Please help! - (long one)

hobbesy_2

I have read through these boards over the past day or so and hope there's people here who can help me.

I've posted our budget in detail. Our problem is that i am unable to work at the moment to due severe depression and anxiety. I am self employed as a cabaret singer and have stuck my head in the sand a little when it comes to going onto incapacity benefit as if can do two evenings a month i can make the same amount. Unofortunately i have not worked since last September, hence things spirally out of control. I have two bookings next month and one the month after so far so if these go ok i can hopefully build up a little but my husband works very funny shifts that i have to fit my work round as he drives me and does my sound. This means working has always been tricky for me since having our little one as getting a babysitter round his hours is tricky (a mixture of nights and days each week, different each week but we know well in advance).

I have read through national debtlines site and pack and have spoken to them once on the phone but have a nightmare getting through. Also as part of the anxiety thing have terrible trouble with phones. Anyway, i'm waffling i guess. We went through all the debts properly, did our budget and as you can see without me working we don't really have enough in to cover our outgoings before any debts are even in the question.We are trying to cut down the shopping bill, etc.

I have written to all the people we owe money to enclosing a copy of our budget asking if everything can be put completely on hold for 6 months to then be reviewed to give me a chance to get back working again as this is their and our best chance of paying everything back (the worse this gets the sicker i get) So far the only people to reply are Egg and Lloyds c/card with a statutory default notice, and Studio today who are going to take £40 to write the debt off (small mercies at least!)

I am very scared of us losing our home as this is our first, we have only been in it just over a year and i really think it would finish me off. Please don't lecture me on getting into debt in the first place as there were many reasons for it happening, including me getting sick before.

Should i write back to Egg and Lloyds pleading further? Offering to be reviewed in 3 months instead of 6? Is there no way out of this beyond going completely under and losing everything? If i get back ontrack workwise are we too late to get put on something like a free DMP?

Also First Direct are the only people i haven't written to yet as our main account which my husband's wages go into is with them and i am worried they will take these as soon as they go in towards the debt leaving us with nothing to live on or pay mortgag, etc. Is this right? Do i need to open a new account? (we are not late paying them yet) These letters were also out of the blue for the Northern Rock card, Cap One Card and First National but though tit best to deal with head on before we are into arrears with them too

My husband is looking at seeling his motorbike. We had it because it was much cheaper to run than a car (and he loves it) but we have now bought a deisel which is almost as cheap to run as a bike. This wouldn't get us much but i'm guessing every little helps. We are also selling odds on ebay to get us by with things like car tax due next month.

PLEASE HELP ME!


IN
PAY 1450.0
CHILD BENEFIT 60.0

OUT

Mortgage 585.0
Council Tax 90.0
Water 10.0
Building/Content ins 50.0
Life Insurance 34.0
GAS 25.0
ELECTRICITY 30.0
Housekeeping 240.0
TV Licence 10.0
Entertainment 40 - - inc, internet (used for work) and sky
Hire Purchase-Computer 21.0 1yr7months remaining
Travel 276.0T - - breakdown Tax 15, MOT 4, Car ins 25, fuel 200, Bike 28 (husband works shifts in london)
Work Meals 40.0 (has to have)
Clothing/Laundry 20.0 (constant t-shirt washing for husbands work)
Phone/Mobile 55.0 (locked into contract til July will then reduce)
Sundries/Emergencies 10.0
Other - Nappies/wipes 20.0

TOTALS - OUT 1556.0
IN 1510.0
LEFT WITH -46.0


CREDIT DEBTS approx total

CAPITAL ONE C/CARD 200.0
N.ROCK C/CARD 1000.0
LLOYDS ODRAFT 1200.0
LLOYDS LOAN 1620.0
FIRST DIRECT ODRAFT 1200.0
FIRST DIR LOAN 10000.0
LLOYDS C/CARD 2700.00
EGG C/CARD 3000.0
WINDOWS-first national 3000.0
STUDIO 80.0 (gone as of today!!!)

24000.0

THANK YOU

Keri -X-

loobyloo1980

I'm not the best one to advise you as I am new to all this myself. But I also had to contact Lloyds c/card when I was made a single parent. I got a statutory default notice too and it is on my credit file as a default. But they let me pay by installments, and to this day i still am. My installments are steadily increasing as we get better off and better off.

I went to the CAb and they took over running my finances for me for a while which meant that any letters coming through I passed on to them and did not worry. In your situation it sounds like a weight off your shoulders would be a great help and I suggest you get an appointment with them straight away and take all your papers.

They will do the negotiating for you and you won't have the day to day stress of dealing with the creditors. They will also be able to make sure you are getting all the tax credits and other benefits you may be entitled to.

Good luck xxx

loobyloo1980

and yes, I would open a new bank account too so your money is not swallowed up by the bank straight away.

lee3276

Which ever way you looked at it its abit of a mess, i had depression 2 years ago and it makes its worse knowing you have to go to work it took all my energy just to get out of bed in the morning. If i was you i would contact https://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk and talk to them and maybe a bit of therpy from a shrink for the depression i know its dosn't help everyone but it helped me its all free and its not good to keep things bottled up.

I wish you the very best of luck the is light at the end of the tunnel
Lee

Midas

You might be entitled to tax credits (or are you including these in the 'pay' section of you income anyway?)

its always worth checking to see if you can get any benefits.

