Debt & mental health

Ratita_Presumida

I am embarrassed about how much money I owe in bills

My illness has deteriorated causing severe mental health problems! I function by hiding away from the outside world. Laying in bed daily isn’t a choice. Because Ive suffered with a chronic illness all my life mentally I’m broken.
i have a debt of maybe £14,000
The National Debt line are now helping me but it’s very hard facing what I’ve ignored

I was advised that it may be possible for my council tax to be written off!

My Debt has been passed to the debt collectors! 

I have a template letter from the Debt line asking to relieve me from what I owe.
Has anyone else experienced this? Was your debt halved or taken off completely

I hope to do a debt relief order but I’m still putting my outgoings together, having a mental health illness it makes the task Almost impossible finishing! It’s very hard to put my mind to anything
Is debt relief order popular?

torch2012

Hello, 
I couldn’t read and not reply. January we were in pretty much the same situation, we owed just over £12k in debt. I had to come out of work to care for my husband (mental health) and we were struggling. 

I contacted each company myself and explained our situation and gave an income and expenditure. In most cases the debts were either wiped, reduced (some by up to 75%) or we were able to set up a payment plan that was affordable to us (in our case £5 a month but all said it could be as little as 50p a month). 

I no longer get letters, emails or calls and it’s so Liberating. I finally feel like we can breath 

Ratita_Presumida

torch2012 said:

Hello, 
I couldn’t read and not reply. January we were in pretty much the same situation, we owed just over £12k in debt. I had to come out of work to care for my husband (mental health) and we were struggling. 

I contacted each company myself and explained our situation and gave an income and expenditure. In most cases the debts were either wiped, reduced (some by up to 75%) or we were able to set up a payment plan that was affordable to us (in our case £5 a month but all said it could be as little as 50p a month). 

I no longer get letters, emails or calls and it’s so Liberating. I finally feel like we can breath 

I really appreciate you replying! Your case is very similar to mine which gives me hope hearing the results from your actions!

Where there is a slight difference maybe not” I owe £1500 in council tax! 

I received a letter 7 months ago explaining my debt was now in the hands of the bailiff's!
The National Debt line advised me to send them a letter asking for a 30 day breathing space, I included in this letter how my chronic illness had worsened my mental state of mind! I mentioned that my outgoings a month were £780, with an income of £605 monthly from my disability benefits I cannot see a way forward in repaying this debt

I survive living off food stamps, unsellable supermarket food (community fridge) I am unable to maintain a healthy diet due to the type of food handed out!

My plan is to contact the bailiff's (council tax) for the 2nd time offering £15 a month 
my other debts my plan was to kindly ask them to write off what I owe them!

My quality of life is appalling & very sad!  Imagine at the checkout in a supermarket paying for a BEST BEFORE DATE” loaf of bread @ 35p, counting a mixture of 1p & 2p’s! I drew attention from the queue waiting at the check out! Not one person offered to help me! I felt embarrassed to the point I wanted to cry unconditionally 

My illness that I’ve lived with all my life stole my career, caused my mental health illness, made me opiate dependent & lastly put me in debt to the point that I see no way out!

Im now in the process of proving my mental health illness so I can get help reducing my debt
 

CIS

Ratita_Presumida said:

torch2012 said:

Hello, 
I couldn’t read and not reply. January we were in pretty much the same situation, we owed just over £12k in debt. I had to come out of work to care for my husband (mental health) and we were struggling. 

I contacted each company myself and explained our situation and gave an income and expenditure. In most cases the debts were either wiped, reduced (some by up to 75%) or we were able to set up a payment plan that was affordable to us (in our case £5 a month but all said it could be as little as 50p a month). 

I no longer get letters, emails or calls and it’s so Liberating. I finally feel like we can breath 

I really appreciate you replying! Your case is very similar to mine which gives me hope hearing the results from your actions!

Where there is a slight difference maybe not” I owe £1500 in council tax! 

I received a letter 7 months ago explaining my debt was now in the hands of the bailiff's!
The National Debt line advised me to send them a letter asking for a 30 day breathing space, I included in this letter how my chronic illness had worsened my mental state of mind! I mentioned that my outgoings a month were £780, with an income of £605 monthly from my disability benefits I cannot see a way forward in repaying this debt

I survive living off food stamps, unsellable supermarket food (community fridge) I am unable to maintain a healthy diet due to the type of food handed out!

My plan is to contact the bailiff's (council tax) for the 2nd time offering £15 a month 
my other debts my plan was to kindly ask them to write off what I owe them!

My quality of life is appalling & very sad!  Imagine at the checkout in a supermarket paying for a BEST BEFORE DATE” loaf of bread @ 35p, counting a mixture of 1p & 2p’s! I drew attention from the queue waiting at the check out! Not one person offered to help me! I felt embarrassed to the point I wanted to cry unconditionally 

My illness that I’ve lived with all my life stole my career, caused my mental health illness, made me opiate dependent & lastly put me in debt to the point that I see no way out!

