Hey everyone, newbie here!

truthseeker_4

Hi. I really need help! I've got myself into a bit of a pickle...i've got about £5,000 worth of debt i think and I'm only 18 :eek: . I have no idea about handling debt so I'm hoping you guys can give me a bit of an education! I have about £2,500 on a 0% credit card till September next year. But I also have about the same amount on free overdrafts in student accounts. The thing is I have just quit uni. So I'm no longer entitled to these overdrafts! I spose I have to phone the banks and notify them and then..well I just don't know what to do with the debt! I can try applying for another 0% credit card on my parent's behalf. Would this be the best option? Does this damage their credit rating? And now I've quit uni I plan to get a job to pay it all off.

Because I've just quit uni and moved back home, money is shuffling round my accounts. I have quite a few accounts! I'll get some uni accomodation money back so this should take off some of the debt. But I also have to start paying rent and food to my parents soon. The amount is negotiable. But I want to pay for my keep to help my parents out.

My parents have no idea about my debt. I'm also suffering from this thing called social anxiety at the moment. This makes it hard to do stuff like get a job on the account of being terrified! It's ridiculous and pretty frustrating. This is basically why I quit uni, because of the anxiety, and indirectly why I have these debts. If it wasn't for the anxiety I'd still be at uni, I wouldn't be in half as much debt and I'd have got a part-time job and I'd be fine, in a bit of debt like any student but a low-interest debt. I'd always wanted to go to uni and never planned to quit it. I never realised my anxiety would get in the way of it. I've kind of pushed it under the doormat for a while but I really have to admit now it's affecting my life! But I'm not saying all my debt was completely unavoidable. Alot could have been avoided if I had been less of an idiot.

I have a place open for me to go back to uni next year. I would really really like to be able to do this and just get on with my life. But first I've got to face up to these debts and get over this stupid anxiety. I've found a therapy that I think will help me overcome it :j but this costs a bit...so basically I'm hoping to make some serious headway on these debts and get over these silly fears so I can go back to uni or atleast get a decent job. Right now I think I can just about manage getting a job in a shop or something with very little responsibility. I hope anyways. I realise this means it will take me longer to get over the debt but I don't think i could realistically manage anything else at the moment. I got good results at A-level and this is all i can do...feeling like a bit of a failure at the moment! All my friends are having a great time at uni and my family keep asking what I'm doing dropping out of such a great uni.

Anyway thanks for listening to my long ramble and any advice on any of this would be greatly appreciated!

free4440273

Welcome TS to DFW:hello:. Good to see another person dealing with their debts. Don't let the bast**** get you down; they are WEAK, you are STRONG:)

Numpty_Monkey

Just want to say hello:hello:
and well done to facing your debts :T as for advice the best thing i can suggest is reading the "newbie" sticky post at the top ,

post an SOA and the amazing people here will give you help and advice

take care and welcome:j

hypno06

Hello and welcome to DFW!

Have you seen your GP about the anxiety - there may be a waiting list but you might be able to get free therapy on the NHS. You might need to push for it, but this could help you quite a bit. Alternatively, give your local MIND a call (the number should be in your phone book) and they often have subsidised therapists who could help.

Robflh

Hi truthseeker

truthseeker wrote: »

But first I've got to face up to these debts and get over this stupid anxiety.

You have already done the first and anxiety is not stupid. A job, part time or full time, will add to your anxiety and may still be too much for you to cope with. That in itself is not a problem but forcing yourself to work because of the debts could push you over the edge.

Your first port of call is your GP. Explain to them how you are feeling and ask them if they think a course of antidepressants would help you. They will also help you to calm down. While you are there ask them if they will sign you off sick, you may not think so but you are ill.

Being concerned about your debts is one thing but worrying about them will do nothing to sort them out. However, worrying about them will add to your anxiety. Shock is a natural reaction to bad news, so when you get bad news, sit down and allow it to pass.

Go to your local council offices and ask to see a housing advice officer. They have a list of approved landlords and know if any of them have a vacancy. Then go and see whether you can get housing benefit. This way you will only have to pay for your food or you can go round your parents for dinner (pay something towards this).

Post an SOA. Click on the link below to see how to do one.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

truthseeker_4

Thanx for the kind welcomes :hello: i thought i'd get loads of 'you idiot' responses (deservedly). But some of your sigs are really inspiring! You guys sound determined :T .

Unfortunately the therapy's an alternative one and not available anywhere else. It's not rip-off price though it's pretty fair.

OK i'll post an SOA in a bit...

I had a peek at that newbie sticky, i spose being 18 and all not all the options are open to me. I don't have a credit rating, a house, or a job as yet! The 0% credit card is my parent's with me as additional cardholder. They don't use theirs.

I just dunno what to do with these student overdrafts. I don't qualify for the overdraft or the account anymore as it's 'student' account. So what do i do with the debt?! They're gonna demand it back. The only thing i can think of is to take another 0% card out in my parents name.

bathgatebuyer

I too suffer from anxiety to the extent that 4 months back I had an ambulance called to my workplace when I had a panic attack. I can laugh about it now as I'm much more settled in my new job, but the people I worked with then had no idea what true anxiety is.

