Struggling with debt? Ask a debt advisor a question

tudybobs

I don't think I'm posting this in the right place but maybe someone can help point me in the right direction!?
I'm 29, married and a mother of 2 beautiful boys but I'm struggling massively with depression and I think my struggle with debt is a lot to do with it. I know I need to stop hiding my head in the sand and ignoring the mail that comes through the door but I don't know where to start! My husband has absolutely no idea, he goes to work and earns the money but so long as we have a little to spend on the weekends he's happy to leave me to it. I can't tell him just how big a mess we're in because he suffers from chronic anxiety and I don't want him to leave me or hate me. I just don't know how much longer I can carry on, please please someone help me.

phoenixx

tudybobs wrote: »

I don't think I'm posting this in the right place but maybe someone can help point me in the right direction!?
I'm 29, married and a mother of 2 beautiful boys but I'm struggling massively with depression and I think my struggle with debt is a lot to do with it. I know I need to stop hiding my head in the sand and ignoring the mail that comes through the door but I don't know where to start! My husband has absolutely no idea, he goes to work and earns the money but so long as we have a little to spend on the weekends he's happy to leave me to it. I can't tell him just how big a mess we're in because he suffers from chronic anxiety and I don't want him to leave me or hate me. I just don't know how much longer I can carry on, please please someone help me.

Hi Tudybobs - firstly you are not alone and this forum is a great place to get advice and support. There are quite a few threads that will help I think - DMP Mutual Support Thread for one. Depression and debt often go together as I know from bitter personal experience.
I really can identify with what you are saying about the post coming through the door. The good news is that, as Martin says, there is no such thing as an unsolvable debt problem. Every situation can be tacked and you just need the advice and support to do it. We are in a DMP with Stepchange who are well worth calling. National Debtline do a marvellous job, as do the CAB. Their websites are well worth looking at.
I have suffered a great deal from anxiety and depression. Debt is both a cause and a consequence of it in my experience. Do see your GP or call the Samaritans to talk. I have found them to be compassionate, helpful and non-judgemental. They have certainly seen me through some dark times...Your husband sounds to be struggling too. You are in this together though, and you need to work through it as a team. The agencies mentioned above may well have advice about how to involve him with plans. In the old days, DH and I did not communicate about money; buried our heads in the sand and nearly broke down completely. Only since we started talking and being open did things improve.
New year, new start - stick with the forum. Reading the threads is both comforting and informative.

murkydismal

Hi, I hope I'm in the correct part of the forum, finding it a bit confusing as a newbie! I'd like some advice, please, re paying off loans with interest against 0% credit cards. I owe £22,000 (ouch!) on a loan that is linked to the mortgage and must be paid off at the same time as the mortgage, about 8 years from now. I so regret using this overdraft facility but too late for regrets! The interest rate is 4.9%.

I also have various credit cards - which I don't use - and have moved them all to 0% deals.

I know the idea is to pay off debst with highest interest rate first but, of course, the idea of moving credit cards to 0% was to pay them off without paying interest.

It's not feasible for me to expect to pay off the overdraft any time soon. I pay £100 a month at the moment which only just covers the interest charged so I'm acatually paying about £5 a month off the debt .

Any suggestions gratefully received please

Thanks

StepChange_Jen

tudybobs wrote: »

I don't think I'm posting this in the right place but maybe someone can help point me in the right direction!?
I'm 29, married and a mother of 2 beautiful boys but I'm struggling massively with depression and I think my struggle with debt is a lot to do with it. I know I need to stop hiding my head in the sand and ignoring the mail that comes through the door but I don't know where to start! My husband has absolutely no idea, he goes to work and earns the money but so long as we have a little to spend on the weekends he's happy to leave me to it. I can't tell him just how big a mess we're in because he suffers from chronic anxiety and I don't want him to leave me or hate me. I just don't know how much longer I can carry on, please please someone help me.

Hi tudybobs,

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through a difficult time at the moment. We know that dealing with debt can be very stressful and would suggest seeing your GP if you feel your mental health is suffering.

The good news is you don’t have to deal with this on your own and as phoenixx mentioned, you’re in the right place. There’s plenty of support here and you’ll find that many people are experiencing the same situation as yourself, you’re not alone.

It sounds like you’d benefit from some free, impartial advice about your debts. If you contact one of our helpline advisors they’d be
more than happy to have a chat with you about your situation, many people feel relief from simply talking about the problem.

You can find out how to get in touch with us here:

http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx

We also have an online tool you can use called Debt Remedy. It’s completely anonymous and will ask you for details about your income, budget and debts to help put together a free action plan to help deal with your debts. You can find Debt Remedy here:

http://www.stepchange.org/Debtremedy.aspx

I hope this helps and if you need any more help you know where we are.

Jen

xboxone

hello..

please can anyone help me. i currently have debts of around £8000, things was ok when i lived with my now ex partner, my bills was paid on time nd i never had a problem with repayments. however since splitting u with her and moving out into my own place. things are getting into a bad way.

no longer are my debts getting paid and more and more interest is getting added. i have applied for my DMP pack from Stepchange and after i pay out my essentials it said id have around £90 spare each month,

now one of my debts alone is a £115 monthly payment. if i was to add them all together. id roughly be paying around £300 a month. im on a pretty low income of around £900 a monthn after tax once ive paid out my rent/gas/electric/csa etc etc, im left with around £90 a month.

this is getting me down and i feel like im not getting anywhere, im worried that the companies im not paying will send round baliffs or debt collectors and take stuff.

please can someone advise me on what to do,

marcosdjcm

Hi,

I've been in touch with StepChange before when the best advice was to do the mini-bankrupcy but my situation has improved a little temporarily.

