Serious help and advice needed

hooters

I have been extremely stupid, I gamble online the other day. I basically lost a hell of a lot of money. I've now put my family in a position where out outgoings will be around 400 pound per month more than out incomings - we have just had a baby too so we will have 1/2 of 1 wage.

I would like help and advice from anyone that can give it, I would like to request that people don't give me a lecture about gambling, I know what I did was stupid and I have beaten myself up about it since it happened - I am the only one to blame for this mess, but I want to face up and sort it out before it breaks us.

thank you in advance

joeblack066

Hi and welcome.....no lectures here, but I think that the good people of DFW will need some details so that the advice offered is realistic. Don't worry, we are most of us here because we haven't always been the sharpest tools in the box financially, and we all make mistakes. Well done for facing up to it. Can you post an SOA please?

RAS

Welcome. take heart.

You are not the only person on these boards for whom on-line gambling has been an issue. Others will come along to support you.

Right now there are a couple of things to start thinking about

if you put up your SOA, people can help you prune your expendiute to reduce that gap. See this thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

Given you circumstances, it would help to know how long your OH is going to be on mat leave and whether she is going back to work , FT, PT and child care costs?

Head over to www.entitledto and make sure that you are getting everything that you should be to increase your income.

Is there anything that you can sell on e-bay etc to reduce that debt?

and can you take extra shifts, a second job for a while until you clear the debt off?

hooters

heres a breakdown:

income combined: 1800


mortgage: 700
service charge:95
water: 15
council tax: 90
gas: 20
electric~: 20
cuilding insurance:
10
telephone, mobile and internet: 60
tv licence: 10
life insurance: 30

vehicle se4rvicing: 10
road tax: 15
motor insurance: 30
braekdown cover: 5
fuel and parking: 90


food toiletries and cleaning: 302
tobacco: 55 - i will be giving up smoking
medicines: 10
dentist/optitions: 14
hairdressing: 13

clothing: 43
sports/hobbies: 15


total expenses: 1667



hsbc loan: 10300 - 256 per month 0% apr, all the interest has been paid off
lloyds c card: 2500 - 50 pm 1.5% apr - special offer for balance transfer
mbna: 8000 - 140 pm apr not sure as i just racked that up
northern rock loan: 20230 - 225 -pm 12.5% apr - it was a together loan for our first mortage
sainsburys loan: 1000 - 100 pm I think this interest has been paid off - i will check

totsal loans etc: 41730, 771 per month


we could sell some stuff, but only get about 1000. No shift work or overtime available. My oh will have to go back FT if childcare does not eat up the extra wage we would gain

RAS

Thanks for that. Can you add the APRs for the loans and CCs and the limits for the CCs?

I assume that the gambling debt is included in here somewhere?

hooters

RAS wrote: »

Thanks for that. Can you add the APRs for the loans and CCs and the limits for the CCs?

I assume that the gambling debt is included in here somewhere?

the gambling debt took all our savings which was being used to pay off northern rock at least and give us enough to supplement maternity pay.

was about 40K which i actually won initially - this was lost in one night. (that is how ridiculously stupid i was)

I'll edit my posts to give the aprs.

RAS

hooters wrote: »

heres a breakdown:

income combined: 1800
Child benefit?
Working Tax credit
Child tax credit?


mortgage: 700 - interest or repayment and interest?
service charge:95
water: 15
council tax: 90
gas: 20
electric~: 20
cuilding insurance:
10
telephone, mobile and internet: 60 - can you cut this back a bit?
tv licence: 10
life insurance: 30

vehicle se4rvicing: 10
road tax: 15
motor insurance: 30
braekdown cover: 5
fuel and parking: 90


food toiletries and cleaning: 302 - this is high for two plus a little one. Can you go over to Money Saving Old style forum and get some help reducing this. You should get £100 less quickly and then cut it back to £150 the month after. You could try a store cupboard challenge to kick start things.

