Please help me with this mess

samwin2912

Looking for some advice if possible.

The long and the short of it is, my wife got sick a few years ago and had to stop working this was supposed to be temporary however it turned into something a bit more long term due to complications and that then meant there was a shortfall in wages to bills and I effectively plugged this hole with loans and credit cards and gambling.

However the bubble has now burst and I'm about 15k in debt, have a gambling problem and cannot pay any of the debts, and behind on all of them and cannot pay my remaining bills this month.

I've also recently been diagnosed type 2 diabetic which has increased my food shopping bill as I'm eating a required diet and added a whole other unwanted madness to my life but that is not relevant here other than to explain I feel like my life is unraveling. 🤦‍♂️ 

What I have done so far:

I took some advice from a Facebook group who recommended an irresponsible lending claim for each of them just to make sure it was all above board, the ones I have heard back from have rejected the claim, and these have both been passed to the ombudsman, ombudsman have come back to me on the first case and have also rejected the claim, still waiting for the second one.

Breakdown of what I owe:

Credit cards:

JaJa - 2500 maxed out

Virgin - 2100 maxed out

ZOPA - 550 maxed out

Loans:

ZOPA - 2 loans - 1000 each originally no longer have access to the account so do not know how much is left to pay

My community Bank - 2441 left to pay

Lendable - 3095 left to pay

118118 - approx 1500 left to pay

Payday loans:

Drafty - 800 maxed out

Catalogue:

Very - about 2.8k (Frozen)

Argos card - 550

Can someone offer me any advice on how I can try to fix this mess? (Aside from the gambling I know that has to stop and am taking steps to accomplish that).

If I have missed out any information that would be required for advice, please let me know and I will add it.

Thanks in advance.

fatbelly

Ok. Well I won't comment on the gambling then as I'm not a specialist in that.

I'd be tempted to treat MCB as priority for now as they have less wiggle room than the others. Just don't go asking them for further loans

Have you actually stopped paying the non-priority debts? If not, then that is what you should do, making sure you are banking where you do not have debt, and saving an emergency/fighting fund for a few months. I realise that might induce temptation. Maybe a regular saver connected to your bank would help.

Have a read of this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6496941/in-debt-and-wannabe-debt-free-first-steps-to-take-are-here-please-read-then-ask-questions#latest

And give us a statement of affairs in due course

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php