a beaten man.........

dancingfairy

Hi - you need to prioritise your expenses - you need to get the priority bills paid first - these incluse your mortgage, gas, electric, water, council tax, food, clothes etc.
Frankly any unsecured loans and credit cards can squeal as much as they like but you should not put your home at risk for the credit cards - they may have to accept a share of what you have spare.
Do get in touch with one of the debt charities that have been recommended.
df

lpaps

Hi, dont despair, you need to pay the essential debts to keep a roof over your head, everything else is not secured on your house so dont worry you wont end up homeless!! this is your priority. Contact the CCCS they will advise you, the first time i spoke to them i cried as i couldnt believe what has happened to me and i was very scared. however, 5 months down the line my life is back on track, at least i can sleep at night. Have your income and expenses ready, they will tell you what debts are a priority. They are lovely to deal with and their advisors are great and will reassure you. No one wants to be in this situation but things happen in life. CCCS will do a realistic statement of your outgoings, there is no point in committing to living off bread and water for 10 years as this is the way to not succeed, we are human and you need to be sure that you can afford what you offer, i am still getting phone calls from some creditors but i list who calls, time date etc what was discussed, i also sent recorded delivery letters. These companies do have a process to go through, but no one has been rude or agressive so far, i have just stated the facts when they phone ie i cannot pay any more than my offer, sorry for long post but you will feel better in a few months, it is very daunting in the beginning but its the best thing i have done, good luck!

NewStart09

Hello

I am not trying to be harsh, but you really need to include in your statement of affairs, your child maintenance. If you don't it will come back and bite you.

Creditors you can negotiate with and your renting rooms sounds like a start, but if you neglect the Child Maintenance it could be directly taken out of your paycheck, if the ex goes through the CSA.
Therefore reducing your income, just because you only see them once a saturday does not mean you can dismiss your payment.

Wish you well
NewStart09

Nargleblast

Withoutahope - just checking to see you are still around. Hope the advice given so far helps. Let us know how things are.

withoutahope

hi all,im still here and many many thanks for all the kind words and support/advice,ive just opened a new bank account not connected with my old,going to have my wages paid into this new account and just pay my priority debts,none of my debts are secured against my home,just going to make token payments to those lot,£5.00 a month etc,hopefully that will free up some credit to ready the house for renting out 2 bedrooms,new boiler is the priority,its working fine...ish but it started growling at me over the winter,must be 15 years old,service guy said time for a change but i have a carbon monoxide alarm at the ready, a couple of hundred per bedroom for beds/matresses/furniture etc,achieveable income circa £500.00 per month for two bedrooms =£6000.00,i can earn best part of £5000.00 per annum for the rent tax free so i wouldnt have to pay much tax on the surplus,extra council tax is about £300.00 per annum,extra heat/light bills of about £400.00,a %50 increase,not on water meter so no change there,so an extra income of £5000.00 per annum/£400.00 a month will go a long way to getting back on my 2 proud feet,allthough im very angry with my ex we get on,dont fight at all,im just very withdrawn and quiet to her,no chance of reconciliation on my part,too much hurt,would love to pay maintainance but i physically cant,its just not there,shes not a vindictive person so csa wont be informed,in the middle of writing to my creditors to explain what went wrong and action plan,probably tell me to "get stuffed,wheres our hard earned money",dont we just love bankers at the moment,wheres my bailout/bonus ??????? il keep in touch,still kicking

NeverAgain_2

withoutahope,

It seems you have outgoings of nearly £2,000 and an income of £1,200.

And your outgoings are artificially reduced because £12,000 of credit card debt is on interest-only payments.

It's going to cost money - more debt - to prepare the bedrooms for rent, and your bills will increase.

Of the £500 a month rent, you might have £400 at most to put towards your monthly budget.

This means you are still several hundred pounds short every month.

I'm not trying to be negative, but surely the renting plan doesn't add up.

Having extra people in the house may not suit.

I'm concerned you will struggle on for a few more years, getting further and further behind until your finances really do hit the buffers.

If you sold the house you could flatten most, if not all, of the debts.

A move might help put the relationship behind you as well.

There are worse places to be than debt-free and renting.

andy.m_2

NeverAgain wrote: »

There are worse places to be than debt-free and renting.

Amen to that.

withoutahope

totally agree with you,however the halifax loan has 3 years left on it at £339 a month so when thats paid off it will be a huge burden lifted,theres also my parents but dont want to trouble them at the moment even though they would help out in an instant,last but not least the construction industry has to improve,its not just me,all my mates from all the different trades are down 8000 - 12000 per annum,every one of us is struggling,me the worst due to now on a single income and a circa 8000 pay reduction,please god it picks up quickly,car industry got millions as well as the banks,all we got was cancelled schools/hospitals etc (thanks con-dem),many thanks for your insight but remember if i sell my house,the asset i worked my !!!! off for is sold to pay off debts,whats the odds on a single person like me earning 30,000 when the construction industry drags itself out of the gutter with nil deposit getting a mortgage for a circa 170000 home,its my home,not theirs,mine,and il fight tooth n nail for it.

dancingfairy

All I would say is please don't spend loads of money making the place ready for rental if you won't get much back from it and secondly the decision is up to you - you may still be short but will you feel better trying to do something about it or not? It's a tough call but no one can fault you for wanting to improve things - crunch the numbers and see how you feel - either way it seems like your creditors will have to make do with what you can offer them - have you been on National Debtline's website as they have sample letters etc and going through them or CCCS may give you some back-up if the creditors get a bit stressy.
df

withoutahope

ive done all the numbercrunching i can handle,brain dead at the moment,been on websites for letter templates,post em this weekend,500 should cover both bedrooms,monthly payments for new boiler install,hope they dont credit check lol,many thanks for your and everyone elses advice,wish me luck x