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

lynzpower

they shouldnt be charging you 15 quid love, as by law the max banks can charge is a tenner.

PLease please dont use them again

In fact Id go so far as to find out by assking on the other bank charges board, how you can get out of it!

Vickicb

Hi Lynz, how's the new house?

That's good advice - Liamsmum, you might be able to dump them and then just start the claim again yourself - they're getting all that money just for a spreadsheet and a few letters!

Re: catalogues, I think it's just the same process, a SAR first (unless you have the statements showing the date/amount/reason for the charge already), then a prelim letter with a spreadsheet, then a LBA. I'll do them for you if you want and email them back, won't take long, PM me!

bikerqueen

You need to address your over spending as well as the very positive start that you've made on the reclaiming charges.

You don't get enough in to cover everything going out.

You either need to increase the amount coming in, or decrease the amopunt going out.

there are easy savings to be made on sky, mobile, home phone (50 quid a month??? Is your best friend in america??) and food.

If you do this, you'll start to get it all under control.

Good luck.

mystery07

liamsmum05 wrote:

thank you for all your replys you all have been so helpful..

i dont have a homestart in my area but do have surestart which i have already done a course at and managed to do it all!...although my problem is im very shy at meeting new peple, i did it on sat nite with my partner we had a ngiht out in brid met all his workmates and their wifes girlfs and didnt fit in coz in was too shy. its really confidence knocking!

i am already getting the healthy start vouchers which were the milk tokens before i will get them til liam is 5.you get £2.50 a week every 4 weeks

i am very worried about having meters put in as il be paying £6 each so thats already £12 a week debt im paying to british gas plus i need to put on more money to use normally! how can i sort this one out? - speak to british gas, urgently & explain your situation, really lay on thick, that if you are made to pay the whole £12 pw you simply wont have money left for food! Im sure, if you try hard enough, they will reduce this, even if you ask, them to do this for the 1st four weeks, say, to give you some breathing space.....Im sure, they will help, as long as you put your case across well.......Because clearly, they are going to want some money from you, to repay the debt...i would try to cut, your gas & electric usage down as much as possible right now......starting with energy saving bulbs....turning off appliances at the switch (when things are on standby, they use power!), in the evenings, maybe even use candles rather than lights at all......everything you can think of, NO tumble dryer on.....uses lots of power...etc etc...

i do know about social loans as ive already had 2 and stil paying my second back so cant get another untill iv paid abit more off this one. NOT "social loans"..... "social grants" the difference is, you DO NOT need to re-pay grants, whereas, loans you do!! Talk to DWP, about reducing re-payment of the loans as much as possible, on the basis, that you are suffering "significant hardship" use these words....DWP, have to act!!! I quite sure, that they will be very flexible, with regards how much you are repaying, especially, when times are really hard!


how do i go about mentioning the high aprs on my loans?? No experience here sorry, perhaps someone else could help?!
licit legal...hmm.. i know they get 25% and they have had £15 off me for bank statements they said it was.so i printed out all my statements for the other account save me another £15 and i rang them the other day and its all going through just waiting for back now.

i still dont know how to go about claiming my admin fees late payment charges off catalogues etc..??

d :-)

You havent mentioned any thoughts, on going to work?! One thing I havent mentioned, i guess you probably know about them anyway, (as im sure, your made to see them!), but when an income support, you can go to the Jobscentre & see a "lone parent advisor" - youve probably, heard of "new deal for loan parents" ?! well, they are FAB, they can do lots & lots to help you get a job, help sort out all the benefits youd be entilted to, they can work out, what you would expect to get, they can help sort out childcare, they can help you find a job, even if your struggling, because of lack of experience etc, help get you on free courses etc etc......so if its a consideration, why not just make an appointment to see them?! You have nothing to lose, you can say at the end, ok, but i dont want to work yet & you wont have lost anything! Ring Income support & they can arrange an appoint for you.....

Also, I would cancel, everything you possibly can (this will help, when you have to start paying your gas/elec debt!!) ie sky,mobile phone, reduce home phone as much as poss, anything & everything....

Then theres ebay & amazon, if you have any odd things to sell, or even your local paper for any old toys/baby clothes etc....

Hope this helps a little XxX

dollydoodah

Liamsmum - please don't let that company get their hands on any of your money for reclaiming the bank charges. If you want any help at all I will gladly help you - have claimed back myself and was a site helper over on the CAG board for a while, so I do know the score.

xx

angelavdavis

Hiya,

Might be worth posting a query on the Utilities board about the meter. They are definitely more expensive, but I have no idea how much.

buxtonrabbitgreen

liamsmum05 wrote:

i also intend to write a complaint letter to talk talk, after i went with them for my home phone never recieved the broadband i signed up for.

i have emailed wescot credit services as im with them for 3 accounts.

i also emailed about another catalogue and offered a toekn payment.

getting there slowly but sureley all thansk to everyone here and kind friend words.!

:T

Talk Talk well they are enough to make you depressed. It is a good deal broadband and free calls including international. I din't give up but it took from august till the middle of January till I got reliable internet and I had no phone at all for 3 months. My bill is now only £23 a month so I suppose it was worth the hassle in the end. Nothing else to help you with as I have just been paid and am already £183 OD so that will be another £100 charges this month.

mags24

To Liamsmum05,

if you get any nonsense from the gas board over the meter, tell them that you will be filing for bankruptcy and that the Insolvency Practicioner will not be giving them priority over your other debts.

To be honest, if you are struggling to this extent, I don't see why you don't consider bankruptcy. You don't have any assets to lose, your credit rating is non-existent anyway, it will get all the creditors off your back and give you some peace.

The courts are aware that there is a minimum amount per week that anyone needs to live on, and will not allow any creditor to take so much that they leave you with less than that. If any of your creditors are threatening to take you to court, send them a copy of your SOA with £1 a month attached. When they ring, invite them to take you to court for a CCJ or to make you bankrupt - they might as well pay the fees rather than you.

No-one has passed a law that enables anyone to extract blood out of a stone, and the courts can be quite sympathetic if you have put everything in writing to your creditors, been firm, consistent and fair with what you can realistically pay, and communicated this regularly. With a CCJ, they might well restrict the amount you have to pay to less than you are currently.

lillyfitz

Liansmummy

Just a quick though, when I became a lone parent last year I went to see someone at the Job Centre called a Lone Parent Advisor. Have you seen one?

He was incredibly helpful. He fast tracked benefits for me, made sure I was claiming all I was entitled to and when I went back to work arranged for an Adviser Discretion Fund payment to cover my first two weeks of nursery fees for my son. If I had been on income support for more than the 4 weeks that I was then I would have also have been eligible for a back to work payment of £250.00.

I 2nd a previous posters suggestion of work. I myself suffered from PND and I have to say one of the most positive steps I personally have taken is to go to work, I have a little bit of me back.

I work full time as for the work I do I am better of financially (and for me it is a pride thing also) to go back to work. CTC cover 70%of my nursery fees which is a huge help.

It is possible to become debt free hang in there. My debt started when I was about 18 with some bad choices. At 25 I am debt free through hard work and perseverance.

You sound like you are taking some positive steps

flufff

Ok I dont advocate taking out more debt to cover debt but as your on income support you would be entitled to an interest free budgeting loan of up to £1000 each twelve months.This gets clawed back straight out of your money.You can get this to clear debts/home.
I personally would apply and use it to pay off some priority debts then those with highest interest fees.Would give you some breathing space to address other bills with cabs help.
Throw out any catalogues now and do not apply for any more finance.
Good luck