In debt with mental illness - bipolar.

immoral_angeluk

Fuzzy_Logic wrote: »

Unfortunately I can't get my cpn to go with me tomorrow but may take my mum with me, she is very supportive and knows the whole story.
As for assets the only things I have are TV, PC & Monitor, few external HDD's, stereo amplifier, bike and a cheap guitar. I don't own any high value possessions.

Never paid into a pension and my debt are around £5,000 but unsure of the exact amount until I open the letter. Don't know what you mean about walking possession and no secured debts or utilities. Thanks for your reply.

Walking possession is where bailiffs have come into your house and listed goods. Those assets would not be included in a DRO.
It certainly sounds like you would be eligible for a Debt Relief Order. Take a look at this...
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/money_management_index_ew/help_with_debt_index_ew/debt_relief_orders.htm

MrsMoo2U

I am sorry that I cannot help with how to move forward with your debts as this is all new to me too. However I have a friend who is suffering with mental health issues at the moment. He told me that the CAB will give you an emergency appointment if you have a letter from your CPN or Doctor. It might be worth getting something from them to take along to the drop in surgery tomorrow. I dont know any more than this but wanted to let you know so that you could (at least) ask them if this is correct when you go tomorrow.
Good luck with your journey. It will be long but I do know that the people on here are so supportive and I have seen people change in a matter of days with the support that they have received.

immoral_angeluk

cherisong wrote: »

I am sorry that I cannot help with how to move forward with your debts as this is all new to me too. However I have a friend who is suffering with mental health issues at the moment. He told me that the CAB will give you an emergency appointment if you have a letter from your CPN or Doctor. It might be worth getting something from them to take along to the drop in surgery tomorrow. I dont know any more than this but wanted to let you know so that you could (at least) ask them if this is correct when you go tomorrow.
Good luck with your journey. It will be long but I do know that the people on here are so supportive and I have seen people change in a matter of days with the support that they have received.

This may be the case for your local bureau but not all bureaus have the same policy as each is run as an individual concern. Your best bet is to call up and explain the circumstances. They will offer you the first available appointment or ask you to go into a walk in session and then have a referall on to a caseworker. It really depends on the individual bureau.

dancingfairy

Hi FuzzyLogic. Firstly the people sending you letters may or may not be bailiffs - sometimes debt collectors can confuse people and they think they are bailiffs. Anyway please don't worry.
Your main prioritity is to protect the roof over you head (rent/mortgage), pay gas/electric, council tax and feed and clothe yourself and your child.
Basically at the end of the day debt collectors can't have what you haven't got although they may try and persuade you otherwise.
You are doing the best thing getting advice and if there is anything you are unsure of then someone on here will know the answer.
Good Luck with getting it sorted.
df

dancingfairy

OOOPS - the other thing I was going to say - was at the end of the day it is only money. I can't pretend that you are in a nice situation but at the end of the day - what's important is the health and welbeing of you and your family.
df

bargainbetty

Hello honey,

You could contact MIND, the mental health charity. A friend of mine is dealing with them due to the problems he is having with getting ESA (the government agency that deal with it have farmed it out to a private contractor who seem to think that the inability to leave the house on a regular basis due to bouts of crushing agorophobia and paranoia is no barrier to finding a job.)

MIND have been very good about supporting his claim and helping him appeal against dumb decisions. They can also advise you about applying for other benefits - do you get Disability Living Allowance? If you have been diagnosed bi-polar you may qualify for support payments. They offer help and support and may be able to help you deal with the baliffs/debt collectors. If the collectors do get nasty and try to take you to court, the judge will look very badly upon a group that are chasing a vulnerable person who has sought support from a charity.

I wish you all the best. Two of my best friends have the condition and it takes immense courage to get up every day and face the world - you are so much stronger than you think.

barbiedoll

Hi there
Just wanted to say, please don't get too stressed over £5000, I know it seems an insurmountable debt to you and it's very frightening when you first face up to your debts, having to cope with mental illness (or any illness come to that) must make it ten times worse, but as you have discovered, there is lots of help and support on here. As you go down the debt repayment path, you will be confronted by all sorts of scary tactics by debt collectors, ranging from letters and phone calls, to threats of doorstep collections and so on. You will not have to face any of this alone, just keep everyone on here informed and they will help you every step of the way.

Good luck with the CAB, (and with the letter) let us know how you get on. We'll be thinking of you tomorrow

tobstv

Fuzzy_Logic wrote: »

I really appreciate your first post here and for posting with your story in this thread. It does help to know there are others out there with similar problems to me.
All this bipolar stuff is new to me although I've known for many years that I had mental health issues but I chose to hide it and self medicate. I was too afraid to tell any one of what was going on, so much stigma surrounds it and I was worried I may lose my child. At the moment I'm too scared to open the letter or contact them direct so I will see what happens at the CAB tomorrow. I will also speak to my cpn when I see her next to see if anything they can do to help my case.
Kind regards.

If it helps we have 2 kids and they are not in the slightest bit worried about telling their friends that their dad has bi-polar. Yes, there is some stigma, but there is also plenty of people living with bi-polar and having very fulfilling lives. I am not sure if you saw a documentary a couple of days ago about Stephen Fry and his struggles with bi-polar - we found it rather interesting. There is a book called Impressive Depressives available from MIND - people like Leonardo, Churchill, Paul Gascoigne, Viviegn Leigh and Jean-Claude van Damme all suffered or suffer from bi-polar, so you are in good company :-D

fluffyboots

Hi there

My ex was bi-polar and had some manic episodes which were terrible. We split in 2000 mainly I have to say because of the illness as he would not seek help.However we are still good friends.When we split up we had £15000 in a joint acct he had a breakdown lost his job and the money disappeared. I couldnt do much about it as he was so sick.

However at the time I was quite solvent( ironically I am currently £33k in debt hence on here!!) and just had to try to close the joint acct which was hard as he would not face up to what was happening.He then got better and went back to work.I have to say that hiding the bills does not help.Go to CCCS or Payplan if you dont want to go to the CAB AND SEE if you can get immediate help as I know from experience this is all going to stress you out more.

Good luck I wish you all the best and hope it works out

determined_new_ms

Hi op sorry no time to read through the whole thread but I wanted to offer some advice. Firstly ave you thought about applying for Floating Support? Its a scheme run by Supporting People part of the local government. You can find info on the Supporting People website (this is what I do and often I work with ppl who are in debt. I have been able to get some companies to write off the debts - there are template letters on here and also national debt line - ur care co can write a supporting letter to say u were unwell when took out these debts and therefore sis not have the capacity to make these financial decisions. We had over £4000 written off from The Abbey because they kept increasingly one persons od even though he was clearly unwell). I worked with someone who had bi-polar (my speacialism is working with ppl with MH problems) and we set up an account which she didn't have easy access to for her main money, then she had it paid into an easy access account on a weekly basis. That way she wasn't able to spend all of her money when she was either very high or very low. Stay strong and well. Even if you can't get all of it written off you can offer them £1 per month etc and then forget about it, life's for living not for worrying about debt, enjoy being well xx