Student, pregnant, sinking and in need of help :( *update*

ABetterLife

Hello!

I am a newbie to this, though I have lurked for some time. I'm spiralling pretty fast and need some help.

I'm 20 years old, living in a 1 bedroom council flat. My darling daughter's Father left me when I was 6 weeks pregnant, and I am now 35 weeks pregnant. I don't have much support around me, my mother and I have fallen out and I only talk to my Dad on occasion, through Whatsapp. I work one day a week for 9 hours and go to university studying nursing the rest of the time.

I receive £538 per month from NHS bursaries and £1079 in September, January and April (but I likely WON'T be getting this last payment in April as I will be on maternity leave, although I am going to request that they still pay this to me under the 60 day ruling). I earn £63 a week from working.

I was supposed to be doing a 6 week placement of 37.5 hours up until the 17th March, which I was doing on top of working 10 hours a week, but this became impossible for me to do. I tried arranging with work to work from home, but they wouldn't do it for me. So I ended up having to get signed off sick from placement so I can work. During work 'making their decision' RE me working from home, I was not scheduled to work and therefore only worked two days in that month. I have only just started back at work now. I only received £140 this month from them.

On top of this, the council flat came unfurnished (obviously) and in bad condition. I have had to buy a fridge, washing machine, general stuff for the house, bed, mattress, wardrobe, chest of drawers for the baby, baby stuff, flooring, paint and decorating supplies. This has eaten into all of my savings, student loan money and is now really catching up on me. On top of this, my gas and electric bill was due AND I went over my data for my iPad, meaning my bill was £100.

I currently owe for this month:

£70 to Tmobile
£60.36 to Vodafone
£80 towards my old rent arrears from being in temp accommodation (I'll explain this in a second)
£10 debt to Lloyds
£208 to British Gas (so far, I'm billed quarterly and my next bill is not until 28th April).

I also currently owe rent, but LUCKILY the Access To Learning fund at my uni will be giving me £500 to pay it, which I am so extremely grateful for. Just waiting for it to get put into my account so I can pay the rent.

My usual outgoings:

TV license - £29.10 p/m
Rent - £103.70 p/w
Phone bill - £57 p/m
Ipad bill - £26 p/m
Travelcard - £98.70 p/m
Debt repayment plan (Lloyd) - £10 p/m
Arrears from temporary accommodation - £40 p/m
Gas/Electric - quarterly billing but roughly £104 p/m for both.
Food bill - I'm really not sure but I would estimate roughly £100.

Total = £879.6 p/m (based on a 4 week month).

Income - £790?!

I will be going on maternity leave from the 27th of this month. NHS bursaries (thankfully!) continue to pay my bursary for a year, however, I will not be entitled to SMP from my work. I have worked there continuously for over a year, and was earning between £168-£245 whilst there (part time while studying for my access course, then full time until I started university in September). However, since September I started part time hence not being entitled any more. I think I can apply for maternity allowance, however, this isn't going to be very much, is it? Like 90% of my earnings.

RE the old rent arrears. I was made homeless in the beginning of my pregnancy by my Mother. The council put me into temporary accommodation for roughly a month and a half while they decided whether to house me permanently or not. This cost £30 PER NIGHT! I am not entitled to housing benefit. They knew this but just shrugged their shoulders and said there was nowhere else to put me.

So, of course, after being there for a month and a half, arrears were accrued. I'm not sure exactly how much but I'm guessing £1, 170. I paid £300 while there, and set up a payment plan for £40 p/m when in my permanent. I think I've paid twice, so roughly have about £823.60 left to clear.

I also have a credit card with Vanquis with a credit limit of £150. I pay the balance in full each month. I was recently offered a credit increase to £550 but rejected it. I have just finished paying off a cooperative overdraft and have a student additions account with Barcleys with a £200 overdraft.

I hope that's enough information. Just ask if you need more info and thank you in advance x

---

**Update**
HUGE thank you for the help, support, ideas, practical advice and motivation!

What I have acheived so far:

- reduced my monthly payments to my old rent account by £30 a month to £10 per month.

- Just bought £56.89 worth of shopping, but listen to the savings! First of all, I swiped my nectar card then cancelled the transaction, which meant my coupon still got printed. It was a double nectar points one. Then I scanned all my shopping through, used that coupon and another coupon for £3 off. I also collected 6 bag reuse points. After completing the transaction, I received two more coupons - a £4.50 off £30 spend and £3.04 off my next shop. I then took my shopping to the customer services desk and refunded some items to use the £3.04 off voucher, meaning I got £3 back I then swapped the £4.50 off coupon for a gift card. Finally, I received:

200 bonus points from the 3 for £10 Fairy offer

and 100 bonus points from buying Lenor fabric conditioner.

I also have a receipt with 6 nectar points to redeem!

So that's 412 nectar points from one £50 something shop, plus 6 points to redeem, plus I got £3 cash back and £4.50 on a gift card (which I intend to swap for cash). I put the £3 cash and the rest of the change in my purse in my change jar.

- started using Adpoints properly and, so far, earned 31 points with lots more to earn. I'll be up all night doing that for sure!

- Earned £15 with TopCashBack with other windows open to do some more also (another all night activity)

- Through TCB, joined CreditExpert (sent a cancellation req straight after) and Equifax for the free trial and checked my credit report. Happy to see it's not as bad as I thought. It reminded me to sign the electoral register, so I filled out the form and emailed it to myself ready to print, complete and send off. It reminded me of the bank accounts I want to query and one I have open but have never used so that's on my to do list to sort. Also reassured me that the only negative thing on there was the default from Lloyds.

