We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans
Posts: 134 Forumite

Where to start!
My life has not been without challenges and I have had times where I’ve had a lot of debt, and times where I have had none. I always felt proud to say I have never missed a payment and always managed to get out of a sticky situation myself no matter what. But this time, I am not convinced I will find a way, and I am feeling rather sick just thinking about it all.
My life has not been without challenges and I have had times where I’ve had a lot of debt, and times where I have had none. I always felt proud to say I have never missed a payment and always managed to get out of a sticky situation myself no matter what. But this time, I am not convinced I will find a way, and I am feeling rather sick just thinking about it all.
Roll back to September 2022, I was debt free. Then, the same week as Liz T’s mini budget, I bought a house. As a 40 year old single mum of two with health problems, I knew that taking on a mortgage that will run until I am 70 and is the max the bank will loan just to get a 2 bed house, was a stretch to say the least, but a week later and I would have been flatly refused the loan as interest rates rapidly rose. I took a gamble.
Sad to say the house has needed a few repairs and life happened, and I am now £38,969.45 in debt! Added to which, the house still has problems. For example, I still have no toilet or flooring in my main bathroom (we use the old outhouse toilet instead), the kitchen lights seem to have an electrical fault(so we just don’t switch them on), there is a hole in the roof(the last guy who came to refit some tiles explained that the nails have all gone and I need a new roof (I am just hoping it doesn’t rain too hard) and to top it off a corner of the house is sloping (initial survey said settlement and I am just hoping he wasn’t wrong but it fills me with dread).
So, knowing that my children will be off to uni in a few years and my reason for staying in the area will leave with them, my mission now is to get rid of the debt asap so I can move house as soon as they have left.
That brings me to my serious problem. My debt was accumulated via credit cards using 0% deals and they are now all reverting one by one to standard rates. As my credit utilisation is at ~95%, I no longer have space to move balances around and with an income of £41,421 my debt to income ratio has tanked my credit rating despite never missing a payment and never going over my limit.
That brings me to my serious problem. My debt was accumulated via credit cards using 0% deals and they are now all reverting one by one to standard rates. As my credit utilisation is at ~95%, I no longer have space to move balances around and with an income of £41,421 my debt to income ratio has tanked my credit rating despite never missing a payment and never going over my limit.
The precariousness of my situation properly hit me about a month ago (thankfully before I bought Christmas presents), so I have been drastically trying to squeeze everything from my budget and sold a camera I had on ebay to fund a small Christmas for me and my girls.
I’ve never shared my debt story with anyone before, I’ve always just gone it alone up to now, but my god I could really do with some moral support this time, and if nothing else, a place to stay accountable, hence joining the forum.
So far I have:
Asked my eldest daughter (18yo, works part time alongside college) to fund herself for everything she needs, including food, and she pays a third towards all household bills she uses, gas, electric etc, with the exception of the mortgage. She gets her part of child benefit given to her to help manage.
My youngest (16yo) has a budget for food and travel which she manages herself (it means she gets to eat even if I can’t), and she is actively looking for a job alongside college.
We have two dogs, two cats and two guinea pigs. All pet insurance was cancelled months back with the exception of one cat who is a bit of a runt and will likely need extra care in future. All non essential pets spending has been cut completely. Expensive dog chews replaced by carrots, any leftovers fed to something or someone.
I’ve recently got new deals on my mobile (£8pm), internet (£24pm) and cancelled all tv subscriptions apart from Netflix, the tv licence has gone too.
So far I have:
Asked my eldest daughter (18yo, works part time alongside college) to fund herself for everything she needs, including food, and she pays a third towards all household bills she uses, gas, electric etc, with the exception of the mortgage. She gets her part of child benefit given to her to help manage.
My youngest (16yo) has a budget for food and travel which she manages herself (it means she gets to eat even if I can’t), and she is actively looking for a job alongside college.
We have two dogs, two cats and two guinea pigs. All pet insurance was cancelled months back with the exception of one cat who is a bit of a runt and will likely need extra care in future. All non essential pets spending has been cut completely. Expensive dog chews replaced by carrots, any leftovers fed to something or someone.
I’ve recently got new deals on my mobile (£8pm), internet (£24pm) and cancelled all tv subscriptions apart from Netflix, the tv licence has gone too.
