Please help

SeaMissy

Hi
I'm sitting here in a daze at how I have got myself into such a mess!
I recently lost my job and have had to make a claim for benefits.
I'm a lone parent of 2 children.

Basically, in the next 3 weeks I have a fair amount of debt to be paid and not enough money to pay it.

I will list my income first. This is all weekly.
£285 working and child tax creidts, this is a 4 week run on so will be up until 12/08/11
£33.70 child benefit.

Total: £318 per week for the next 4 weeks.

Now my outgoings are for the next 4 weeks.
£50 rent
£15 council tax
£40 food shopping
£20 petrol
£11 Water
£2.50 Tv licence
£21 car insurance (I am putting this money aside each week so when my car insurance is due I can transfer it back into my main account)
£5 towards credit cards and RAC cover (I do the same as I do with the car insurance)
I have capital 1 and Vanquis and I pay the minimum payments on each, an they both have about £200 to pay off.

I've only just moved into this property and I am waiting for a key meter to be installed for my electric, there is no gas.
Now here is where I am stuck, I owe;

£310 to WONGA to be paid by 29/07/11
£150 to Virgin media for my first bill :eek: to be paid by 03/08/11
£87 owed to the afterschool club (it's my child's last day next week)
£67 owed to the nursery (as above, last day next week)
£105 car tax to be payed by 31/08/11

I also owe money for council tax on my last property and water rates, totalling about £400 for the water and £400 council tax.
I could possibly ask the nursery to let me pay it off in bits, and the afterschool club, but the Wonga and Virgin bill are giving me nightmares! Plus after the 12th August I will be living off about £130 a week until my income support is sorted out, hopefully it will be sorted by then.

Not to mention this is right on top of the school holidays, luckly we live on the coast so there are lots of beaches, parks etc.
I already lost the deposit on our holiday as I couldn't pay due to moving and problems with housing benefit.
I owe a family member £500 because of that too and although they have said they are not in a rush for it, I don't see how I'm ever going to pay it off when I'm on Income support

Giving up my car isn't much of an option at the moment, I have 3 payments left on my car insurance, although the actual insurance isn't up for renewal until Jan.
I've just moved here from another town and my eldest still attends the old school in the old town, I don't want to change this.

I don't really know what I am asking here, but doing 'budget' after budget has fried my brain and is sending me slowly round the twist

edinburgher

Your priority should be throwing any spare money in the direction of Wonga, as I suspect that they will provide you with the most problems (payday lenders aren't known for being very reasonable).

When did you sign up for Virgin? Sorry if I misunderstand, but our first Virgin bill came after a few weeks, so unless you lost your job in the last week or so, it seems odd that you'd have signed up. I'd call Virgin and ask them if they'll let you cancel the package as you're unemployed now. If this isn't an option, ask them if you can drop down to the cheapest possible package and try to pay them something in the interim.

Council tax, afterschool clubs, relatives etc. you'll probably need to pay the minimum possible to keep relations sweet. You really need to focus on getting Wonga paid off.

Tixy

HI and welcome.
Sorry to hear you have lost your job, thats very tough.

Preaumably you are still using the same bank that you took the wonga loan through? ideally you need to open a new bank account with a different bank not connected to your creditors and have your income paid in there (or if not time to change where the benefits are being paid this month then transfer it as soon as it goes in). This would prevent wonga taking all the money in your account on that date and leaving you with nothin, and you could then write to wonga to arrange to offer them a monthly repayment you can afford. Dealing with Payday Loan Companies

Are all the costs you have listed costs for the whole 4weeks (or are they cost per week of the 4weeks)?

Is there a reason the virgin bill is so high? is it connection or something? Have you tried asking if you could pay over a longer period - say over 3months or something. Are you up to your limits on your credit cards? if not could you pay some of the virgin bill with one of the cards (I know it only defers the problem but it will buy you some breathing space).

The arrears for the old property whilst needing to be paid I would suggest you just offer token payments in the short term (perhaps say you are seeking some advice from a debt advice charity in the meantime).

With the nursery again hopefully you can explain your circumstance and ask to pay in installments.

Do you have anything you don't need/use that you could try selling to raise a bit of extra money?

Do you not get any maintenance for the children from their fathers? Is this something you could consider exploring?

Hopefully some more people will come along with more ideas.

RAS

Have you made a new claim for Council Tax benefit sicne you lost your job?

With respect to Wonga, you must openn a new basic bank account today, transfer all your benefit payments there and close the old bank account immediately. Otherwise they will take your benefits when they are paid in.

Have you applied for a variation in your housing benefit?

Sorry but you really really need to take the car off the road and move your child to a closer school.

