Need all the help I can get please!

cheekylu

Hi all

Really not sure where I should have posted this to as couldnt find a section quite matching my situation lol.

Basically, me and my partner work at the same place and since the beginning of January our hours have greatly reduced I am literally getting 9 hours a week work and my partner is getting around 19 hours a week.

I have around £1700 in bills going out this month, I am probably going to get around £900 between us, I can't get income support as I dont have a child and I cant even get jobseekers allowance as my partner works over 16 hours a week, I cant get council tax benefit, the only benefit I can get is housing benefit which doesnt even cover half of my rent.

Next month I will probably get around £600 between us, I really don't know what to do. I have bad credit and so does my partner, I have tried for loans everywhere you could think of and I already owe so much in debts.

I cant sleep at night I am constantly worrying about paying for everything, I am trying my best to look for a new job but it is proving very hard and even if I do get a new one I wont get my first pay until 2 months and I wouldnt be able to pay the bills in the meantime still.

I don't have any family or friends that can lend me any money neither does my partner, I really feel I am going to be homeless next month, the landlord is in debt with the mortgage and so cannot accept any less rent from me. I also don't have anywhere else I can stay neither does my partner.

Any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated it as right now I don't know what I am going to do and I really have hit rock bottom please help.

Thanks
Lucy

JustinCredibleGillespie

Are you married? Can you not sign on as a single person? I cant see why not with only 9 hours work per week. If your 25 or over your should be entitled to tax credits also.

JCG

xx

cheekylu

Hi

No we are not married just engaged and I'm under 25 I'm 23, I cant sign on as a single person as I'd risk being prosecuted its against the law if you are living with your partner to go for a single claim, I'd have to go in for a joint claim which I cannot get because of my partner doing over 16 hours.

mildredalien

Really sorry to hear about your situation, it's becoming all too common in this climate

Have you spoken to your employer? You need to be working 30 hours a week to get working tax credit - if you or your partner were to take on all of the hours (e.g. your partner's 19 + your 9) you'd only need 2 more to be eligible for these, which might help.

Is your rent typical for the area? Any chance of downsizing/moving to a different location to reduce rent? It might help if housing benefit were to cover more of it!

How much of the £1700 is for debts? Have you contacted your creditors to ask for a payment break until you get your hours or another job sorted out?

Sorry if none of that helps, I'm just trying to think of possible options!

cheekylu

Hi

Thank you for your reply, the place where we work (Sports Direct) is a 0 hour contract thats the problem there is no more hours available believe me else I wouldn't be in this mess I've asked and asked and asked but they cant give me anymore! Its a poorly run place anyway and the managment treat us like dirt.

My rent is £500 a month which is quite cheap, I have only been here 2 months and I have a 6 month tenancy agreement plus I wouldnt be able to move as so many landlords wont accept tenants on a 0 hour contract at work I was very lucky to get this place!

I pay £2 a month on my debts but about £800 of this is payday loans so I really dont have a clue what to do because I have no choice but to pay them but even then I won't have the funds in my bank it will take them all before I can pay my rent :S I really am stuck am so worried!

mildredalien

Ugh 0 hour contracts are terrible, they should be illegal!

Ok re: the payday loans, you need to open a new basic bank account ASAP. Transfer all of your pay and direct debits/standing orders to go into this new account. CLOSE DOWN your old account if you can. You are right, they can and will try and take the funds out of your account even if you ask them not to so make sure that this can't happen (or at least can't stop you from paying rent). Then call them up and ask if you can organise a repayment plan - some payday loan companies actually will help with this without too much hassle (I guess they are used to people running into problems!)

unoriginal_uk

Hi

Sorry to hear you're in a bad place I was there a few years ago, unlike you it was not due to work it was because my ex left me in a lot of financial trouble, but thankfully I was able to move home for a while (and am still there!) in order to sort all my financial stuff out.

Some intial thoughts:

1. DO NOT take out any further payday loans - even if it seems like a tempting short term solution for stuff, it will get you in even more trouble

2. If you're paying out only £2 a month on your debt, a monthly outgoing of £1700 seems very high - can you post a SOA on here so that we can see your monthly outgoings and help you to cut costs where possible?

3. The situation with your (and your boyfriend's) current employer seems rubbish Since you have retail experience can you go round all the shops in your area and see if any of them have part time jobs available - even just a few hours a week at another shop might supplement your income for a few weeks whilst you sort out longer term solutions - you might even find a shop who is willing to give you a better deal re: number of hours in your contract?

Once you post your SOA it might be easier for us to see where you can cut costs.

