Head firmly buried in the sand :(

Digging_2

shelby1306 wrote: »

Thanks again everyone for your replies... Good news I phoned the council today with regards to the enforcement and the debt is for am old address when I was a full time student so they have put a hold on the enforcement whilst I provide them the evidence. Feels like a massive relief just taking that step and speaking to them. They are also going to send me a bill in the next 7-10 days for council tax now so at least I can arrange to pay it. I feel so much better having spoken to them and they were very nice on the phone!

😊

Glad you made the call :T. Every little thing you do that pushes you a step forward (like that one phone call) will motivate you to keep going until you finally have a plan and can start chipping away at the debt. I was actually really excited that I made an extra payment of £9 this month. Small steps and all that... but it helps. :j

foxgloves

Hi Shelby,
You've made a good start by contacting the council. Keep chipping away at it. I bet it's making you feel stressed & horrible, so although the extra effort needed to sort it all out is daunting, it will be worth it for you to start feeling better about your financial situation. The trouble with burying your head in the sand is that eventually it has to come out for you to be able to breathe.......& when it does, you know what? All the stuff you were hiding from is still there. All it does is delay the inevitable Pay-back time. There are people on here who have paid back tens of 1000s of pounds of debt. It can be done. We owed around £30K ourselves at its worst, now entirely paid back. It needs a methodical, organised approach, tackling the priority debts first (which you have done with the Council Tax) & as you progress, you'll start to feel a weight falling from your shoulders. Live as frugally as possible while you are paying back debt. Try to cut back to essentials, with just the occasional small treat. It won't be for ever, just while you sort this out & get used to budgeting properly.
Whatever you do, don't return your head to the very temporary comfort of The Sand. Best wishes with clearing this situation up. There are lots of helpful threads on here - the Old Style board has lots of tips for reducing everyday household running costs (especially food) & the Small Daily Things DFW thread is motivating for the long haul.......& in my case, for staying debt-free once this has been achieved.
Remember that when the going gets tough, the tough get planning! It might seem a huge hill to climb right now at the beginning of the debt-free process, but it can be done.
f

shelby1306

Thanks again I'm feeling motivated to sort everything out. I've contacted Npower today to sort out my debt with them and feeling good for doing so! It's the little things! 😁

I've just tried clearscore and received the following message:

"Unfortunately we haven't managed to find a credit report for you or one with enough detail to generate the security questions we need to validate your identity. This can happen when you haven't used credit much before, perhaps because you are younger, or you are new to the country and don't have a credit history or the data we hold does not offer the right information for us to authenticate you."

Any other suggestions? As ridiculous as it sounds I wasn't sure whether I had any CCJ's so just checked that and the report for that has come back that I don't have any so that's good at least.

I want to clear my name and then get saving to buy so I will definitely look at the frugal living as it's something that will be useful once debt free and to stop wasting money.

Thanks again everyone! 👍:beer:

rockm87

Have you tried giving them a call?

Kermie

Did you notify your finance providers when you changed address? You mentioned a previous address when you were a student - perhaps your credit reports are attached to the old address?

SnowL

I don't know whether you know this but full time students don't have to pay council tax; you should have received an exemption certificate from your university, maybe that would help with one of your old debts.

Snow x