tobacco: 55 - i will be giving up smoking - ASAP
medicines: 10
dentist/optitions: 14
hairdressing: 13 - can you go one every three months instead of two or whatever the arrangment is?

clothing: 43 - this is a lot. In the short term cut it out. Go to www.freecycle for stuff for the baby and as much as possible for the household and yourselves.
sports/hobbies: 15 -can you cut this short term?


total expenses: 1667



hsbc loan: 10300 - 256 per month 0% apr, all the interest has been paid off - Good
lloyds c card: 2500 - 50 pm 1.5% apr - special offer for balance transfer - just pay the minimum
mbna: 8000 - 140 pm apr not sure as i just racked that up - likely to be horrid
northern rock loan: 20230 - 225 -pm 12.5% apr - it was a together loan for our first mortage
sainsburys loan: 1000 - 100 pm I think this interest has been paid off - i will check

totsal loans etc: 41730, 771 per month


we could sell some stuff, but only get about 1000. It is worth it to start clearing some of this.

No shift work or overtime available. Can you get a second job for a while

My oh will have to go back FT if childcare does not eat up the extra wage we would gain

First thoughts. Other will offer their thoughts later.

ltm07

Hi Hooters. Well done for coming on here. I myself have broken the chain of gambling daily. Never lost anything on your sort of scale but lost £100 2 or 3 times. Used to gamble everyday for small amounts & did make a modest profit overall. But the 3 years i was gambling was taking over my life & breaking free from it was the best thing i've ever done. I still have a bet now & then,but for small stakes & with what i can afford. This isn't meant to be a lecture,but i hope everything goes well for you & the folk on here will soon help you out,good luck.

RAS

Hooters

W can pul this closer to evens, but you also need to talk to one of these agencies.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103204730,72152,#counselling

They provide free advice and are regularly recommended by people on here.

hooters

RAS wrote: »

First thoughts. Other will offer their thoughts later.

we will get about 62 child benefit,
tax credits not heard back from yet,
mortgage is a one account, so it can be interest only.
we are tied with internet, our phone bill is small, i could stop mobiles.
food etc was what one site advised is a normal amount, but yes we could cut that back a lot.
hairdressing, clothing and hobbies was what the site recommended, so again this could be cut back on.

selling stuff, definate option, to clear sainsburys

a second job, possibly but I'm worn out as it is now, not an excuse but i would have to seriuosly think about it for fear of it affecting my first job.


Thanks for your thoughts and ideas

RAS

hooters wrote: »

we will get about 62 child benefit,
tax credits not heard back from yet,
mortgage is a one account, so it can be interest only.
we are tied with internet, our phone bill is small, i could stop mobiles.
food etc was what one site advised is a normal amount, but yes we could cut that back a lot.
hairdressing, clothing and hobbies was what the site recommended, so again this could be cut back on.

selling stuff, definate option, to clear sainsburys - you need to put this money towards the debt with the highest interest rate

a second job, possibly but I'm worn out as it is now, not an excuse but i would have to seriuosly think about it for fear of it affecting my first job.

I assume that these loans are unsecured?

The amounts may be what is recommended but what you need to work with is what you actually spend. If you are not sure, then both keep spending diaries; a little note book into which you put the cost of every small item that you buy, including lunches, papers, major bills etc, presents, so that you know where it is going.

Your options are to reduce your expenditure as much as possible and try to pay this off over time or to look at some sort of payment arrangement. If you have a house/flat and go for either an IVA or Bankruptcy, then you will lose any equity you have in the house.

If you go for a Debt Managment Plan, you can keep any equity but will have to pay any surplus income into the DMP until such time as you have a sufficiently low debt to do full and final offers. All three affect you credit rating.

This is why you need proper advice from one of the debt charities. We can help you work towards minimising your outgoings, maximising your inome but we do not know enough to help you decide what is right for you.

With respect to paying debt off, you need to look at www.whatsthecost.com.

try feeding in your current debts in order off their APR (highest first). Then take £1000 off the Sainsburys loan and see what happens. next take £1000 off the debt with the highest APR and see what happens.