recently graduated...unemployed and drowning in debts.

jj1986

Im not sure if this is the right place to post, but im losing the will and any help or advice would be greatly received! fact that im posting at 2.50 am speaks for its self!

I have two student o/ds maxed out (one about to start charging £1 per day due to the fact that its an o/d from the first time i went to uni and dropped out...) the second is interest free for another year. I have a credit card maxed and im paying approx £18 per month in interest. I know this doesn't sound allot but...

I'm living on a mates couch paying him whatever I can, when i can - which is not allot on job seekers! In all honesty for the last 8 weeks i have been living off £30 a week. what makes things worse is that my mate is getting evicted in 8 weeks so on top of this i will have nowhere to live. I cant claim housing benefit either as my friend is doing me a favour by letting me crash there.

I know my only way out is to get a job, but seriously its damn hard.

dazydaisy

Sorry you're having such a tough time. It's not easy and debts like that rack up effortlessly. I don't see why you'd be ineligible for housing benefit just because you are crashing on your mate's sofa. In fact I would say you are officially homeless and therefore entitled to help. You could try to find a private-rent bedsit and then get housing benefit to pay the rent, although increasingly it seems landlords say 'no DHSS' which is grossly unfair really. I think in effect you are a single homeless person and therefore the charity Crisis should be able to provide you with advice. Google Crisis and you will find their website. I can't post a link because I am new. and also you could probably contact your Local Authority to get advice on how to get somewhere to live. You could sign up on the social housing list although single people are usually not a priority for that. But because you have nowhere else to go I think it is worth a try. If you get stuck and your local council will not help you, then there's also the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

As for the interest of £1 per day on your overdraft, you might be able to negotiate with the bank about that debt. If you promise to repay even £5 a month or the minimum they will accept, they might freeze it for you or stop hassling you. It is always better to negotiate with the bank and talk to them even when hiding away from them feels like far the better prospect. As for easily gained jobs, I'd recommend supermarkets and call centres. Not easy even then but places like that have a high turnover of staff and you're more likely to get in.

Ronaldo_Mconaldo

Get a job stacking shelves of flipping burgers. Whatever it takes to get money in.

suicidebob

Ronaldo_Mconaldo wrote: »

Get a job stacking shelves of flipping burgers. Whatever it takes to get money in.

You make it sound like there's not 100s of people applying for those type of vacancies.

t0rt0ise

OP, you sound as though you need some debt managment advice. How about the citizens advice bureau and ask for some advice? They can refer you for debt counselling and help freeze your debts so that they become more manageable.

GothicStirling

First, I would recommend opening a new bank account, and as someone has mentioned seek debt management.

Are you claiming JSA? Have you applied for council housing?

Try not to panic, I was in the same position two weeks ago. I took a job with McD's, but its a job.

smileylondongal

As others have mentioned, in your position I would also do the following:
- talk to the Job Centre to a) see what else you may be able to claim and b) if they know of any jobs you can do
- Call the council housing department to see what your chances are
- Look through your local paper (these are sometimes online), newsagent windows, visit local retailers with your CV and look midly smart, gumtree.com etc - just get out there in whatever weather and keep going
- is there anyone else you can stay with temporarily, eg. famiy?
- Visit the CAB to see what else they advise

What I wouldn't do is open any more debt or move the debt around as in my opinion you'd be making it worse. Finding a place to stay and getting extra pennies has got to be the first step.

Best of luck.

saintjammyswine

Try Next Step as they offer very good advice on a range of subjects around careers and training etc. Might give you an idea you hadn't thought of. Also, depending on where you graduated from the University may have an advice service available even after graduation, you wouldn't be the first in this situation.

DCFC79

You need to sort somewthing out now, could you not stay at someone else's place of residence until you can get a job and your own place.

JoeCRow_82

Yeah I would recommend seeking debt help but overall the only solution is to find a good job. There are plenty of jobs that pay well and are easy to walk into with just the right attitude. Sales jobs perhaps telesales or particularly recruitment can pay really well and will employ practically straight after the interview. In the meantime a fews ways to get a quick buck are survey sites, mystery shopping, film extras etc.

Oldernotwiser

GothicStirling wrote: »

Are you claiming JSA? Have you applied for council housing?
.

The chances of a young single male being housed by the council are virtually nil!