My lightbulb moment now I need some advice.

frooglefraggle

Ok tonight I had my lightbulb moment. !!!! has hit the fan well and truly once again!
My situation: just moved in with partner. And 2 wonderful children, previously a single mother working in own business so able to claim tax credits. But these have stopped completely due to moving in with partner.

Tonight t totalled up my debt.
Finance wise I am in the hole fore £8817.98 mostly credit cards x 3 o/d and a loan.
I also have a car on hp which I'm guessing is still about 11k, which is vital and I cannot afford to lose this as again would leave me in more debt.

My monthly guaranteed income is £555.00 and I no longer qualify for Tax credits.

My monthly outgoings are just short of £1200 a month. I could easily manage this with the help of tax credits and when alone. This is not including food, clothes, entertainment or petrol. and my business was doing better but now seems to be in a slump
I have no assets really left to sell only a few clothes and old children's items which honestly will not fetch a lot and I am awaiting £700 from a cashing in the last of my shares.
I am currently unable to reduce any payments cut anything else as I did this months ago. My partner pays most of the household bills I just pay 400 towards these and he is paying food shopping and petrol. I just do t know which way to turn any longer.

Bobarella

Froogle- sorry to see you posting so late at night, you must be very worried. Can you list out your debts in full and all of your outgoings? It is called a statement of affairs, there is a template on here for using.
It will help you to see the whole picture laid out at the very least and others can then advise you. Also am sure you will get advice too regarding debt management programs available.

Try not to panic. It's very hard but it's just not helpful. You need to take action instead.

All the best

Bob

andyfromotley

Hi Froogle,
fill this in,
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

and we shall have a look. However it sounds almost certainly on what you have said that you will need some form of debt relief from a debt charity which WILL NOT charge you for this. (there are plenty of rip off companies around who will charge you.)

asparagus1968

I would imagine you may need to look at an employed job as well?
is there any way you can change the car? £4-5K would get you a decent one.
and definitely complete the SOA linked to above
good luck:)

its_maths_not_magic

As others have said, probably the best form of attack is to sit down with all your debts, and a good cup of tea. Go through your debts and work out what you owe. This is truely the worst of it. Then contact an agency for debt advice. The National Debt advice line is wonderful to deal with - the staff genuinely want to help and they do not judge at all - and to call them is free, as is any advice they give you. You could also contact Step Change, or the other one that doesn't charge (sorry, I've forgotten their name, I think its something like Christians for Debt) as those two do NOT charge for their service. Their contact details are on the first sticky in this forum.

You could then post your SOA here and others will go through it and help get your budget as tight as it can be.

Finally, once you have all your information sorted, I find its best to get your finances organised and pay attention to them on a daily basis. I know myself that I (used to be) a bit rubbish with money and when I stop paying attention to my spending and financial life I tend to spend more than I need to. Knowing this means I have to pay attention, so I do.

But one thing I can say 100% is that once this is sorted you will feel SO much better. It really is liberating and strengthening to both have your finances under control and a plan for the future. I hope this helps.

Jo3y83

Good luck FroogleFraggle and don't panic - we're all here to help and provide support

Congratulations on your LBM!

pleasedelete

£11,000 of car debt on a £6000 income. You couldn't afford the car when you got tax credits and you can't now- tax credits are to support the children- not new cars. Sounds harsh I know. get rid of the car. get a job. No-one needs an £11k car-even on your previous income you spent more than your annual income on a car!.

Puddylove

It's hard to advise without full information - but agree with the poster above that you can't afford an £11k car, so that's worth reviewing.

To be honest, I can't really understand why you would spend that much on a car; I wouldn't be able or willing to afford that, and I'm on almost 10 times your income.
I also am unsure why you moved in with your partner if you were going to be much worse off financially and he can't or won't help make up the shortfall.

If you tell us a bit more, maybe we can offer more specific suggestions to help you.
P x

frooglefraggle

pleasedelete wrote: »

£11,000 of car debt on a £6000 income. You couldn't afford the car when you got tax credits and you can't now- tax credits are to support the children- not new cars. Sounds harsh I know. get rid of the car. get a job. No-one needs an £11k car-even on your previous income you spent more than your annual income on a car!.

As I said previously I run my own business as well, so I was not spending more than my income thank you for reading the post completely before jumping to conclusions. My children are my world the reason I. Became self employed so I could spend time with them.. Last year I brought home 16k after tax and all my business expenses, and yes I've taken out expansion loan for the business, which would be fine if I could still work. this year the business is struggling as I am a sole trader. I have broken my arm and awaiting surgery on my shoulder which will again leave me out of work for a couple of months. the car is part of my business as well as personal use. But not being able to trade/drive at the moment is not helping.

DandelionPatrol

frooglefraggle wrote: »

As I said previously I run my own business as well, so I was not spending more than my income thank you for reading the post completely before jumping to conclusions. My children are my world the reason I. Became self employed so I could spend time with them.. Last year I brought home 16k after tax and all my business expenses, and yes I've taken out expansion loan for the business, which would be fine if I could still work. this year the business is struggling as I am a sole trader. I have broken my arm and awaiting surgery on my shoulder which will again leave me out of work for a couple of months. the car is part of my business as well as personal use. But not being able to trade/drive at the moment is not helping.

Do the Statement of Affairs and post it here. As you are not trading, you have the time to do it. I am wondering if your car and business are eating off you rather than you eating off them.

Puddylove

frooglefraggle wrote: »

As I said previously I run my own business as well, so I was not spending more than my income thank you for reading the post completely before jumping to conclusions. My children are my world the reason I. Became self employed so I could spend time with them.. Last year I brought home 16k after tax and all my business expenses, and yes I've taken out expansion loan for the business, which would be fine if I could still work. this year the business is struggling as I am a sole trader. I have broken my arm and awaiting surgery on my shoulder which will again leave me out of work for a couple of months. the car is part of my business as well as personal use. But not being able to trade/drive at the moment is not helping.

So, on the strength of a £16k salary (or profit?) from your business, you bought a car costing more than £11k, as well as taking out an expansion loan for the business?
I'm sympathetic to your unforeseen circumstances, and wish you a speedy recovery from your surgery.
The harsh reality though, is that you cannot afford to keep the car, whether you want it, or not. You have to fit your life to your income, and the first step to this would be to complete a SOA with a view to having a sensible budget/plan going forward.
P x