help! in major debt at 18 with 2 children too..dont know what to do!!

save-alot

Hi and well done in posting

I would suggest contacting Christians Against Poverty who have a centre in your town, they will help you sort out the debts and get back on your feet, there is no charge for the services.

They will visit you at home so no worrying about getting out to them.

You will get lots of support

Scarborough
St Mary's Parish House
Castle Road
Scarborough
YO11 1HT

01723 375253
scarborough@capuk.org
Open Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri.

dancingfairy

I think you've had loads of fab advice already on here. I agree that the first thing to sort out is your post natal depression- that is going to be making things really hard for you right now.

You need to try and draw up a realistic budget to live on ie I need to spend x on food, x on electric etc. I would try the CAB/CCCS/Payplan or any other organisation that will give you free impartial advice.

All the best and remember you have just made loads of new virtual friends!

liamsmum05

thansk for your replys i went on the link you sent me have done an SOA..this is the outcome of that...

monthly incomings:

child benefit- £69.80
income support- £155.92
child tax credit- £189.52

total incomings- £415.24


monthly outgoings:

sky= £21
tv license= £10.50
gas= £40
electric= £45
mobile phone= £20
broadband= £14.99
house phone= £50
food= £200
shoppacheck (loan)= £40
provident (loan)= £24
kds finance (loan)= £26
capital one credit card= £60

total outgoings= £551.40


bit more details about some of my debts...

provident personal credit(loan)
balance to begin with £660
balance now £487
177.0% APR

shoppacheck financial services(loan)
balance to begin with £485
balance now £421
440.30% APR

natwest bank overdraft
limit £100
owed £49.51
interest free

capital one credit card
limit- £200
balanced owed £320.18
15.9% APR

vanquis credit carwd
limit £250
owed £339.34
39.9% APR

KDS finance(loan)
balance at beginning £195
owed now £175
150.8% APR

hope this helps its everything i can think..

and about the post natal depression..i can explain that i dont mind at all it might help me actually.. i was diagnosed with it in dec 2005 after my daughter was born she was 4 weeks old at this time, me and my partner couldnt figure out what was wrong, i wasnt eating i wasnt paying bills,wasnt taking care of myself, left kids to it left my daughter to cry and my son to play on his own,wasnt cleaning the house myself, in the end i split up with my partner and he moved out taking my daughter with him which we both agreed as it was best for her til i sorted myself out. got the pills off the doctor but they didnt help made me feel worse so came off them and decided to do it without the help of them..im better than i was but stil havent bonded with my daughter and she stil lives with my partner(yes we are stil together after 3 years lol ) he now understands but doesnt seem to want to help by letting me have her etc time on our own,the doctor was useless she didnt want to listen so i didnt bother.i find it so hard to bond with her but never have had the courage to get proper help ie meeting other mums councelling etc.but tbh am so scared of doing it alone and dont really have close friends just people i say hi to when i see them.

diane :-)

newmum1

Is there any chance that you can see a different doctor in your surgey, another one may look at things in a different perspective.
Right on to yr outgoings do you get all the relevanyt benefits council tax, rent paid etc your electric and gas seem high im assunming that it is you and your son that live in the house now. Also house phone and food are very high im pretty sure with a bit of careful planning you can get these down dramatically, for food if you look on the moneysaving old style thread it should give you some ideas, also if you can shop at certain times like just before closing when stable fresh foods are reduced to a few pennies.
Housephone check the tarriff that you are on to reduce it.
With planning in all areas you should be able to make savings. Try contacting the CAB who are really helpful or have a look at their website for advice. Remember you will get through it, it may seem tough right now but just think your a fighter.

southernscouser

It goes without saying that sorting the depression out should be top of your agenda but I don't really have much clue so I don't want to misadvise you! But there will be people along who are in the know.

Now debts is my forte!

Firstly your benefits seem to low to me! I could well be wrong but it doesn't seem right! :undecided What about rent? Is that paid for? Did you look at this site?

OK. Sky. I know what you are gonna say! It's the only thing you have for you yeah? That you never go out? It's what everyone says! :rotfl:

However, what about ditching it (if you aren't still tied in by a contract) and getting freeview instead? Some good channels for the kids and still some for you.

