well thought i would start a thread to keep me going

stevieb1

mini note ..

rang council ... "i cant pay this years yet as im still paying off last years, you have already had 700 off me so far this year...... "
council "thats ok, as long as its paid by march next year .. but we will still go through with the court action, and add another 103 to the bill"

"gee thanks council "

3Dogs

Hi StevieB - I am disgusted at the lack of help you have been given so far - you should not have had to do this all on your own

Have you tried the other debt charities - National Debtline or Citizens Advice Bureau - they may be more helpful - isn't there a special business debt helpline out there?

I know your pride is stopping you from going for bankruptcy but please give it more thought - it will give you a chance of starting afresh without all this hanging over your head. Bankruptcy does not have the stigma is used to have, they don't even publish names in newspapers now, so no-one need know about it

Pleeease at least consider it again and check out the other debt agencies I mentioned. I will have a look round and see if I can find any more info to help you and ask a friend to drop in and give you advice as she is very knowledgeable

Do hope you can get something sorted - remember that you are not alone, especially now you have found MouseAnn's thread!!!!

Will check in later StevieB

Tixy

Hi Stevie

Just been looking through your thread (3dogs asked me to pop across).

Are you working through your own limited company? and if so is that in a position to pay you a regular wage? Does the limited company owe a lot of debts (especially to HMRC?)
If it does have you spoken to your accountant about whether it might be worth looking into winding up/liquidating the company and then trading just as a soletrader (just a thought but obviously I'm not sure if it would be at all viable in your situation).

On your personal debts what is the situation with the mortgage arrears? are you in discussions with the mortgage company? have you agreed a rate at which you can pay them back? How much is your house worth do you think? what sort of equity (if any) do you have in it? Do you own your house alone (no partner?)

What about gas & elec? they are still supplying you I assume? are you paying something towards this?

I know when you have priority debts such as yours CCCS won't set up a DMP or tell you to do anything other than pay just token payments to your unsecured creditors whilst you clear the priority debts.
But they should still advise you about whether bankruptcy is an option for you. It doesn't sound like you have had the best advice from them, which is a shame as they are usually on the ball. Might be worth instead you getting advice from national debtline (hopefully they don't usually take 6times of calling to speak to someone like you had with business debtline).
Alternatively have you tried speaking to another CCCS advisor? or do they all say the same?

From what you have written it does look like bankruptcy might be a sensible option (well more sensible than 65hour weeks for the next 13years).

3Dogs

Tixy wrote: »

From what you have written it does look like bankruptcy might be a sensible option (well more sensible than 65hour weeks for the next 13years).

Well said Tixy

StevieB - what if you were ill or had an accident within those long 13 years? What would you do then?

I do really think that you need to look again at bankruptcy - sorry to press you on this but I do think it is the only option for you

stevieb1

ok .. first an update . then ill _try_ to answer 3dogs and tixy.

spends today - 0 nada zilch nuffink
smokes today - 13 :eek:
billable hours today - 8.5 sucks when everything is being serviced !

spoke to the council (as above) .. been going through the paperwork of it though and cant work their sums out!

09/10 off sick for 9 of the 12 months .. yet council tax benefit only paid off 200 ? !!!!!! apparently thats how it is with the council, yet if i had been off _all_ year it would have all been paid.!! had the DWP - hospital spoken to each other then i would still be off, as im recommended not to work.. let alone do all this manual stuff! and had the DWP sorted themselves out i would have at least had _some_ income last year so my debts including the gas/eleccy would have at least been paid .... (massive mess up with direct pay, DWP cancelling my claim on almost a weekly basis)

*sigh*

with regards to tixy/3dogs .. the ltd company stopped trading in 08 but had _minor_ debts which i was going to be paying off by the end of 08 so that the company could close with no bad records etc. but towards the end of 08 i ended up in hospital myself in a pretty bad way (3 BIG shots of morphine direct into the vein, plus oxygen and numerous other pain killers etc, didnt take away the pain which amazed/astounded the paramedics/doctors)

the debts on the company are "fines" from companies house .. some say they are personal to me, some say to the company .. and now the VAT man has got involved telling me that i owe him (how i havent traded!!AND i have sent him 2 vat 7 forms) as i couldnt get through to businessdebtline and the cccs dont deal with ltd companies im asking a lawyer friend to help if they debts are company related then the company can just go insolvent no issues if they are personal debts now .. then BR is looking like an option.

re bankruptcy .. ive been in a worse hole than this before in my life, but i was younger and again circumstances were against me, my blas! attitude to things didnt help, back then i knuckled down and got out of the mess .. (circa 500k) by the time my son was born i was back in the black and earning a tidy sum.

ive always worked long hours (even if i didnt need to) suppose its the way i learnt to handle things always testing myself pushing myself to learn, try harder!
when i split with the ex again it was very much a blas! affair she wanted it over, i said ok moved out. end of
i then purchased the house and had a very strict budget that allowed me to service my cc's, loans etc and pay all the household bills and go out, travel around the country on my weekends off.
then as mentioned in 08 it all fell down. for the first time in my life i _couldnt_ work physically, hells couldnt walk/stand for over a month yet i put my head down cracked on making myself better (stores of food helped )

during the early part of 09 i attempted to claim on the ppi couldnt do it had the accounts closed by the associated companies and then started the snowball of letters/calls etc.
then the rst i have posted elsewhere as to where i am now.

