Unable to meet debt repayments - help needed.

SusieT78

chevalier wrote: »

to be honest, I think you need to do a JOINT SOA.
Your husband needs to be on board with this as well. You need to sit him down and explain what is happening. Why? Because then he won't inadvertantly sabotage your debt paying efforts. Also you need to check whether proportionately you are paying the right amount for the joint bills. My suspicion is that your OH should be paying more towards this.

Next is there any way he can get a job with more stable shift patterns, or better pay? For you is there 'stuff' you can sell to put towards an emergency fund so that you do not have to resort to cards again if something breaks? Are you able to sign up for surveys, both of your, for some additional income.

Good luck going forward
chev

It kind of is a joint SOA as all the household bills come out of my account. He only has his credit cards and mobile phone coming out of his account and the money he holds back from his wages just covers that and not much more. He is enrolled on his company pension so the £900 he is giving me is the full amount he can afford to give me after he's payed his bills. I've done the SOA based on him only ever doing his contracted hours of 37.5 per week as I needed to be realistic with overtime not being guaranteed, but on the months he is able to do overtime he will give me the overtime money, he doesn't keep it for himself. He knows we're operating to a tight budget and can't afford to go out etc, so he won't accidentally sabotage my efforts through not knowing.

He has looked for other jobs, even this week, but as he's quite shy and nervous at interviews I doubt he will apply. He's been in his current job since before we had kids so knows all the other staff, he struggles to speak to people he doesn't know and got rejected from so many jobs last time he applied that he lacks the confidence to try and get one elsewhere. He has at least had a look online, so maybe he will apply for something else.

I have joined Swagbucks and MySurvey to try and get Paypal money for birthdays/Xmas (nothing in the budget for presents)

robatwork wrote: »

Can I just suggest that you don't stop paying the relative, even if it's only £5 or £2 per month. The extra stress of a family chasm isn't worth it.

Also is there any chance of you returning to work and leave your partner to look after the children, as you were the higher earner?

Finally even though it may involve a big row, I think you should consider being honest with your partner and telling him everything. At least you won't be keeping all this anxiety to yourself.

Luckily my relative is quite flexible about being paid back, I have confessed I'm in "a bit of a mess" to them (though not the figures) so if we can pay them great but if not it won't affect the relationship negatively if they have to wait, so, on the month's where my partner has done overtime I will pay something to the relative.

When I return to work it probably be in a minimum wage job such as shop or barwork because I pushed myself so far in previous jobs that I ended up having breakdowns twice because of work related stress, whereas when I did shopwork and barwork as a student I never got stressed about work, also part of my mental health issues is to do with not seeing enough of the children (I worked very long hours) so it's unlikely I will return to having a career until the kids are grown up.

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi OP,

How old are your credit agreements ?

Did you open them in recent years, or are they 10 or more years old ?

Im guessing they are all fairly recent if you've been balance transferring.

The most recent time I took out a new credit facility was 2015, the oldest could be 2004 but I'm not sure as I used to take out credit cards, pay them off then close them down and apply for a new 0% card back in the days when I could pay back everything I'd borrowed when the 0% was due to run out.

I've been balance transferring up until last week though, so they've all had recent additions made to them.

SusieT78

fatbelly wrote: »

You'd be better putting your £30 per month into an emergency fund.

Change bank if you can and pick up a switching bonus - you should never bank where you have debts.

But if I don't pay my creditors anything at all won't they just take me straight to court?
We could use some of my partner's overtime payments to set up an emergency fund though. But, if we did this would the savings be best in his name (if I asked him to save some money from his overtime for an emergency and not touch it he would do this), if I have savings in my name wouldn't the creditors be able to stake a claim to them?

I already have a couple of other current accounts without overdrafts that I had been using as savings accounts until I used it all up to pay the bills, so changing bank won't be a problem.

SusieT78

Thanks for all the replies. I've still not done anything about writing to my creditors. I'm trying to work out what the best order to do things in is.
Do I miss a payment first then write to them, or write to them before I miss a payment? All payments are up to date at the moment, I haven't missed a minimum payment in at least the last 6 years.

SusieT78

Sorry, me again, I can't sleep for worry at the moment. I've been reading some of the other posts on this board as the information in them is very useful.

sourcrates - you mentioned in one thread that Egg credit card agreements are unenforceable due to PTs not being right, or something along those lines. One of my credits cards was with Egg (I think I took it out about 2004) but then became a Barclaycard somewhere along the line (they told me it was now a Barclayard and sent a new card out). I owe about £6k on this one but if it's not enforceable then maybe I'll offer them £1 a month so I can offer my £22.5k creditor £9 a month.

