worried sick

gandalff

Hi Everyone
I have a gold credit card with vanquis bank.
I have had it for about a year and never missed a payment.
Now my daughtr has decided to move in with her boyfriend and now my income is down by £400.00p per month I can no longer meet the minimum payments on my card.
I have a mental disability (severe treatment resistant depression, OCD and GAD) I only get ESA plus DLA lower rate to live on
I took out a payment protection plan when I got the card, it is not a PPI but a plan where if you run into difficulties they will freeze your account for upto 2 years and continue to report to the credit reference agencies that your account is in good standing. Thing is she is talking about getting married so I can't see her coming back home. (maybe some of you may think £400 a month is rather high for housekeeping, but she is a top mananager at a well known energy supplier and her take home pay is £1900.00p net per month) and it was her who set the price for housekeeping.
I have been very silly although I didn't think about it at the time, I have been making cash withdrawls on the credit card so I could pay them the minimum monthly charge for the past 3 months, but now I realize this is stupid as all I am doing is getting further into debt with the card.
I only owe £1490.00p but I was reading on thier website about if you do not pay and it said they could apply to make you bankrupt and reposses your home to pay of the debt. I don't own my home so I don't know what will happen there.
I haven't informed them yet of my problems so therefore have not started with the protection plan as I do not understand it.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated
Thank you for listening
Gandalff

Mr_K

Tear the card up - contact them, explain and tell them how much you can pay. £1490 isn't much, so you shouldn't worry that much ie. you'll still have a roof over your head

Does your daughter know ? She sounds as though she's in a well a paid job - maybe you could borrow from her - just explain the situation and maybe she'll volunteer without you asking.

marathonic

Mr_K wrote: »

Does your daughter know ? She sounds as though she's in a well a paid job - maybe you could borrow from her - just explain the situation and maybe she'll volunteer without you asking.

Agreed. As someone on a similar salary, I'd have no problem stumping up 3-weeks earnings for something that was causing my parents such worry.

My main worry after this would be that they fall into their old habits again so you do need to address the underlying issue of overspending too - especially with the recent drop in income.

BugsyBrowne

I've always said that people's health is a lot more important then worrying about money.

I understand that can't being able to afford your debts his hard but honestly living a healthy life is way more important then worrying about where's the money coming to pay the next debt.

If you can't afford it you can't afford it....simples

mum2one

I would ask your daughter if she could help, I know it might not be easy but its better if she can help and you can arrange to pay her back.

Plan B- Contact Vanquis, say your in financial difficulties and that you need to take a break of full payments and after household bills (priority - inc rent, gas, elec, water, council tax etc), food etc - then work out what you can afford.

Most companies will allow a 6 month break of full payments, - as long as you make some contribution to the debts,

Plan C - If (big if - if the card company say we can't accept x amount it has to be full payment, tell them your in financial difficulty and your seeking debt advice (debt advice is the magic word here) as that means that have to accept that you are in difficulties, I am with Stepchange on a debt management plan, and I really don't know where I would be without them,

They have a thread on here - def worth looking at that xx

DocProc

You need to discuss things with your daughter and explain what has happened since you lost the £400 per month income from her and you need to discuss things with the credit card company - and probably best done in that order. :search:

By the way your home doesn't belong to you, it belongs to your landlord. Therefore, the CC company can't touch it.

Congratulations on putting your post up here asking for a bit of advice. It's a very good 'first stage' when you recognise you need to make some sort of a change in your life to try to correct things and make them better. It also tells me you can face up to things and will undoubtedly come up with a solution of sorts.

[Deleted User]

gandalff wrote: »

maybe some of you may think £400 a month is rather high for housekeeping

If it's "all in", ie. household bills, telephone, internet, food, etc., then I don't think £100pw is excessive.

BTW. What's the minimum payment percentage, on the card?

Tixy

Hi gandalff and welcome to the forum

You might find it useful to post in the debt free wannabe section of the forum. People there may be able to suggest ways you can reduce your outgoings to help repay this debt.

For example have you checked how your benefits may chance - e.g. are you eligible for council tax benefit now that you live alone? Have you previously been getting housing benefit? if not can you now?

If you are paying council tax then have you made sure you have claimed the 25% discount for single occupancy?

If you pay for your gas & elec by DD have you informed the companies that you are now living alone and likely to be using less? same with water if you are on a meter.

As said though - if you cannot afford minimum payments then need to write to the company and explain that are on benefits and can only afford a token payment at present.

There is a near zero chance that they would apply to make you bankrupt for a debt of this size particularly when you are not a homeowner. What will likely happen is that they will stop you spending on the card and at some point may sell it to debt collectors. There is a chance they may take court action against you to try to obtain a CCJ, but even that is unlikely providing you keep them informed and pay at least a token payment each month.