What comes first, mortgage or a debt management plan?

planetmaker

Hi, hope someone can advise, as my wife could not work because of her disability we could not keep up payments on credit cards and now have a debt management plan. They charge a management fee of £25 per month which is included in my £92 per month payment. We also have a mortgage which we have just about been paying though it is 2 months in arrears.
I have had no option unfortunately but to become my wife's carer now and have left work.
I need to carry out an income & expenditure assessment with my mortgage company but I cannot do this until I get my award for I.S. which will include the carers element. They may hopefully reduce it to interest only. If this happens I may get housing benefit after 13 weeks on I.S. from my local authority which may pay the interest of the mortgage
At the same time my current debt management plan is up for its 12 months assessment - again I cannot do this until I get my award.

My question is who would I contact first for the assessment??
If I call the debt management company before I get help with my mortgage or even know the amount I will have to pay I could tell them the full mortgage amount but may not take me on as that will show I have no spare money - infact more outgoings than incomings !
Should I switch to another company like Payplan?

If I do the mortgage assessment first do I include my current debt management plan monthly payment - this amount could change if I go to another provider e.g. Payplan?

The only thing I can figure is that it is always stated that paying the mortgage (keeping a roof above the families head) is the most important thing so my guess would be to first negotiate with the mortgage company and hopefully agree on interest only repayments - then find out if the local authority will pay housing benefit to the sum of these interest payments and then with what money is left speak to the debt management company.
Then, if my mortgage changes at any point I would then contact the debt management company to renegotiate my fee with them?

Does anyone concur with this assessment?

I've been working for 25 years and all this has my head tied in knots !

I've got epilepsy too and had a seizure last week because of everything going through my mind.

Any advice greatfully recieved :beer:

SuziQ

I wasn't aware that LA paid housing benefit to cover a mortgage- have they told you that? If it's true it's new to me. I get help with a small part of my mortgage interest but that's via DWP. I would agree with you that your mortgage is the most important thing to sort out-get them to agree to interest only if they will (they wouldn't for me-they told me to stop paying my debt and pay the mortgage instead) if they agree then you can sort your debt management out.Does your wife get DLA? Then maybe you could apply for carer's allowance? Good luck with this-you sound snowed under


ETA-Sorry, I just saw that you already stated about carers element of Income support.