CC Co. wont reduce payments

egamar

piper911 wrote: »

because the private sector rarely take pets.

Heartless b*stards! Very true tho. Some won't even allow a bleedin' budgie or a goldfish!

Robflh

Hi piper911

I made a mistake last time, you cannot do an IVA period. For an IVA the debt must be more then £15,000.

In all probability the letter will only give you some breathing space, so you can get something sorted out without them breathing down your neck.

You are an illegal tenant because you have a dog and the tenancy agreement says no pets allowed. That may be true but it would be no reason for you not to have signed on or for you not to put in a claim for housing benefit or the single persons council tax discount.

As the car is still being paid for then no you cannot sell it, especially as someone else is paying for it. There are no car payments on your SOA.

Payplan are open until 9PM, so you can ring them in the evening and get them to conform this.

You cannot do a DMP unless you can make regular payments. Ie the same amount each month. At the moment you do not have enough money left each month to be able to make payments of a sufficient amount. Payplan should be able to give you an idea how much the payment would need to be.


OPTIONS

Get a better-paid job:
As you are working and gaining experience this may be possible, so join a few employment agencies. As you are working, it is difficult to do both, so let them look for you but ring them regularly or they could forget all about you.

Get a second job:
I have often seen evening cleaning jobs going. They normally have a minimum wage but ten hours at £5.52 would be £55.20 a week or £239.2 a month. With any luck, you will have more than half that left after tax and expenses.

Change accommodation:
A house share, one where several of you share a house but the landlord does not live there. Not all landlords bar pets. (Share the elec, gas & phone bills but save on council tax)

Rooms to let can range from a separate room to the rest of the house. Effectively making you and outsider, to the spare room in a family house, where you are treated as part of the family. It depends on you but I think the later is the best and again having a dog will not always exclude you. (Utility bills are included in the rent and no council tax)

Rent a room in your home:
You have not mentioned how many bedrooms you have but I am assuming that there is only one bedroom and that you could not make the living room in to a bedroom. That has made me think of an alternative. Rent a two bedroom flat and rent out the second bedroom. That way it is your home and you decide who would share it with you.

One draw back for changing accommodation is that you often have to pay a deposit and rent up front but not if you go through the council. They have there own deposit scheme.

Bankruptcy:
This is possible a last resort but never the less it is an option. However, if the car is worth more the £1,000 whether it has or has not been paid for, it will be sold to help pay off your debts.

I cannot think of any more options but others reading this maybe able to come up with a few more and it is difficult to do this with a four legged lump hiding under the desk because of the fireworks going off.

piper911

egamar wrote: »

Heartless b*stards! Very true tho. Some won't even allow a bleedin' budgie or a goldfish!

Damn right EG !!...Look in the property / rooms to let classifieds and you'll see these words everywhere

No children / pets / DHSS / smokers / sharers

piper911

Robflh wrote: »

Hi piper911

You are an illegal tenant because you have a dog and the tenancy agreement says no pets allowed. That may be true but it would be no reason for you not to have signed on or for you not to put in a claim for housing benefit or the single persons council tax discount.

Wrong Rob ! I'm an illegal tenant because the real ( legal ) council tenant is illegally sub letting me his flat while he lives with his girlfriend. I find it virtually impossible to find private sector accommodation that take pets. hence why i;m still here in this flat 2.5 years on. Its also the reason i cant claim benefits. They'd know instantly that i'm not the official tenant and the guy would lose his flat and i;d be out on the street !

As the car is still being paid for then no you cannot sell it, especially as someone else is paying for it. There are no car payments on your SOA.

Forgot about those payments - £120 per month till next may


OPTIONS

Get a better-paid job:
As you are working and gaining experience this may be possible, so join a few employment agencies. As you are working, it is difficult to do both, so let them look for you but ring them regularly or they could forget all about you.

Already signed with around 7 agencies over the last year, and not one of them has found me work. Agencies tend to have more temp work, and i cant afford to be coming to the end of 6 weeks / 3 months work with an agency only to find they havent got any work from then on.

Get a second job:
I have often seen evening cleaning jobs going. They normally have a minimum wage but ten hours at £5.52 would be £55.20 a week or £239.2 a month. With any luck, you will have more than half that left after tax and expenses.

I'm already tired out after getting up at 6am and getting home near 4.30 / 5.00 ... and i'm no spring chicken at 53. I'd rather not die of exhaustion.

Change accommodation:
A house share, one where several of you share a house but the landlord does not live there. Not all landlords bar pets. (Share the elec, gas & phone bills but save on council tax)

Like trying to find hens lips in this town

Rent a room in your home:
You have not mentioned how many bedrooms you have but I am assuming that there is only one bedroom and that you could not make the living room in to a bedroom. That has made me think of an alternative. Rent a two bedroom flat and rent out the second bedroom. That way it is your home and you decide who would share it with you.

