Martin (or anyone!), advice DESPERATELY sought: £122,342.83 of (non-mortgage) debt!

blue_monkey_2

With our debts the secured debt we paid in full each month, everything else unsecured we made a nominal payment of £1 a month on - admittedly it was nothing like what the OP has. That could be an option, keep on top of your parents/secured debts with a minimum payment and pay everything else with a nominal payment of £1. On the statement to show creditors what we owe we just stated 'secured debt'.

You can do this yourself by sending them letters and statement of your income/outgoings. We did this - even though a couple of creditors often said 'we will not deal with you unless you are going through xyz', they still did. We wrote to them and said they were not to contact us by phone as we lived in a shared house (template on CCCS site) and the calls stopped. We continued to send the money and they continued to cash the cheques so if they ever took us to court we could tell the court that we had continued to pay what we could afford.

If you are renting at the moment, move back home and save some money.

OP has already said he is in negative equity and making interest only payments - which must be minimal at the moment anyway so I do not think selling the properties will work because his income from that is paying the unexpected bills he was talking about. He'll then have another 20k debt, per property, to pay for so it'll add to his debt.

I don't think the OP is coming back after reading his last post but breaking it down might be more helpful so people can advise if you do OP.

angelflower_2

Yes, the properties in negative equity do not form any way out. I would ask, if you are using a property management company can you take over the management yourself and use them for advertising only when you have to rent again? You may therefore be able to reduce outgoings a bit on this and probably have more control over the costs these properties have.

I would advise a second job, try supermarkets etc as that helped me through a particularly bad patch.

Would advise that you do concentrate on making committed payments on any secured debt such as the mortgages then break down the unsecured debt into 'pots'. Do you know how to/Can you identify which debts are costing you the most in costs and interest fees? Priority here to reduce the rate at which the debts will increase. You may find that negotiating will be a best option here in which case you will need to prepare an income and expenditure sheet, including all assets and liabilities to send off to all your creditors. THIS IS PRIORITY!

You will have to at least discuss this with your parents so am afraid, I have no other advice than just do it....get it over with. Wont be pretty but essential.

I then also advise that you contact some of the FREE (such as CAP, CCCS, citizens advice) debt management companies again. They will be looking to advise bankrupcy as that is the best option however, if you are determined to pay off and can start to show committment and progress, they may be able to help. Try www.capuk.org as they can also offer additional support.

Then, my last (but prob best) piece of advice, is to keep coming on here. Perhaps you could join in some of the challenges that keep us sane....I nip on daily to remind myself of the small things that make a difference (daily thread) and I also love the Payment a day challenge which daily helps focus on repayments and often makes me consider....visit to corner shop or another £3 off the debt. If you take a look, you will see that this challenge alone helped people pay off an EXTRA huge amount off their debts. This can be found on the diaries thread of Debt free wannabee.

Best wishes

shellstar

LexieLou wrote: »

Hey there,

Firstly, talk to someone when you are down, the samaritans have been mentioned somewhere. Use them!!! (plus they are free!!)

I just thought I'd clarify - Samaritans aren't free. Calls are charged at local rates. They are fully trained though, and non judgemental. They can't advise you, but they can listen and that can really help sometimes.

Luckystepho

Hi, I'm guessing that you maybe financed the property deposits and any upgrading needed on credit cards and money from your parents refinancing their property? I'm not judging- I got caught out by this too (luckily with only one property).

Following the advice of at least one property expert the idea was to buy properties below market value using cards/ loans etc to fund deposits etc and remortgage to get this money back out- unfortunately the recession hit and falling property prices, limitations in obtaining mortgages and higher interest charged on credit cards have caught many out (including me!) I'm just guessing that this may have been what has happened for you too?

Maybe an option would be too try for a DMP for now and there may be a possibility of selling one or more properties to pay off a chunk of debt if property prices rise in future? Hope you do find some answers for your situation.

Trollfever

I have contacted various debt-lines which MSE has recommended,

Debts of this nature would normally fall outside the remit of the FREE debt charities.
Suggest that you speak to an Insolvency Practitioner or Business Debtline:

http://www.bdl.org.uk/

Snippa

I then also advise that you contact some of the debt management companies again.

Watch with doing that. Many of them can charge stupid amounts, so you end up paying them rather than paying off your creditors. A CAB or council advice service, or something else free is the best way to go. It can be slower due to volume though.

DarkConvict

Trollfever wrote: »

Debts of this nature would normally fall outside the remit of the FREE debt charities.
Suggest that you speak to an Insolvency Practitioner or Business Debtline:

http://www.bdl.org.uk/

Business Debtline is free

As to the Insolvency Practitioner, that would obviously only be needed if you were thinking of going bankrupt and wanted advice on how it works and how it would affect you.
Sadly going BR right now would land your parents in trouble. If you cant stay afloat you need reduce the liability of your debts taken out in your parents names, as technically your parents are your creditor who can then be chased for the money they owe.

LexieLou

Sorry Shellstar, was under the impression the Samaritans were an 0800 no.

katsu

OP - if you are still around... Look for Hypno's diary threads. Hypno has reduced huge debts. Admittedly I think her income is somewhat higher than yours, but it might help inspire you/give you some tips. You can find her diary in the DFW diaries section.

Do post an SOA or some more info and people will advise you on options you can explore.

Raggs_2

Is the profit from the rental flats after servicing their mortgage payments? If so, then it should leave you with 1000 a month to spare after all your non-mortgage debt repayments.

If thats the case, then the suggestion of moving in with your parents (if this isn't already the case), is a good one (assuming you are renting). If you have your own place on a mortgage, is there any chance of it servicing it's own mortgage if you can (depends if the lender allows it) rent it out? Or sell your place (again on several assumptions).

If none of the above is possible. Do you have a spare bedroom to perhaps take in a lodger? Only a small amount of income perhaps, but around 4000 tax free in a year, may help get you upto the min repayment levels.

Also, any chance of a second job? Shelf stacking, bar work?

I guess that BR doesn't really help that much, due to the debt being half in your parents names, and obviously you don't want to impact them. The fact the rental property is making a profit, and in negative equity also suggests your better off trying to hold onto this (again assuming it is servicing it's own mortgages).

Good luck, and best wishes.