Where do I start?

Aerenthal

To cut a long story as short as possible, about a year ago, I had a nervous breakdown, fled my house to hide at my girlfriend's, left my (minimum wage) job, was signed off as unfit to work by my GP, and totally abandoned all of my accounts and financial dealings. I've been having my benefits paid into my girlfriend's bank account. Now, I'm basically better, starting to look for jobs and picking up the pieces. I had around £3500 in credit card debt, spread across 5 cards, an almost repaid bank loan with about £400 left to pay, and a pay day loan for around £60-£70. That was all what it was a year ago, and as I no longer live at my former address, have had my phone contract terminated, I deleted my email, and no longer work at my old job, my creditors have had no way to contact me. I know ignoring these things is aggressively stupid, but I really couldn't cope with it. So my question is, how best to clear up this terrible mess? I am still currently signed off, but will be transferred onto JSA next month, and I will start working again as soon as I find a job.

Thanks in advance, Aerenthal.

FireWyrm

I guess the first thing to do is getting your credit files from the likes of Noddle and Experian (the £2 statutory one) which will at least give you a rundown of where you are right now. Once you have that, you can start to contact the creditors for information regarding what you owe and how much. When you write to them, you need to include information about what has happened and preferably so sort of doctor note explaining it. This will help creditors to understand that you hit a wall rather than just dodged them. When and if you decide to email, use a disposable email address for now and preferably a disposable mobile phone sim. That will stop them needlessly harassing you until you get control of it all.

Sazzie23

Aerenthal wrote: »

To cut a long story as short as possible, about a year ago, I had a nervous breakdown, fled my house to hide at my girlfriend's, left my (minimum wage) job, was signed off as unfit to work by my GP, and totally abandoned all of my accounts and financial dealings. I've been having my benefits paid into my girlfriend's bank account. Now, I'm basically better, starting to look for jobs and picking up the pieces. I had around £3500 in credit card debt, spread across 5 cards, an almost repaid bank loan with about £400 left to pay, and a pay day loan for around £60-£70. That was all what it was a year ago, and as I no longer live at my former address, have had my phone contract terminated, I deleted my email, and no longer work at my old job, my creditors have had no way to contact me. I know ignoring these things is aggressively stupid, but I really couldn't cope with it. So my question is, how best to clear up this terrible mess? I am still currently signed off, but will be transferred onto JSA next month, and I will start working again as soon as I find a job.

Thanks in advance, Aerenthal.

Good news you are feeling stronger and up to facing this, take it one step at a time and don't be put off if you get any negative responses. Tends to depend on the creditor, some are much more sympathatic than others. Maybe when you have details of actual debts and creditors, you could contact Stepchange or National debtline for help with a plan to repay?

Sending you positive thoughts for continued recovery.:)

National_Debtline

Hello there,

Welcome to the forum! In my opinion, there isn't a more supportive place online when it comes to dealing with your debts. You're in safe hands here.

If you fancy learning a little more about your options please feel free to take a look at our website, you find out about the general process used to deal with debts **HERE**

Although I'm not fully versed in your precise situation, one option that *could* be worth looking at is a 'Debt Relief Order'. You can read more about those **HERE**

Very best wishes,

David @natdebtline