Hitting rock bottom - Massive Help Needed

sammyjammy

I don't know what plan your Student loan is on but on your salary you maybe someway off having to repay anything, it wouldn't be included in bankruptcy anyway so do yourself a mental favour and remove it from your calculations, now its not £40k, thin of that loan as a graduate tax not a debt.

You don't say what repayments you are making on these debts currently but if you are seriously thinking about bankruptcy you should stop paying them to save towards the fees.

Best of luck, it really isn't as bad as it feels, most of us posting here have been there and done it, some of us several times before we saw the light.

You aren't on your own and I really sympathise with the guilt/embarrassment but a problem shared is a problem halved.

cazabella2019

My current salary is £18,252.00 per year before deductions and as far as I'm aware the student loan isn't due to be repaid from my salary until I earn £25,000.00, as someone mentioned in a message above that's the least of my worries and I will remove that from my list.... I guess £35k of debt sounds marginally better than £40k.

I haven't paid anything to the list in well over a year or longer, It just got too much and I couldn't handle it, I had my head buried so far in the sand for so long now it was unbelievable. So this is me taking responsibility and trying to do the right thing and get my life in some kind of order again, the letters kept piling up and I couldn't take it any more.

As far as I'm aware the interest is no longer being added to the balances, all of the accounts have defaulted / been passed to a third party firm a long time ago.

Wish I'd done this years ago and I would of been debt free by now!

cazabella2019

I just had a thought also.... As these are old defaulted debts would it be worth contacting the third party debt collecting company they are with and asking them for a minimum settlement value?

I don't know how all this works, just learning so i'm just trying to ask questions and learn.

Thank you.

sourcrates

cazabella2019 wrote: »

I've just got my equifax credit report for the first time. There are items that state settled such as my Barclaycard amount, I haven't paid this so how can this be settled? I don't quite understand, if someone can advise how that happens.

Thank you.

It means the debt has been sold to a debt purchasing company, as the original creditor has washed their hands of it.

You can skirt around various ways of dealing with individual creditors, but thats like plugging your finger in a hole in a dam, sooner or later the dam will fail.

I really would advise you to look at bankrupcy, you have far too many creditors, and very little disposable income, you can end this in hours by paying the bankrupcy fee, and pressing send, why continue trying to mend something thats irritrevably broken.

cazabella2019

Thank you, i'm just trying to get an understanding of everything so I can have a list of questions ready when I phone stepchange.

I will consider all available avenues to go down, I don't really know much about bankruptcy and how it will affect me etc so I just want to gain as much knowledge as I can before I make the decision.

sourcrates

cazabella2019 wrote: »

Thank you, i'm just trying to get an understanding of everything so I can have a list of questions ready when I phone stepchange.

I will consider all available avenues to go down, I don't really know much about bankruptcy and how it will affect me etc so I just want to gain as much knowledge as I can before I make the decision.

And you are right to do so, but you must be realistic here.


It will only effect you if you work in a position where you are dealing with money or finance, stepchange have a virtual online debt analyser, you simply input your details, and it throws out a solution, you can get a basic idea by using that beore you speak to them.

secretdebt

The very first thing to do (if you haven't already) is to sign up on http://gamstop.co.uk.
I cannot tell you how much it helps when you want to gamble, but know you can't!

I had a load of debt from gambling and it took me 4.5 years or so to pay it off. There were a few slip ups during my time, but generally it was ok. Using Gamstop for the past 9 months has likely been a life saver. It means that even though I may want to, I actually can't, and before I know it, the urge to gamble goes away.

Opening up and talking to people about it helps, and you may also then find someone who is in the same situation (more common than people realise unfortunately).

Stepchange were good and i would recommend using their services.

Hit me a private message if you want to talk about it in private, I am happy to help fellow gambling addicts.

DCFC79

Would talking to a friend about the issue/s over a coffee help to get it off your chest.

Wimbrel

Take a deep breath! You've taken a huge and courageous step in opening all the envelopes, adding it all up and being honest with yourself. And you've faced up to the fact that you have a gambling problem, another huge step.

Contact Stepchange or give debt line a ring (0808 808 4000.). You need expert advice on this and they can help you out and help you to sort the HMRC stuff out. As others have said some of the payday loans may be something you can get written off or refunded.

Take care of yourself. I know it feels dreadful right now (look at my sig, I've been there) but there will be a way of resolving this and starting afresh.

Get some advice about the gambling too, I believe there is a way that you can effectively block yourself from gambling.

And look around the forum, you'll find lots of advice and inspiration and it will help to keep you on track


And good luck.

BabyStepper

I think you've been given some great advice so far, contacting stepchange or similar and considering bankruptcy. It sounds like a good option, so I don't want to add anything to that.

I do want to say that your pattern of spending is extremely unusual and more than a little worrying. 7 x O2 debts, 2 gym memberships (with the same gym), 2 car reposessions (4 years apart), it looks to me that you are caught in a cycle of spending behaviour that even after bankruptcy you are going to find difficult to change. I don't want you to get into bigger trouble down the line.

I know the gambling has been a problem, you also have been given good advice about that and I hope you get help with it.

I want to suggest that you set up a diary on here and let the good people of mse help you to manage your money and your spending. There are ways and means of making your wages stretch, you can learn what's affordable and what's not, and mostly there is a lot of encouragement to change behaviour. We've all had to do it, it's entirely possible and much better fun with help on hand and a lot of sympathy and understanding along with straight talking and guidance.

Whatever you do, best of luck with it all. We're all here for you.