I also know you say you don't have any family etc to help - but take a moment to think about this - do you not even have any friends who rent their own flats who you could flatshare with for a while? Is it a 1 bed place you're living in at the moment? If it's not, have you got any friends who could move in with you for a while and help out with the rent?

Hope some of that helps xxx

cheekylu

Hi

Thank you for your replies.

I don't have any friends who own their own flats and its a 1 bed small flat that me and my partner are renting.

As for my outgoings here is a rough estimate this month its mainly due to payday loans and the problem is I have had to keep borrowing as I cant afford to pay them back in the first place I know I shouldnt have borrowed but I didnt really have a choice as I couldnt afford my rent and had no one else to help that I could borrow money off.

Rent £500

Wonga £450

Quick Quid £37.50 (Deferred it for a month so £130 next month)

Loan £84

Payday Loan £240

Catalogue Debts £14

Payday UK £130

TV License £40

Another Loan £40

Council Tax £128

Gas £25

Electric £40

Food £120 rough estimate I try to spend as little as possible

Phone contracts for me and my partner £110 altogether (I took these out before Imoved out when my income was higher and I cannot cancel or lower the tariffs I have already tried.)

Thats pretty much it a rough estimate, I can't really cut costs anywhere, the main thing is and I know is to not have the pay day loans then things wouldnt be as bad but I cant catch up on paying them and being able to last the month without having to borrow again because of using all my money on paying it back.

Lucy

unoriginal_uk

cheekylu wrote: »

Hi

Thank you for your replies.

I don't have any friends who own their own flats and its a 1 bed small flat that me and my partner are renting.

As for my outgoings here is a rough estimate this month its mainly due to payday loans and the problem is I have had to keep borrowing as I cant afford to pay them back in the first place I know I shouldnt have borrowed but I didnt really have a choice as I couldnt afford my rent and had no one else to help that I could borrow money off.

Rent £500

Wonga £450

Quick Quid £37.50 (Deferred it for a month so £130 next month)

Loan £84

Payday Loan £240

Catalogue Debts £14

Payday UK £130

TV License £40

Another Loan £40

Council Tax £128

Gas £25

Electric £40

Food £120 rough estimate I try to spend as little as possible

Phone contracts for me and my partner £110 altogether (I took these out before Imoved out when my income was higher and I cannot cancel or lower the tariffs I have already tried.)

Thats pretty much it a rough estimate, I can't really cut costs anywhere, the main thing is and I know is to not have the pay day loans then things wouldnt be as bad but I cant catch up on paying them and being able to last the month without having to borrow again because of using all my money on paying it back.

Lucy

£110 is an absolutely RIDICULOUS amount to be paying for 2 mobile phone contracts each month. You say you can't lower the tariff - does this include any bolt-ons that you can remove? Are you absolutely sure you can't reduce this - even by phoning them up and basically telling them they might not even be able to take the money from you next month because there won't be enough money in your account?

I went online with my mobile provider and was easily able to lower my tariff to save me £10 per month - I am with o2 but I can't speak for other networks. When do your mobile contracts run out?

Don't get more payday loans out - you'll dig yourself an even deeper hole.

You pay £40 a month for your TV license? Surely this is not right? The annual fee for a tv license is 145 quid so you should be paying approx £12 a month?

Your loan and 'another loan' are these with banks? Sometimes you can approach the bank and ask for more on the loan - i.e. you might be able to get another 2k or however much you need and put it onto the loan, to pay your payday loans back - anything has got to be better than the ridiculous amount of interest you must be paying on these.

Hopefully some of that is helpful!

mildredalien

It sounds like you need to get into repayment plans with your payday loans rather than keep borrowing more to pay them off.

Doing some quick sums, all your current bill outgoings add up to £963/month (with the mobiles and if you do actually pay £40 for TV licence for some reason). If you only get £900 in a month you're going to have a problem even without your debts! And that's bare bones only. I'd recommend speaking to one of the free debt charities about your options, but you basically can't afford to pay what you owe at the moment so will need to take the hit to your credit rating. At least you should be able to pay the essentials and hope you can get some more hours somewhere else soon!

Please open a new bank account (you can open a basic one with just some proof of ID) and get all wages sent into there to separate them or the payday loan companies will just take that money out. Speak to your bank and make sure that they won't put you into an unauthorised overdraft if they do try. You can also try reporting your debit card stolen and asking them to put a block on it.

As for your mobiles, perhaps ask to speak to the department in charge of dealing with people who are having problems paying bills? There's often a specific department who can help, if you ring up and say you won't be able to pay.

bluebag

Hi,
I am so sorry I can't offer any advice as I don't know enough about all the benefits stuff . I can't read and run though, I so hope someone on here can offer you some good advice.

Take care/