Absolutely terrified and in a jam

amorge

andyfromotley wrote: »

Gosh you are in a real pickle, although you need to hammer down your expenses, they are pretty slim anyway and no amount of fiddling with the budget is going to resolve your problem. As already identified the loss of your benefit in a couple of years will make your situation terrible.

As i see it you are probably reduced to three options.

1. Debt relief - contact the experts CAP/stepchange/National debt advice line.

2. Can you increase your income? I reckon you are on about £19250. This is not a high wage. Can you get promoted change jobs? You need to earn about £10k more to cover your deficits (including the benefit change in a couple of years). Not an easy task i know but you are paid well below the national average and could perhaps look to improve? Whichever way out of this you choose this should be part of your plans.

3. Your problems could be solved by selling some of the jewellery and paying off your unsecured debts. I see your comments about your mum and dad, however you are in a financial emergency!!! I'm wary to get involved in family dynamics but do they realise that you are insolvent? Do they know that when you sell the house to give them their cash back you won't be able to get a mortgage as your credit history will be trashed from the DMP? Do the understand how serious things are for you? It may be worth at least discussing it with them.

3(a) Is there any possibility to rent out the property and live somewhere much cheaper. I haven't run the numbers on that but it may be an option which will improve the situation even if it doesn't solve it.

Sorry there is no magic wand, you are in a bad position, but it can be sorted.

Hi, I am going to look at doing a DMP myself. Before I do that I am going to contact my mortgage company one last time and see if they can help in any way.

I don't think I can increase my income, I do admin and £19.5k isn't a bad admin wage. I don't have many qualifications as I had my eldest just before sitting A Levels and was a stay home mum for many years. I am going to see if there's any part time jobs locally, it's a bad time of year to be looking as all the students are home and looking too

I've had a chat to my parents tonight, they are not in a position financially to help me (both retired) nor dissolve the trust early. I have agreed on a couple of rings that I can sell, I think I'll only get £500-700 for them but that will at least pay off the Next debt and £300+ off the highest card.

I was looking at house figures again before speaking to them. IF I did get £320k for my house I owe £100k in totally (mortgage, secured loan and bank of parents).
I can't even get a one bedroom flat for that here. I have thought about renting but the house needs about £5k spent on it in order to make it rentable and to comply with regulations. £5k I don't have.

It's so frustrating as a loan to cover the debt over 7 years is less than I'm paying now and I'm not actually reducing it! I will have to wait till Saturday to call National Debtline people as I can't do it at work

Thanks for the advice

amorge

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Any way to take the young drivers off the insurance?

Also, as a home owner, you really should have an emergency fund.

The eldest will be coming off in a couple of months. The youngest uses it for college, the cost of the bus pass is £630 a year, the insurance is less than that for her.

I would love to have an emergency fund but I can't afford it at the moment

amorge

QueenBeruthiel wrote: »

Is there anything - apart from the heirlooms - you can sell? Not meaning this nastily, but you must have bought a ton of stuff - clothes, jewellery, household items, maybe.

The good news is that your mortgage is quite low. If you could make inroads into the CC debt, then you would find yourself in a comfortable position.

If!

Thanks QueenBeruthiel. I have had a chat to the kids and there are a few obvious things I can sell; wii bundle, ipod, ipad. I'm going to sort out clothes at the weekend as I have loads of jeans etc hiding in the back of my wardrobe.

PasturesNew

The water heating seems a lot. Could you reduce that to 2 hours in the morning only (I presume it's for showers?) and tell the kids "wash then or miss out"?

For the evening washing up, you can put things into a cold soak and wash them up the next morning with the residue of the morning's hot water and/or boil a kettle to wash up the essentials.

moneyonmymindsam

Hi
Use Ebay, Gumtree and Can you boost your income and rent out a room? ....or look into being a student family host if any language school near you? This would net you maybe £400 pcm ...even just for 3 to 6 months .


Looked through your SOA but not much too add in addition to what others have said sorry!

amorge

PasturesNew wrote: »

The water heating seems a lot. Could you reduce that to 2 hours in the morning only (I presume it's for showers?) and tell the kids "wash then or miss out"?

For the evening washing up, you can put things into a cold soak and wash them up the next morning with the residue of the morning's hot water and/or boil a kettle to wash up the essentials.

I've changed to water to be on for 1.5 hours in the morning and 1.5 at night. We tend to shower in the evenings here as we exercise in the evenings.

I have a dishwasher that it A++ rating and only put it on when totally full and on an eco cycle

amorge

moneyonmymindsam wrote: »

Hi
Use Ebay, Gumtree and Can you boost your income and rent out a room? ....or look into being a student family host if any language school near you? This would net you maybe £400 pcm ...even just for 3 to 6 months .


Looked through your SOA but not much too add in addition to what others have said sorry!

I've just taken photos of our Nintendo Wii bundle, ipod, ipad x2 and camera to put on ebay at the weekend. I am going to advertise them via work tomorrow first to avoid ebay's bonkers charges they have now.

I like the idea of host family, thanks I'll look into that

missbiggles1

amorge wrote: »

Hi, I am going to look at doing a DMP myself. Before I do that I am going to contact my mortgage company one last time and see if they can help in any way.

I don't think I can increase my income, I do admin and £19.5k isn't a bad admin wage. I don't have many qualifications as I had my eldest just before sitting A Levels and was a stay home mum for many years. I am going to see if there's any part time jobs locally, it's a bad time of year to be looking as all the students are home and looking too

I've had a chat to my parents tonight, they are not in a position financially to help me (both retired) nor dissolve the trust early. I have agreed on a couple of rings that I can sell, I think I'll only get £500-700 for them but that will at least pay off the Next debt and £300+ off the highest card.

I was looking at house figures again before speaking to them. IF I did get £320k for my house I owe £100k in totally (mortgage, secured loan and bank of parents).
I can't even get a one bedroom flat for that here. I have thought about renting but the house needs about £5k spent on it in order to make it rentable and to comply with regulations. £5k I don't have.

It's so frustrating as a loan to cover the debt over 7 years is less than I'm paying now and I'm not actually reducing it! I will have to wait till Saturday to call National Debtline people as I can't do it at work

Thanks for the advice

Surely you'd have £220k left over to buy something else, or have I misunderstood?

amorge

£220k would buy a one bed flat here which isn't practical with a daughter still at home and a dog - would have to go about 45 minutes away from work in order to get something with £220k

Wont_be_beaten

Have you got a spare room for a lodger?