The "VA removes her head from the sand" diary!

Petlamb

Hey folks

I thought I'd start this up as somewhere to plonk my thoughts and experiences as I go through this journey; the hard bits, the good bits, and the stuff in-between.

Here I am right now. I have an appointment on Tuesday with CAB to discuss our situation. We've both opened Co-Op Cashminder accounts as we've accepted and recognised we just shouldn't be trusted with credit!

We're both on JSA and actively trawling the job sites, but in the meantime that leaves pretty much nothing for debt repayments.

I have about £1600 on my old student OD (over limit), £1850 on CC (over limit), £280 on another CC (over limit), £150 personal reserve in use, £100 owed to finance firm for cancelled insurance, £500 owed to electricity firm, and about £120 behind on water.

That's all approximations though.

Will update this and my sig when figures are confirmed and plan of action has been arranged.

beanielou

Hope your appointment goes well on Tuesday.

Heffi1

Good luck, once that is out of the way there will be no stopping you, I shall subscribe and keep you company on the way.

Sequeena

Good luck! X

Petlamb

Aww thank you, the support is really appreciated.

For all that I haven't really done anything yet, knowing that things are going to be dealt with (not ignored) is making me feel quite a bit better! Even managed to harass HMRC today about when they will finally send me the £289 they owe me (hopefully before the end of the month... yeah, they only decided I was owed it back at the start of August... sigh).

Will let you all know how I get on x

Petlamb

Ack, big fat setback. Couldn't go to CAB today due to being loaded with cold and not having the bus fare.

And... the water board has sent an almost £400 bill with a threat of CCJ in 10 days with an added £60-odd if we haven't paid.

On the bright side, the mr is at a course that apparently gets most people on it a job So fingers crossed.

Petlamb

So, didn't get to CAB, had an interview for one of the big debt agencies and didn't get it sadly, the prospect of working at one was throwing off where I'd get my problems sorted due to a fear of it being too close to home. With that out of the way, I have free choice now, which is kind of positive.

Feel like CAB aren't really specialist in this, and just been on the phone to payplan, as I was interested in their online account management which appealed. However on the phone it seems it's Payplan's company policy that only those with £5000+ debts will be taken. I might be anywhere from about £4600-5k, not sure where but need to do the maths for certain.

The guy on the phone irritated me a bit by trying to suggest PP were my only choice saying 'most companies charge you for this, we don't...' - I pointed out I could go elsewhere inc CCCS/StepChange (as they are now), which he conceded was true.

I was also frustrated the guy from PP called on a number that came up "Unknown" when their site said to look out for a call from a specified number, so that made me anxious from the get go.

Going to calculate it all tonight/tomorrow as I don't have definite figures for everything so need those.

Will update this when I know more.

Petlamb

Wow, time flies when you're... snowed under in debt?

Well, as I said above, the guy at PayPlan really annoyed me, I felt like he was trying to manipulate the situation, and that put me off, for good.

Today however, I have been on the phone to Step Change (CCCS) and have the ball rolling! I'm doing my second half next week, and what's more I even contacted a couple of people (one creditor and one DCA threatening a CCJ) to inform them I'm with Step Change now and gave them the reference as SC suggested.

Feeling more in control, which I needed after a CCJ threat letter and an account termination letter, all in one week!

Petlamb

Personal stuff ahead, if that makes you uncomfortable, look away.

Part of me wanted to call this post off topic within the thread, but really it isn't. It's all connected. Especially debt, stress, and health - both mental and physical.

I've been stressed lately. Between the debt problems already discussed and a job situation, things have really piled up on me. Regarding the job, I should have started a fortnight ago, and still haven't. The company are an outsourcing firm, and it's the client who has changed their mind about increasing staffing, but it's still left all of us who have been offered jobs in the lurch in a big way. The upshot is that they have another campaign for us to work on (yay!) but they still don't have an actual start date for that, so all we're getting is delaying emails, saying they'll know "soon". Soon, sadly, doesn't pay bills. Or debts.

So they're the main sources of my stress. As for what the outcomes are? Mostly they can be split between the physical and mental.

Physically, I'm concerned I'm going to end up with another shingles flare up. I had shingles a couple of months ago (ish) and of course a big part of that is being run down and stressed out.

Mental concerns are a bit longer to explain. I already have (diagnosed) anxiety and depression, but in reality, chances are it's more likely to be a form of personality disorder. Within that, I've had what are known as 'dissociative episodes' in the past when I have been under significant stress, where I'd feel as though I was on autopilot, not really in control, or could 'lose' hours where everything was a bit of a blur.

The other night was a new development, and one that made me feel like a massive lunatic. I had an 'auditory hallucination'. Yep, I heard things. In my case, this was multi-tonal bells, not voices (preferable, I guess!) and so far it's been a one off, but I'd be lying if I said it hadn't freaked me out and made me feel a lot more mental than normal. Looking into it, it seems BPD patients have been known to experience 'psychotic' symptoms (so both the above) when under significant amounts of stress.

So one of my big focusses right now is just coping and trying to keep a level head about it all. I needed to get all of that out, and felt like it was relevant to my journey.

Petlamb

Eek! Second CCCS (or StepChange, or whatever!) appointment in 10 mins or so...

StressedSteph

Hi hun

Hope your StepChange appointment went well.

It sounds like you are contacting them just in the nick of time. Your debt and the resulting stress sounds like it is REALLY taking its toll on you.

Do you chat your feelings through with your Dh or any other family?. Have you been to see your GP? He might be able to prescribe something short-term just to get you through this stressfull time .

This is the beginning of getting everything sorted. Its always really tough in the beginning. We have all had similar situations and beleive me it does get better, if abit slowly.

Did your Dh have any joy with a job from that course he was on? Lets hope you hear from that company soon with a start date.

Will subscribe to your thread. Please keep posting here EVERY DAY, off load here, moan here, rant and rage here. Getting it off your shoulders might help you cope with the stress. It certainly helps me.

Here's a (((((Virtual Hug)))))

Speak soon
StressedSteph