Considering Bankruptcy as advised by cccs HELP!

sandralovescats

drenton wrote:

Hi,

I owe £65k across 9 creditors and have worked out a DMP with the CCCS at £150/month for 38 years (this is after major budget cuts across the board). I have 2 kids and own my own property. There isn't enough equity in my property to pay off my debts, and I have an £8k redemption penalty until 2011.

RBS took the major hump and issued a CCJ within months of my DMP starting, and MBNA (who sold debts to first credit after hassling me daily for 4 months) are currently trying to secure a charging order on my property. Capital one have so far been very accommodating, as have Egg (although I have been warned that they don't stay patient for very long and can be quick with the charging orders).

Should I consider bankruptcy? what will happen to my house? Has anyone else been hit with charging orders?

Thanks,

David

First of all with that amount of debt you would be much better off going bankrupt.

Is your house in joint names? You have a partner/wife? What the OR will do, when there is little or no equity, is to sell the interest to the other party for £1. Sometimes, but not always, the OR may put a charging order on your house in the event that the house is sold. It varies so much.

howdumbarewe!

lynzpower wrote:

given your childs needs have you been assesed for disability benefits for them?

What suport do your social services team offer as Im sure that your child is " a child in need" due to thier behavioural needs.

Social services can and do offer lots of help in terms of the practical, getting places, respite care and so forth. A bit of respite care can mean a bit of time for you off to do thinkgs like make sandwiches for kids lunch then freeze them etc. Ask on the old style board about this.

Additionally, i reckon you should be assesed for carers allowances.

We have been trying to get help for almost a year now and it has taken this long to get the health visitor and doctor to refer him. We are now facing a long wait to see a paedeatrician who will decide what happens next. I have been told that until we get an official diagnosis then we are not entitled to any help. If we do get an official diagnosis then we might be able to get disability allowance for him which would also mean higher child tax credit.
As you said though if we can get it then it would help no end. I don't always get school meals just now and again but thought that I would include them as to me at times they are essential.

howdumbarewe!

Adrasteia01 wrote:

Hi,
My suggestion would be to check out the value range at your supermarket or cheaper supermarkets (Aldi, Lidl etc) so you can buy similar products for less. Even if your children are allergic to some items, you could most likely buy them cheaper elsewhere. I've seen many people list a budget of around 150 pounds a month or less to feed a family, so i think there's definitely room to bring that figure down.

Another suggestion is could you claim back bank charges?

Also, I have pets but worked out that the pet insurance would cost me more than i'd be likely to pay in vet fees per year anyway. If your pets don't have any illnesses and are young you may be best to get rid of this for the moment and reinstate it when you have more money again.

I will look at the board to see about food budgets. We do buy value where we can but due to allergies I cannot buy many of the things they do. Also I have to buy organic vegetables and fruit as my doctor reccomended them for my sons excema and it has worked wonders for him.

I will look into reclaiming bank charges as they are something which have led to us being in this situation.

As for the pet insurance. This was the cheapest and most basic I could find. We had young pets before which cost us lots due to illness (lurcher age 3 cost £1000 due to nerver disorder over several months then died) (greyhound age 4 developed pancreatitis and cost £800 over a few months and died) (dumbass cat who got run over twice cost £1500 in total sent him to live with my nan!)
We do not pay insurance on the old greyhound (but forgot to mention that his arthritis medicine was included in total pet cost) as it would cost us £25 month to insure him as he is 10 yrs old.

mrslawrence2003

howdumbarewe! wrote:

There are 5 of us My husband, myself, and our 3 children (ages 15 months, 4 years and 9 years).
Our house is very cold and we have tried not to use the heating but with an asthmatic baby extremely cold temperatures are not a good thing.
I had to include some school dinners as my son is at times uncontollable and I cannot find time to make lunch occasionally (if you saw my son you would understand).
We live in a village which is quite a way from where my husband works so we cannot cut down on fuel as for the prking it was just under the heading on the budget which CCCS gave us to complete don't really use parking very often.
The public transport is to take my son to the special needs playgroup as untill he is formally diagnosed we have to undertake all costs to do with this. As I said we are in the process of getting him seen by a dr. but it is a very long drawn out process.
We do have a mobile hairdresser and this is for 5 of us so its not that bad.
You say to cut out life ins but there is no way that I would do that as what would happen to our kids without us and without any money?
I feel that it is unfair to stop our daughter going swiming with the school when everyone of her class goes.
I will contact the sky tv to discuss the matter and ask for a reduction.
I need the telephone as we have no mobile signal.
I only spend about £5 on the mobile every 6 months for emergencies.
I need the internet as it is my lifeline when it comes to my sons possible condition.
We buy a big bag of dog food for £6.75 every 3 weeks. The rest is pet insurance. I know that pet insurance may not be seen as essential to some but after having had to pay thousands of £s for ill pets in the past I beleive that it is. There is no question that we would get rid of the 2 dogs.
I had to put in clothing and footwear as kids grow so fast (especially the baby) and my son wrecks everything. I buy from charity shops when possible.
As for the food / cleaning costs. I have to buy nappies in with this cost (I know that I could save money by buying re-usable but have no money to buy them). Also I spend lots on washing powder as I have to do so much washing with my son being like he is the problem is I cannot buy anything other than fairy as my sons are allergic to other brands (except more expensive ones).
We have cut down lots on food but I have to be extremely carefull about what I buy due to allergies.