Im now in the process of proving my mental health illness so I can get help reducing my debt
 

Breathing space has to be arranged via an authorised practitioner, so asking the enforcement agent will only be a hold of the account, not a formal breathing space application.

peteuk

Although I have no experience of the mental health issues you face, I would like to throw in a little of my thoughts. 

Firstly well done for acknowledging you have a problem, both with health and with debt.  It would be so easy to try and stick your head in the sand - so to speak- and wish the debt away.   But that wouldn't stop the letters ect. Which as we know have a negative effect on mental and physical health.   So by posting and getting help you've broke that circle. Probably the biggest step, so well done. 

Id also like to say that however long it takes to get better and clear the debt, there will be ups and downs.  Stick with it, there is a lot of people on this forum that will give practical advice as well as support.  It sometimes might not be what you want to hear (read) but sometimes it what is needed. 

Finally I wish you well, seems your battling both mental health as well as a chronic illness. Hopefully with your debt worries eased you can concentrate on improving health.   

sourcrates

In your circumstances I would not even bother attempting to make payment arrangements with anyone, clearly this issue has gone on long enough, you should not be paying non priority debts at the expense of priority ones, nor should you be skimping on the food bill.

Contact stepchange, link is in my signature, they are a recognised DRO intermediary, tell them you want to apply for a DRO.

Check out the qualifying criteria first, its detailed on their website, make certain you would qualify, if you do, then get the ball rolling, it cost`s £90, may I suggest you stop paying your non priority debts in order to save that money up somehow.

Tell stepchange about your mental health issues, they have particular departments that deal with vulnerable customers.

This can all be sorted out, more easily than you think, a DRO can be up and running in a matter of weeks.

Ratita_Presumida

peteuk said:

Although I have no experience of the mental health issues you face, I would like to throw in a little of my thoughts. 

Firstly well done for acknowledging you have a problem, both with health and with debt.  It would be so easy to try and stick your head in the sand - so to speak- and wish the debt away.   But that wouldn't stop the letters ect. Which as we know have a negative effect on mental and physical health.   So by posting and getting help you've broke that circle. Probably the biggest step, so well done. 

Id also like to say that however long it takes to get better and clear the debt, there will be ups and downs.  Stick with it, there is a lot of people on this forum that will give practical advice as well as support.  It sometimes might not be what you want to hear (read) but sometimes it what is needed. 

Finally I wish you well, seems your battling both mental health as well as a chronic illness. Hopefully with your debt worries eased you can concentrate on improving health.   

Thank you for your kind words, Im still puzzled by the advice given by the National debt line, I was told to include on my excel sheet for monthly outgoings……….

* Leisure
* Hobbies
* Magazines
* Vet Bills

I informed the lady that I have no hobbies nor do I spend any money on books/magazines. I have a cat but I definitely don’t put money away each month for vet bills, even so……. I was told to make an amount up on my monthly outgoings.

Surely all of the above is what I call luxury items, these would be the first things a person could save on a month. Shouldn’t I make a true figure of my outgoings? 

fatbelly

It sounds like they are trying to encourage you to do a DRO for which the maximum surplus is £75 per month.

Of course you should have a budget for vet bills. 

You must have some sort of hobby or interest - put a figure for that.

And put a normal amount for food - say £40 per week minimum. If you can/choose to survive on less that's your decision and the creditors don't need to know this

Edit: In theory council tax can be dealt with by a section 13A write-off. But in practice that rarely happens and you are better lumping it in with a DRO (provided you've lost the right to pay in instalments)

peteuk

Ratita_Presumida said: 

Thank you for your kind words, Im still puzzled by the advice given by the National debt line, I was told to include on my excel sheet for monthly outgoings……….

* Leisure
* Hobbies
* Magazines
* Vet Bills

I informed the lady that I have no hobbies nor do I spend any money on books/magazines. I have a cat but I definitely don’t put money away each month for vet bills, even so……. I was told to make an amount up on my monthly outgoings.

Surely all of the above is what I call luxury items, these would be the first things a person could save on a month. Shouldn’t I make a true figure of my outgoings? 

We entered a DMP and where asked by CCCS (now Step Change) for our outgoings which included such items.  

Vet - do you pay pet insurance, or a pet plan with your vet.  If not then if anything happens to your cat the vet bill may be pricey. 
Leisure - is there anything you like doing or helps with your health (Swimming for instance) 

We hadn't taken these into account and in discussion entered token amounts for some items.  This meant two things, firstly we could budget better but it also reduced the DMP payment - which means it took longer to pay. 

Hope that helps.