Help! seriously stressed out and worried by debt

swalker123

Hi,

I know there must be lots of posts similar to mine but i really could do with advice..

I am a 28 year old woman, on a low income (approx £150 per week) working part time irregular hours at a university (term time only). For the last year from July 09-10 i was a full time student.

To cut a long story short I have what I consider to be a worrying amount of debt. Its not the size as comparatively to others it is not a huge amount. The worry is that I cant pay it off quick enough to satisfy the banks/utility companies and I feel like a hamster on a wheel, living hand to mouth and constantly afraid to open my mail.

I owe smile bank £700 from a long standing student account-they want £110 per month for 6 months to clear the debt as I defaulted on an payment arrangement I had (as i wasnt working so i missed one payment). Ive asked to pay a final settlement as a compromise but they outright refused (and pretty much laughed at the suggestion).

I also owe approx £300 for overdue gas and electric bills (all of which are red reminders). At the moment i am paying what i can when i can, at most 20 per month at the end of each month.

I live out of my £300 overdraft with my halifax reward current account-which i pay £12.50 for each month...can i switch accounts and leave halifax when i have an overdraft with them???

I am so stressed bcause i have no credit cards (poor credit) and i am pinching from peter to pay paul. I live on a very tight budget and just about manage to pay rent each month. I am looking for second jobs but there are none.

I know it all sounds very pathetic but i am at my wits end. Ideally i would like to consolidate my bills and pay them off bit by bit but is this more costly long term?

Any advice/signposting at all would be very bery much appreciated

Sarah

isy1011

Well done for posting.

Do a SOA (see thread at top of this forum) and people can comment on incomings/ ougoings and ways to reduce your debt.

fi76

Don't worry I'm sure you will sort it all out in time.

I think the only way to make a dent in your debt isto increase income, with it approaching festive season, places will start taking on extra temp staff soon so keep an eye out, infact I've already seen adverts at my local post office for winter staff. In the meantime, have you had a good clear out selling goods on ebay won't lead to a fortune but £20 here and there are good sweetners for your creditors.
You could try mystery shopping for extra income too.

Good Luck

pinkarsenalprincess

fi76 wrote: »

Don't worry I'm sure you will sort it all out in time.

I think the only way to make a dent in your debt isto increase income, with it approaching festive season, places will start taking on extra temp staff soon so keep an eye out, infact I've already seen adverts at my local post office for winter staff. In the meantime, have you had a good clear out selling goods on ebay won't lead to a fortune but £20 here and there are good sweetners for your creditors.
You could try mystery shopping for extra income too.

Good Luck

Yes, this time of year is good for extra income. Just wandering around bluewater this morning I saw lots of Xmas temp jobs being offered in the windows, and that was only in the shops I actually looked at so there may have been many more.

LeeSouthEast

Take a deep breath. You're in the right place for support and help.

Post up your 'Statement of Affairs' click here and post it up here

eyeopener2

You can leave the Halifax and arrange to repay the overdraft at whatever you can afford. They may be pigs about it but your paying £12-50 for nothing at the moment, you may as well use that to pay your priorities which are gas and electric. You say you have a bad credit rating anyway so I wouldn't worry too much about them.

Oh and Smile bank can go and jump at the moment for the £110, you need to get on top of the gas and electrice first. Then comes everything else.

What they going to do? You have no assets by the sound of it so they will have to wait.

Sort out a new basic bank account first then start to negotiate repayment arrangements with the rest. They will get what you can afford not what they want.

Gas and electric first.

stoocake

Sound advice so far. Definitely get an SOA up and that will help. Best wishes go out to you.

swalker123

Thanks ever so much, I didnt think i'd get so much helpful advice!

I will start job hunting for seasonal work, it hadnt even occurred to me to do that i was just so bogged down in the here and now i forgot that xmas was coming up with lots of temporary vacancies!

And i will get an SOA and tell Halifax to take a running jump (and Smile though they at they are willing to accept £20 for now)

x x x x x x

RAS

Hi

you need a new basic bank account, not related to any of your creditors, urgently. Get your income paid into that. Check whether you can get any financial help here www.entitledto.com.