Finally Facing Up to the Spiral

VisionThing

I am not sure quite where to start, but since I am here to face up to things I need to be truly honest with myself and admit that the crux of my issues actually stem from my pre-debt days.

My husband had an accident in 2002 - he gave up trying to get any better some time around 2006. Not really his fault, we were still fighting for compensation until they finally conceded in 2009 and offered us enough money to buy a house and a decent car. (It was a pretty major accident at work, his employers were prosecuted for millions by the HSE within weeks, but spent years quibbling over how badly he was damaged - all that time focusing only on what you can't do has an unpleasant effect on the mind)
He has been pretty much bed-ridden since around 2010... which according to ATOS is no reason he can't work, but that's a whole other issue which fortunately only took 12 months to sort out!

He did have plans to start up a little workshop-type business fixing small tools etc so when the money came in, rather than investing as I had wanted he blew out the final £20k of the settlement on tools which I finally sold last year for somewhere around 2.5k.

We weren't really struggling at that time, though, and we thought he may get better.
He was on DLA, Incapacity and IIB and I was working, firstly part time, then taking a promotion and going fulltime.

The thing is, we were on benefits. Some were means tested, some not - and when my work hours increased I set to reporting the change to the DWP. The thing with them, though, is that you don't just report to one person and they tell everyone - you have to do each department separately. And some didn't care, because his money was his money - and I am sure to this day that I had told all 9 agencies... but apparently I had missed out the Housing Benefit and Carer's Allowance. The trouble with the benefits agencies is that whilst in every other criminal case the accuser has to prove your guilt, they are considered in the right and the accused has to prove innocence. And all I had was a compliment slip thanking me for my payslips and promising to be in touch if more information was needed - which I am sure was from Carer's allowance, but which they said could be from any government department.
It didn't help matters that I had given my notice to quit work (14yr old daughter leaping out of first floor windows in the middle of the night took priority over working ridiculously long shifts) whilst they were investigating.
So they contacted my employer for information about my hours and 2 days later I had left. They took that as evidence of guilt without even considering the fact I had worked a month's notice so had no idea when I decided my leaving date that there was an investigation - in fact I didn't even get the implication until reading the transcription of my interview and seeing the questions they had actually asked me. (I was completely unprepared for my interview - we had been snowed in, had no mail for 10 days. The first day the mail resumed was the day of the interview and there was still no way of driving off my estate so I had to leave imediately I read it to barely arrive on time!)
But anyway, the long and short of it now is: a. a criminal record and b. a debt of almost £6k.

But the knock-on is worse. I am scared of getting into more trouble. As a first offence and in light of my home circumstances I received a work order. I still volunteer now at the place I served my hours and thoroughly enjoy the work I do, but I am terrified of getting into a similar situation again so don't claim all the benefits to which I am entitled. Thus, I struggle to make ends meet, skip bills etc and still have the benefits debt hanging over me.

There was a company contacting me over it and when I gave details of my income and expenditure, they said it would be refered back to the DWP so they could make their own arrangements. That was over a year ago, but last week I had a letter from a company (not sure if it's the same one) saying that as I had ignored repeated attempts to contact me (I assume they are the company texting my landline, but as the seem to text abbreviations and codes, the text to voice system doesn't process them and I just get garbled nonsense) they were sending someone around.

Anyway, sidetracking on details - in essence, I am stuck at the moment.

I don't want to claim more benefits, because I don't want to risk more troubles.
I am applying for jobs, but not the ones I really want because there is always that "unspent convictions" question - this is due to become spent the beginning of 2016.
I never answer the phone or door during the day in case it's another debt catching up with me.
I've not paid my water bill for 2yrs, because I just can't afford it.
My energy company put me on a prepayment meter and I was promised they would take £5 a month of my debt, but they are actually taking £5 a week.

The thing is, I am not now at rock bottom - I hid away when I was. Things are actually picking up for us. The thing is, now that they are, I have to face up to the reality or we'll soon be back down again.

In real terms, our money goes further nowadays. My oldest daughter left home, and whilst I am still shooting her money every now and then to help her with bills, whilst she was here it was costing me £50 a week just to get her to college as well as fully supporting her.
Also before my middle daughter turned 18 I couldn't get any help for her. She wasn't at college so I couldn't claim child benefit and she couldn't claim jobseekers so wasn't too bothered about finding work. As soon as she turned 18 and started claiming she has worked really hard - had a job for a while, but was stitched up a bit, lost that just before Christmas but walked into another a few days later. She is barely earning as much as she would be on JSA now, but is promised more hours at some point. So she is paying a meagre contribution to the household and will often just pick up some shopping we need without too much concern for being reimbursed. She also buys her own lunch, so my food money doesn't have to go so far.

So in real terms, we do have more money now than this time last year, but if feels like less, because clearing some of my debts is wiping out the extra.

Oh and I had some good news today - my council tax had been passed to a collection company. The lady came around and explained she couldn't accept the payments I could afford because the debt had to be cleared by March. I submitted my monthly income/expenditure as she advised, with my offer of £200. I thought she had told me to just keep paying my £200, so that's what I did. A letter arrived in November rejecting my offer of £200 and demanding £400 a month instead - I could not afford it, so kept paying the £200, which is what I thought the woman had meant I should do.
At the weekend (because such letters always arrive on a Saturday!) I was told they were going to come and take the items she had listed on my agreement because I had defaulted. I emailed to query the default - thinking that paying my £200 was all I was supposed to have done. They replied at 8am today to tell me that I should have paid the £400 instead, but as I had strictly paid the £200 on the same date of each month they have revised the agreement and I can continue to pay at that rate. I guess they worked out that doing that will give them all their money, whereas taking my stuff and auctioning it would have made them half if they were lucky!


