Feeling very very down and worried

jazza6

I have just been made redundant from my job, like millions of others out there. My problem is that I only have jobseekers allowance to look forward to and this has to go to food. My husband will try and pay the other bills. It's only his name on the mortgage. Stupidly, years ago, I got into a financial mess and had to take out a Protected Trust Deed and the house had to signed over to husband. I have never learned my lesson, God knows why, because I said, when I was debt-free that I would never, ever get myself into that situation again. Thinking I was fine because I had a job, I have run up two credit cards - not content with one of course, and an unsecured loan. I did take out redundancy cover but now find they will only pay for the unsecured loan. I took out the cover thinking it would give me £480 back every month if I became unemployed. Have just been told I'll only get £100. Strangely enough I took it out through what I thought was a reputable company Martin Lewis Ltd!! I am now at my wits end and feeling soooo low and cannot stop crying. No-one can help me and I can't tell my husband about all this as he is worried enough.

smartiedriver_2

Hi there, sorry to hear you've been made redundant and are so down. Try and deal with one thing at a time and do it in bitesize chunks.

You really must tell your husband. You will worry him more by keeping secrets, and he will surely do all he can to help you.

Speak with the card companies etc, see if they will agree some kind of debt management plan. Ask for interest to be frozen or at least rates reduced. You may be surprised by a favourable response.

Try and get other bills down - ring anyone like Sky, and explain your predicament. They may reduce bills for a period to assist, rather than lose you as a customer. Alternatively, cancel any 'unneccessary' outgoings.

Discuss the mortgage with your husband, & consider if you could release some equity to clear the debts. Whilst many people automatically dismiss the option of moving unsecured debt to secured debt, it often makes for more affordable repayments and substantially reduces the interest.

Finally, get your CV re-written, and get out there and apply for anything and everything you can.

good luck!

jazza6

Thank you smartiedriver for all your advice. I really can''t tell my husband as I've been in this position before and he will really not be able to take it. We have already cut down on things as much as we possibly can but can't afford to remortgage. The problem is we need £964 coming in a month of which my husband can only afford £900. The other 64 will have to come out of my jobseekers allowance and pay for food!

I have applied for every job I can, I'm certainly not work-shy but I've had hardly any responses whatsoever.

I_try_my_best

Hi,
If only 1 of you is working you might be entitled to working tax credits. Might be worth going on their website to do a quick calculation.
Good luck with the job hunt :-)

jazza6

smartiedriver wrote: »

Hi there, sorry to hear you've been made redundant and are so down. Try and deal with one thing at a time and do it in bitesize chunks.

You really must tell your husband. You will worry him more by keeping secrets, and he will surely do all he can to help you.

Speak with the card companies etc, see if they will agree some kind of debt management plan. Ask for interest to be frozen or at least rates reduced. You may be surprised by a favourable response.

Try and get other bills down - ring anyone like Sky, and explain your predicament. They may reduce bills for a period to assist, rather than lose you as a customer. Alternatively, cancel any 'unneccessary' outgoings.

Discuss the mortgage with your husband, & consider if you could release some equity to clear the debts. Whilst many people automatically dismiss the option of moving unsecured debt to secured debt, it often makes for more affordable repayments and substantially reduces the interest.

Finally, get your CV re-written, and get out there and apply for anything and everything you can.

good luck!

I am going to use my redundancy money over the next couple of months to make minimum payments and once it's done, it's done and I have to face the music then. Do you know, or know if anyone else can answer this. My husband and I have a joint account where we both put money in from our salaries every month to pay all the bills. We also have our own separate accounts. My husband will be the only one putting into the joint in future but my problem is that my loan, which I won't be able to pay, is with the same bank as our accounts. Can they take anything from a joint account, even if my husband is the only one putting in,, to pay my loan? Loan is in my name only. My husband is going to go ape-sh*t when I have to tell him the bad news and I am struggling with this a lot.

red_scorpian

Hi jazz didn't want to read and run sending you lots of hugs and I've been in a similar position as you debt cleared taking out a loan then ended up doing it all over again, it was so easy done don't be so hard on yourself,the hardest part was telling my hubby he went mad ,which I fully understood I felt so guilty and stupid ,but he came round we now work out our debts together .I'm sure your hubby will be the same of course he will be angry ,natural response.If i were you i would move your accounts as I think they can take money out of your accounts, someone will be along with more knowledge than me ,only thing I can say is you will be entitled to working tax credits as you have about the same money as us coming and we get them .take care x

jazza6

Thanks for the hugs. Not eligible for working tax credits as no children. I feel constantly sick, not sleeping and to be honest can't see a way out here. Can they take money out of my husband's own account if the loan is in my name only - surely that's illegal as loan has nothing to do with him. I can try and take my name off the joint account - God I really can't cope

scarlet55

jazza6 wrote: »

Thanks for the hugs. Not eligible for working tax credits as no children. I feel constantly sick, not sleeping and to be honest can't see a way out here. Can they take money out of my husband's own account if the loan is in my name only - surely that's illegal as loan has nothing to do with him. I can try and take my name off the joint account - God I really can't cope

hi jazza....more hugs from me....im afraid i cant help but iff you post on the debtfreewannabe thread there are loads of guys and gals on there who will have advice for you......:):)

smartiedriver_2

Jazza6 - no, joint accounts are separate and so cannot be used in right of set off for a loan (or overdraft) in your sole name.

It could only be used if there was a loan in joint names.

However, be wary of your credit reports. As you have joint current accounts, you will be financially linked on Experian/Equifax etc and any defaults etc could affect hubbie's credit rating.

Experian_company_representative

Good point made by smartiedriver. Your OH won't be able to see your individual credit history records but his lenders will be able to see and use your data, so if you did start missing payments he might be refused credit or have existing credit facilties trimmed back by concerned lenders.

I really feel for you and it's such a shame you feel you have to deal with this problem alone. Maybe your OH would be more understanding than you're giving him credit for. But it has to be your call.

Have you considered how he would react in say six months if the situation gets worse and then surfaces? He'd probably be just as upset that you didn't fess up straight away and then sit down together to try to sort things out.

Please don't forget there's lots of help out there for you. If you're struggling with your debts and find that speaking to your lenders hasn't helped, reach out to one of the free debt advice organisations like Citizens Advice, Consumer Credit Counselling Service or National Debtline. They WILL be able to help you, I promise.

James Jones

smartiedriver_2

Jazza6 - If I may be so bold, please consider telling your husband. He will surely love and support you and may have some bright ideas about how to fix this. And as the post above says, what if you can't fix it alone and he finds out, say, at Christmas? Much better to bring it all out now.

And if you feel you aren't coping, there are a multitude of (free) support offers out there - Samaritans to name but one.

Good luck x