In loads of debt and unsure where to start

anna_1977

Hi, just a quick observation - does your son not get free travel or free school lunches as you don't have a regular income. Schools also provide uniform grants for families that are struggling. Definitely worth considering.

Well done on all the changes so far. When it comes to changing BB do shop about and do TopCasgBack. I recently moved mine to BT for £28 a month BUT I got £110 cashback and a £150 BT reward card so works out as only a few pence a month (12 mth contract)

Good luck

Andyjflet

What agreement is your car loan an PCP or HP agreement ?

ElleWoods

nicmalauren wrote: »

Good for you for facing up to your debt and tackling this head on!

Financially, you would definitely be better off closing your business and going on Job Seekers Allowance. You say your business brings in £50 profit per month? JSA is £73 per week. You'd be up an extra £200 each month, and the advisors at your local jobcentre will help you with any other benefits you may be entitled to.

Thank you. I've got a few job applications in the pipeline and it's a juggling act between giving up my business and just applying for JSA, or waiting to see if one of my job applications is successful. I was going to give myself until the end of October to get a job but I'm not sure I can survive that long (financially). I may have to bite the bullet and claim JSA sooner than that, which I hate having to do. I was on JSA for a few months at the start of this year but it was the most demoralising, depressing time of my life so I came off it to start my business. Just not sure I can go through all that again mentally (I've suffered mental health issues in the past).

ElleWoods

Prometheus2 wrote: »

Hi Ellie
Been a while since having seen your post I’d like to say that I’ve been here and the most important thing is your wellbeing and not to let things take over you. Always keep positive as things are never quite as bad as they seem so long as you’re willing to be flexible there will be light at the end of the tunnel. Promise!!

Any mentioning of losing the cat can go fly with the pixies!!

Had a look at the your SOA that you kindly provided and there’s a few choices that may seem painful to begin with but ones that I’ve had to take so they are not as bad as they seem.
First easy ones is the £42 on the TV and the licence of £12.02. Yes if you’re willing not to watch The BBC then doing this will give you an additional £52.02 a month.

Now comes the harder one which would be to sell the car in doing this you would save £122 in HP , £25 in petrol , £20 in road tax , £26.79 insurance and £5 parking . Saving you £198.9 totalling up to an additional £250.81.

I understand that you use the car to drive to your clients which you could get public transport to get you there granted it’s not as convenient but even so it would not eat that much into you £250.81 saved. That said if by the looks of it your business is not going well and congratulations you are a braver person than me for trying it!! Then wind it up and go onto JSA as Lauren says its £75 a week plus would shouldn’t have to pay your council tax or be it at a highly reduced rate. Also I would check with the Child tax credits or whatever it’s called as you might be eligible for an increase. Furthermore a check on the CSA calculator wouldn’t go a miss to make sure your x partner is paying the correct amount.

Lastly in terms of the debt might be worth seeing if there’s a loan u can take for £9500 over maybe 5 years at a fixed term which would reduce your monthly payments down to around £220 or alternatively contact the vendors themselves and tell them you can’t afford to keep paying could you come to an agreed figure. In most cases they will as the last thing believe it or not they want u to do is stop paying.

I found that a simple cash flow on a spreadsheet helped me lots as I could at least tell where I would be at the end of the month with the goal of keeping a positive even if it was only a few pounds!

Also kids are very resilient mine where shocked that I had to take them home on the train or bus cause I had no car but I said that it will be way more fun and why not let someone else do the driving which now they don’t seem to mind.


Thing is I was left in over 15K in debt while having to suffer the humiliation of betrayal and did go through some very dark times. However I drew a line across the sand and like I said honestly it’s not the end of the world speaking from experience that keeping positive is the only demand.

Thanks Prometheus, sorry to hear you've had a tough time too. I can't sell the car as it's on a HP agreement so the best I could do would be to hand it back to the loan company. I only have 16 months left to pay on it so I'd rather hang on in there if at all possible. I'm currently receiving everything I'm entitled to with regard to tax credits, housing benefit and child maintenance - the only way I can increase my income is by increasing my income! I was on Jobseeker's Allowance for a few months at the start of the year and I hated every second of it and found it completely demoralising, so would rather not go down that route. I was going to give myself until the end of Oct to secure a job but it's looking like I might not make it that far, so I may have to claim JSA sooner rather than later.

There's no way I'd get a loan with my lack of income so I just need to keep making the repayments on the debt I currently have for now. I can see that it will all be paid off in approx. 3 years, so I just need to keep at it and the debts will be paid off eventually.

ElleWoods

anna_1977 wrote: »

Hi, just a quick observation - does your son not get free travel or free school lunches as you don't have a regular income. Schools also provide uniform grants for families that are struggling. Definitely worth considering.

Well done on all the changes so far. When it comes to changing BB do shop about and do TopCasgBack. I recently moved mine to BT for £28 a month BUT I got £110 cashback and a £150 BT reward card so works out as only a few pence a month (12 mth contract)

Good luck

Thanks Anna. Kids here aren't given free travel and I don't qualify for free school meals because I get working tax credits. If I give up my business and go onto Jobseeker's Allowance I'll then be entitled to FSM, which would help. Not sure how it works in secondary school though because at the moment I give cash for lunch. Need to look into it.

I've given Virgin Media 30 days notice of cancellation so I'm looking at BB deals now - will check out BT, thanks for the heads up.

ElleWoods

Andyjflet wrote: »

What agreement is your car loan an PCP or HP agreement ?

It's HP, so I can't actually sell it - the best I could do would be to hand it back. However I've only got 16 months left to pay so I'd rather plough on if I can. It'll also allow me to apply for jobs further afield, as opposed to just those on a bus route!

EssexHebridean

Do you have data on your mobile phone contract? Can you use that for your home internet by tethering to it i the short term rather than taking out a new BB contract? failing that I do know that Sky currently have a line rental & unlimited BB for £15 deal going on - might be worth a look as including Line Rental that's not a bad price. (Although I hasten to add I've not explored what else is out there before anyone jumps on me!)

sile001

The very best of luck ElleWoods It is a struggle, but those little day by day things can help enormously.

enthusiasticsaver

In the short term why not try doing surveys to boost your income. A lot of people seem to do well although it is time consuming for only small rewards but could keep you ticking over until you find a job. Check to see if you are eligible for any more benefits.

ElleWoods

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

In the short term why not try doing surveys to boost your income. A lot of people seem to do well although it is time consuming for only small rewards but could keep you ticking over until you find a job. Check to see if you are eligible for any more benefits.

I already do surveys and other similar things. It helps but it's not regular money. I'm definitely not entitled to any additional benefits though - being self-employed, I have mine assessed about every six months or so (when I have to give tons of paperwork to the council!).

I'm applying for jobs and also looking into other self-employment options, such as taking on some cleaning or gardening work, although I doubt there's much call for gardening work at this time of year!