Im new and need support!

Sinkingindebt_2

Hello, I have visited the site for a long time but only found the courage yesterday to admit my debt needed adressing. So here I am!

Ok, I contacted CCCS Yesterday, and did a plan online, but my apple mac is not compatible with their results etc, they recommended a DMP but it will take 10 years to repay.

Here is the breakdown...

Monthly Incomings:
Incapacity benefit £306
Partners salary - £900 (ish)
Tax credits £132
Child Benefit £116 (I think)
Child support £182

Total - £1636


Monthly Outgoings:
Rent - £416
Council Tax - £61 to bailiffs for last years, but this years is paid till apr 07
Gas - £60
Electric - £60
Water - £30
TV License - £12 (ish)
Phone - £55 (2 staff contract mobiles with no line rental and BT [i use 1899 too])
Broadband £14.99
Food - £300 (child in nappies AND I used coupons in tesco)
Car Insurance - £30
Car MOT/tax etc £30
Petrol - £40
House insurance £18
Dog food etc £25
Cigarettes (partner smokes) £60


Total: £1211.99

Now heres the scary part...DEBT. This is mine and partners debts, most are not joint either mine or his.

Monument Barclays CCard £4670.85 (with DCA called Hamptons) Apr WAS 18.9% (ish)

Barclaycard £4500 (ish as partners but not more than this) Apr was 14.9% with a DCA but not heard from them for a few months.

Loan from Nan £3000 (I have not repaid anything for 2 months but it is usually £40 pm but this is not urgent as she is lovely about it thank god)

Car HPI £980 last time I looked (this should have ended this month but this has come from bailiff and DCA charges. MOnthly paymenr £153) Apr 16.5%

Capital one (2 cards both over limit)1st £230 2nd £1300 both with extortionate Apr of about 29%

Rent arrears £1200 (classed as temporary acc with the council so the council pay a private landlord each month and I pay the council a subsidy of this as above, I believed Housing benefit should have cleared this but even my MP cant get this amount sorted out so I HAVE to pay it asap)

Brittania Loan of about £8500 (I ran away from this 3.5 years ago and not paid it since, and this is the one Im most scared of, it was a joint loan with my ex partner in both our names but he has not paid either)

Barclycard unkown amount of around £400 high apr again ran away 3.5 years ago.

Littlewoods 2 accounts 1 with £500 ish one with £190 ish again no idea how much outstanding or the apr.

So total is £25470.85 OMFG!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

To make it worse...

My partner lost his job last monday and is now temping at £6.50 ph, I have manic depression which makes me spend when I am high. we have 2 children under 5 and a dog. We dont live lavishly and spend as little as we can, we are swamped with debt though!

I have applied for Dis Liv Allowance a few days ago so fingers crossed and in the process or reclaiming charges on "some" accounts total will be about 3k but will take ages as doing 1 at a time)

I called tax credits today and it seems they might be going up now, but not sure what to, as my partner is earning much less.

Just to add, credit is shot so tarting is not an option.....;)

So anyway advice, support etc would be appreciated.:T :A

Sinkingindebt_2

Just wanted to add, my partner has ben offered a job, he went for the int yesterday, but they offered him a trainee positon instead.

The other jobs salary was 20-24k

This one is £18k, does anyone know of a good way to negotiate it up a bit?

He will take it of course but means we will still be skint!

beanieandme

I am on longterm IB with Bi Polar - sounds like you have a similar problem. Your IB isn't long term is it? Perhaps that can be changed? Depends on your circumstances. You might have to appeal against your first dla descision, depends how it works out. A social worker can help you.

Your gas and elec is extorsionate - can't you get this down to what you actually use. Smacks for being a smoker mr partner. You seriously need to sit down with someone and sort all this out. I pay a lot less for my line rental, the net, and free calls. We both have 100% cashback mobiles that we do recover the money from. I could go on...

PM me if you like.