Its not my home - its a 1 bed council flat, already being illegally let to me. I'm not the official tenant. It'd be suicide to sub sub let.... besides, the legal tenant wouldnt stand for that 1 bit.

Robflh

Hi piper911

So I was right first time, the tenant is sub letting to you. In that case, get him to put in the claim for the single persons council tax discount. I am assuming that he is not already getting it. If he is on a low income, get him to claim housing benefit as well.

piper911 wrote: »

I am only renting illegally because the private sector rarely take pets.

I thought you meant you were in breach of your tenancy agreement because of the dog. As I said before a room to let, where you would be apart of the family would be ideal for you and as it would not involve a private landlord, the dog would not be as big of an issue.

I have lodgers share my home with me, if one of them had a dog it would not be a problem, if that is I was not already looking after a friend’s dog.

You have to pester the job agencies otherwise they tend to forget you and I hate to say this but your age will provably go against you. Is there a B&Q near you, as I understand it, they prefer older staff. They are less likely to take time off, work much harder and they are a lot more reliable.

True, working and extra two hours a night would be hard work but we all have to make sacrifices if we are going to get rid of are debts. However, you could always try to find a Saturday job. The job agencies could help you with that as well. An extra eight hours pay would still give you enough to start clearing your debts.

You have £120 a month to add to your SOA. As it stands that means, you have a deficit of about £80 a month and as the credit cards are now blocked, you can no longer use them to bale you out.

Are or can your family help you to make ends meet. You can always pay them back later.

I would still have a word with the council. They have a duty to house the homeless and as a 53-year-old woman, you would be in more need of housing then a younger person would. You can tell them you are going to be evicted or that you are sleeping on a friends settee.

Do not forget to contact www.payplan.com to see if they can help you 0800 9177823.

Ps. is there anything else you can sell apart from you car, that would give you a lump sum to pay off you debts. How about unlocking your pension and using some of the money to pay off you debts.

piper911

Robflh wrote: »

Hi piper911

So I was right first time, the tenant is sub letting to you. In that case, get him to put in the claim for the single persons council tax discount. I am assuming that he is not already getting it. If he is on a low income, get him to claim housing benefit as well.

He's a full time worker and already , as far as i know , claims single tax allowance. However, why he would pass that on to me i dont know. Most people like to make a bit of profit when renting out, whether legally or not

As I said before a room to let, where you would be apart of the family would be ideal for you and as it would not involve a private landlord, the dog would not be as big of an issue.

Still not easy to find. But i'm keeping an eye out !!

Is there a B&Q near you, as I understand it, they prefer older staff. They are less likely to take time off, work much harder and they are a lot more reliable.

Yes there is, and i've been on their books for about 5 months so far

True, working and extra two hours a night would be hard work but we all However, you could always try to find a Saturday job. The job agencies could help you with that as well. An extra eight hours pay would still give you enough to start clearing your debts.

In my current job, i have to work 1 saturday out of 6. I couldnt get a saturday job, and then have every 6th saturday off. An employer would not really put up with that. But that brings in another £30 every 6 weeks, less deductions. Something i forgot to add to my SOA

Are or can your family help you to make ends meet. You can always pay them back later.

Its possible that i could borrow the finance payments for my vehicle and pay that off, but its a long shot. My family are not rich and live week to week just like me.

I would still have a word with the council. They have a duty to house the homeless and as a 53-year-old woman, you would be in more need of housing then a younger person would. You can tell them you are going to be evicted or that you are sleeping on a friends settee.

There are people in this town who are sleeping in tents and hit the local news at 6. If the council cant/wont house them, i dont see how a single British working male with no kids is going to get placed into a decent flat

Ps. is there anything else you can sell apart from you car, that would give you a lump sum to pay off you debts. How about unlocking your pension and using some of the money to pay off you debts.

NO - have nothing of value as it was all sold leading up to this point. No pension whatsoever

piper911

Have now submitted a Payplan form, and waiting to be contacted

Thanks for the link and all the fantastic help, folks :beer:

MABLE

I would have thought that taking home less than £200 per week this would entitle you to working tax credits.

piper911

I filled in that " entitled to " link posted here and i was entitled to absolutely nothing, apparently

Robflh

Hi piper911

If your family can make the car payments, you would have, including an average of £21.66 per month for the Saturdays you work, about £55 left each month and that might be enough to keep your two creditors happy.

I cannot remember off hand if when you are in a DMP agreement with your creditors, the interest is frozen on your credit cards. However, Payplan will be able to tell you what happens about interest and charges being added to your debts.

There are several forums on this website with great ways to save on your shopping bill. They would be worth looking at to see if you can reduce your shopping bill.


I would still have a word with the council, they may not be able to help you or they might be able to help you. There is only one way to find out which it is.