from severe depression. At the time i had a mortgage, credit card, bank account and good credit rating, however things have now changed.

As a result of my divorce i was removed from the mortgage and the house passed over to my now ex-wifes name. I closed the joint accounts and credit cards and started with more or less a clean break.

I applied for a new bank account and a new credit card with Egg. I was given a £4000 limit on the card and a £1500 overdraft limit on my account. Due to me being stupid and buying and spending to please myself after the sepration i soon maxed them out and started having problems paying them back. As im sure people here know it then becomes very difficult to juggle debts with utility bills and pay one but not the other. For most of this time, due to the depression i was in and out of work thus finding it impossible to pay anything back on mear goverment sickness payments.

Right now i have overcome my depression and moved on with my life i have a new job a new partner and a baby son. All however is not rosey!

All my debts managed to dissapear when i "forgot" to inform my creditors of my address changes (two in total) over the last two years. I must bite the bullet and go cap in hand to try and sort this out but to be honest i dont know where to start. I cannot eve remeber what i owe people\companies. I know i owe the nationwide £1500 and Egg £4000, but im sure i owe utils bill aswell. I realy need to sort this dark past of mine out as its eating me to death. Its also affecting my status as a human being as everyone has a debit card in this world but me. I cannot buy anything or verify who i am to say get shopping from tesco online without one.

I currently have a Nationwide bank account with just a cash card (im not allowed a debit card) and on average make a weekly sum of £380 in my bank. I recieve £10pw in child tax credit and £60 per month in child benefit. I have no other income apart from my partner's whom is £180pw in the bank. I cannot depend on her money to help get this situation under control as it not fair. The outgoings for me are £90pw in rent, £20pw gas + elec, £20pw petrol, £72pm car insurance, £80pm for Tv/telephone/internet. £80per quarter for council tax, £70pw for an aupair ( this is to enable my partner to work during the week as i work away from home all week ). I have no savings or nothing of any value which is amazing when you think of the money i spent

Now i have got my head out of the sand i realy dont know what to do, also im scared to death of going to court/jail for not paying my creditors or informing them of moving house, as im sure its some kind of fraud. I realy need to find someone or something to help me out. Today i applied for a capitol one card to try and get a reasonable credit score, but knowing they accept bad credit people they didnt accept me lol.

Can anyone tell me of an ideal person to speak to and help me out with this situation? Or any form of council in situations like this. I dont want to not justify my situation by blaming it on my depression i just want to get rid of it and get my credit history back if at all possible

Any help or advice would be welcomed with open arms

Thank you for listening to me moan

Phil

maryjane01

I think you will get better responses on Debt free wannabe.

Prudent

Could you contact the credit references agencies and get a copy of your file?
Well done on making the first steps forward.

spacemonkeypg

wrong thread sorry

Debt_Free_Chick

spacemonkeypg wrote:

I currently have a Nationwide bank account with just a cash card (im not allowed a debit card) and on average make a weekly sum of £380 in my bank. I recieve £10pw in child tax credit and £60 per month in child benefit. I have no other income apart from my partner's whom is £180pw in the bank. I cannot depend on her money to help get this situation under control as it not fair.

OK, but I assume she contributes something towards the joint household costs - at least the au pair?

Your income is about £405 per week
Her income is about £180 pw

The outgoings for me are £90pw in rent, £20pw gas + elec, £20pw petrol, £72pm car insurance, £80pm for Tv/telephone/internet. £80per quarter for council tax, £70pw for an aupair ( this is to enable my partner to work during the week as i work away from home all week ).

That adds up to about £372 per week ... with some glaring ommissions, like food. However, a couple of expenses stand out

Car insurance - !!!!!!???? Why is this so high? It seems really, really expensive - can you give us some background please?

TV/phone/internet - again, why so high? You don't have Sky do you? If so, ditch it and get Freeview especially as you're away at work all week. What package is this? You should be able to get a basic phone & internet package for £20/£25 per month

Gas & Electric look "OK" but have you shopped around for a better deal?

Your partner does not have to fund your debt repayments - but you shouldn't have to fund all the household expenses on your own either. You need a full and robust household budget as it seems that you are paying for "everything" - that doesn't seem fair either.

Work through Martin's budget planner here and post the details. We can help with saving money on your household expenses and once you have a budget you can discuss finances with your partner.

As for the debts .... you need to get copies of your credit file to see what's on there, but do the budget first!



p.s. I guess the Board Mod will move this to Debt-Free Wannabe Board.

trackaccessgirl

This post should ne in the debt -free wannabe section as there ae likely to be people there in your exact predicament or who have been and they will be able to give better advice.
Well done on being responsible about it all. It might be in your interest to go bankrupt. If your past debtors have chased you and failed to find you then you may have had County Court judgements issued against you and you wouldn't even know. This would partly explain why your credit rating is so bad ad you are turned down for credit. You can get a credit report for free on the experian website. I think the address is https://www.experian.co.uk but if I have got it wrong then check it on google. You can sign up, and then cancel as soon as you get the report and that way you avoid getting charged.
If the CCJ's have been issued the only good thing is you won't have to pay the debt and eventually you can get them removed, particularly if you never received the warnings (though it was your responsibility to inform them of change of address).

On another note, if I had a choice of being debt free and single, or with debt but with a nice partner and kid like you, I would rather be like you. At least you have your head screwed on now

Gingham_Ribbon

The above comments about the debt free wannabe board are right. There is a lot of expertise on that board specifically to this kind of situation, so I'll move this thread over now for you.

I wish you well and hope things pick up for you soon.

david_hellier

I would forget about applying for any more credit cards. You are quite lucky not to be allowed a debit card.

According to my figures you have £373.85 per week to spend on anything else including food. Have I missed anything? Have you?

I suggest you write this amount in a small book each week and keep track of your spending. Do not withdraw/spend any more than this per week and your od will go down. Good luck.

income weekly monthly
self 380.00
partner 180.00
child benefit 60.00






total 560.00 60.00
13.85 divided by 4.33

573.85 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 90.00
council tax 26.67
elec 10.00
gas 10.00
water
secured loans
TV licence
fines
au pair 70.00
od pay off 50.00
od charge 10.00



















total 180.00 86.67
20.00 divided by 4.33

200.00 total weekly spend

Start= income-spend= 373.85 per week

spacemonkeypg

i will do my sums and get back to you guys but no i dont have a debit card as im not allowed one, to much of a risk. Its 60pm for child benefit