Sinkingindebt_2

I have manic depression, I think in my post I said I have applied for DLA but I know the chances of me getting it are slim and will have to go to appeal usually. Im on long term IB well I have been on it almost a year anyhow. I get £140.10 every 2 weeks.

Thanks for your suggestions its very appreciated xxxxxxxx

poppycracker

firstly, a great big hug from me, welcome and well done for posting!

others will be along with good advice about the money side, just wanted to say hi. And good on your partner for getting a job offer! Is it with the same company or doing the same work as he was before? If so, could he get a letter from a supervisor or something at his old job to say that he has already been trained?

hope everything goes well with your DLA claim, and the tax credits people

Sinkingindebt_2

well, he works in Sales the last company sacked him over the phone with no pay or notice or even a letter, they owe him almost £1000, so small claims route and tribunal it is then...

Anyway, this is a different sales job selling a diff product, the job he went for inc training for 3 months so im confused, I think maybe they are trying to cut their costs by pretending its a trainee job.

He is 33 been doing sales a long time and IMO can do better than a trainee pos, but after his sacking it will be hard.

lynsayjane

ok wee question, why did they sack him and did he have a contract? the fact your already thinking about tribunals is a good thing.

i'd first suggest finding out exactly what debts you have, apr's and the credit limit, we might be able to suggest a few bt's to get rid of some of the smaller debts.

congrats on facing up to this and making a move to clear it :T

jellycat40

If you are renting and have very little in the way of assets then Bankruptcy would be your logical step. You owe far more than you can ever pay off. Having said that your rent arrears may not be able to be included in this, still it would get rid of most of your debt.

You would probably pay full price for one of you and reduced rate for benefit claimant for yourself. So you will need about £600 to go bankrupt with the fees. However, if you are going down this route you need not pay your creditors while you are saving, they will hassle you a bit, but there is no point in paying anymore of the debt. You may as well go BR for the full amount rather than a couple of hundred less.

CCCS will be able to advise you on what to do, but basically you get the forms from the court, fill them out, apply for a date, go to court, see the judge if you are unlucky, pay the fees, see or speak to the OR and get a BR order. You then see the OR 2 weeks later for a question and answer session on what you used the money for. If you have not used it immorally you will normally be discharged in 6 - 12 months.

You can still have a bank account to get you pay and benefits paid into, you just need to apply for a basic account like the Co - OP Cashminder.

You will not have your belongings taken so long as you don't have any new state of the art 40inch plasma screen tvs or computers. You are allowed to keep a modest car if you need it for work and you are allowed to keep enough money to live on reasonably comfortably.

I was made BR on 31st May this year and I have to say it was £450 well spent, I now sleep nights.

Louise

beanieandme

Sinkingindebt wrote:

I have manic depression, I think in my post I said I have applied for DLA but I know the chances of me getting it are slim and will have to go to appeal usually. Im on long term IB well I have been on it almost a year anyhow. I get £140.10 every 2 weeks.

Thanks for your suggestions its very appreciated xxxxxxxx

manic depression is now called bi polar affective disorder. I get more in my longterm IB, that's why I asked. Over £200 fortnightly.

Sinkingindebt_2

Well I call it BP normally but most dont know that so i use the term Manic depression online alot. How do you get £200???

climbgirl

One thing about the bi-polar disorder...I understand about the urge to spend when you're "high", I lived with a housemate who had this and when he was "high" he would order crazy amounts of things like dvds and cds and have them delivered to the house, thousands and thousands of pounds worth at a time. He of course had no real understanding of what he was doing at the time.

The only way he really found to deal with it was to had all control of his money and cards etc over to his parents (he moved home eventually). By having no access to any form of money apart from the cash they'd give him from his wages, and by signing over power of attorney to them he had no way to spend crazy amounts when he was up. Not very pleasant but it was the only way he had to stop himself from getting into financial trouble.

Is that an option for you, perhaps giving control to your partner? It might help prevent the debt from getting any worse.