On the brink, but still fighting

uberfrugal

Hi all,

I have heard many good things about this forum.

Here is my story in brief: I am 29 years old and have worked since I was 16. I even worked full-time while studying at uni to avoid getting a student loan and ending up in debt and still managed to come out with a decent degree.
After uni I continued working and have worked regularly since then.

here comes the "until" bit...

Last year the firm went under and I was made redundant. I immediately started looking for another job. At the time I had £6k in personal savings so began to live off of them. As the months went by I started to worry a bit, nothing was coming up so I began applying for ANY job. Two months ago my savings went under the £1k mark for the first time in years and I started to freak out. I have a mortgage to pay, although relatively cheap (£400) I still don't want to lose my house.
Last month my savings vanished completely and with no family or friends who could help out I was forced to live in my overdraft.
I managed to find a catering job for one weekend only so that briefly refilled my bank.
I was advised to take out a credit card(s) (I foolishly hadn't signed on for the first six months of being unemployed) although my credit rating must now be terrible since the first thing I did when I realised I had to live from savings was to cancel all of the unnecessary direct debits:
phoneline = gone
sky = gone
internet dongle = gone
gym membership = gone
etc etc etc
I now realise that this will have given me bad credit as I'm now refused for any loan/credit card I apply for - despite being a homeowner and paying into these contracts (plus many more) for the best part of the last 6 years.

I had to take out a wonga loan of £615 to make my latest mortgage payment and before that a pounds2pocket loan of £415 with a combined repayment figure of around £1500.

I'm now "on the brink" because I owe wonga £560 due on the 7th october and only have £200 to my name. Next month I will not be able to pay my mortgage for the very first time.

Is there anything I can do? I'm really stuck for ideas. I have also been selling most of my stuff on eBay for the last 4 months.

I have job interviews with regularity but I'd take anything at the moment - I even removed my degree from my CV to help when applying for non-skilled jobs.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Tixy

Have you signed on as unemployed now?
Are you now receiving all the benefits you are entitled to?

In terms of the payday loans - these are obviously low priority and so the first thing to do is to cancel the repayments to these. You need to cancel the continuous payment authority to pay them with your bank - some details here - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4713607 and http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/en...1_payday_loans

After that you will need to arrange some sort of repayment plan with them, realistically whilst you are not working this is just going to be a token payment a month (e.g £1).

Have you spoken to your mortgage company at all about the situation?

uberfrugal

Yes I am signed on unemployed now. If I didn't have the payday loans I'd be losing around £100 per month in outgoings vs incoming (just for the mortgage), food and electric would take it to around £175 and the only direct debit I have left is my contract phone, I downgraded to get the cheapest deal on the most outdated phone at £10 per month - which I need to be contactable for jobs.
Give or take I losing £200 more per month than I'm getting.

I've spoken to my mortgage company (Halifax) and they expressed what I can only describe as "shh happens" indifference, although that might just be the opinion of the people I spoke with and not Halifax as a building society.

buzzyzoe

Have you made any overpayments on your mortgage at any point? If so, they may allow you to take a payment holiday or claim the overpayments back.

Have you sold everything you can on ebay? Might help at least get the payday loans down a bit and keep you going for a bit longer.

Other than that, just keep applying for any jobs you can, as you have been doing. That will obviously be the only way to fix this long term.

beanielou

Keep fighting!

determined_new_ms

Are you able to get a lodger in? I'm assuming you've signed up with every agency? Have you called round all your local takeaways to see if you can get a delivery evening job?

Really sorry, this must be so stressful

Tixy

Talk to the mortgage company again. Ask if there is any possibility either of a payment holiday, or of a capital repayment holiday - so you are just paying interest.

In terms of the payday loans (and following the post you put on another thread) you can cancel the CPA for any payday loan, you need to contact the bank to do so, not the pdl company.

Are you certain you are claiming all the benefits you are able to - e.g. have you looked into a SMI claim?

blackbelle_2

Hi OP, really sorry to hear of your situation, hold in there.

You say that the firm went under, which you had been working for a number of years.

Were they not able to pay you statutory redundancy pay and statutory notice pay before you left?

Even if they had no financial assets with which to pay employees, in such a situation it may be possible to apply to the government's national insurance fund for these payments.

uberfrugal

Thanks for all the responses.

I looked into what I'm entitled to and I believe I'm achieving the maximum amount of help someone in my situation can.

RE the mortgage, I've never overpaid - I put any extra money into my now emptied savings account.

I will keep this thread updated with my progress in the hope to help somebody who finds themselves in a similar situation.
I will phone the bank first thing Monday to cancel that CPA. Question, though. What will happen when wonga try to take the money? They will come after me?!

uberfrugal

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Are you able to get a lodger in? I'm assuming you've signed up with every agency? Have you called round all your local takeaways to see if you can get a delivery evening job?

Really sorry, this must be so stressful

It can be stressful but I don't dwell on it. Sometimes thinking about how dependent I am on money is just as depressing.
Whenever it gets me down I think about this: I came into this world with nothing and I will leave it with nothing. Life is full of acquisition and loss.

I have lived homeless in the past and I'm not really materialistic. I don't care so much about going from the relative security/luxury of £6k to -£1k in just over 18 months as much as the shame surrounding it. I pride myself in being frugal and yet this happens to me.

Tixy

Have you looked in to SMI? https://www.gov.uk/support-for-mortgage-interest/overview