Please help, I don't know what to do..

sockmonkey

Hey guys,
First post for me. My name's Sue amd I'm 25.
I've cornered myself through no fault of my own and I'm absolutely stuck.
A few months ago I was in a relatively well paid job and was paying all of my monthly payments comfortably.
These included: rent, hire purchase car & insurance, career development loan repayments, mobile, broadband, council tax, gas & electric, water, sky & credit card.
The job I had was coming to an end (public sector cuts!) on 31st March.
I got a phonecall in Decemberfrom a recruitment agency offering me a 3-4 month assignment with the NHS. The job was the same rate of pay as my old one, and the hours were much better (Mon-Fri 9-5 instead of completely random. My old job could start as early as 3.30am and finish at late as 2am, with no shift pattern, just an ad hoc basis).
It seemed sensible to accept it, so I did. However, what I was not bargaining on was ineptitude. They hired me long before they were ready for me, and I did about 10 hours work in a month. As this was a temp job, no work = no pay.
I restarted on 4th Jan, but was still only getting about 20-25 hours a week in, not enough to pay my bills. I started getting Wonga loans to cover myself, and paying them back on time, but immediately re-borrowing. I decided to move home with my parents to recover some debt. I'm moving back tomorrow and have paid my final rent payment.
Things looked as if they might be just about manageable, and I could scrape by. What I was not counting on was 2 further weeks without work, and a reduction in my wage of over a pound an hour. To really crap on my cornflakes, my new assignment is running into problems, as nobody told the team I'm working with that I was coming, and they haven't filled in the forms I'm supposed to upload on to the computer system, so I'm STILL not getting my promised 37.5 hours a week.

Anyway, long story short...
I am now saddled with more debt that I can conceivably pay off.
I owe Wonga £525 on the 4th March, QuickQuid £200 on the 4th March. I'll be getting around £160 wages next Friday.
On top of this I also have my monthly payments of around £500, also due next week.
I applied for a loan from Santander to cover my payments and only have 1 monthly repayment, but it was turned down.
I don't know what to do now, and it's really stressing me out, I can't seem to stop crying and have never felt so low.
I've thought about debt consolidation, or bankrupty, but I'm not sure if I meet the criteria.

Do any of you have any advice, or have been in similar situations? I'm at my wit's end and would really appreciate any help.

Many thanks, Sue. xx

ellesbellesxxx

Hi Sue, really sorry to hear about this - sounds like you have been let down badly. Please try not to take any more wonga or quik quid payments- I appreciate that you needed to at the time. Is it just the one payment to each company that you need to make? Is there a relative who can loan you the money in the meantime? At least to get rid of those two companies.
Am sure someone will be along in a mo to advise aboutthe rest. Good luck x

CH27

Hi

Try to stop the Wonga & quik quid loans. They are just trapping you.

Could you post your SOA so we have an idea of what your other outgoings are?

sockmonkey

Hi guys - thanks for being so quick!
Sadly, there is nobody I can lend money from.
My job is a bit of a joke, but I am applying for new ones every single day. Pretty much anything really.

I've just finished my SOA:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 800
Total monthly income.................... 800
Monthly Expense Details
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 130
Rent.................................... 200
Career Development Loan..............180
Mobile phone............................ 30
Groceries etc. ......................... 50
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Entertainment........................... 10
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 822

Assets
None

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4400.....(130)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 4400
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CareerDevelopmentLoan..........8500......180
Wonga..........................525.......0.........0
QuickQuid......................200.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........9225......180.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 800
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 642
Available for debt repayments........... 158
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 180
Amount short for making debt repayments. -22
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total HP & Secured debt................. -4,400
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,225
Net Assets.............................. -13,625

CH27

Have you applied for Housing Benefit for help with your rent?
Why don't you pay Council Tax & Utilities?

Have you tried to downgrade your mobile tarrif?

Who is the Career Loan with? Could you contact them & explain your position? They may be able to rejig your payments or give you a pay free month.

ellesbellesxxx

could you ask to drop a tariff on mobile phone?
Your car insurance seems high... is this due to area?
Forget presents at the mo... I am sure people will understand that you can't afford it and you can make it up to them when you find your dream job
Don't suppose you can car share at all? Most local councils have a website you can look at to see about it.
Or public transport not an option?
Your car is an asset btw
Don't suppose this is v likely, but is it worth seeing if you can extend term of career loan/payment holiday while you get yourself sorted?

sockmonkey

I don't pay utilities as I now live with my parents, and my £200 a month covers them. I don't think I'm entitled to housing benefit.
My mobile contract runs out soon, I'll be switching to something cheaper then.
CDL is with Co-operative Bank, I'll be ringing them this afternoon for help.

EDIT:
My car isn't mine, it's on hire purchase... does that still count as an asset then? Insurance is the cheapest I've ever had!! I'll have a look at car sharing, but will prob be difficult as I'm temping, and my role includes shifting between locations on a regular basis.

ellesbellesxxx

PS: Did you say living with parents? Are they aware of your position? If not, maybe tell them and see about them letting you off rent? I am sure they don't want you to struggle - you look like surviving on bread and cheese from your grocery budget

ellesbellesxxx

Sorry racking my brains here - how much is your car worth? Could you trade it in for cheaper model? (Webuyanycar website good for getting value)
(Think you said on finance tho?)

CH27

sockmonkey wrote: »

I don't pay utilities as I now live with my parents, and my £200 a month covers them. I don't think I'm entitled to housing benefit.
My mobile contract runs out soon, I'll be switching to something cheaper then.
CDL is with Co-operative Bank, I'll be ringing them this afternoon for help.

Could you not ask your parents if you can pay no rent this month? You can always catch up later when you are back on track.
Are they aware of your circumstances?

ellesbellesxxx

Hehe CH27 - great minds! We are obv typing at same time