It's ALL going wrong...

Growurown

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

Anyone know about benefits?

I have been told that if I am under occupied, i.e. a single person in a 3 bed flat, they no longer give you full housing benefit.

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

As for housing benefit reductions for under occupancy, it's true from April 2013, great, just great.

I'm in a lose/lose sitaution no matter what I do.

The changes in housing benefit payments are going to cause massive problems. My local housing association has said they just don't have enough one bedroomed properties for all their single tenants. The tenants have received letters saying that if they are one bedroom underoccupied they will have to pay an extra £11 per week and if it is two an extra £20 per week. This amount will probably vary across the country depending on the local housing allowance set by your council.

Are you in social housing or do you rent privately? If you are in social housing you can probably swap with another tenant if you can find someone wanting to go from a smaller place to a larger. Could you consider a lodger to help with the costs?

Rochdale_Guy

So, now I being made redundnant, being practically forced to sell my only pleasure and escape - my car, going bankrupt, then being forced out my own flat which I pay full rent for into a tiny one bedroomed one again... unlike the rest of the alcoholic, drug user wastes of space on this estate who pay naff all?

My future's so bright I gotta wear shades

No offence to anyone in this thread, I'll reply a little bit later, just extremely down...

bluebag

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

So, now I being made redundnant, being practically forced to sell my only pleasure and escape - my car, going bankrupt, then being forced out my own flat which I pay full rent for into a tiny one bedroomed one again... unlike the rest of the alcoholic, drug user wastes of space on this estate who pay naff all?

My future's so bright I gotta wear shades

No offence to anyone in this thread, I'll reply a little bit later, just extremely down...

I get where you are coming from alright, it IS unfair. But sometimes, even when you don't do anything wrong life gives ya a good kicking just for fun.

This is a really bad patch for you, hang on in there, you at least have support on here and folks rooting for you. Dark days don't last forever(neither do the bright ones, sadly). Better things will come.

Please have a smile from me, I can't afford much else!:)

heartbreak_star

*HBS tough-love hat on*

OP, you really need to kick yourself up the backside here. Yes you have had a LOT of crap happen to you, but you really are starting to wallow in it a bit now IMO.

You still have your health. You are young. As Martin says, there are no money problems that cannot be solved.

Let's look at your above post:

Being made redundant : Sadly not much you can do about this. Budget your payment carefully, make sure your DMP provider knows, and devote time looking for another job. As other posters have said, try LinkedIn, Monster and other online job hunting methods.

Being forced to sell your "only pleasure": How very melodramatic. As other posters have said, maybe get a train to a very quiet station in the country and go hike, same way as you do with your car. OR sell your car and buy an older, cheaper one - my OH drives an X-reg Rover 25 he picked up for about £500 last year up and down the country and it has no issues at all. Do you really NEED a newer car?

Being forced out of your flat: Again a tad melodramatic. As another poster has said, take in a lodger if you don't want to lose your flat - if it comes down to that or losing my home, I know which I would do.

We really do want to help you, but for many, many months now you seem to have been a bit Teflon with all the advice you've been given - there's always a reason you can't move home/sell your car/go bankrupt. I used to have insomnia and I loved a nice drive in the early hours when it struck, but when I had to sell my car I had to give that up...and I did it without a second thought because I needed to.

*tough-love hat off*

I do feel for you, everything seems to have hit in the space of a year. I also would advise seeing your doctor - maybe you have depression brought on by all of this.

I hope you can get a great new job and everything works out for you. I wish you well.

HBS x

rdchick

R_G read the beginning of this thread - think how scared you were before you started the DMP - imagine you hadn't done that and you were now at this point. Yes it sucks hard but you can get through this. Even if it means going bankrupt, it's not the end of the world - yes you may have to go live somewhere a bit horrid for a month or two but you can get yourself back on your feet and you know that you will NEVER get yourself in this position again.

If you keep thinking negatively then bad things will keep happening, be glad for what you DO have, even if it's the tiniest of things. It will get better if you allow it to - it won't if you keep thinking the world is against you.