Sorry this isn't much use!

hobbesy_2

Yes sorry should have mentioned I am dealing with tax credits at the moment. When we moved i informed them but as a joint claim for some reason they only changed one of us and we ended up getting no post for months, then payments stopped. They know its their fault and they are in the SLOW process of fixing it, but i think from what they have said so far we were overpayed last year so will probably not get any back payments, but even a small amount in regularly will help.

robnye

welcome to the site

can you list credit limits and interest rates for your credit cards and what the last months minimum payments are....

there may be some room in moving the debt around to the lower interest rates

you mention £40 for internet and sky...... I see you need internet for work, but can you reduce or do away with the sky package

i assume by selling the bike you wouldnt then need to pay for insurance/fuel

have you applied for childrens tax credit (not sure of name)
the minimum payment is £545 (approx) payable monthly

have you applied for council tax benefit

look at comparing what you pay for gas/electric, see if you can save there

Debt_Free_Chick

Agreed, open a new account straight away.

It's best to offer your creditors something, even if it's only £1 a month. So go back, enclose your budget, offer £1 a month and enclose enough to catch up with any missed payments. Keep on paying £1 a month whether they agree, disagree or ignore you.

You should be able to get your food spend down considerably. If you're not working, you could have a new hobby of seeking out the best deals

Personally, I only buy dry/tinned goods at Lidl plus household & cleaning stuff; I get meat from the butcher (better quality & cheaper) and veg from the greengrocer, market, barrow boy or farm shop. Make thrifty shopping your mission! Don't buy pre-packed food, try & cook from scratch. Recycle leftovers into new meals - don't throw everything away. I even freeze leftover gravy to be used next time!

Re Work Meals - are these sandwiches taken in? You should be able to get this down to. If not, can you let us have more details? Are you saying your hubby is forced to pay for a lunch provided by work?

If your food/housekeeping/lunches budget is currently £280, I reckon I could get that down to £150. We only spend £120 a month for two adults – I know baby products are expensive, but I’m sure you have room to economise. Can you make baby food, freeze it then defrost when needed?

Think of every baby product you can. Google for them and visit the websites. Often, you can sign up for free samples. If you can that enough, you may make some savings there.

Re laundry - are you paying someone else, or is this the bill for what you have to buy. I use Lidl's washing powder, only use half of what's recommended and have no problems. If you need a booster, use Washing Soda.

Your travel costs are high, especially petrol. Any room to cut that down? Seriously look at public transport as monthly season tickets can work out to be very thrifty.

Yes - sell the bike - ASAP

And keep up with the eBay thing.

I hope this gives you some inspiration – I’m sure you can get through this. Just keep going.

It’s actually quite difficult to get out a spending habit, by cutting out some things and seeking out cheaper prices for everything else. Try not to think of it as a “diet” but as a hobby.

Just keep going and post back if you have any questions.

Good luck

hobbesy_2

I'll reply to Lloyds and Egg retrying and offering a token payment. The trouble is the actual arrears i think. Lloyds want an immediate £124.88 to stop the default notice and Egg £60 something which we don't have. If i rewrite does anyone know if there's any chance this will be included in what we are now repaying. Lloyds card collections have been very rude so far.

Food i am trying to bring down, and getting there. My figure i originally put for food was lower but it was actually National Debtline who told me it shoud be more, they wanted me to put it at over £300!

Hubby is not forced to eat at work, its is more that he does things such as a 15 hour night shift and they all put food in, he gets all cooked meals out of this, etc. He is a firefighter and there are about 15-20 at his station all eating together, there's not way i want him to have to go in being the ony one not eating.

Tax credits side of things will probably at the £40 a motnh level (i hope) only wftc not ctc as altho hubby's take home looks low they take the figure before things are removed, etc and firefighters have to pay over £200 a month into their pension scheme.

Travel costs, there really isn't anything we can do about the fuel more than we already did by getting a more efficient car. He works in london and we live in Kent, with no-one he works with living nearby. Also they can be asked to work at other stations so would be without a car for that.

Laundry is probably a little high. We do our own, and i use asda's own non bio biggest box.

Saving another £5 per month soon on the electric as we are now dual fuel and changing the pre pay key system we got with the house over to direct

The sky is our main family form of entertainment. We rarely go out, don't smoke, drink very little.

nearlyrich

The sky is our main family form of entertainment

If you are using Sky for films try the DVD trials you could probably get about 6 months worth if you play your cards right, also a freeview box will give you quite a few of the digital channels. I was paying over £40 for the full SKY package but when I kept a diary of what everyone watched for a couple of months we managed to chop it down to the minimum without any arguments, we can't get Freeview or even Channel Five here and cable only runs to next door but 2 unfortunatly.

If your Broadband is with BT you can get them to reduce the price as they are uncompetitive at the moment, see here for thread about this. Might be worth a call even if you're not with BT if your supplier isn't the cheapest.

Lots of good advice already offered hope you are feeling a little better and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

loobyloo1980

hobbesy wrote:

I'll reply to Lloyds and Egg retrying and offering a token payment. The trouble is the actual arrears i think. Lloyds want an immediate £124.88 to stop the default notice and Egg £60 something which we don't have. If i rewrite does anyone know if there's any chance this will be included in what we are now repaying. Lloyds card collections have been very rude so far.

I found Lloyds quite stroppy too. I had a card with them for 3 years before defaulting and had never missed a payment, always paid at least double to minimum payment and thought their attitude was awful when it came to me having to contact them over the problem. If they had left me alone for 3 months I would have been able to take over the full payments again and have no further probs as I was starting a job - but they wouldn't and defaulted me straight away. I managed to haggle them down from £170 payment immediately to £60!!! Just be persistent with them. I literally had to say I do not have a penny to my name my partner has left me penniless. I still had the default issued even though I paid the £60 so be cautious - don't assume that a payment will totally stop the default as it didn't in my case.