Help with Debt...What can I do?

superman78

Hi,

Finally,have found the courage to talk about debt, after reading threads on this forum that I am not alone.Thank you all for sharing, it really helps someone like me who felt weak and ashamed to be in this situation.

I will try and keep it very short

I have accumulated debt of 33000 in credit cards.
I am not working, made redundant and on Universal credit.I was paying minimum payments from my savings and redundancy which I have nothing left because I didn't want my credit to be effected and in the hope of getting a job which my mental health has effected in not having one as yet.
I wish I knew what I know now and stopped paying earlier, I would still have that money, but anyway...

HSBC  - £5688

Intrum - £12629

Halifax - £4255 

Halifax - £5309 

Intrum - £4852

All defaulted mid 2024 and sold.

The stress of the debt and having no money and barley able to live on UC has very much effected my mental health of suicidal thoughts,self harming, not eating, taking me into a dark place. I am in arrears with council tax which I have sent a discretionary request and in arrears with energy supplier who have been very kind and helped.I live in rented accommodation.

I have avoided contacting the collectors, but a text message from Resolvecall saying they will visit in 7 days shook me up,I became very stressed and didn't eat felt very low for a couple of days finally found the energy to come on here   and read what was written,which helped me very much, so thank you.

I would like your help please,I don't have any money to give, hopefully in the future,I am aware of the charities available,but what I have read on here has made me feel hopeful and guided with the  real life experiences. What can I do? All your help will be very much appreciated. 

Thank you.

sourcrates

Start from the perspective that they can`t take what you simply do not have, and work forwards from there.

There is one, very simple thing you can do, and it won`t cost you anything, as long as you have internet access, which I`m assuming you obviously do, as your posting on here.

Send an email to all these collection companies telling them your current employment status, and your limited income, advise how long you estimate this will last, and tell them point blank you are on such a low benefit income, you cannot afford any kind of payment to these debts for the foreseeable future.

Affordability is everything these days, they won`t expect you to pay if you have insufficient disposable income (FCA guidance they must now follow due to cost of living crisis).

They should put all your accounts on hold for a period of time, and ask you to update if/when anything changes, ideally you should have done this prior to spending your redundancy money but we are where we are.

No need to worry or panic, they should stop collection activity and only send statutory notices, which they must do by law, this can all be sorted very easily.

RAS

Agreed with sourcrates, if you are on UC, you need to stop paying immediately. And tell the creditors about your dire finances and the impact on your mental health. They will halt collections and ask you to get back in touch in 3-6 months.

The two accounts about which you need to do something are Council Tax (and utilities). The former is much more important. Could you find  a tenner a month to offer? They may not accept it but it's worth trying.

fatbelly

Have a look to see if a DRO would work for you

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-get-a-debt-relief-order-dro

EssexHebridean

Absolutely ensure you tell them about the mental health impact. I would also tell them that from now on you only consent to being contacted in writing - mail or email, whichever suits you better, but not phone and not text - that should lessen the feeling of being under siege with contacts coming from all angles. If you say email, as mentioned, there are certain documents that they do have to send in the post, so just bear that in mind. 

I'd suggest putting together a Statement of Affairs and perhaps posting that in here. It will set out your actual state of play right now with income and expenditure, and we might be able to make suggestions about how best to manage things, too. 

ManyWays

Can I ask what your chance of finding work in the next year is? And before you lost your job, were you only making minimum payments?
Do you have a car on finance?
Because this is a huge amount of debt and your credit record is already very poor, so @fatbelly's suggestion of a DRO may be best, removing a massive amount of stress and giving you a clean start. 

Brie

Well done for posting and looking for assistance - that's an important first step.

Have you talked to anyone in real life about benefits or debt advice?  Sometimes having someone doing the leg work of writing to all the creditors allows you more space to relax and regain your mental equilibrium.  StepChange, NationalDebtline, Community Money Advice (CMA), CAP and the all important Citizen's Advice might be able to assist.

Also just do a double check yourself to see if there are other benefits you might be entitled to.   
Benefits Calculator - entitledto - independent | accurate | reliable

An essential thing is to ensure the council knows you are on benefits as there may be grounds to cut the amount you owe them which might make paying, for that at least, more affordable.