£12,000 - best way forward.

utroi85

So we can take the food bill down by 33% unless she agrees to pay for it all ?
To be perfectly honest, with the position your mother is in at the moment, if her partner wishes to run up huge bills with power tools and leave all the lights on then with respect, that should probably be an account that goes to him to run and your mother can contribute a fair and reasonable amount towards it.

I had a housemate who was terrible at leaving everything on and some of the bills were somewhat laughable when they came but they matched up. (he paid sod all towards it)

m3kx

She agrees to pay for it all but I used to help out, sadly I can't now.

I agree with you regarding the electricity and her partners behaviour, I am really trying to get her to discuss this with him so he can perhaps take on some extras (which he could afford).

Thank you again for the reply, I appreciate being able to talk it through with someone outside of our situation.

utroi85

I appreciate being able to talk it through with someone outside of our situation.

It's easier to have a fresh set of eyes on things isn't it.
I sent all my financial information to a family member to go through - initially I had no idea where I was going to get anything from and they were like - stop randomly spending money, you have loads kicking about pay your debts instead of going out for a few months.

anyway back to the topic in hand.

[Deleted User]

utroi85 wrote: »

How old is your mother, does she qualify for a reduction on the TV License at all

Unless she's blind or partially sighted, then she won't qualify for a reduction. If she is, she will qualify for a 50% discount.

However, if she's 75 year old, or over, she qualifies for a free licence.

(this may be an issue with other adults living at the house)

Others living in the house is irrelevant. a 50% reduction/free licence will apply, irrespective of who else is living at the address.

m3kx

Thanks for clearing that up.

Playing_with_Fire_2

It would be good to know the interest rates on the cards, the minimum payments and the balances of each card. Generally, paying the highest interest rate will have the debt paid off quicker, there may be a different way which would reduce the minimum payment the most (although any money freed up should also be going towards the debt).

Is monthly spending going on the credit cards too? If possible, it is better if this goes on a card with no balance, or paid in cash/debit card.

Check the MSE credit card checker, if your mother can get a 0% balance transfer card, this will mean that by making the same payments more can go on reducing the debt and less on interest (have a think if this will actually happen or just encourage more spending though). A credit builder/poor credit card may be helpful to put the monthly expenditure on and make sure that the bill is paid in full each month.

I understand the concerns about credit rating and mortgages. At the moment I think she would struggle to remortgage because of the card debt, so she will need to think about that as well as the damage of a DMP/DRO/IVA.

Good luck

m3kx

Thanks again.

We've decided to try for the HSBC 0% balance transfer card for the £6,000 as this is the biggest. We will see how that goes and if she is accepted we will cut up the MBNA card... Not sure about the rest but if we can sort out the largest debt hopefully we can get ourselves in a better position.

m3kx

Unfortunately she was rejected the HSBC credit card despite a 90% approval rating on the MSE calculator. We are now back at square one and it seems a DAS could be our only option?