just got into more debt- HELP please

sarah08

Hi,

Not sure where to start please read all :S. Me and OH have just left univeristy (june) and so had overdrafts of about £600 or so each....decided to move into our own place when came back with my brother who helped pay for the first lot of rent for four months.....which now means we are paying all the rent......

OH hasn't got a job and I started work in Sept and get about £600 per month - rent is £550....this meant we have been using our interest free overdrafts as a way of living.

OH started getting JSA from mid august.....but now JSA say he shouldn't have been on it as I'm working - would have been helpful for them to say that to start off with considering as we did tell them I had a job, I just hadn't started working etc.....

So we now owe all the money they gave us (probz about £2500 - wont know for sure until sent off paperwork!). They have stopped his JSA all together so not getting any money from that.....they have stopped our housing and council tax benefits.

I can't see how we are going to live cos my income barely covers the rent......Is there any way of getting any form of benefits, or maybe taking out a loan etc????

HELP PLEASE.

We CANT get working tax credit because neither of us are over 25 or have children etc.

We might have to move back in with one of our parents but really want this as a last resort because we get no freedom at my house and have to eat all frozen unhealthy food etc.....and his parents live far away and neither of us drive...so would be a struggle to get to work.

really sorry for the long post....i just wanted to add all the details.

MFWannabe

You simply can't afford to live where you do; you need to move back in with your parents at least while you pay off your debts and while your partner finds a job. You say this means you have to eat unhealthy food; but this doesn't have to be the case; especially if you say you will cook your own meals. You have already been living beyond your means and you ask about taking out a loan? this would be complete madness; if you carry on living where you are you and they way you are currently living you will become massively in debt.

themull1

why do you have to eat frozen, unhealthy food? buy healthy food yourself!! and if you can't afford to move out, you shouldnt have done it!!

hattiefats

Sounds like you are looking for another way out than moving back home and hoped someone on here might come up with something! Unfortunately though it sounds like your best bet is to move back in with parents until you are both in a better financial position. Otherwise it seems like your debts will just keep increasing. The benefits people will let you pay back the money in installments (gutting I know but has to be done).
I'm assuming as you've both left uni you have degrees in something that might help you towards a better income in the future.
It's better to sort out your cash now while you are both young and if that means a bit of frozen grub at mum and dads for a few months it's not the end of the world!
Good luck to you both.

opinions4u

maybe taking out a loan etc????

I have no idea whether or not you graduated on leaving university.

But you would have thought that 3 or 4 years of the finest kind of education that the nation can provide would furnish you with a little bit of common sense.

Let's assume for a moment you take a loan out. How will you repay it? Pause for 30 seconds and think it through. You have no available income to pay a penny back.

Get real. Live to your means. You have clearly taken on a tenancy which you can't afford (and I doubt could have been afforded with JSA coming in as well). You need to live somewhere cheaper. Friends? Parents?

sharpy2010

I can guarantee you that the OP will not like the realistic answers that have been given.

Primavera_2

To be honest, I'm really surprised that you were both accepted by your rental agents. When moving into my current rented house, me and my OH were both told that we had to be in full time employment, non smokers, no pets etc, etc, you get the idea. When the agents did all of our referencing, they also checked our employment status with our employers to make sure that we weren't telling porkie pies!

I understand from your post that your brother helped you with your rent to begin with (nice guy), but surely it is you and your OH that are on the tenancy agreement? I'm just really surprised that they accepted you with little to no income.

As all of the previous posters have said, you have no choice but to move back in with parents. My rent is roughly the same as yours, partner and I both work full time and it's still a blinking struggle. I don't mean to patronise you, but it's not just the rent you have to worry about, it's the council tax, gas/elec, food, TV license etc, I need not go on.

The other thing I noticed is that you said you are getting 0% overdrafts. Be really, really careful. The OH and I are both ex students (long time ago mind!), and I'm pretty sure that once you graduate, they switch your account back to a standard bank account which could mean that you no longer get the luxury of a 0% overdraft. This could mean disaster if you bank with Halifax as they charge £1 a day for the privilege! :eek: As I said be careful, you will have to pay this money back!!!!

pinkarsenalprincess

Graduate accounts now have 0% overdrafts, but they are reduced each year so the longer you stay in them the more you will be charged. After 3 years the interest free overdraft is removed.

You need to be trying to get out of these overdrafts now

jackieblack

I agree with all of the above posters

You have to live within your means and that means that at the moment you just can't afford your own place.

Move back in with parents, sort out your jobs (£600pm sounds like part-time work?) get out of debt first and then start saving.

Once you are both on your feet, with a few £ behind you, think about getting your own place.

I'm sorry if that is not the answer you were hoping for..... but now you're living in the real world.
Good luck to you both.