- Entered into prize draws/done surveys etc.

- Started switching off appliances that aren't needed when not in use

- Added the Nectar toolbar and earning points on purchases now! (ended up deleting it as it was annoying lol). Also bought a money jar for my small change (currently £27.50 saved which will go into a cash ISA or my reg. savings account when it reaches £50) and a nursing bra for my hospital bag and earned bonus points on these

- Joined MSE cheap energy club! Applied to switch to Npower and got £30 cashback to boot! (cancelled this as new bill not printed yet and don't want to have to deal with two bills)

- Downloaded apps such as Roamler and made £28!

- Sold stuff on eBay and made about £40 profit

**continually making progress

Thank you again! I should have done this sooner!

missindecisive

Goodness me you are in a pickle...can you visit your citizens advice bureau soon.? Someone will be along soon on this forum who can point you in the right direction better than me. Hang on in there you will get through this...hugs xx

ABetterLife

missindecisive wrote: »

Goodness me you are in a pickle...can you visit your citizens advice bureau soon.? Someone will be along soon on this forum who can point you in the right direction better than me. Hang on in there you will get through this...hugs xx

Thank you :heart2:

I think I should do, I just don't know where to start! Should I bring documents? If so, which ones?!

I am really stressed out about it but trying to not be because I haven't been able to enjoy my pregnancy with all the stress I've been going through. Now that I'm almost at the end of it, I just want to stop stressing and not have it tarred with 'okay, this bill is due, and this one, and this one!'.

Just don't want to ruin my credit score either. It was already kind of bad but I'd been doing really well, built it back up with Vanquis and even started to have savings. Now they're all gone and I'm scared! I don't want to be trapped in an endless cycle of debt forever x

matttye

Are the phone and iPad bills in contract?

Do you need the iPad for Uni?

They seem like the immediate cutbacks you can make.

Also think you should pay Lloyds a token payment of £1 per month until you get yourself sorted. They're not a priority.

ABetterLife

matttye wrote: »

Are the phone and iPad bills in contract?

Do you need the iPad for Uni?

They seem like the immediate cutbacks you can make.

Also think you should pay Lloyds a token payment of £1 per month until you get yourself sorted. They're not a priority.

Yep, both contract and a lot of time left on them unfortunately.

I don't need the iPad for uni as such, though it is useful in lectures to look at the slides. I'd probably use it more when I go back.

That's a very good idea, a bit nervous though because the lady was quite rude when I spoke to them last, saying stuff like "what, you can't even afford £10 a month". I guess they can't refuse though.

matttye

ABetterLife wrote: »

Yep, both contract and a lot of time left on them unfortunately.

I don't need the iPad for uni as such, though it is useful in lectures to look at the slides. I'd probably use it more when I go back.

That's a very good idea, a bit nervous though because the lady was quite rude when I spoke to them last, saying stuff like "what, you can't even afford £10 a month". I guess they can't refuse though.

Likewise though you might have to pay the phone and iPad £1 a month.

Your priority bills must come first, so thats rent, council tax, utility bills, then the others can have an equal share of what's left.

I'd suggest getting a PAYG SIM card, there's no way you can afford £57 a month at the minute.

You're earning less than you're paying out and your income is about to drop further, increasing the deficit. At this point it seems certain your credit rating will take a hit but that's something you can fix in the coming years, the main thing you need to worry about is sorting out your finances before the baby gets here.

ABetterLife

matttye wrote: »

Likewise though you might have to pay the phone and iPad £1 a month.

Your priority bills must come first, so thats rent, council tax, utility bills, then the others can have an equal share of what's left.

I'd suggest getting a PAYG SIM card, there's no way you can afford £57 a month at the minute.

You're earning less than you're paying out and your income is about to drop further, increasing the deficit. At this point it seems certain your credit rating will take a hit but that's something you can fix in the coming years, the main thing you need to worry about is sorting out your finances before the baby gets here.

Hmm, definitely something I need to think about. How would I go about paying my phone and iPad at £1 a month?

I'm definitely taking on board what you're saying, but very cautious about my credit rating being damaged. That stuff can take years to fix (and I have been fixing it for the past few years so don't want to undo my hard work). I think I will have to see how it goes. Thankfully council tax isn't an issue as I get an exemption. A big issue is the gas and electric though. I included that in my figures, which is why it looks like my income is less than my outgoing but without the bill it's £100 or so left over. Obviously though, it becomes a problem when that bill comes in every 3 months!

I hope I don't sound difficult. I know it's hard to put yourself across properly online. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

innovate

Hop over to the debt free wannabe board, there are folks who have been, or are, where you are and there is a tremendous community spirit with lots of great ideas. You might have to re-post what you posted here.

Take good care of yourself and your littl'un.

ABetterLife

innovate wrote: »

Hop over to the debt free wannabe board, there are folks who have been, or are, where you are and there is a tremendous community spirit with lots of great ideas. You might have to re-post what you posted here.

Take good care of yourself and your littl'un.

Thank you I've put a post on there!

mgdavid

ABetterLife wrote: »

..........

TV license - £29.10 p/m ...........

something wrong here - TV licence is £12.12 per month

Another obvious question, what about the baby's father? Does he not have some responsibility to help financially?

ABetterLife

mgdavid wrote: »

something wrong here - TV licence is £12.12 per month

"You'll usually pay for your first licence within six months, in instalments of around £24 per month. (If we have to spread the cost into four or five monthly instalments, each payment may be slightly higher). From then on, you pay for your licences in 12 monthly instalments of just over £12 - six before your licence is due and six after." Definitely right hun.