Anyhoo - I am waffling, but at least laying out the whys and wherefores is helping get my mind straight.

Scottishmummy

Gosh, things sound like they were horrendous for a while. I would consider getting in touch with the CAB and getting help through them with making sure you get all the benefits you are entitled to. There is no point going without if the help is there. Good luck with it all.

VisionThing

Thank you. I think I have a handle on what I am entitled to, but I think a trip to the CAB couldn't hurt. It's difficult to get an appointment here from what I have heard, but I will give them a ring in the morning.

I am in the process of gathering everything together in order to figure my full liability. Until I have the data all laid out in front of me I have no way to work out how to claw myself free.

At present, I think there is just the benefits debt, water, council tax, gas/electric and a credit card of my mum's (she is making the regular payments, I am paying her as and when I can). All told, that is more than £10k.


I did go to the bank before Christmas for help. I pay a lot in charges for slipping over my overdraft limit - on our 2 current accounts, it's around £200 some months by the time you account for refused DDs etc. I figured I could mortgage a part of our house (we own it outright so have no mortgage at present) which would let us clear the debts and still pay the same to the bank each month as a repayment rather than charges.
Because my income is entirely from benefits they would not even consider it - which is a rule I can see the point of, but they don't take into account individual circumstances or the ability to pay. Clearly I could pay it back as they manage to take their fees each month!

But anyway, back to the paperwork!

kiss_me_now9

Hello, I work for the NHS so all our jobs carry the 'DBS/CRB check' tick.

Whilst yes, you will be DBS checked for most of our positions, you will not be for all (depending on the trust) and IF you were to be, if you were honest at interview and throughout your pre-employment process a conviction relating to benefits would not necessarily bar you from the job.

It does depend entirely on the Trust and the nature of the conviction but by and large, if you were going for an administrative job, without patient contact, and no access to funds, you'd probably find you're ok.

VisionThing

Thank you, I would have to declare it before any DBS checks anyway, because the paperwork I had just listed it as fraud - I do clerical work so a fraud entry would be quite damning without the chance to explain it beforehand. Once the crime is considered "spent" (the early part of 2016) I don't legally need to declare it though in a non-DBS role so it will be easier to apply for jobs then.

I may have found something to tie me over though - just waiting on paperwork to be sorted and I will see how that pans out.

VisionThing

The numbers are in:

Debt1: 1,569
Debt2: 5,083
Debt3: 2,193
Debt4: 6,293

Total: 15,138

Those are listed in order of priority.

I have made an appointment for the CAB for the week after next so I'll see what they have to say about the benefits situation... I know I have no chance of clearing the debts without claiming more, it's just that the risk of screwing up the smallest thing on the paperwork that worries me.

That said, I have been accepted as a sales agent with AskPrint (seems it's a new venture for an established company so earning potential is a bit of an unknown, but there is no financial risk to me so I don't have anything to lose from giving it a go). I have had the contract checked over and sent that back so I am awaiting them setting up my webshop and sending the paperwork I need.They say it will take 2-4wks to get me started, so hopefully by the time I go to the CAB I will know more about how that operates to see how it will blend with the other stuff.

Maybe I won't need to claim the extra benefits after all - in an ideal world I would like to be financially self-sufficient by the end of this year. I doubt I will be debt-free, but at the very least I want to be earning enough money to be making regular repayments on them all and no longer claiming carer's allowance.

VisionThing

Following the wisdom I have collected from the forums, I have now obtained my information from Noddle, Equifax and Experian.

I know the "score" itself is irrelevant, but both Noddle and Equifax put me at Very Poor, whilst Experian says I am "Fairly Good".

I was surprised to find a £450 CCJ on the Noddle report, but it doesn't show on the others and as it will drop off next year anyway I have decided to let it ride unless the company get in touch with me for payment - I have no idea what it is for and it doesn't match any of my current debts, so I don't know who to contact anyway.

It seems the only bad thing is that there are 3 old debts which have been bought by a DCA (Lowells) - they do send me letters every so often demanding money on behalf of 3, but I have had the same 2 3 accounts for years and haven't defaulted on them - they would have cut my services if I had.
All I can think is that it may relate to accounts I had years ago for my girls - they were some sort of "kidsafe" accounts, a really cheap phone for £5 a month. The phones packed up after a couple of months though so I cancelled the accounts - knowing more about how such things work now, it may be that those had a minimum time on them and the remainder has been sold on. The defaults show as being 2011 though - the timing doesn't match up for that, unless it's the date the accounts should have completed... don't know really, and I certainly have no idea why there is a third - but my dilemma is that my only negatives on Equifax are those three accounts, Experian notes those and the fact I too few credit accounts and Noddle, the Lowells debts and the CCJ. So do I suck it up and pay off the three debts (totaling around £200) in the name of clearing them off my record?

I did the check of credit card eligibility here and it gave me 90% for Aqua and CapOne - not sure whether to apply now though or wait until the CCJ drops... I don't particularly need a card, but I guess it would help my credit if I had a working account. I don't know - it always seemed so much easier to forget about the money and just allow everything to carry on around me.

I know I need to sort it though... we have a hole to dig ourselves out of and that has to start now.