Help! I can't lose my flat...

OrganisedNic

Hi everyone ,

Long time lurker and recently signed up to a DMP that begins April following a heck of a lot of credit card debt that doesn't need the attention right now.

I had budgeted well and started to save a bit each month in the run up to my DMP starting but somehow I miscalculated HUGELY and what I thought was my balance really wasn't my balance and here I am now on 6th month waiting for a call back from my landlord because I'm unable to pay rent this month...

I have been a tenant here for 4 years and never missed a payment - rent and utility bills are always my number 1 priority no matter what but I'm in a situation where I can't even afford partial payment until next payday on 27th. I have 90p to my name right this second.

In terms of being able to live, I have enough food to last me a couple of weeks at a stretch and my amazing friend has lent me £50 which I'm keeping in my PayPal account in case it gets eaten up by unarranged overdraft charges.

So basically I've come to terms with the face I'm gonna have a pretty frugal month. I can cope with that and the worry has meant my appetite hasn't been great either so that's ok. I'm just sat here feeling so anxious that the landlord can reject my offer of paying in full 3 weeks later than planned and what on earth I will do. I'm a good tenant but the letting agent told me today that it will really upset the landlord as they have their own costs to cover. I don't want to put my landlord out all for my stupid mistake !!


Can anyone give me some advice at all? Desperate to talk to someone

Windofchange

Well you have two options.

1) Borrow some money from somewhere
2) Default

I'm assuming that if you are in a DMP then getting a 0% credit card that you clear next month isn't an option for you? In that case, it's friend and family or nothing I guess. Not sure what else anyone can add!

And, assuming you aren't renting off the local m4fia boss, he can't just turn up and evict you - the legal process takes months which is plenty of time for you to find somewhere else if the worst really does come to the worst.

OrganisedNic

Thanks windsofchange.

Borrowing is certainly not an option - even payday loan companies (I know, I know...) won't touch me at the moment which is a blessing in disguise.

I think it's just the not knowing. I wish letting agents would understand how stressful these situations are and just get back to you to keep you updated!!!:mad:

Quite honestly I can deal with having bad credit. It's my problem and that's that- no one else needs to know. Except you lovely lot of course ..! I just can't deal with being in trouble and having noone to turn to. As silly as that may sound...

sourcrates

Hi,

What have you spent the money on, your DMP ?

In which case cease all creditor payments straight away, a debt management plan is meant to be affordable, if it's not, stop paying it and reassess your budget.

Essential payments always come before debt repayments, didn't anyone tell you this ?

Who is the DMP with ?

OrganisedNic

Hi sourcrates,

No I've not paid anything to my DMP yet I've just been a fool and not managed my money well enough in the run up to it starting. I thought I had an overdraft buffer which I obviously didn't and my spreadsheet numbers just didn't match with the numbers on my balance ...

A lot of the money has been eaten up by petrol driving to and from my mums and money from a last minute Christmas panic

moneyonmymindsam

Hi, Just a thought - How will you get the cash from Paypal if you can't withdraw it to your bank if overdrawn?


Sam

OrganisedNic

moneyonmymindsam wrote: »

Hi, Just a thought - How will you get the cash from Paypal if you can't withdraw it to your bank if overdrawn?

...and a thought I have too which is why I didn't want the money going straight into my account. But it's there if I desperately need to buy something. Only if it is available online. And they accept PayPal.

oh man.

I guess worst case, I could send it back to them and ask they take out the cash?

OrganisedNic

Has anyone had experience of paying rent late to their landlord? I have no idea what to expect.

Windofchange

I've never defaulted on rent, but as I said, he can't legally just come and boot you out onto the street. I guess the worst case scenario is that you will receive a shirty letter in a couple of weeks time saying that you didn't pay and how do you intend to make payment. If you ignore that the landlord may then wish to go down the court route to gain a writ of possession. You may then get a visit from Channel 4 and Paul Bohill 6 months or so down the line, and you will be on the next series of can't pay we'll take it away.

If you have a good relationship with your landlord then the best course of action would be to acknowledge the problem and be upfront. If you have been a good tennant for 4 years then he may prefer to try and sort something out with you than go through the hassle of evicting you and getting in other people who may still mess him around. One thing for certain is that head in the sand won't work.

OrganisedNic

I've watched so many episodes of can't pay we'll take it away this is why I am terrified!

Thanks for you help windsofchange I am certainly not putting my head in the sand , I have rang the letting agent 3 times now and been very upfront about it. Hoping tomorrow will result in an answer from landlord.

EssexHebridean

OK - I'm going to hazard a guess here that the miscalculation is subconsciously linked to the debt. Let me guess - you've spent a long while shying away from checking details on your bank account, and now it's habit to NOT check, hence not realising the state of things? You're not the first to find this one catching you out, if so!

Hopefully by now you've had a call back from the landlord - he's not going to have been happy obviously but fingers crossed you've worked something out for this month. The problem now comes when you have to pay two lots of rent from one month's pay, I'm guessing? You need to work now to fix the situation as things go on. Can you pay other essential outgoings this month? You've not said not so I'll assume so.

Now you have to fix the ongoing situation, and the first thing is to build a habit of checking your banking regularly. Have you got an online banking app on your phone? If so, set a reminder to check it at lunchtime every day - there may be little to see sometimes, but if the balance is not what you expect you can then deal with it quickly.

I'd suggest you also put together a full SOA (Statement of Affairs) to act as your master-budget too.