I'm at a loss what to do.....

shezzy

I don't know how it happened but we are in a right mess, suppose looking back it's been building up for years, paying peter to pay paul, loan after loan to pay off the shortfall. Any how it's got so bad we have a shortfall of £1000 a month. We are not behind with any payments yet but it has caught up with us now because our cards are nearly up to the max. My husband is in a job he hates and can't leave and i suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and find it hard to get a job because of it, though i think i might have one shortly. Feeling depressed and scared....can anyone suggest anything?

Here is our soa

just to explain we have four children, and my husband works away so that is why the food and petrol is high. We owe £123,000 on our mortgage over 24 years and and it's worth £134,000.

Blackpool council £103.22
C&G 5.99 apr £812.97
Powergen £100.00
Tesco life insurance £15.00 and
£44.18
Tv licence £11.37
United utilities £26.84
Phone/internet/tele £71.78
Legal and general insurance £5.00
Food/clothing £600.00
Petrol £240.00
Pet insurance tesco £9.15
Building and contents insurance tesco £25.00
Motor Insurance tesco £23.00
Car tax £11.00
Car MOT £5.00
£2103.51

Loans/credit cards/catalogue

Loansdirect £386.69 7.4 apr? £22,500.00 4 years left
Blackhorse £264.24 16.9 apr £10,000.00 2 years left
Cahoot £96.85 11.7 apr £4000 ongoing
Ltsb card £98.00 15.9 apr £5500
Ltsb card £87.00 15.9 apr £5440
GE Money £63.28 24.0 apr £2100 16 months left
Barclaycard £45.00 14.9 apr £1800
Littlewoods catalogue £41.00 32.9 apr £750
Capital one £7.00 34.9 apr £280

£1089.06


£2103.51 + £1089.06 = £3192.57




Incomings

Wage £1559.00
Tax credits £198.00
Child maintenance £160.00
Child maintenance £80.00
Child benefit £168.00

£2155.00

Broken_hearted

Hugs stay strong we'll help work it out

moneymaker2

Hiya Shezzy,

The only real advice I can give to you after the others have given you some ideas on how to reduce your outgoings is to go to the cccs website.
I went on there last night and entered all my in-comings and outgoings and it gave me my ''debt solution''. It also tells you how you go about things and that the cccs will help you with it all for free. (unlike some companies).
Keep strong you'll find alot of support on this board and it's very hard not to get addicted to coming on here all the time.
Laura

CLAPTON

your way forward very much depends upon whether or not you get a job and if so how much you earn.

Basically, at the moment you simply can't pay your debts and while tweaking your spending might help a little there is no way you can pay. so your only immediate option is to simply stop paying the unsecured creditors, write to them explaining your situation, ask them to freeze interest and charges and pay them a nominal £1 a month to show you want to pay but simply can't.
If your income situation doesn't improve then you can simply continue along this path or consider bankruptcy. Although this would mean losing the house it would allow you to make a clean start again.


If however, you can realisitically start earning then you have more options.. but it all depend upons how much you can earn... either sufficient to actually make the payments and start to snowball the debts, or consider a debt managment plan (DMP) or IVA ... but all depends upon your earnings here.

shezzy

Thankyou for your replies, i know i need to get a job i just hope that when i get one i can keep it, otherwise i will feel it's all my fault. Just need a miracle to happen now....

pania

Hiya shezzy hon, really feel for the situation that you are in. Yes it is a very sticky very nasty situation at the moment. Is it the situation that is causing the anxiety and panic attacks? and whats more have you spoken to your doctor about these? there are ways to combat it that may help you. If you don't feel confident with working, would doing a job working from home be any easier for you? I'm sure there's a website with jobs from home, i'll see if i can find that link for you.

Although i appreciate you can't afford to pay for classes right now try to pick up a book on yoga from a charity shop or website, you may find the breathing excercises assist you in controlling your attacks.

as you have 4 children do you have any of their baby bits that you can sell on ebay to raise some cash? Or any dvd's they haven't watched in ages, although this isn't going to help any with your debt it may help you get some money as an emergency fund incase anything happens with damn car or bloomin boiler, you know the stuff. May give you a little extra peace of mind.

