Where to start....?

Ozzy1968

Hello, this is my first post on this great site. So much info. Okay deep breath and I will try to keep shortish. I just need to get something down here as a starting point.

It all started back around 7 years ago with a failed business venture. Left it to long and should have got out earlier. My wife then got made redundant a few years later and then a couple of years ago was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. So it's been a rough few years and we have accumulated some big debts and its all coming to a head.

First the bad bits, we have a mortgage of £2300,000 with Nram. Way to high, took a self cert when self employed. We are on a debt plan with SC, top of my head around £50k. I'm employed in sales so have good months, bad months and my wife is in remission and currently looking for work but they have just stopped her job seekers which is nightmare. So not a great picture.

The good bits, got 3 great kids, my wife is well. You go through something like cancer and it gives you a don't give a crap about anything attitude but we want to start living again but we are financial situation is killing us and its getting worse. Not looking for sympathy, most is bad money management but some is some bad luck. We have equity in the house, we hope between £20-£40k.

Our plan is to start again. We are currently having the house valued and we are going to sell up, pay off what we can with hopefully what we make, rent for a period, and my wonderful parents have offered to give us a deposit to buy a house again when we can. So I'm only 44, things I'm hoping can improve for us all. Buy something at an affordable price and have a sensible mortgage, one we can afford. I'm looking for a better paid job and my wife will eventually find something so we are staying positive. What ever we can't clear with the house sale, we will set out a plan to pay off while we are renting

So that's a very brief overview of our very muddled situation. For starters, I have a few questions?

Has anyone else gone down this route and would be good to hear your experiences. Tough decision leaving your family home but no choice.

The mortgage will get paid but I'm concerned we won't have enough to pay off the rest of the debts. How much, in anyone's experience, do they accept to clear, I've read 40p in the pound?

How long if we manage to clear our debts does it take to clean up my credit history? Surprisingly, I have recently taken a mobile phone contract no problem? Is that a good sign?

So to summarise, short term pain, long term gain. Me and my wife are feeling positive for the future and are looking forward a much brighter future. Hope all the above has made some sense, hard to put it all in to words. Any thoughts, question views welcome and here to the first of many posts I'm sure.

Thank you