In a mess - Not sure where to turn

liannet42

Presently off work at the moment recovering from an operation due to a 3 yr illness. My husband worked for a hgv agency before xmas and still not been paid £1500 wages owing Hasnt been able to find work as HGV round here is quiet so has been claiming job seekers allowance.:o

money income £700(statutory sick + top up from employer)
husband wage £236 a month
mortgage £595 mortgage arrears £1700plus they also want £60 extra a month to pay off arrears
council tax £119
tv £11
GE money loan £10,000 - for home refurbishments for last home now in new flat for a year but loan not due to finish until approx 2009 paying £176pm payment arrangement £14.76
peugeot car finance =£6,500 =£176pm payment arrangement at moment £8.56
car insurance x 2 cars £70- need 2 cars as my husband if he gets work starts at 2am I start at 9am but no bus service to my work
CSA - £156 -( csa keep putting this up each month dont know how much to budget one month to the next )
capital one credit card - £990- paying £1 a month
husbands credit card = £200 payment arrangement £1 a month
Littlewoods £500 - payment arrangement at moment £1 a month
Orange mobile £400 - payment arrangement £1
Phone Bill £26 inc broadband
Food £40- £50 pw - inc foods for special diet
Petrol £35 x 2 cars
Maintenance fee for flat £95per quarter( this covers building ins, water rates, decorating, gardening outside of building, window cleaning)
car road tax x2 cars ( 6 monthly) £30pm
gmb union membership =£9.95pm presently 0.44p whilst off ill - need to keep this for moment as union helping my husband to take ex employer to employment tribunal for wages not received
bank charges -£230 need to be repaid at £40 pw to settle with Abbey problems with bank want to claim bank charges over the last few years but afraid incase close account Credit status not good so wont get another

debts I think so far to date £19,020
Payment arrangements agreed with agencies through CAB at the moment once I get back to work in a few weeks not sure how to cope then
:cool: received a juicer and IT books from freecycle

Hope people can help looking forward to some advice

emmaroids

the first thing i can see here is,,,

do you need 2 cars??

only one wage coming in and your off sick you could sell one ??

david_hellier

Hi and welcome to the site.

According to my calculations you are overspending by £38.48 per week and that excludes food. Therefore you need to generate about at least £100 per week to eat and stop overspend. You will need to consult your mortgage lender to see if they can help. You will need to show them the figures. You may need to sell then rent a place, otherwise the house will be repossessed.

Are you claiming all possible benefits, sickness, council tax, etc etc?

An IVA or bancruptcy could be an option, but you could lose your house; better to sell it first.

I agree with the others that running 2 cars is not an option right now. You need to sell one to survive. You can always buy a banger if he gets a job.

Good luck, the figures are as follows:

income weekly monthly
self 700.00
partner 236.00







total 0.00 936.00 divide by 4.33
£216.00

£216.00 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 595.00
council tax 119.00
elec 0.00
gas 0.00
water 0.00
secured loans 0.00
TV licence 11.00
fines 0.00
ge loan 14.76
car loan 8.56
car ins 70.00
csa 156.00
cap one 1.00
cc husband 1.00
littlewoods 1.00
orange 1.00
phone 26.00
petrol 35.00
flat fees 23.50
road tax 30.00
gmb 9.95









total 0.00 1102.77 divide by 4.33
£254.49

£254.49 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = -£38.48 per week

liannet42

Thank you both for your replies. It is great to get some encouragement.

First the good news my husband has managed to find a job. Has health, safety training etc next week then starts job properly end of week. His wage is now going to be £385pw = ( before tax and NI) No overtime money available but does get £17.50 night out money. After working for his new company for a month he will get a bonus - not sure how much though. He has taken this as a stop gap until he can find a company paying higher salary.

I am hoping to go back to work 27/02 or 5/03 depending on GP decision on 26/02. However not feeling brill this week due to infection in operation wound so maybe I am pushing myself too much.

Therefore we will need 2 cars, even though I agree with you it is a big expense out of our budget. Luckily my husbands car is paid for.

OOPS :eek: I forgot to add my electric bill to last amount trying to take £130 pm even though we are disputing this with scottish power at moment they have agreed possibly £60pm Only live in 2 bed flat, with economy 7( no gas in flat at all) perhaps we should change supplier again but looking at Martins email looks as if not the right time.

Mortgage- Mortgage company not being very helpful at all , even though CAB have sent them sheet with how much we can afford. Twice already they have threatened to take the flat. They wont do a mortgage break. Luckily with my husband being ex army SSAFA- ARMY HELP paid last months mortgage but GMAC still took money from our account on top of this last month making us short to pay mortgage next week:mad:

Orange mobile - Told CAB want more money than £1pm luckily the CAB are talking to them for me

Does it get any easier feeling very disheartened

Anyone have any ideas about getting bank charges back or is it the wrong time. Also what should I do about mortgage company not being helpful.

Think I need a herbal tea

_________________________________________________________________ lightbulb moment - £19, 020 february 2007

started £2 challenge jar today = £2

LookingAhead

Hi there. Not sure about the mortgage stuff (someone else will be along to offer advice soon, someone more clued up than me on that) but I was wondering, how come your poor hubby has still got unpaid wages?

