Made redundant in 2009, first time out of work for 25 yrs!!

grasshopper1

After being made redundant in april 09 i went to sign on thinking this was the best thing to do, so my stamp would be payed. Unfortunately i am still looking for another job but my benefit of 60 pound a week stopped after 6 months. The answer i was told was that my wife worked more than 25hrs a week my stamp gets payed but thats it, to be quite honest i feel robbed i have allways grafted and never shy'd away from paying anything i owed to the state, but now the boots on the other foot i feel let down by the state. The one thing i need is advice on my ever spiralling debt and not just someone telling me i should feel lucky that my stamp is being payed, after all i think i have payed more in than i have got out. My debt that worries me the most is an overdraft that cost 70 pounds a month just to tread water, i was thinking of putting the debt onto a 0% credit card but any advice would be great.
I know the problem is of my own doing, just did'nt think i would be out of work this long.

savingmummy

Sorry to hear about the redundancy.
Unfortunately if you have a OH working you can`t get any benefits so that is correct.
I hope work comes your way to help you, but in the mean time have you let the people you owe that your now out of work?
What debts are these?
It may be worth you doing a SOA http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html to see how things are going each month, and then seek advise regarding how you can get straight!x

Tixy

Have you checked entitledto website to check that you as a family are getting all the benefits you are entitled to. Maybe not just the JSA but any other benefits such as tax credits.

With regards to your debts are these unsecured debts? have you so far being paying all the minimums on time? Do you have any PPI on any of them and if so did you make a claim when you were made redundant?

Its difficult to advise without knowing the level and types of debts you have and how far behind you are. You could offer token payments (£1 to each debt each month) until your situation improves and request that the creditors stop charging interest. You should be aware that they would likely default you on your debt and this will impact on your credit file for years to come, but for some people its the only option.

Other items you could consider include a debt management plan (although this is tricky if the debts are in your sole name and you have no income) or other more formal options (such an insolvency). You may want to talk to one of the free debt advice organisations listed here - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2077631 for further advice.

Good luck with job hunting.

niccatw

Hi Grasshopper

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about being made redundant, it must be very frustrating for you.

It will help if you complete a statement of affairs (SOA), which does mean laying it out bare for all to see - but does mean that people can come along with advice on cutting bills, utilities etc. as well as get a better understanding of your debts, they can then offer variuos options for paying them back. You'll get the template for an SOA here http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html.

The snowballing calculator is also useful for playing about with your debts and giving you a provisional debt free date (which most of us here tend to view as a challenge, with the aim of beating that date :rotfl:) it's here http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx.

There's a lot of "tough love" on the forum, but it's all with the best of intentions - most of us have been there and are working hard to get through it. I have to say it's worked wonders for me personally, in terms of keeping up my motivaton to clear my debt as quickly as I'm able!

Goos luck

grasshopper1

Thank you all for you're replies it means a lot as i am sure you all know.

BILLIE

Oh how I sympathise with you but slightly from the other side as my OH was laid off in 09.08 and is still looking for work. Yes isn't he lucky getting his stamp paid so that prescriptions are free!!! And as the wife works why should you need any thing else. The only thing is that I am trying to pay the debts off with only my income. I wrote to all my creditors asking for helpt and assistance, but they didn't want to know. Benefits!! Forget it they don't want to know. Tax credits are a sham. The Job Centre are appalling (would use stronger language, but am being polite). I spend every spare moment looking on job sites and advertisements, but there is so little out there. I sincerely hope that you mange to find work. They say it is supposed to help knowing that others are in the same boat, but I am not so sure it does! Good luck

DarkConvict

Just to check, did you get your redundancy pay, Im going to assume you should have got 15-20 weeks pay (£350 max), just as an example. 16 * 250 = £4000.

McKneff

DarkConvict wrote: »

Just to check, did you get your redundancy pay, Im going to assume you should have got 15-20 weeks pay (£350 max), just as an example. 16 * 250 = £4000.

As far as i know the max is now £380 and under the age of 41 its
1 weeks pay for each full year worked, over 41 its 1 and a half weeks redundancy pay for each year worked. you should also have been given notice of 1 week for each year worked up to a maximum of 12. and of course any accrued holiday pay. Hope you got all you were due.