Where would YOU start?

direstraits2012

I have been so positive for the last two weeks but today I am feeling really frustrated this morning! My plight falls across many threads here so I'm posting on this one because ultimately that's were we are going to end up so might as well be here from day one.

I , rightly or wrongly, have decided to concentrate on getting a roof over our heads. This is the cause of my frustration this morning as I can't get through to the council - grrrrrrr!

What I'd like to know is where would YOU start with tackling our woes?

This is a summary of where we are today:

Family unit = mum dad and two young boys
House repossessed 4 years ago
About 200k in debt (not dealing with any of it at present)
No savings
Evicted from a private rented house for two months rent arrears at the end of November 2011
Homeless
Living with the in-laws short term but they want us out asap
Hubby working earns £28 p.a.
I had to give up work as we now live 10 miles away from the boys school so I take them.
I'm on a high dosage of anti-depressants

Should I be trying to tackle more than one thing at a time? What has been your experience as I'm struggling today?

tigerfeet2006

Hi and Welcome to the Bankruptcy (BR) Board.

The first step is to make a list of all your creditors, debts and assets. Secondly and most important is contact one of the following debt charities. Please try these they don't charge and are impartial. They will go through all your options with you and if they suggest bankruptcy then come back to this board and we will help you all we can. Also if you are not ‘clicking’ with one of the Debt charities do try another. We advise you to try at least two for your own piece of mind. Your BR could be refused if you have not sought advice.

* Blue text on this forum usually signifies hyperlinks, click on the blue links below *



Main recommended sources of help:

• National Debtline - Website: National Debtline Telephone: 0808 808 4000
• Citizens Advice Bureau - Website: Citizens Advice or visit your local CAB centre (find nearest)
• Consumer Credit Counselling Service - Website: CCCS Telephone: 0800 138 1111

Others:

• Business Debtline
  - Website: Business Debtline Telephone: 0800 197 6026
• Christians Against Poverty
• PayPlan
• TaxAid - Help with tax debts.

Please don’t do anything rash make sure you take your time and weigh up your options and read everything you can.

For ‘essential’ BR info this is Fermi’s sticky.

BR friendly home insurance thread.

BR Friendly bank accounts sticky.

BR Abbreviations.

We often ask you to post your SOA so we can see if you have included what you need to:-
MSE SOA Calculator - Click here Select the MSE format at the end. Copy and paste onto your thread.


If you are new/old to this board and receive/see a comment that is not helpful or insensitive please don’t let it put you off posting, often these comments are made by people who don’t normally contribute to this board and don’t speak for us.

What to do if you get an insensitive or hurtful comment.


And do remember we’ve all been through this and anything you don’t understand don’t be afraid to ask.

Also in your situation I would be talking to Shelter as you will have to prove you did not make yourself intentionally homeless. The council may also want a letter from your family saying you can not stay there and they have asked you to leave.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/

Best wishes TFx

kepar

Follow the advice from Tigerfeet.


A few questions.

I take it your husbands pay is £28k a year.
Do you claim all of your benefits to which you are entitled?
Where do you want to be in a year to eighteen months time?

You seem to have a problem with your outgoings, because apart from all of your debt you still managed to not pay your rent. Even if you got a council property could you afford it?

I notice you gave up employment to transport your boys to school, is there any type of part time work you could do to help with your situation.

I ask this, because if you were to go bankrupt and all your debts wiped clean could you live on your income?

direstraits2012

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Hi and Welcome to the Bankruptcy (BR) Board.

The first step is to make a list of all your creditors, debts and assets. Secondly and most important is contact one of the following debt charities. Please try these they don't charge and are impartial. They will go through all your options with you and if they suggest bankruptcy then come back to this board and we will help you all we can. Also if you are not ‘clicking’ with one of the Debt charities do try another. We advise you to try at least two for your own piece of mind. Your BR could be refused if you have not sought advice.

* Blue text on this forum usually signifies hyperlinks, click on the blue links below *



Main recommended sources of help:

• National Debtline - Website: National Debtline Telephone: 0808 808 4000
• Citizens Advice Bureau - Website: Citizens Advice or visit your local CAB centre (find nearest)
• Consumer Credit Counselling Service - Website: CCCS Telephone: 0800 138 1111

Others:

• Business Debtline
  - Website: Business Debtline Telephone: 0800 197 6026
• Christians Against Poverty
• PayPlan
• TaxAid - Help with tax debts.

Please don’t do anything rash make sure you take your time and weigh up your options and read everything you can.

For ‘essential’ BR info this is Fermi’s sticky.

BR friendly home insurance thread.

BR Friendly bank accounts sticky.

BR Abbreviations.

We often ask you to post your SOA so we can see if you have included what you need to:-
MSE SOA Calculator - Click here Select the MSE format at the end. Copy and paste onto your thread.


If you are new/old to this board and receive/see a comment that is not helpful or insensitive please don’t let it put you off posting, often these comments are made by people who don’t normally contribute to this board and don’t speak for us.

What to do if you get an insensitive or hurtful comment.


And do remember we’ve all been through this and anything you don’t understand don’t be afraid to ask.

Also in your situation I would be talking to Shelter as you will have to prove you did not make yourself intentionally homeless. The council may also want a letter from your family saying you can not stay there and they have asked you to leave.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/

Best wishes TFx

Thank you so much for all this info - I'm slowly working through everything.

tigerfeet2006

That is ok.