Next is your home phone bill! I'm no expert on this but people on here will be. They will sort you out with how to reduce this.

You can reduce your food bill. Adults on here manage on £50 per person a month. This includes all house cleaning products etc. This is the board you want to get all this down. Genuises

Gas and leccy! Does this include the arrears?

What about the father of the kids? Does he help with any costs or anything?

liamsmum05

so far i have made a few changes ie;

i have stopped the book clubs, grolier book club have acceopted £1 a month payment and wont be sending anymore books ask requested.
the other book club i just owe £52 which can be paid one week when i have the money

both credit card account have been suspended and cards cut up when i spent the amount.as i say my limits are £200 and £250 the rest is interest and charges

i am already with alot of paid surveys, points clubs etc and especially cashback site bakanda where i got £30 last dec and am currently having processed £79

i am always buying and selling on ebay last month i made an extra £100 this month i have only made about £20

i am always on freecycle getting furniture etc and giving things that wont sell on ebay

i do not work so this is the only income i have part from ebay etc

only thing is this is the worse bit both littlewoods catalogues i got when i was 17...

diane

Bunnyinthelights

Diane,
Are those APR's correct?!?!?!?!?! Oh my giddy Aunt...

I know someone will come along to help, frankly all I can see to do is batter those rip-off merchants with large branches, (not helpful, I know!)

I had PND with my daughter and it was awful-luckily for me the drugs worked and I was off them after 6 months. Get help, speak to another doctor, get out and speak to other women, you'd be surprised how many people have suffered...Please stop beating yourself up about your relationship with your daughter, it will take time, but it will be ok eventually. Go for a walk every day-I found that really helped.

Please feel free to PM me if you just want to chat,
Bunny

liamsmum05

i am already in process of reclaiming back charges £491 on current account and £500 on card plus account with natwest.

now the dad..lol! i went through csa to start with and they offered me £5 a week according to them because he is self employed and earns £100 or less a week although this is not the case as hes a joiner and earns nearly £200-300 a week, he only declares so many hours to inland revenue.so i made an agreement he gave me £10 a week which he sticks to if he gets paid.

gas and leccy i am on quarterly bill at the moment with british gas and when both bills came through they wouldnt accept a weekly payment plan so i agreed to have meters installed on 26th march paying £6 each for gas and leccy arears plus however much a week tis normally costs for gas and leccy

i have freeview upstairs and sky downstairs.

i do get my rent paid of £63 a week and council tax £12 a week

i do have a 3 bed house which is just me and liam.

southernscouser

I don't mean to intrude but if you and your OH are still together how come the hassle to get the money and only £10 a week?

black-saturn

OK heres my four penneth about your outgoings:


sky= £21 Could you cut this down or out?
tv license= £10.50
gas= £40 This may be able to cut down if you put on a jumper instead of the heating and cook 2 meals at a time and reheat them in the microwave
electric= £45 This could be cut down too by not leaving things on standby, switching lights off when not needed and not having TV on all the time even when your not watching it
mobile phone= £20 Could you cut this down? Only use your phone for texting and use your home phone for calls
broadband= £14.99
house phone= £50 Could you cut this down?
food= £200 How many is this for? I'm a lone parent with 2 children and I spend £45 a month on food. Cook things from scratch and look for the BOGOFS and reduced stuff.
shoppacheck (loan)= £40
provident (loan)= £24
kds finance (loan)= £26
capital one credit card= £60

I was in the same boat as you about 4 years ago only with 2 children and managed to pay off about £10,000 in debt in about 2 years when I was on benefit. get in contact with all the companies but especially the ones with the high interest rates and tell them that you are having problems paying. You will be surprised how helpful they can be. You might be able to come to some arrangement where the monthly payments are more manageable. You should also throw as much money as you can to the debts with the high interest rates and shuffle debts around to deals with lower interest rates. If it were me I would try and get rid of the provvy loan first. Some of their interest rates are 150%.

Have a good look round your house and sell off anything you don't need anymore such as clothes, books, Cds, dvds, videos, games or anything. On ebay you will be surprised how much you get. Then use this to pay off some of the debt. Have a good search through your house every couple of months and sell it on ebay. Also when you need anything if it's cheaper on ebay buy it there and then when you've finished with it sell it back and in the end it won't end up costing you much at all.