in all honesty if it wasnt for my son, i wouldnt have any qualms about BR, losing the lot, as i would also then have a chance to change careers and go back to the one that i earnt money at, as opposed to the one that i work hard at, would also mean i could go back to the town nearer family friends etc.

but

ive come so far now in the uphill struggle and im not going to roll over just yet.

for the last 10 years my social life has been zero so im not actually losing a lot and in all honesty ive learnt over the years that there arent many folks that want to know you when you are on your @ss bones. fickle "friends" maybe? when you are up they are all around when you are down they run away. so have learnt to trust in myself.

with regards to the CCCS budget .. they say im losing about 400 a month .. yet im paying my bills every month so this cant be possible! they say budget for food, entertainment etc etc.. this i dont need to do as it says up top my food is taken care of, and entertainment? the computer is more than enough as long as there is a net connection its all good sad i know.

i would like to get back into my "old" industry but to get there i need monthly funds and estimation is that it will break back even in about a years time.. something that i cannot start at the moment.

13 years? its not going to take me that long to pay things off, that i am adamant about. ive been looking at the figures, looking at the hours, looking at the income and yes it is going to be a balancing act for a couple of years, but im hoping that i will also run into some luck at some point. i reckon on the outside 5 years for me to be clear of all the unsecured debts. this month im using as a sort of guage as to when / where i can push things.

the house is currently in negative equity by a fair chunk so thats no help, but i have advertised another room, see if there are any takers.

well i hope/think that answers anything if not shout at me and ill pop back up

stevieb1

spends : 4.79 *sobs* ciggies have gone up really must quit now
smokes : 8! not going too well on the above
billable hours : 10 .. that makes it just under 53.5 with 2 days to go \o/ so worse case +16 hours should make it around 69 + this week well on track

what a day/night
became single @ half 1 this morning .. and the day really went downhill from there. lol
couple of stillborn calves some poorly cows and the mobile operator ringing me.
"if you dont pay within 2 days we will cut you off"
"oh well thats a shame isnt it"
"we will cut your phone off"
"why wait 2 days im not going to be paying you im skint"
"oh how about if we give you till the end of the month"
"result thanks "

still wont be getting paid unless a miracle happens rofl

ive been playing with sums .. now it seems that this month i should have a surplus .. so im figuring lets try to blag a company with a silly small F & F just to see what they say .. im thinking of going in around 10-15% you know like when you go swimming you put your big toe in to see what its like.
if i can sweet talk them (hope its a female on the other end of the phone) then ill crack on with all the rest so that will bring the debt do to .. around 1700 which i feel is much more manageable ROFLMFAO. *dreams*

climbintheladderouttadebt

stevieb1 wrote: »

spends : 4.79 *sobs* ciggies have gone up really must quit now electronic cigarette approx £30 (or less) o help you quit? is working for my boyfriend. No need to buy lighters either lol!
smokes : 8! not going too well on the above
billable hours : 10 .. that makes it just under 53.5 with 2 days to go \o/ so worse case +16 hours should make it around 69 + this week well on track

what a day/night
became single @ half 1 this morning .. and the day really went downhill from there. lol
couple of stillborn calves some poorly cows and the mobile operator ringing me.
"if you dont pay within 2 days we will cut you off"
"oh well thats a shame isnt it"
"we will cut your phone off"
"why wait 2 days im not going to be paying you im skint"
"oh how about if we give you till the end of the month"
"result thanks " sorry to hear your bad news, but the phone bit made me laugh! Needed to after the day I've had!

still wont be getting paid unless a miracle happens rofl

ive been playing with sums .. now it seems that this month i should have a surplus .. so im figuring lets try to blag a company with a silly small F & F just to see what they say .. im thinking of going in around 10-15% you know like when you go swimming you put your big toe in to see what its like.
if i can sweet talk them (hope its a female on the other end of the phone) then ill crack on with all the rest so that will bring the debt do to .. around 1700 which i feel is much more manageable ROFLMFAO. *dreams*

Can't wait to hear how that goes!

stevieb1

spends : zero
smokes : 7
billed hours: 8

well it seems the ltd company debt has dropped somewhat now its only 2400 ish \o/ will have to get on top of the rest on monday and get rid of it all.

can someone send some sun over this way? wind, rain and low clouds ALL day !! my suntan has fallen off ! or was that the shower i just had ?

I have tried patches, gum, tab thingy's, inahlators gonna just go down the work all hours and forget about smoking .. hoping it will work

stevieb1

sunday
spends : 0
smokes: 5
billed hours : 9.5

monday
spends : 4.79 <--- last pack though i _hope_
smokes : 6
billed hours : 12.5

apparently the LTD company can go officially not costing me ought... can only send the forms back and cross my fingers ....
still no post which is disconcerting