I found a template somewhere to request a copy of something (the original agreement I think) and now I can't find it, I think this is what people are using to find out if a debt is enforcable?

Sorry for all the questions, but it's just all whirring round in my mind. I'm looking at the info I've downloaded from Stepchange but can't remember if it was in there or somewhere else.

Stepchange actually recommended an IVA but I don't want to do this or Bankruptcy as it would be on public record. I want to go the DMP route because after next September (2018) I will be able to work at least part time so I'll have more money to offer to my creditors. Then in 13 years the mortgage will be paid in full (we have no plans to ever move if we don't have to).
At £5 per creditor per month it will take 113 years to pay the debt, but I'm confident I can get it paid off in 25 years or less due what I've mentioned above.

Thanks again for all the help everyone has offered so far. I'm so glad I posted, whilst I can't sleep I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, a very distant light 25 years in the future, but my mortgage once had 25 years to run, so even if it takes another 25 years from today I know I can do it.

fatbelly

SusieT78 wrote: »

But if I don't pay my creditors anything at all won't they just take me straight to court?.

No. Your token payments won't make a difference. It's unlikely in any case.

SusieT78 wrote: »

We could use some of my partner's overtime payments to set up an emergency fund though. But, if we did this would the savings be best in his name (if I asked him to save some money from his overtime for an emergency and not touch it he would do this), if I have savings in my name wouldn't the creditors be able to stake a claim to them?

That's why you must not do any banking where you have debts. They could use the right of set-off.

If the savings are in a different institution it's almost impossible for them to be touched. They would have to know where they were, get a ccj that you default on and then apply for a third party deduction order. It's unheard of.

Incidentally an IVA for £30 per month is pretty much unheard of too. If stepchange think they can get one though, with you paying £30 x 60 to clear 45k of debt then they're better than I thought.

sourcrates

SusieT78 wrote: »

sourcrates - you mentioned in one thread that Egg credit card agreements are unenforceable due to PTs not being right, or something along those lines. One of my credits cards was with Egg (I think I took it out about 2004) but then became a Barclaycard somewhere along the line (they told me it was now a Barclayard and sent a new card out). I owe about £6k on this one but if it's not enforceable then maybe I'll offer them £1 a month so I can offer my £22.5k creditor £9 a month.
.

A lot of credit card agreements from that time were unenforceable, not all, but a fair few.

The only way to find out is to request a copy of it, you can do that here, using the National Debtline sample letter :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Information-about-your-agreement-under-the-Consumer-Credit-Act-%28sole-name%29.aspx

Remember to enclose the £1 statutory fee, in the form of a cheque or postal order (dont send cash).

Uhtred_Ragnarsson

SusieT78 wrote: »

My child has a health problem but it's not one that would be covered under DLA.

Hi Susie

For DLA (and PIP come to that) qualification for benefit is not related to what the specific medical problem is - there is no list of illnesses or conditions that give automatic qualification. What is important is how the medical condition affects the individual, in this case, your child. It probably is worth getting advice from welfare rights and making a claim I think.

Good luck in your debt busting.

Uhtred

SusieT78

fatbelly wrote: »

Incidentally an IVA for £30 per month is pretty much unheard of too. If stepchange think they can get one though, with you paying £30 x 60 to clear 45k of debt then they're better than I thought.

The IVA would involve me selling my house to release the equity so I could do a lump sum payment as well as the £30 a month so it's not an option I want to pursue unless I have to, as I'd like to keep the house if I can.

Borders2017

I just wanted to say, good for you for confronting this. Its such a slippery slope when you are earning enough to cover monthly payments, the circumstances change and it spirals.

I think having the conversation with your OH will help a lot, but will be really difficult. His fears will be that they will take the house etc etc, so make sure you have these kind of questions answered (which I think most comments above cover) so you can put him a little at ease witht the shock of the situation.
Do not default on any payments on any cards, arrange with the creditors an agreed monthly sum and for them to freeze the interest.

Let us know how you get on, best of luck

sourcrates

SusieT78 wrote: »

The IVA would involve me selling my house to release the equity so I could do a lump sum payment as well as the £30 a month so it's not an option I want to pursue unless I have to, as I'd like to keep the house if I can.

You misunderstand the IVA concept.

IVA' s suit people with property to protect, you don't have to sell your house, in year 5 you have to seek a remortgage, or make an extra year of payments instead.

But I agree with Fatbelly, an IVA at £30 a month is unheard of and isn't realisticly going to be an option for you anyway.