Advice needed for hubby please...

babymumma2

Hello everyone.

My husband owns a grocery business, and because of circumstances when we opened the shop in 2005, had to take out a lot of money on his credit cards to pay for it. We have tried to keep our heads above water, and although the shop is doing well, we don't see any of it due to the amount we pay in bills, etc.

Our home situation is this:
We have two small children, aged 5 and the other 2.
We live in a rented property. However, we do own a home, but moved out last year due to being burgled.
I am due to start teacher training in Sept.

Ideally, we'd like a debt management plan just for my husband, as my debts are not unpayable. However, my main fear is that I will not be able to sell our house and buy another 1 in just my name on the mortgage. Our mortgage is HUGE, £262,000, due to OH remortgaging (again, for the business!).

Any advice would be very much appreciated please.

Thanks.

babymumma2

Anyone please?

Marisco

So you are paying rent and mortgage? Could you not move back into the house to save on the rent? The housing market is a bit stagnant just now, could you perhaps stay put till things pick up? If your earnings are low, you probably won't get a mortgage on your own and if you are going back to college, you'll not be earning anything. To be honest I don't know anything about the impact a DWP will have if you have your own business, but I'm sure someone will be along who can help. Good luck

happycamel_2

Hi, if you're in negative equity you can't sell the house. If you aren't then that might help but don't go for a DMP unless you need it.

Can you rent the house out? Are you doing that already? To be honest getting a mortgage in just your name if you already have debts and you're going to be a student is a no hoper and teachers don't earn that much to begin with. There's nothing wrong with keeping your house (I know burglary isn't nice but moving out is a bit extreme) and there's nothing wrong with renting (keeps things nice and flexible) so I wouldn't get too worked up about those.

I think you just need to keep nice and focussed on meeting the minimum payments and paying off debt where you can. Hubby should take himself off to Business Link (free to use gov agency) to get advice on running his small business to make sure he's making as much money as possible

Good luck

babymumma2

The house is being rented out at the moment. We got burgled twice in the space of 4 months, with the entire family asleep upstairs the 2nd time. I just didn't feel safe there anymore. With regards to moving back now, to be honest, we moved 30 miles away from where we were - older child is happily settled at school, and we love it here. Old neighbourhood not so good for raising children.
With regards to my income - I am technically a partner in the business, so that points my income towards £24,000 a year also (although likewise, don't see this, cos of hubby's debts.. plus, i dont actually work there so cant claim a salary from him!)
I have been thinking that keeping the house as it is, and renting like we are is probably the best option for now though. We'll see. Just feel uneasy about renting... never done it before.
Will look into business link. Thanks.