There is £5000 left on the family loan

Our debts are
£5100 capital one c/c
£5000 MBNA c/c
£8500 The AA loan
Argos £2000 store card
Lloyds TSB £3000 c/c
Mint £1300 c/c
Lloyds TSB £500 overdraft

hey there - what allergies does your son have? i only ask because i am an extremely 'allergic' person and have to be extremely careful with the products i buy as even changing something as simple as shower gel can trigger a reaction. however, with washing powders i am able to use own brand washing powder as long as it's non-bio. just a suggestion - not sure if you've tried it?

lynzpower

howdumbarewe! wrote:

We have been trying to get help for almost a year now and it has taken this long to get the health visitor and doctor to refer him. We are now facing a long wait to see a paedeatrician who will decide what happens next. I have been told that until we get an official diagnosis then we are not entitled to any help. If we do get an official diagnosis then we might be able to get disability allowance for him which would also mean higher child tax credit.
As you said though if we can get it then it would help no end. I don't always get school meals just now and again but thought that I would include them as to me at times they are essential.

I would definately speak to your local social services department as a matter of priority.

You are entitled to an assessment of need in any case, and having worked in social services, I can tell you that a large part of the job is to chase drs/paeds/nurses/ HVs and the raft of other professionals to get thier act together. You might need to lay on the pressure for them to do what you need, but this is help you are entitled to, so do fight for it.

lynzpower

I will look at the board to see about food budgets. We do buy value where we can but due to allergies I cannot buy many of the things they do. Also I have to buy organic vegetables and fruit as my doctor reccomended them for my sons excema and it has worked wonders for him.

try growing things yourself too Salad leaves and spinach are easy as pie, a very cheap to do, lots of people do other veg like potatoes in a bin/ tomatoes in gro bags, courgettes in pots etc. V cheap to get started too

mrslawrence2003

howdumbarewe! wrote:

I will look at the board to see about food budgets. We do buy value where we can but due to allergies I cannot buy many of the things they do. Also I have to buy organic vegetables and fruit as my doctor reccomended them for my sons excema and it has worked wonders for him.

I will look into reclaiming bank charges as they are something which have led to us being in this situation.

As for the pet insurance. This was the cheapest and most basic I could find. We had young pets before which cost us lots due to illness (lurcher age 3 cost £1000 due to nerver disorder over several months then died) (greyhound age 4 developed pancreatitis and cost £800 over a few months and died) (dumbass cat who got run over twice cost £1500 in total sent him to live with my nan!)
We do not pay insurance on the old greyhound (but forgot to mention that his arthritis medicine was included in total pet cost) as it would cost us £25 month to insure him as he is 10 yrs old.

have you had a look to see if any companies deliver organic boxes of fruit and veg as this can sometimes work out much cheaper than buying it from a supermarket? do you also have to buy meat / milk etc organic?

howdumbarewe!

mrslawrence2003 wrote:

hey there - what allergies does your son have? i only ask because i am an extremely 'allergic' person and have to be extremely careful with the products i buy as even changing something as simple as shower gel can trigger a reaction. however, with washing powders i am able to use own brand washing powder as long as it's non-bio. just a suggestion - not sure if you've tried it?

Hi We always used own brand before the baby was born but anything other than fairy non bio or the other expensive non allergy powders effect his excema really badly. He has been on antibiotics for it several times. It is also affected by cornflour (which is in loads of things) and like I said it is lots better having used organic veg.

As for other allergies the are not specifically allergies but my other son (who has behavioural problems) has major reactions (behaviourally) to lots of preservatives and additives and colourings (like lots of kids but to the extreme)!

howdumbarewe!

lynzpower wrote:

I would definately speak to your local social services department as a matter of priority.

You are entitled to an assessment of need in any case, and having worked in social services, I can tell you that a large part of the job is to chase drs/paeds/nurses/ HVs and the raft of other professionals to get thier act together. You might need to lay on the pressure for them to do what you need, but this is help you are entitled to, so do fight for it.

Thanks
I will get in touch with them as dealing with him makes everyday life difficult. I was unaware that they could help us without a diagnosis and was told that I didn't need them to get involved unless one was made.
Hopefully they can help us as I can't cope with everything. Unfortunately debt has been the lowest priority with everything that has been going on.
I just don't want to have to answer the phone to credit card companies anymore and I don't want to have to worry about that all the time as other things are much more pressing.
I will take your advice
Thanks

howdumbarewe!

mrslawrence2003 wrote:

have you had a look to see if any companies deliver organic boxes of fruit and veg as this can sometimes work out much cheaper than buying it from a supermarket? do you also have to buy meat / milk etc organic?

I don't buy organic meat as he will eat very little of it so for the small amount that he has it just doesn't seem worth it.

I am keeping him on follow-on baby milk under the advice of his doctor until he is 2yrs. Which costs a fortune!

I will find out about veg delivery that sounds like a good idea thanks