I’ve given myself a £35 weekly combined food/toiletries/cleaning budget, a £15 pw petrol budget and a £15 spending money budget although so far I’ve managed to not spend any of the petrol or spending money this month (I haven’t left the house for weeks as I have Trigeminal Neuralgia (a painful facial nerve condition) which is flaring up with the cold and I banned myself from Amazon!)
I still don’t think it is enough though, so I’ve started looking at selling things from around the house.
My 18yo daughter has agreed to by my car off me in June when my insurance runs out, that should free up £2k although the cost of running the car is minimal anyway as I wfh most days.
Even though I am wondering how on earth I will be able to meet just the minimum payments once they all revert to standard rates, I still cannot bring myself to go get professional help.
You peeps are my first step to admitting I have a problem, aren’t you lucky! haha
If you got this far, thanks for listening!
Any/all thoughts and feedback is very welcome.
If you got this far, thanks for listening!
Any/all thoughts and feedback is very welcome.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3
Comments
-
Have you reached out to any of the lenders to ask for some breathing space? They should pause the interest then on the cards.
When you say they go off to uni, I assume they will still need somewhere to come back to during the holidays? Will they get full loan etc to fund it or would you be expected to contribute?*Dad loan - £5300 - £5900
*Virgin Credit Card - £3552.50 - £1500.00
*Natwest - £1828.35 -£1166.00
*Total debt - £8566.00/£10680.85*
Savings
*Savings - £3000/£3000
*Emergency Fund - £500/£1000
*Mortgage Overpayments - £21/£950
New diary- https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6474943/the-three-cs-coffee-clothes-credit-cards/0 -
Also if you are going to default in the future you are probably better off stopping payments and building up some savings. That way you trigger the 6 years on credit file sooner rather than later. Just something to consider.*Dad loan - £5300 - £5900
*Virgin Credit Card - £3552.50 - £1500.00
*Natwest - £1828.35 -£1166.00
*Total debt - £8566.00/£10680.85*
Savings
*Savings - £3000/£3000
*Emergency Fund - £500/£1000
*Mortgage Overpayments - £21/£950
New diary- https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6474943/the-three-cs-coffee-clothes-credit-cards/0 -
Omg thanks Sarah for taking time out to read my thread and replying! I am so grateful.Wrt the girls going off to uni, no, they wont get the full loan but I simply cannot afford to contribute and they are both very aware of that. Ironically, I have spent several years teaching them how to budget and my eldest is already saving up for uni!
Whilst I am sure they would love a bedroom to come home to during holidays, the reality is I already don’t have a bedroom and sleep downstairs next to my front door because the house isn’t big enough as it is. If they have to come back to a sofa bed, I know they will understand. They know I would give them my last penny if I had it, I just don’t have it to give anymore.
I just can’t quite bring myself to call the credit card company and ask for help. Posting on here was hard enough! As someone who worked in accounts for 10years I just can’t admit I screwed up my finances. Not yet at least. I worry that if I tell them it will damage my chances of getting 0% offers in future and a few months interest saved now will make it considerably harder to get out of debt in the long run.As it stands I think I have until about 6months before enough deals revert to standard rates for me not to be able to scrape the minimums together. I am hoping beyond hope, that I can pay down enough between now and then that I can move enough of it back onto 0% to keep afloat. Currently I am paying £700pm in total debt payments each month (£400 is already eaten in interest!), plus another £709 for the mortgage. I keep staring at my budget thinking there must be something left to cut but I am not seeing it.End ofDec Jan Brother £ 5,400.00 £ 5,400.00 Overdraft owed £ 1,349.90 £ 1,107.76 MBNA CC £ 10,534.20 £ 10,002.26 Barclaycard CC £ 9,667.21 £ 9,569.95 Fluid CC £ - £ 722.50 NatWest CC £ 12,018.14 £ 11,674.22 Total £ 38,969.45 £ 38,476.69 Paid off £ - £ 492.76 Highest rate debt Overdraft Overdraft £ 859.10 £ 503.45 1 -
If you wanted to be brave you could post an SOA ( statement of affairs) here.Some lovely people might have a good idea of budget cuts that you have not thought of yet.I am sure you will be able to find a way.Lots of good advice on this site.Tiny ideas from me ;Surveys for extra income. Enter a few competitions a day you just never know(only free to enter ones)2
-
I couldn't read and run, just want to say good luck with everything. The bit that worries me most is this: 'it means she gets to eat even if I can’t', nobody should have to live like that, and my heart breaks for you.