Is there anyway to use legal advice (of course free or very cheaply if you can get it!) to push for this? Small claims court? Not sure how these things work but it seems completely obscene that they can keep this amount back from him (:mad: on your behalf!).

Storm

According to https://www.whatsthecost.com your OH's weekly take home will be around £294.91 a week.

Don't push yourself back into work too quickly because you're worried about the money, as the very real danger is that you'll end up off sick again a month down the line.

Are you not entitled to any benefits at all considering you've been off sick & your OH was claiming JSA? Even a months worth of council tax benefit or income support would help. CHeck out https://www.entitledto.co.uk to see if you can claim anything.

Stick with the CAB for talking to your creditors, and why don't you see if they'll talk to the mortgage company too? At the end of the day though, if you've made payments so far they're probably not inclined to think they need to do anything, but if you do miss a payment it takes a while to actually get a repossession order, by which point you'll hopefully be back at work.

Good luck!

liannet42

Thank you both for your messages. Its great to finally have support from people who I dont know but who are not judging us.

First of all - my husband. He started working for a HGV agency before christmas to make extra money to cover christmas etc as my health was deterioating quite a bit due to the hospital not willing to bring my op forward.
Anyway the agency for 3 weeks were not paying him his full weeks wages, even though my husband kept asking where they wereExcuses were made. The 4th week after working nearly 70 hrs he didnt get any pay. We started going into the red in the bank so he tried to find more work.
He found another agency who gave him work before Christmas but afterwards due to haulage business being quiet could only get a little work which ended up in him having to apply for jsa.
We have since found out that the 1st agency also did not pay 10 other drivers before xmas. The owner has done this before to drivers by starting agencies in different names (2 others we know of at the moment ) but each time the DTI get near to him the owner claims insolvency so nothing can be done. Drivers lose money, creditors dont want to know when this is not your fault:mad: :mad: The DTI are involved again but it is going to be a long process to get the agency shut down so he doesnt do it to others They cant guarantee to get our money back . Luckily I belong to the GMB union so they are going to try and help. Causing so much stress in our relationship at the moment.

Thanks Storm for the website links I will give them a look later when Im feeling a bit more with it. My husband also agrees with you I shouldn't go back to work but just feel as if were in a big pit, not able to get out as the sides are too slippy.

Mortgage CAB are still talking to GMAC for us WE ARE IN ARREARS by one missed payment but they have tried to repossess x 2 already by sending horrid letters , even when we have agreed payment scheme with them:mad:

Been told we cant get any other benefits. Did try for Council tax benefit but they still haven't come back on it yet. My husband could have got carers allowance as he was being my carer whilst I have been ill before op and looking after me now but I dont seem to come under any benefit ieattendance allowance etc so as I dont have that he cant get carers

_________________________________________________________________
Lightbulb moment - debt £19,020 February 2007
£2 challenge jar - £2
Silver challenge (counted up what we've saved over last few months) £10

exil

If you need 2nd car for work - and have been off work for 3 years.... again, why do you have 2 cars?

Suggest if you don't get back to work this time, sell the car.

Saving

£176 per month car finance
£35 per month insurance
£35 per month petrol
£15 per month car tax
(not to mention repairs, servicing)

total £261 per month, or over £1 per mile you actually drive the car, based on the petrol cost.

plus you will get the cash value of the car minus the outstanding finance

that buys a lot of bus fares and taxi rides

janiegs

Is it you or your husband that is paying CSA. If it's your husband then he needs to call CSA and tell them he is claiming JSA. You can get tax relief on child maintenance payments too.

WellGirl

Also you are paying for broadband that you dont really need, this could be another saving.

liannet42

Regarding my car. I have been ill for 3 years and on very strong painkillers, not sure how now but I still pushed myself to go out to work but by December last year just before New Year I ended up with another hospital admission and told to stop working until I had my op in Jan 07 However NHS cancelled this op and only had it on 5/02. I am hoping to go back to work shortly but see what GP says on 26/02.
I am hoping that this op will have now sorted my problem as I dont want to continue on morphine much longer. However if problems start to reoccur might try to look for a job nearer home so I can work or bus from home. Unfortunately at the moment there isnt a bus service to where I work as in the country. I live in town. £35pw petrol is for both cars. As husband drives to work 2am mon- back late Fri pm or early Sat am so doesnt use as much petrol as me.
CSA is for my 3 children who live with my ex husband Have tried talking to them regarding amounts of money They have told me that my CSA payments should be paid before my mortgage but since they have now been told by me I am on statutory sick they have left me alone. Once I get back to work I am worried they will put it up again to amount I am going to find difficult to afford.
Broadband I agree it is looking expensive Thought would shop round to someone cheaper before stopping altogether.Joined 18185 for cheaper calls and also use SKYPE for our friends in HONG KONG and GERMANY ,so neither of us has to pay for calls.

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Lightbulb moment Feb 2007 £19,020
£2 challenge jar =£2
Silver Challenge =£10
Started Morrisons Saver stamps towards Xmas today = £2