Looking for any advice at all

Hollie1984

Hello MSE members,

I don't usually post of forums but I felt the time was right.

My name is Hollie. I am trying to get out of debt, but I'm finding it very difficult. I live in my overdraft, which has a limit of £850, and haven't been in the black since February 2013.

I received incapacity benefit due to having a form of schizophrenia and also receive housing benefit. Despite this, I am able to function at a high level, much like a "normal" person and take medication. I have had this condition for most of my life, since aged 14, and have learned to live with it.

Consequently I have had to exist on a meagre amount of money for my entire adult life, so have learned how to become frugal.
Anybody who has had to live on incapacity benefit for any amount of time knows how little room for manouvre you have, and one event can trigger a domino effect. Unfortunately this happened to me a couple of years ago.

I am not supposed to seek employment - by order of my psychiatrist (although legally allowed to work). But living on such a low amount of money forced me to seek it.
I tried for 2 years to gain employment without success (I probably applied for over 200 jobs during that time). I am an honest person, so I disclosed my illness as a footnote on my CV. This was a well-intentioned, but foolish idea! No employer would touch me.

So I began sending out a CV without this detail on and soon enough I found a job.
However, since I couldn't tell my employer about my illness my episodes (when they occurred) were hard to explain. Even when taking my meds I still experience episodes - which to somebody who wasn't aware of my condition would seem quite scary and strange.

Consequently, I kept losing my jobs because of this. But the little extra money it gave me were an incentive to keep doing it, so the loss of each job didn't get me down. I almost expected to get sacked.
In 2012 I landed a job with part-time hours and by sheer luck managed to keep it for 3 months without having an episode while at work. I was offered full-time hours and so I took them.

I should have known better, because less than 3 months later I was relieved (I had a particularly bad episode).
Unfortunately because I took full-time hours my benefits were cut and I had to reapply for housing benefit. While I was waiting I went into my overdraft for the first time in my life. This was in February 2013.
Since then I have had odd jobs with the same ending. I remain upbeat!

But I now cannot get out of my overdraft. It has been a slow decline for the last 2 years. I fear I will never be able to get myself out of it.

I guess I don't know where to turn now. My rent is overdue 4 days - I will be able to pay it on Tuesday when I get my housing benefit through. It helps that my landlord is a kind person. One of my neighbors has schizophrenia too (a lot worse than me, she can't even leave the house). So I have some give on that issue.
But this will leave me with £23 until the 18th May when I next get any money, and my bank charges come out on the 11th for £30. I was one of the people affected by Santander's overdraft changes in August 2014. I now pay something in the region of £150 more per year.

Does anybody have any advice for me? Any at all!

Thank you.

sourcrates

Hi Hollie,

Could you please break up your post into paragraphs, as its really hard reading a Hugh block of text, thanks !!!!

Hollie1984

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi Hollie,

Could you please break up your post into paragraphs, as its really hard reading a Hugh block of text, thanks !!!!

I've added some spaces

happyandcontented

No advice except to remain the positive person you come across as. You are ill, not incapable of keeping job. I think that part time work is enough, sod the overdraft and try to stay as well as you can.

sourcrates

That's better, thanks, ok then !!!

My suggestion would be that you write to your bank, with a brief explanation of your condition, and your problems with your OD.

Banks are still oblighed to treat people in financial difficulty fairly, I would state my case to them, and ask them to freeze charges for 6 months, and also to refund say the last 6 months charges, don't ask, you don't get !!!!

They should look at your case sympathetically, they will normally refund charges at least once a year anyway, if you ask, and are experiencing problems money wise, you stand a good chance of success, this would perhaps give you a little breathing space.

In the long run, you may need to open a new, basic bank account, with another bank you have no debt with, use that account for your day to day banking, and treat the old account as just another debt to service, you could agree to pay off the debt at whatever amount you could afford.

Hollie1984

sourcrates wrote: »

That's better, thanks, ok then !!!

My suggestion would be that you write to your bank, with a brief explanation of your condition, and your problems with your OD.

