i need some help

janie63

i owe £640 - not a lot really but it feels like a million pounds roght now because i cannot see how i am going to pay it. I got made redundant in JUly but managed to get a job which started on 1st Sept. The only thing is i have lost about 50% of my income. On top of that my husband has been very poorly and has only just gone back to work after 4 months off sick and my son who used to contribute £150 a month has also lost his job. I earn approx £1032 a month and my mortgage is £1092- together we have been managing to keep up with that but now owe about £100.

The £640 i owe to Debt Management Ltd and is from an old Barclays account overdraft. I only have one credit card which i am up to date with but its at its limit.|I was previously paying £50 a month.

My husband doesnt know about this and i don't want to worry him

I am desperately looking for a higher paid job with no success at the moment.:o

what can I do and more importantly what can they do to me i.e CCJ, charge?

gonzo127

hi well just wanted to say well done and coming here to find help,

first thing i would like to say is please tell you husband. £640 is not a mountain if you both know about it and both work for it, just think how much easier it could be to work your way out of this if you are not having to worry about him spending on something you dont need because he doesnt realise that money could have gone to paying of this debt, say something silly like a take away meal because he can see your upset and wants to cheer you up?

the other thing to do in your situation would be to write a SOA which will allow you to see exactly what your situation is and to s allow us to help you find places where you could save some money to help pay this off

as for what you can do over and above this, best bet might be to contact your mortgage provider and see if you can go on a interest only mortgage for a little while, from what i know most providers will not mind this since you are still paying them their profit, just means that you will not be knocking any money of the mortgage so it will extend the term

Ostinato

I understand it feels like you owe a lot so don't worry there. Although there are people on here with 300 times as much debt as you I am in a similair situation and owe a smaller amount but it feels huge.

Although I haven't done one myself and have just been lurking lately, I have noticed you usually get most help on here once you post up a SOA and people can recommend smoe monthly savings for you Good luck and well done for posting! I'll be making my first HELP post later today lol

Verbatim

Does your husband get sick pay from work or any benefits? have you checked if you're entitled to anything else. Is your son still contributing from his benefits?

Is there room for a lodger/ foreign student?

Jeffers90

Any kind of debt can feel like a mountain when you don't know how to pay it! Well done for coming here so soon and seeking help. A lot of people don't & it's not until that debt reaches the thousands that they eventually do!

JasX

I'm amazed you're posting about the £640 when you owe £100 on the mortgage, that is absolute priority debt as can lead to you losing your home plus charges for arrears etc can be very high.

The Barclays one sounds unsecured in which case although something to get on top of is nowhere near as critical as the Mortgage arrear.

janie63

JasX - yes i know where you are coming from and i do understand that the mortgage is the most important thing!

Unfortunatley our mortgage is on a fixed rate until Sept 2010 and the redemption ( i believe although i am by no means certain) fees would be too high to change to repayment only.

I am going to speak to my husband tonight- i know he'll be cross for me not telling him sooner... but with him being ill i did not wnat to worry him further.

He was receiving pay from his work but not the full amount- but the good news is that he's now back at work and getting full pay.

I am just so fed up at the moment of having no money at all- Xmas was very hard. Various people have offered to lend me the moeny but I cannot borrow this as I know i have no means of repaying them.

Thank you for all your kind words and I AM GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS MESS- SOMEHOW!!

gonzo127

honestly speak to your mortagae provider, as what is the worse they can say, no! oh shock horror, that would leave you in no worse of a situation than you are in now, however if you explain to them the situation they would probably put you on a interest only one, as you are not changing provider and you are not changing the plan just lowering your payments so that you are only paying the interest.

do not worry about being on a fixed rate, i am on a 10 year fixed rate (been on it for about 6 years) and i have just had to change to a interest only one for a few months to sort a blib out myself, all it cost me was £30 admin fee's and it will cost £30 admin fees to change back which is not much in the greater scheme of things - especialy if it stops you getting late charges and other fees added onto the debts you cant repay

Tixy

Remember you don't need to pay all the £640 at once (no matter what the debt collectors say).

Once you have worked out a budget (SoA) then you should see what you have available to make repayments. If £20 a month is all you can afford then that is what you write to offer them. If however you can afford £100 per month then offer them that.
Use this http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html to prepare your mortgage to see what you can afford.

But like the others I would say you must sort the mortgage first.

How old was the overdraft? How long have debt management been chasing you? have you sent the 'prove it' letter (that can stall them by a month or so whilst you sort out the mortgage) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=11570893&postcount=2

janie63

i have now confessed to my husband- who, as ever was fantastic!

I am going to ask them to provide proof that they are able to chase the debt and this will buy us an extra bit of time i hope an dtehn we can sort mortgage out.

i feel loads better now i have shared my problem

bigegg7583

The best way to ask them to provide proof is to ask for a copy of your "Consumer Credit Agreement" under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 sections 77-79.
You must include a payment of £1 (use a postal order) to make it a legally binding request.
If they don't supply the CCA within 12 days (+2 for postal delay) then you can stop paying until they DO send one.