Emigrating + Unemployed + Baby on Board 😰

JWTH

First post here and thankful for any advice I can get as it's a bit of a sticky situation.

In brief: my wife and I are expecting our first child in October (YAY!!!).  That's  the good news.  Unfortunately we are UK nationals working in the hospitality sector in Thailand who both recently lost our jobs, so have the additional expense of emigrating back to Northern Ireland once travel restrictions are lifted and before our visas expire in mid-June.  Whilst we will be coming back with some savings (approx. £6k between us) we are aware of how quickly these will be eaten-up in the current climate whilst there is no guarantee of work when we return.  Additionally we have a dog and 2 x cats who will be coming back with us (leaving them is not an option) and a fairly substantial credit card with a balance of 8k (monthy min. payment £200) which will rapidly eat into any savings we do have.

Account Overview:

Current account 1	£800
Current Account 2	£900
Current Account 3	£50.00
Savings	£1,000
CC	-£8,100

Happy to provide further details and receive any advice on ways to get out of debt quicker or generate additional income until I can secure a permanent position.

Thanks in advance,

JWTH

Galloglass

I suppose the first thing to do is to check your benefits entitlements to see what sort of income you'll have in the short term. Hospitality jobs may be few and far between this year.
https://www.housingadviceni.org/universal-credit/introducing-universal-credit

In addition, are your cards/accounts based in the UK and subject to UK rules?

CreditCardJunkie

Hi, I live in NI, depending on your past work experience, there are companies on boarding remotely at the moment. Take a look at ni jobs. 
Congratulations on the baby! 

ryanm8655

Who’s the credit card with?

[Deleted User]

To get UK benefits you will need to pass the habitual residents test so keep that in mind, wont the cost of bringing back a dog and 2 cats be something you can't afford with a baby on the way?

JWTH

Thanks all for your input.  I wasn't sure how to check replies to threads, hence only getting back 7 months later.
Update:
- We had a baby boy in early November!
- The animals were reunited with us in early July.  We were lucky to have a flight volunteer bring them back to us which, whilst not cheap, was certainly cheaper than cargo.  To Venison above I completely get your point but they're family to us and we wouldn't leave them behind...we travel as a pack.
- As we're all well aware the situation back here has been handled abysmally so job hunting has been a struggle.  After many failed applications I secured work as a courier in early December which has kept the wolves from the door but only just.  Not sure how long this will hold out as they are laying off a lot of drivers due to shortage of work so I could be out soon on a 'last in, first out basis'.
- We are presently receiving benefits though also just enough to get by

My debt presently stands at:
Credit Card: £7,850
Other debts (no interest accruing on this one): £700

The credit card (Virgin) finished it's 0% promotional run in December although, as I'd missed a payment previously, it ended almost a year previous.  Would I be best just hacking away at the credit card as is or potentially transferring the outstanding balance to up to 3 x 0% balance cards?  My thinking is whilst that requires 3 separate payments they would each be lower (probably) than the total for Virgin and the interest I'm currently paying (£100 + payment) could be used to shift the actual debt.

Apologies for the delay and the essay but any advice would be magic!

CreditCardJunkie

Congratulations on the baby! And welcome back to NI! There are always jobs available in care, I know it's probably not what you're looking for but they're always hiring, as are the call centers who I believe are all working remotely at the moment.
The general consensus on here is if it saves you money do it!
Best of luck!

JWTH

CreditCardJunkie said:

Congratulations on the baby! And welcome back to NI! There are always jobs available in care, I know it's probably not what you're looking for but they're always hiring, as are the call centers who I believe are all working remotely at the moment.
The general consensus on here is if it saves you money do it!
Best of luck!

Thanks for your input and I'll keep it in mind.  I have been interviewed for carer positions but was unsuccessful, plus I genuinely enjoy the courier work,  It's long hours and you certainly work for your money but the job satisfaction is higher than working in call centre sales, in my experience.  
Oh, and congratulations on becoming debt free, it must feel amazing!