The one thing I will say is that you can beat it. The source of my anxiety really was about money and job security, but tackling debts brings with it a feelig of real self-confidence. Seeing my total debt figures dropping as I work towards being debt-free has made me feel much more positive and I'm thinking about a really positive future and not worrying about the bleak past.

It is possible - see it as just part of your life and not your whole life.

truthseeker_4

bathgatebuyer wrote: »

I too suffer from anxiety to the extent that 4 months back I had an ambulance called to my workplace when I had a panic attack. I can laugh about it now as I'm much more settled in my new job, but the people I worked with then had no idea what true anxiety is.

The one thing I will say is that you can beat it. The source of my anxiety really was about money and job security, but tackling debts brings with it a feelig of real self-confidence. Seeing my total debt figures dropping as I work towards being debt-free has made me feel much more positive and I'm thinking about a really positive future and not worrying about the bleak past.

It is possible - see it as just part of your life and not your whole life.

Thanks for posting your experience bathgatebuyer, yeh it's a drag isn't it! I'm very glad you managed to get over your attacks, i know for some people they can go on for ages. I'm hoping this therapy will get me over it like you and i also am learning to laugh at it :rotfl: . Thanks for the advice.

Robflh...i know intellectually that's very very good advice and i should follow it but i guess this is where my naivety and stubborness comes in...I don't want to go see my GP or go on benefits. Thought i'd just be honest about this instead of trying to justify it with reasons! In my defence i have tried anti-depressants they didn't help me.

truthseeker_4

Ok, time for first attempt at the dreaded SOA...it's a bit bare as i've only just quit uni so haven't got into any routine so here are the definites...

Incoming:
£x from job....which i will hopefully get soon!
£100 (hopefully for a while) from parent

Outgoing:
£30 phone (contract) + £5.99 insurance
£100 therapy (pleeaase don't ask me to get rid of this as saving my sanity!!)
£X on rent and food...soon to negotiate with parent.


Debts:
£2,246.45 on 0% credit card till Sep 08
£823.77 on 2 free student overdrafts no longer entitled to.
HEY that's not half as much as i thought!! I can't log in to my other account at the mo but I'm sure there's not much out of there either..i hope.

Complicated 'quitting uni' stuff:
* Paid £1835.75 uni accomodation installment onto credit card...should get some of this refunded. Rough estimate=£1000? I'm really not sure.

* Got about £700 maintenance loan paid into my account (not the one with overdrafts on). All of this will be probably be taken out again but I don't think it will send me into more debt as sure i haven't touched the money!

* Tuition fee debt--estimated at about £400. But *fingers crossed!!* this has been paid to my uni by the slc so is in that no-interest loan thing so i'll be forgetting about this for the moment!

Robflh

Hi truthseeker

I will come to your budget in a moment. It takes up to six weeks before an antidepressant will start to work. It will then start to help you slowly. Unlike a light switch, they do not instantly make you feel better. In fact, I would be amazed if you noticed them doing anything at all to help you.

It is only when in six months time you look back at how you are now that you will see any difference. However, it is your decision as the whether you take them or not, just allow your doctor to help you make that decision. In other words, do not make that decision without consulting your doctor first.

If your doctor did sign you off sick and you were able to get Incapacity Benefit, you would be able to do a course called Condition Management. It is what helped me save my sanity and it would save you £100 a month as well.

You would find out about things like Comfort Zones, Stressors, Anxiety, Depression, and Relaxation. For me it was the best thing I have done for a long time.

Anyhow, on with your budget. On the surface, it does not look that bad. Contact both banks with regard to the overdrafts and explain to them that you are taking a year out from university and ask them if you have to clear the overdraft now. They may say yes and they may not.

Assuming that they say you have to pay it back now, you can use the £1,000 you are hoping to get back to pay off both of the overdrafts. That leaves the credit card.

The minimum payment on that will be around £60. You use the credit card to buy your food but hang on to the money you would have used to buy the food. At the end of the month, you have £80, £90 or what ever in your pocket. Use that money to make the payment on the card each month.

At the moment, there is no interest so you will have spent say £90 and paid off £90. However, if you have to pay interest on your purchases, a small amount of the £90 you paid off will be taken in interest and as the months go by the amount you will pay in interest will get bigger. If you spend £90 and pay off £95, the balance will start to go down but very slowly.

On the Brightside, you will have killed two overdrafts and be making payments on your credit card each month and once you have a job you will be able to start reducing the amount on the credit card.

One other thing, get rid of the contract phone and the insurance for it and get a second hand pay as you go phone. For the time being, get people to ring you and not the other way round.

Frags

Hi truth seeker,

Welcome to DFW, firstly well done for taking the first steps to sorting out your debt. Seocndly dont think your stupid for having anxiety, funnily enough i have just left this link on another thread but i am so passionate about this i will put it on yours to. i too am an anxiety sufferer and i use a fantastic website called nomorepanic.co.uk, i strongly advise you go on there and have a good look round. I was the same as u, i think antidepressants are the worst thing u can ever do, they just mask up the problems they dont make it go away. U need to face anxiety head on, i have suffered with it for 3 years now. Your money problems will add to your anxiety so good on you for seeking advice. Please PM me if u wnna talk more about anxiety but looking on that site will help u loads.