Also have a look on the maximising income thread atop this board, has mystery shopping sites, this may be something you'd enjoy doing and some specifically say with children etc.

I think you need to contact both your creditors and cccs immediately, like today! an IVA or dmp may well be the best thing for you, but for now look at some of the letters on here and send them off to your creditors explining the situation. Yes you'll get pushy phonecalls for a while, yes you'll get defaults, but knowing your debt payments each month have been lowered will ease the financial and physical strain no end.

How long is the rate on your mortgage fixed for? I just don't want you to go through all this, hit the end of your rate and either have to pay the variable amount or remortgage to a sub-prime (adverse credit) product that has a higher interest rate and thus undoes all your hard work! if the rate ends in 3-6 months it my well be worth looking at. Also if you are unemployed mainly for health reasons have you claimed income support (mortgage interest) payments? It may well be worth checking with your benefits agency to see if you're eligiblle for this, i also don't see anything on your incoming such as jobseekers allowance, income support etc. Have you checked these possibilities out?

Sorry, just sitting in bed an typing whatever possibilities pop into my mind, but most of all look after yourself and your family. the 5 of you are the most valuable possession you own, keep yourselves safe and everything else will come right.
Love and hugs.
p
xx

shezzy

Thankyou pania, it's nice to know someone cares, i can't talk to my husband as he gets so depressed when i approach the subject that i try and find support and advice here to keep me going. I keep looking at the figures and hoping something will come to me. What a mess, i wish i could see an end to this. Anyhow thankyou again for caring.

shezzy

brummiebabe

shezzy wrote: »

Here is our soa

Blackpool council £103.22
C&G 5.99 apr £812.97
Powergen £100.00 - is this for gas & electric? Have you shopped around?
Tesco life insurance £15.00 and
£44.18 - seems v. expensive, any chance of cutting this back/shopping around?
Tv licence £11.37
United utilities £26.84 - is this for your water?
Phone/internet/tele £71.78 - could you cut this back....seems like a lot!!!!!
Legal and general insurance £5.00 - what does this cover? (If you don't mind me asking)
Food/clothing £600.00 - you could cut this back...have you tried the Old Style Board for ideas?
Petrol £240.00
Pet insurance tesco £9.15 - is this something you could cancel? I know it's often more cost effective to have it though;)
Building and contents insurance tesco £25.00
Motor Insurance tesco £23.00
Car tax £11.00
Car MOT £5.00
£2103.51

Loans/credit cards/catalogue

Loansdirect £386.69 7.4 apr? £22,500.00 4 years left
Blackhorse £264.24 16.9 apr £10,000.00 2 years left
Cahoot £96.85 11.7 apr £4000 ongoing
Ltsb card £98.00 15.9 apr £5500
Ltsb card £87.00 15.9 apr £5440
GE Money £63.28 24.0 apr £2100 16 months left
Barclaycard £45.00 14.9 apr £1800
Littlewoods catalogue £41.00 32.9 apr £750
Capital one £7.00 34.9 apr £280

£1089.06


£2103.51 + £1089.06 = £3192.57




Incomings

Wage £1559.00
Tax credits £198.00
Child maintenance £160.00
Child maintenance £80.00
Child benefit £168.00

£2155.00

Just wanted to say well done for posting...as others have said, making small changes to your soa is not going to give you the £1000 per month you're short. However, every little bit helps:D - don't know whether anything I've suggested may be helpful?

I'm sure the more experienced (of which there are MANY) on this board will give you great advice!!!! Best of luck:grouphug:

pania

Always Shezzy, and you'll find a listening ear here any hour of the day or night. Often go to bed late and don't sleep to well so anytime you need to chat just PM me. Can't talk to OH myself but for completely opposite reason, he just don't care!!
Take care of yourself hon and anything you need just holler.
xx

chevalier

shezzy if you want to look at benefits the link is
https://www.entitledto.co.uk
You can plug in your earnings and see what you can get. I certainly think that you would be entitled to JSA. It is not much, but can be a gate way benefit to get other things for less.
best of luck
chev