Mental Health / Gambling

woodsville

Hi all,

First of all, I'm a little desperate, and I'm here to gain some constructive advice. What I've done is shameful, and I've seen a lot of responses on this website where people are chastised and told "It's your own fault" etc. I'm aware of my wrongdoings, but I don't want a lecture. I want some genuine advice. It would be massively appreciated.

I suffer from severe depression. I also have an incredibly serious gambling problem. If anyone has ever suffered, you will understand how strongly these things can grab hold of you and make you do terrible things through desperation. These are not excuses, I do blame myself. But I want to make sure people know I would never do things like this if I was in my right mind.

I've had debts for years, and have always made payments towards them. My gambling has increasingly gotten worse. I was made redundant in July 2016 and am now a full-time student. I have lied on forms since then to gain credit, stated that I was still employed. This happened through sheer desperation. Some of these creditors have never received a payment from me.

I am now dealing with my gambling issues and seeking help. I want a fresh start. I would like to get a Debt Relief Order, as I will never be able to pay these things off. I would also like to have an opportunity to have a cleaner credit file in 6 yrs, and potentially get a mortgage.

I am concerned that if I apply for a DRO, certain creditors will look into my history, and see that the information I provided was false. I could then be done for fraud.

Can anyone offer any potential options for me? Again, I'm already aware of how stupid I've been. Telling me this won't help. Imagine being in a position where you're suicidal, incredibly desperate for money, and with an overwhelming compulsion to gamble. It makes you do stupid and dishonest things.

Thanks.

National_Debtline

Hi Woodsville and welcome to MSE,


First of all, you have taken a very big step by posting on here and asking for some advice and guidance, so well done. Gambling can be difficult to tackle and is all too often involved in debt issues. I would suggest you start by looking for help with this addiction, if you haven't done so already, because it is unlikely you would be able to start a DRO until the gambling is under control. There are lots of organisations out there that can help, this is a link to just one of them - https://www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk/


The basics of a DRO are that you need to owe less than £20,000, have less than £50per month for your debts and have less than £1000 worth of assets, plus you can have a car worth up to £1000. For 12months you do not pay your debts, and if you still have less than £50 per month at the end your debts are written off. It costs £90 to do and is very damaging to your credit file and could cause issues in the future in obtaining credit. You have some restrictions on you for the 12months you are in the DRO and if a creditors objects to the DRO, on the grounds of gambling, then the most likely outcome are that these restrictions can be extended.


You should try and get full advice from one of the free debt charities to try and find out more about your options. Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline

sourcrates

Hi,

Well done for posting.

Aside from the gambling, which you really do need to get a handle on before you do anything else, if you can post up a statement of affairs (SOA) then we can see what your options are.

Link here :

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

At the moment, i`m thinking DRO or Bankruptcy, dependent on how much you owe, but an SOA will tell us more.

You will get Troll`s on any forum, we are a friendly lot mostly !!

ada-or-ardor

Hello. Sorry to hear you're feeling so bad about it all, I understand how bad mental health issues can affect your normal behaviour. I'm sure you'll get tonnes of supportive and practical advice here:-)

Your post wasn't particularly clear on one issue that will be very significant. Did you amass your debt through gambling, or did you start gambling to try to pay off debts? Basically, where has your debt come from? If gambling was the root cause, do you have systems in place to deal with that as a separate issue, however you resolve your current debts? Or if your debts pre-existed, why? What did you spend on? Do you now budget? These are all questions you'll need to have strong and honest answers to to really beat the thing, as depression is usually a lifetime affliction and will require extra resilience in times of stress, as you well know.

Good luck whatever you decide to do; hopefully resolving your debts once and for all might also see a slight upturn in your mental health. I certainly hope so. Well done for having. The strength and courage to face up to it. :-)

Ada

Pas please excuse typos; on my phone!!

woodsville

Basically, I had to take credit to pay bills, as I gambled nearly everything away. I also took credit and gambled with it plenty of times. Every financial problem I've ever had is through gambling.

I've confessed all to my family and partner and they have been very supportive, and are helping me to get assistance. I will be going to GA.

My debts are less than 20k (around 16,500) and I have no real assets. I have 2 cars in my name, worth less than £1,000 each.

woodsville

As I'm now a full-time student, my income is limited. I get student loan & housing benefit, and my partner receives child tax credits and child benefits. All of this doesn't quite cover our normal bills, so we are in a negative disposable income. My family help out a little with the difference.

I'm particularly concerned about the fact that I lied to gain credit. I don't know how much they look into these things when you go for a DRO.

sourcrates

woodsville wrote: »

As I'm now a full-time student, my income is limited. I get student loan & housing benefit, and my partner receives child tax credits and child benefits. All of this doesn't quite cover our normal bills, so we are in a negative disposable income. My family help out a little with the difference.

I'm particularly concerned about the fact that I lied to gain credit. I don't know how much they look into these things when you go for a DRO.

Honesty can be a good thing, but I would stop mentioning you lied on the application forms, lets not over complicate things for you now.

I would not worry about that aspect of things, all you are to them is an account number and a name, they are unlikely to dig much further down than that to be honest, at any one time a creditor may have thousands of there customers entering some kind of debt solution, they simply do not have the staff, nor the time to investigate every customer.

You need to have an accurate figure on how much the cars are worth, as they cannot total more than £1000, you then need to contact an intermediary, such as stepchange, to complete the DRO process.

They have a debt solution tool on there website, have a play around with that first off, it'll give you some ideas about what expected budget wise.

woodsville

I do understand that I'm just a name and a number, but I'm very concerned that because some of my debts were taken out very recently, they may look into things. Would it make sense for me to arrange to make small payments for a couple of months to show willing, before looking at a DRO?

Muhren

Hi woodsville, I just wanted to offer my support as someone who has been in a similar situation to you. I went to GA for about 3 years and it really helped me out, I have now not gambled for over 4 years and my life is back on track. If i can do it so can you.

I know how you must be feeling, and as horrible as that may be, there is light at the end of the tunnel. If you want to ask me anything feel free to post here or you can pm me if you like as well.

woodsville

Thanks Muhren. That's really kind. And well done, I hope you keep it up!

sourcrates

woodsville wrote: »

I do understand that I'm just a name and a number, but I'm very concerned that because some of my debts were taken out very recently, they may look into things. Would it make sense for me to arrange to make small payments for a couple of months to show willing, before looking at a DRO?

In my opinion, thats just delaying the inevitable, however, if it makes you feel any better then do so.

But, big but, you must pay all your creditors an equal amount, or a pro-rata payment, because if you are going to apply for a DRO you cannot be seen to favor one creditor above another (this applies for a two year period prior to the start of a DRO).

Its much better to go straight for the DRO, they can be set up and running within a week normally.