Looking for advice on what to do with bills/debt after redundancy

Drawingaline

My husband was made redundant in April 2016 and was out of work for 13months. We managed. Look online to see if you qualify or any council tax support, are you receiving child tax credits? If so ring them now and let them know. You should be due an increase.
Can your partner look for a part time job? I was working two jobs while my husband was out of work which meant we could at least pay the mortgage.

However I definitely think speaking to one of the debt charities to discuss short term and long term options is a must

Mondy

Drawingaline wrote: »

My husband was made redundant in April 2016 and was out of work for 13months. We managed. Look online to see if you qualify or any council tax support, are you receiving child tax credits? If so ring them now and let them know. You should be due an increase.
Can your partner look for a part time job? I was working two jobs while my husband was out of work which meant we could at least pay the mortgage.

However I definitely think speaking to one of the debt charities to discuss short term and long term options is a must

My partner does receive child tax credits, I am nit sure if she would be entitled to more since I am now unemployed?

As for my partner working this is something she is looking at but its tricky to juggle work whilst looking after our one year old son. Unfortunately we do not have any help from family to look after him.

With regards to calling debt management companies this isn't something I have done before. I am not sure what to expect or how they would be able to help. Would any debt plan impact my credit rating or impact on me getting a job in a bank for example?

Ilona

Mondy wrote: »

With regards to calling debt management companies this isn't something I have done before. I am not sure what to expect or how they would be able to help. Would any debt plan impact my credit rating or impact on me getting a job in a bank for example?

Just picked this up. Do not call a debt management company which charges a fee. You can get free help from Stepchange, Christians Against Poverty, and Citizens Advice. Any of those will go through things with you. Repeat....DO NOT PAY FOR HELP. They will take a cut and it will take a lot longer to resolve things.

Ilona

Mondy

Ilona wrote: »

Just picked this up. Do not call a debt management company which charges a fee. You can get free help from Stepchange, Christians Against Poverty, and Citizens Advice. Any of those will go through things with you. Repeat....DO NOT PAY FOR HELP. They will take a cut and it will take a lot longer to resolve things.

Ilona

Thanks for the advice, if I was going call any debt management company it would be StepChnage. But as I said above I am not sure if it would impact my credit rating or impact on me getting a job in a bank for example?

sourcrates

Mondy wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, if I was going call any debt management company it would be StepChnage. But as I said above I am not sure if it would impact my credit rating or impact on me getting a job in a bank for example?

Hi Mondy,

You don't have enough money in your budget for debt management, you are currently, to all intents and purposes, insolvent, to the tune of £854.00 a month.

Any form of debt management or missing payments will impact your credit file, i don't think you can avoid that now.

To me you seem like the perfect candidate for bankruptcy,
(i suspect stepchange will agree).

You are out of work, you have no tangible assets, and find yourself £33,000 in debt, with no way of currently repaying it.

Your budget is not extravagant at all, i`m not a fan of cutting back budgets to the bone for no real gain.

Short term, you could just offer your creditors £1 a month each for the time being, write to each one explaining the situation.

Long term, if you get work again soon, then re-evaluate the situation, if, on the other hand, well enough paid work didn't materialize, you always have a fall back option.

C.M.

Just an observation - you mention your partner would find it difficult to juggle looking after your one year old and working. But you are currently not working, so surely you could help out with the childcare; and then plan any new employment so that you work opposite 'shifts'...

If your new employment is week days 9-5ish then your paryner can work evenings and weekends - to minimise childcare required, as it would appear that even if / when you return to employment one salary isn't enough for you to make a substantial dent in these debts - you have been living beyond your means prior to redundancy