Anyway, I have a question, I think I can solve my debt if I can just move the debt to a lower interest. At the moment it is in credit cards and an overdraft of over ~16%. But if I can get it down to a ~5% interest I can make progress.

My credit is "good" but my income has not increased. I don't think I can get a big allowance on a new 0% balance transfer, that would be ideal. So what if I tried applying for a low interest loan instead?

£10k debt, £1100/mo income, currently ~£250/mo paid into debt.

jemlem24

Hi,
I'm not in a state as of yet. But my credit card payments are mounting up. Due to circumstances beyond my control.
And am a little worried as I've been bankrupt once before.
Is there a way I can stop the interest on the cards? to reduce the payments.
I don't want to go down the bankruptcy route again. And want to pay back the money I've borrowed. It's just that with the interest on top, the monthly payments are slowly starting to creep toward being too much.

Thanks

Former_StepChange_Rachel

xboxone wrote: »

hello..

please can anyone help me. i currently have debts of around £8000, things was ok when i lived with my now ex partner, my bills was paid on time nd i never had a problem with repayments. however since splitting u with her and moving out into my own place. things are getting into a bad way.

no longer are my debts getting paid and more and more interest is getting added. i have applied for my DMP pack from Stepchange and after i pay out my essentials it said id have around £90 spare each month,

now one of my debts alone is a £115 monthly payment. if i was to add them all together. id roughly be paying around £300 a month. im on a pretty low income of around £900 a monthn after tax once ive paid out my rent/gas/electric/csa etc etc, im left with around £90 a month.

this is getting me down and i feel like im not getting anywhere, im worried that the companies im not paying will send round baliffs or debt collectors and take stuff.

please can someone advise me on what to do,

Hi there, thank you for posting.

It’s very common to find that debts you were managing fine with initially become difficult to deal with when you experience a life change such as splitting up with a partner. If you’re on a DMP with us, you wouldn’t continue paying the £115 monthly payment to the debt you mentioned. Instead, the £90 surplus you have left over every month would be divided up between your creditors. If you feel that the budget we worked out for you isn’t realistic, please give us a call and we’ll take a look and make sure all your expenses have been accounted for properly.

I want to reassure you that unsecured creditors cannot send bailiffs – also known as enforcement agents - to your property. Often in their letters they may mention having an agent contact you to discuss payment, but this person would not have the power to force entry into your property or take anything from your property. Bailiffs only become an issue if the debt goes to County Court. It would be the court who issues bailiffs to your property, not the creditor, and this would only happen if you didn’t respond to the initial letter the court sends asking you to arrange a payment plan, or didn’t keep to the arrangement put in place.

We’ve written a blogpost on what your creditors can and can’t do on our blog if you’d like to find out more: http://moneyaware.co.uk/2011/08/you%E2%80%99re-in-debt-but-what-can-your-creditors-actually-do/

I hope this helps. Please write again if you have further questions

Best regards

Rachel

StepChange_James

marcosdjcm wrote: »

Hi,

I've been in touch with StepChange before when the best advice was to do the mini-bankrupcy but my situation has improved a little temporarily.

Anyway, I have a question, I think I can solve my debt if I can just move the debt to a lower interest. At the moment it is in credit cards and an overdraft of over ~16%. But if I can get it down to a ~5% interest I can make progress.

My credit is "good" but my income has not increased. I don't think I can get a big allowance on a new 0% balance transfer, that would be ideal. So what if I tried applying for a low interest loan instead?

£10k debt, £1100/mo income, currently ~£250/mo paid into debt.

Hi there Marcos,

I'm guessing the solution we suggested was a debt relief order (DRO) but can't be sure. If it was then it would mean you were in a situation where you had less than £50 a month available for debt payments.

You've mentioned that you've had a temporary improvement in your finances, which might mean you can currently afford to pay more towards debts. However if your finances might take a dip again in the future then a new loan might be a struggle to keep up with.

We always suggest being very cautious about consolidation loans or refinancing debt if you're struggling. Mostly because we speak to an awful lot of people who've tried this and it's led to more debt. This usually happens because the new loan is a struggle so the old debts get run up again to cover living costs.

If you're already a client of ours I'd suggest giving us a call and we can review your details to reflect your new circumstances and see what advice we can offer.

If nothing else, having a new budget prepared by us will help you understand what kind of monthly payments you can afford. Though we'll also be able to give you fresh advice about options you've got available.

Kind regards

James

StepChange_James

jemlem24 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm not in a state as of yet. But my credit card payments are mounting up. Due to circumstances beyond my control.
And am a little worried as I've been bankrupt once before.
Is there a way I can stop the interest on the cards? to reduce the payments.
I don't want to go down the bankruptcy route again. And want to pay back the money I've borrowed. It's just that with the interest on top, the monthly payments are slowly starting to creep toward being too much.

Thanks

Hi Jemlem24,

Creditors are often willing to freeze interest and charges on debts but usually they'll only do this if you're offering them a payment that they believe is the most you can realistic afford to offer but not the full payment.

If you contact us for advice we can help you put together an income and expenditure budget and give you advice about how to deal with these debts. If making reduced payments is your best option we'll be able to talk you through the options you've got to do this.

You can get our advice online by using our Debt Remedy tool: http://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx or over the phone by calling out Helpline: http://www.stepchange.org/Contactus.aspx.

It can feel like you're just treading water with credit cards when the interest swallows up your monthly payment. Being stuck in this sort of cycle can be an early sign that you need to take steps to deal with the situation. It's good that you're looking to do something before you start finding the payments difficult.

Kind regards

James