Big hugs and you know where I am if you need me xxx

Growurown

Rochdale_Guy wrote: »

So, now I being made redundnant, being practically forced to sell my only pleasure and escape - my car, going bankrupt, then being forced out my own flat which I pay full rent for into a tiny one bedroomed one again... unlike the rest of the alcoholic, drug user wastes of space on this estate who pay naff all?

My future's so bright I gotta wear shades

No offence to anyone in this thread, I'll reply a little bit later, just extremely down...

Hey Rochdale guy, I would feel extremely down too given your circumstances. If it makes you feel any better the wasters will be affected by these changes too. Plus when the universal credit comes in and people get one monthly payment and are responsible for paying their rent themselves what do you think these wasters will be doing with all that money? Not paying their rent that's for sure, which means they will be evicted eventually.

I can only hope things improve for you soon.

suburbanwifey

I hope you are OK Rochdale Guy. I've just read this whole thread and wow, you have been through a lot. I'm not too fond of the *tough love* post someone made earlier, I think there is a time and a place for tough love and this isn't one of them. I can see why you don't want to lose your car and I'm with you on that. I think it will be ridiculous if you have to move out of your flat into a one bedroom and the damn council themselves making you redundant. I'm not sure I could cope with all that happening to be honest and I wish I knew what to advise but I don't. Too much happening, all bad.

All I can do is send you a hug and let you know that I am thinking about you, whoever you are. I'm sorry you are in this position, its not fair. Life is so not fair at times.

x

heartbreak_star

That would be me. I did take the tough-love hat off, I think the OP needs to speak to a doc as the stress of all this happening might have triggered depression and/or anxiety problems.

But people on here have been giving him advice for ages and he's Tefloned 90% of it. I hope the other 10% works out for him as he's had a pretty tough couple of years.

Life isn't fair, but they do say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

HBS x

Rochdale_Guy

Thank you everyone, I appreciate all the posts but I can't do this anymore, really. It's way too much to contemplate...

FAO heartbreak_star, I did read your tough-love posts and hear what you say, but I'm not playing some attention seeking game.

This is real, this is my life, and it's going down the pan despite me paddling as fast as I can.

I need a lucky break, but it's not gonna happen

Time_to_face_the_music

Hi RG :hello:

People here know it's real, no-one is trying to belittle that and people do understand that you are in a pretty awful situation.

Having said that, you do need to start to help yourself and try and develop a more positive attitude. That may sound easy for me to say and you may think I have no idea of what you are going through but we all have our own personal hell(s) and I have been to some very deep, dark places in my life and every time I have managed to drag myself out and come back stronger. You too can come through this and be stronger on the other side.

Please forgive me for saying this but you come across as a tad melodramatic and continuously changing your picture and making trite statements for your location doesn't help you. It's a bit like a Facebook status rather than a I need real help on a debt forum.

It appears you have 3 or 4 main issues:

1) Your debt level and the length of time it will take you to become debt free. Much as I often sing their praises, I despair of CCCS for making you think that a DFD of 30 years is acceptable. You need light at the end of a tunnel and 30 years is too long for anyone's tunnel. My firm belief is that you should go for bankruptcy or, if you really cannot bear to part with your car, an IVA.

2) Your job situation. When will you know the definite decision on redundancy? I understand that you are entitled to your redundancy pay and want it and I think I too would hold out for it. But in the meantime, you need to be getting other jobs lined up or at least, get yourself in the market by posting your CV on job sites, setting up a Linked In profile, generally being seen. What do you do now? What could you transfer your skills to? Would you like to change job? What about training?

3) Your car. You don't want to part with it, you can't afford to keep it. You need to make a decision and if you must have a car for escape, you may be far better changing it for something cheaper and using the difference in price to pay something off your debts.

4) Your housing. Don't wait for the axe to fall, start working on it now. Look for transfers, research different parts of the town or even a totally different town. I work in central Manchester and we employ staff from Rochdale, Bolton, Oldham, Blackburn, Burnley, Liverpool, Preston, Glossop etc. Don't restrict yourself to one location for housing or jobs. Open your area and open more opportunities.

Please don't hate me for this post, I want to help you, we all want to help you but YOU need to want to help yourself first.

TTFTM