Are you using food bank/community fridge/olio, etc?
Prolific Academic is the best of the survey sites - get on the waiting list at least
Can we help you with ideas for super cheap meals?
I am sure there are people who will read and comment who know far more about defaults and debt management plans than I do.
My mortgage free diary: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6498069/whoops-here-comes-the-cheese
GNU Mr Redo2 -
Good luck on your journey. There’s a Martin Lewis bill buster programme on tonight at 8pm, might be worth a watch.Lightbulb moment - 17/08/2017 £17,033. Current CC debt £0.00 DFD 31/7/24 🥳. Member #8 of Fiver Friday Challenge £45/£2601
-
ellenvan said:If you wanted to be brave you could post an SOA ( statement of affairs) here.Some lovely people might have a good idea of budget cuts that you have not thought of yet.I am sure you will be able to find a way.Lots of good advice on this site.Tiny ideas from me ;Surveys for extra income. Enter a few competitions a day you just never know(only free to enter ones)Happy to post a soa in case someone else can spot something i am not seeing. Do you all have a set format/template for this? I have all the numbers but it’s not simple given all the juggling I do to stay afloat. 😬
Surveys are something I have not considered as I generally thought they were all scams. Can you recommend any legit sites?End ofDec Jan Brother £ 5,400.00 £ 5,400.00 Overdraft owed £ 1,349.90 £ 1,107.76 MBNA CC £ 10,534.20 £ 10,002.26 Barclaycard CC £ 9,667.21 £ 9,569.95 Fluid CC £ - £ 722.50 NatWest CC £ 12,018.14 £ 11,674.22 Total £ 38,969.45 £ 38,476.69 Paid off £ - £ 492.76 Highest rate debt Overdraft Overdraft £ 859.10 £ 503.45 2 -
Toluna and Prolific are the 2 survey sites that I use
1 -
Linkhttps://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php
Format for mse.. then post your soa in the debt free forums.
2 -
redofromstart said:I couldn't read and run, just want to say good luck with everything. The bit that worries me most is this: 'it means she gets to eat even if I can’t', nobody should have to live like that, and my heart breaks for you.
Are you using food bank/community fridge/olio, etc?
Prolific Academic is the best of the survey sites - get on the waiting list at least
Can we help you with ideas for super cheap meals?
I am sure there are people who will read and comment who know far more about defaults and debt management plans than I do.
Honestly, the food situation isn’t great but thankfully my gainfully employed 18yo daughter has been ensuring her sister and I don’t go too hungry. I really don’t know what I would have done without her over the past few months while I’ve been really ill bless her. She even brings us home the odd bar of chocolate and pays for the occasional Chinese to keep us sane.I’ve not got as far as the local food bank as I haven’t been able to get out even to go as far as Aldi which is just a few hundred yards up the road recently, but I will definitely be checking it out once the weather warms up and I can leave the house again. Olio is also a new one on me, I’ve just downloaded the app so will be keeping an eye on that. Thanks for the tip!
And I will be checking out the survey site too! Crikey, I wasn’t expecting so many new ideas in such a short space of time!Meal wise I think I have about found the cheapest options to live off but you may very well surprise me with that too so I am all ears!End ofDec Jan Brother £ 5,400.00 £ 5,400.00 Overdraft owed £ 1,349.90 £ 1,107.76 MBNA CC £ 10,534.20 £ 10,002.26 Barclaycard CC £ 9,667.21 £ 9,569.95 Fluid CC £ - £ 722.50 NatWest CC £ 12,018.14 £ 11,674.22 Total £ 38,969.45 £ 38,476.69 Paid off £ - £ 492.76 Highest rate debt Overdraft Overdraft £ 859.10 £ 503.45 3
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 348.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 452.4K Spending & Discounts
- 240.8K Work, Benefits & Business
- 617K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 175.6K Life & Family
- 254K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards