It's all such a mess and I don't know where to turn

Scarlett.1974

lunar wrote: »

Scarlett, I wanted to say well done on your LBM and for having such a positive and constructive attitude towards solving you debt. you will find all the support you need on here, ive found my diary and others diaries so helpful in staying motivated.

keep up the hard work and keep posting on here, it will keep you going when things seem difficult

Thank you

It's odd really. Nothing has changed today, not yet, but I don't feel quite as hopeless, nor quite as alone as I did this morning.

Scarlett.1974

Floss wrote: »

Just a quickie, take a good look at every option. Consolidation can be good for some people, but may not be the best solution for others. Payplan should be able to help you on Thursday.

Have a good day tomorrow, and all enjoy DS's birthday!

Floss xx

Thanks Floss

I don't think consolidation is an option for us anyway. Our credit rating is now in a mess due to H's Payplan arrangement.

In a strange way, as much as the thought of it is making me nervous, I'm kind of looking forward to calling them so I can find out exactly where we stand and what the best options for us are. Thank God for companies like Payplan and CCCS eh?

Oh, and thanks for the kind words re tomorrow. I'm sure we'll all have a lovely day, I put a VERY excited little boy to bed earlier this evening, wonder what time he'll have us all up in the morning?!

lunar

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

Thank you

It's odd really. Nothing has changed today, not yet, but I don't feel quite as hopeless, nor quite as alone as I did this morning.

I know what you mean, before i came here i thought i was the only one in this position, just knowing you are not alone makes everything seem easier to cope with.

Alan1973

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

Hi Alan1973,

Thank you for your reply, your advice is much appreciated. Since you've taken the trouble to type such a long, helpful reply I shall try to reply to all your points raised

I don't think there's much I can do about my job at the moment. I'm not trained or qualified in anything else. I work from home at the moment, in the evenings for a recruitment agency and it's a small company so asking for a payrise would get me no joy, I know this for a fact. Any additional income I could make at the moment (day-time working, ironing services etc.... oh I've considered them all) would only be taken away from our tax credits, so a bit of a no-win situation there. Another valid point that I should raise is that my son has ASD and obviously, as a big part of that, routine is everything. If mummy were to suddenly not be there when he is used to me being there then that would be incredibly difficult for him to handle, so that would be a final resort for me

I can't get a credit card or loan for my CC/loan debts because due to H's payplan arrangement our credit rating is now in tatters.

First plus have told us they can do absolutely nothing to help us at the moment, until our account is 12 months old, nothing at all - that's helpful of them isn't it?

I am currently looking into switching our utilities and life & house insurances to cheaper providers; that's going quite well, but the British Gas site kept crashing earlier today, so that's on my list to do

We have discussed today selling the car, paying off the HP and buying something cheaper - H is naturally not keen on this, but it's something that we're discussing still.

There is no equity in the house at all, not a bean; in fact we're probably in negative equity now due to the First Plus loan (the biggest mistake we ever made that, but hindsight's a wonderful thing isn't it?), so no profit there to re-pay any debt.

Alan, if the kids sit still long enough I'm thinking about e-baying them lol!

I completely see what you're saying about H not being ready to go back to work yet, hell I agree with you. But apart from Bankruptcy we're not sure what else to do.

Thanks for the hugs, they're seriously needed and much appreciated

Hi Scarlett and thanks for your reply

I'll try and answer all your points. Would it be possible to even get a 1% rise from your job, it's better than nothing. Also, would you have an hour or so free each day to do some part time work. Better still, maybe do something additional that you can do from home? Think about whether you could start a little business on Ebay - anything from making jewellery to selling information products. I would say that for the future, retraining should be a priority. I hear from people all the time 'I can't make ends meet' - yes that's because they don't earn enough to get by. Even if your husband worked and you increased your salary to £1000 a month, that's only a £2000 a month take home pay between 2 people and 3 kids. I know again it sounds blunt, but that isn't enough.

Would a family member be prepared to take a consolidation loan / credit card to get rid of all your other loans and cards etc.? It would make it a lot cheaper and pay it much quicker.

Nice work with the utilities Scarlett :T .

If you can get a cheaper car then you have to do it. Use the money to pay the most urgent bill.

I don't have much knowledge on mortgages / equity etc. but for one second suppose you have no positive or negative equity (you owe as much as the value of the house). If your house was worth £175000 as an example, could you not move to a £150000 house to free up 25k? I don't know if this is possible because of your credit rating etc. but it is an idea.

I would expect you could Ebay a lot of your unwanted stuff and wouldn't be surprised if you made over £1000 - most people are horders.

I urge you to take a look at the matched betting stuff as it is low risk money for nothing. Imagine having an extra £25 now by doing a few button presses on the internet. Repeat etc.

Try to remember the mortgage is your most important debt and always make that a priority. Where possible, come to payment arrangements with other creditors.

You're living way beyond your means at the moment and it's easy to do - using credit to pay credit and you get into a situation that's so hard to get out of. Only use bankruptcy as a last resort, but even then you do get out of the hole.

I know some of what I say is very matter of fact but I don't mean it in a nasty or patronising way, just trying to state the options from an outsiders point of view and offer advice. I reckon everyone here will support you .

Al

RosieMacDoo

Hi hun

I echo what others have said - give CCCS or Payplan a call - I'm sure they'll be able to advise you on the best way forward

Rosie x

D_D_3

I can't add much to what's already been posted but we are in a similar position to you with some bigger numbers, but finally contacted National Debtline when my bank issued a summons to repossess the house. With their advice, I managed to get the possession order suspended while we pay off the arrears and am about to start a DMP with Payplan so hopefully things can only get better.

Can anybody advise whether the continual letters and phone calls from creditors stop once teh DMP gets underway, as they have so far ignored the hold letters sent out advising them what we are doing.

Keep going for it, and use the support from here (I haven't posted full details yet but read through to see what tips l can pick up).

PasturesNew

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

the first plus loan (taken out last december before H lost his job) was for £40k and is over 20 years.

Don't want to be rude, but what did you spend it on?

backontheup

PasturesNew wrote: »

Don't want to be rude, but what did you spend it on?

What do any of us spend 'it' on? LIFE. Otherwise we'd all have Aston Martins in the drive (take a look at my signature - surely enough for such a vehicle. Do I have one? NAH):rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

arthurdick

scarlett, i agree with the cat, you dont need sky at all, how many of the channels do you watch, not too many i think, sorry scarlett not aving a go at you, but thinking about me own experiences.......plus most are repeats.. if you need extra tv, yep get a freeview box( one-off payment i think)... cut down to just 1 mobile if pos.....anychance of downsizing your house, ? , i have done that 3 times over the last 20yrs,( no i dont live in a wendyhouse now:) ) just a thought

Floss

Happy birthday to your son - have a great day & let us know how you get on with Payplan tomorrow.

As I said, think hard about the options - a "quick-fix" may seem the easy way out, but may not be best for you & your family.

Love Floss xx