Start by making a list of all you have to do and then put it in order of priority to your situation.

My suggestion would be that the most important thing is to sort out accomodation. So....

1) Contact Shelter. Be aware they are busy so you will have to be patient about getting through to them.

2) Do what ever Shelter advise you to do.

3) Concentrate on getting a roof over your head.

4) Once you have done that deal with your debts once you are housed. Unless there is something that needs urgent attention like a court letter.

All the best with it all and any questions you have there is usually someone who can help or even just lend a virtual shoulder to lean on and a virtual ear to listen.

direstraits2012

kepar wrote: »

Follow the advice from Tigerfeet.


A few questions.

I take it your husbands pay is £28k a year.
Do you claim all of your benefits to which you are entitled?
Where do you want to be in a year to eighteen months time?

You seem to have a problem with your outgoings, because apart from all of your debt you still managed to not pay your rent. Even if you got a council property could you afford it?

I notice you gave up employment to transport your boys to school, is there any type of part time work you could do to help with your situation.

I ask this, because if you were to go bankrupt and all your debts wiped clean could you live on your income?

Thank you very much for replying it is much appreciated.

I will answer your questions in order:

Yes, hubby's pay is £28 p.a.

We claim child benefit of £134 per month. We stopped claiming working tax credit 4 years ago after an over payment argument. We informed them of a change in circumstance which they denied and wanted us to repay £2k. If I ring them now will I open up a can of worms again? Have done a benefits calculator and the only thing I may be entitiled to but it may be a battle and that may be to do with my depression? Not sure what else we could be entitled to?

In a year or so we would like a roof over our heads, debt free and rebuilding our lives from rock bottom.

We stupidly took on a very highly priced private rented property - £1350 per month - it just wasnt sustainable in the long term in reality. We are hoping with help and advice we can work out what we can afford in the future. We could afford a council property I'm sure. And yes, with guidance we should be able to live on hubbys income in the short term.

My plan is definitely to work part time and contribute financially once we know where we are going to live. My depression is bad at the moment but I'm sure it will ease as my situation becomes less critical and emotional - fingers crossed.

Hope this helps to make things clearer?

direstraits2012

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

That is ok.

Start by making a list of all you have to do and then put it in order of priority to your situation.

My suggestion would be that the most important thing is to sort out accomodation. So....

1) Contact Shelter. Be aware they are busy so you will have to be patient about getting through to them.

2) Do what ever Shelter advise you to do.

3) Concentrate on getting a roof over your head.

4) Once you have done that deal with your debts once you are housed. Unless there is something that needs urgent attention like a court letter.

All the best with it all and any questions you have there is usually someone who can help or even just lend a virtual shoulder to lean on and a virtual ear to listen.

Thank you. I have spent hours today ringing shelter with no joy but I won't give up. I will keep going. It is good for someone to re-inforce my first thought to prioritise getting a roof over our heads. Then I will tackle the debt.

I've had a wobble today on the positivity but feel slightly better now - many thanks.

tigerfeet2006

Keep posting on this board and talking to us, it will help to get things clear. Even if we can't help specifically with something we can help point you in the right direction and act as a sounding board for you, which should help you.

Pop onto the Benefits and Tax Credits board and ask them the Tax Credits question.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=139

direstraits2012

Just wanted to post an update.

I finally got through to Shelter and their advice was brilliant. I have written everything down that they suggested and I'm working through it.

It's 'D' day today - should get a decision on whether council will help but if they say 'no' I am armed with shelter's advice to appeal. Bring it on!

Once we have a roof over our heads we can then move on to tackle the bankruptcy.

Onwards and upwards.

tigerfeet2006

Glad they could be of help to you.

It's good to 'hear' you sounding more up beat compared to your earlier post.

All the best with it and keep us updated on what is happening.

sundays

direstraits2012 wrote: »

Thank you. I have spent hours today ringing shelter with no joy but I won't give up. I will keep going. It is good for someone to re-inforce my first thought to prioritise getting a roof over our heads. Then I will tackle the debt.

I've had a wobble today on the positivity but feel slightly better now - many thanks.

Dont want to upset your day, but id be spending time in finding alt private rental.

Shelter are only likley to advise of the following:

From your statements so far the counciil are likely to say you have made yourself intentionally homeless so they would have no duty at all to give you preference housing.
I say that, as you have stated quite clearly that you took on unaffordable housing, therefore it was always going to fail, and of course it did as you were evicted for rent arrears.

If the council did have any duty it would be that of temp accommodation for a short period of time ie 28 days in whatever they chose to accommodate your family which could be a B & B/Hostel.

I would also be looking at ensuring you are getting all the right benefits again chosing for whatever reason not to receive such wont change the councils decision on unaffordability.

Lastly you made the statement you want to be debt free with a roof over your heads. BR doesnt always work that way, many people esp those employed have to pay into their Bankruptcy for three years and really struggle as the official receiver currently takes anything over 20 pound surplus income after what they have stated you need for living.
if you have a problem with managing money this needs to be addressed first and foremost because if you did end up with a income payment award ( IPA ) this can be really hard for many to manage. because there is literally nothing extra left.