Banks are still oblighed to treat people in financial difficulty fairly, I would state my case to them, and ask them to freeze charges for 6 months, and also to refund say the last 6 months charges, don't ask, you don't get !!!!

They should look at your case sympathetically, they will normally refund charges at least once a year anyway, if you ask, and are experiencing problems money wise, you stand a good chance of success, this would perhaps give you a little breathing space.

In the long run, you may need to open a new, basic bank account, with another bank you have no debt with, use that account for your day to day banking, and treat the old account as just another debt to service, you could agree to pay off the debt at whatever amount you could afford.

Thank you I will try to do this and report back to the thread in due course for the benefit of others!

determined_new_ms

I also think once you have got the interest frozen & any charges returned you should change banks and then offer a payment you can afford each month.

Banks cannot take benefits to repay debt to them. If you went to court the judge would instruct you to pay an amount a month that youc an afford and that would likely be between £5-20 pm.

You are awarded benefits because your illness (at times) prevents you from working and in this country we support people who are in need. It is there to help you have a reasonable standard of life. I am more than happy for my taxes to fund a welfare state to support those who need it, but not to fund the banks!

Bobarella

Hollie - I don't have masses of advice I'm afraid but really felt for you reading your post.
Without wishing to pry is there any chance your family could help you out during this very tight period? I also wondered if you'd considered going to a food bank? You do sound like a very positive and Determined person to keep going with the job search even after so many knock backs. In Peckham near where we are there are a few places that employ homeless people or those who have struggled with addiction problems. One has just set up as a coffee roaster. Are there any programmes like that where you could earn money whilst perhaps having a more sympathetic employer?

Wishing you all the very best.
Bob

Hollie1984

Bobarella wrote: »

Hollie - I don't have masses of advice I'm afraid but really felt for you reading your post.
Without wishing to pry is there any chance your family could help you out during this very tight period? I also wondered if you'd considered going to a food bank? You do sound like a very positive and Determined person to keep going with the job search even after so many knock backs. In Peckham near where we are there are a few places that employ homeless people or those who have struggled with addiction problems. One has just set up as a coffee roaster. Are there any programmes like that where you could earn money whilst perhaps having a more sympathetic employer?

Wishing you all the very best.
Bob

Thank you for the reply.

Unfortunately I don't really have any family any more. My brother lives in Australia and mom passed away in 2002. Dad is still here but is into his 70's and barely has much more money than myself.

I do regularly visit food banks. I make an effort to go at least once per month and the people there are really helpful and friendly.
There are also those type of places where I live, sometimes I volunteer in them on Sundays, but the reward is solely the feeling of helping others - not financial.

Hollie1984

determined_new_ms wrote: »

I also think once you have got the interest frozen & any charges returned you should change banks and then offer a payment you can afford each month.

Banks cannot take benefits to repay debt to them. If you went to court the judge would instruct you to pay an amount a month that youc an afford and that would likely be between £5-20 pm.

You are awarded benefits because your illness (at times) prevents you from working and in this country we support people who are in need. It is there to help you have a reasonable standard of life. I am more than happy for my taxes to fund a welfare state to support those who need it, but not to fund the banks!

Thank you for the info. I am not sure of what a bank is legally allowed to take if indeed my only source of income is state benefits, but I have been paying various fees for over 2 years now, and my bank can clearly see where my source of money comes from so I don't suppose they would take it if they weren't allowed to. However, with all the negative media banks have been getting in recent years it wouldn't surprise me to learn that they were taking it with this knowledge.

I am going to message the bank and see what they say. As said above, you can only ask.

sourcrates

Hollie1984 wrote: »

Thank you for the info. I am not sure of what a bank is legally allowed to take if indeed my only source of income is state benefits, but I have been paying various fees for over 2 years now.

I am going to message the bank and see what they say. As said above, you can only ask.

Ask for two years of charges to be refunded, remember, don't ask, don't get !!!

Write to them, don't message or phone them, a letter packs a much more powerful punch, Good luck with it,