SeaMissy

edinburgher wrote: »

Your priority should be throwing any spare money in the direction of Wonga, as I suspect that they will provide you with the most problems (payday lenders aren't known for being very reasonable).
I was going to try and pay £155 for the next 2 weeks to wonga, at least then that is payed off?
When did you sign up for Virgin? Sorry if I misunderstand, but our first Virgin bill came after a few weeks, so unless you lost your job in the last week or so, it seems odd that you'd have signed up. I'd call Virgin and ask them if they'll let you cancel the package as you're unemployed now. If this isn't an option, ask them if you can drop down to the cheapest possible package and try to pay them something in the interim.
I moved here a month ago, already had virgin in my last flat and had it re-installed 3 weeks ago, lost my job last week.
I don't see why it would be odd that I have signed up for Virgin, I've had it for the last 6 years, well it was telewest then.
I'm tied into a contract now, but will call them to see if I can reduce the package.

Council tax, afterschool clubs, relatives etc. you'll probably need to pay the minimum possible to keep relations sweet. You really need to focus on getting Wonga paid off.

Thanks for your reply.

Tixy wrote: »

HI and welcome.
Sorry to hear you have lost your job, thats very tough.

Preaumably you are still using the same bank that you took the wonga loan through? ideally you need to open a new bank account with a different bank not connected to your creditors and have your income paid in there (or if not time to change where the benefits are being paid this month then transfer it as soon as it goes in). This would prevent wonga taking all the money in your account on that date and leaving you with nothin, and you could then write to wonga to arrange to offer them a monthly repayment you can afford. Thanks, I was just considering paying it off ASAP rather than extending it, I have this extra tax credit run on for 4 weeks so thought I would make use of that, or is that a silly idea?
Are all the costs you have listed costs for the whole 4weeks (or are they cost per week of the 4weeks)?
Sorry, that is the weekly cost but as my income changes after those 4 weeks, I thought I would see if I can chip most of it off before my income drops, apologies if I'm not making sense

Is there a reason the virgin bill is so high? is it connection or something? Have you tried asking if you could pay over a longer period - say over 3months or something. Are you up to your limits on your credit cards? if not could you pay some of the virgin bill with one of the cards (I know it only defers the problem but it will buy you some breathing space).
Yes I believe it is for advance charges, cards are maxed out, will call virgin tommorrow.
The arrears for the old property whilst needing to be paid I would suggest you just offer token payments in the short term (perhaps say you are seeking some advice from a debt advice charity in the meantime).
Thank you, will contact them. my friend said that I might be able to get the water rates taken stright out of my income support, so will look into that.
With the nursery again hopefully you can explain your circumstance and ask to pay in installments.

Do you have anything you don't need/use that you could try selling to raise a bit of extra money?

Do you not get any maintenance for the children from their fathers? Is this something you could consider exploring?

Hopefully some more people will come along with more ideas.

I've been hunting the house for things to sell on ebay, Ipod, food processor, some clothes. I'm also considering selling my Lee Evans tickets for September.

Oh maintenance! well the eldests has never paid a penny, and the youngests was paying, but hasn't for a while, I get it in dribs and drabs so never work it into any budget.

Thanks for all replies, I think I'm just going to try and pay the Wonga this week and next, then sort the rest out some other way, I just felt a bit overwhelmed earlier, but writing it down on here has enabled me to look at it a bit from another perspectve!

RAS

Sorry but wonga may be a nightmare, but they are the least of your worries, the car tax and CT are more important as is food.

SeaMissy

RAS wrote: »

Have you made a new claim for Council Tax benefit sicne you lost your job?

With respect to Wonga, you must openn a new basic bank account today, transfer all your benefit payments there and close the old bank account immediately. Otherwise they will take your benefits when they are paid in.

Have you applied for a variation in your housing benefit?

Sorry but you really really need to take the car off the road and move your child to a closer school.

Yes but because the income is so high due to the childcare costs paid by tax credits, I'm only getting a small bit of each, which is understandable, but as of the day the tax credit run on stops, I will be entitled to full benefit.

I'm still reluctant to give up my car, infact that is never going to happen, I have managed it on benefits before so I can do it again, and hopefully I won't be on Income support for long, also for the job that I usually do I need a car.
As for the school thing, it's not as simple as just moving his school, there is a lot of history and I've been considering it carefully, even if I didn't have a car, I would bus or train it.

SeaMissy

RAS wrote: »

Sorry but wonga may be a nightmare, but they are the least of your worries, the car tax and CT are more important as is food.

Ok thanks.

edinburgher

I don't see why it would be odd that I have signed up for Virgin, I've had it for the last 6 years, well it was telewest then.
I'm tied into a contract now, but will call them to see if I can reduce the package.

It would be odd if you'd lost your job, but still took out a Virgin package when unemployed. This isn't the case here, but that was what I meant!

theoretica

I would ask Virgin to explain themselves. I have signed up to them with two properties and didn't have a huge bill either time. Or did they need to lay wires?

SeaMissy

Ok so, I have 2 co-op accounts that I don't use anymore, I could transfer my beneifts back over to that one.
The only problem is, I remeber them asking me if I had a credit card and think I gave them details, but I'm unsure if they asked for other bank/debit card details too.