Desperately need help

nandswobblies

We have been struggling since Covid badly reduced my wife's freelance earnings but there were still the same bills to be paid.  We lost about £800 per month for more than a year and managing became robbing Peter to pay Paul.  In April, we headed south (into the Irish Republic.  We live in Belfast) for a five day break (all paid in cash and well budgeted for) to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  My wife became very seriously ill very quickly with an infection which became sepsis and badly affected her kidneys.  She spent 12 days in hospital in Tralee.  In the midst of all this worry I had to find accommodation close to the hospital, feed myself and pay for my own repeat medications.  When she was transferred by ambulance back to Belfast I had to make my own way back via plane and Aircoach.   By this stage I had missed more than a week at work which of course was unpaid.  I had to miss more time at work totally unpaid and then my own blood pressure became so high I had to take two weeks off on ssp which may as well be unpaid.  Thankfully, my wife is gradually getting better but the whole ghastly situation has brought my anxiety syndrome, depression and ptsd back to the fore so I am struggling.  We have done the sums. We owe approximately £30,000 in unsecured credit cards and loans.  We are not in arrears to any of them.  All payments until now have been made but we have hit the proverbial brick wall.  We need to work something out and we cannot make any more payments to them until we do so.  What can they do if we stop the dd's?  Should we ask for payment breaks or are there any other options?  We are not trying to get out of paying our debts but it will have to be at much reduced rates.   Can someone set us on the right path.   

Brie

Sounds like a dreadful chain of events.  Glad to hear that your wife is recovering.  

Have you talked to any of your creditors about the situation?  You might ask for a stop to interest but you may actually be doing better by defaulting on your non priority debts to buy you some time to get your budget sorted.  As far as I know it's the same in NI as in England but it's best to check. 

In any case continue to pay anything that keeps a roof over your head - rent/mortgage, council tax or the NI equivalent, utilities (though they might be dropped potentially).  Stop paying credit cards, loans (unless it's car finance and needed for work perhaps).  Open new bank account(s) at a bank unrelated to any of your debts and manually switch any priority DDs and salary instructions to that.  Then stop trying to catch up with any outstanding overdraft.

And take a look at the statement of accounts (SOA, link in my signature).  Fill that in using at least 2 months worth of bank/card statements and post it back here and people will help you tighten up your budget.  Whatever debt solution you eventually go for is going to need this in any case so you might as well get the numbers together.  

Once things default you can consider what you have in your budget to pay towards the debts on a pro rata basis if you decide to go for a debt management plan.  

Have a read here too about the alternatives - but again look in case there is something specific to your location.  I know that some things differ for Scotland but don't know about NI.

Debt solutions - what is your best option?

Grumpelstiltskin

OP If you can't afford your unsecured debts then stop paying them, nothing terrible will happen.

I will look up N I debt help and see what I can find.

Grumpelstiltskin

OK First one.

Dealing with debt problems | nidirect

Second one.


Options for clearing your debts in Northern Ireland | MoneyHelper

What ever you do don't panic and don't rush into any solution until you are 200% sure it is the best way to go.

Keep posting and we will help you.

fatbelly

nandswobblies said:

We have been struggling since Covid badly reduced my wife's freelance earnings but there were still the same bills to be paid.  We lost about £800 per month for more than a year and managing became robbing Peter to pay Paul.  In April, we headed south (into the Irish Republic.  We live in Belfast) for a five day break (all paid in cash and well budgeted for) to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  My wife became very seriously ill very quickly with an infection which became sepsis and badly affected her kidneys.  She spent 12 days in hospital in Tralee.  In the midst of all this worry I had to find accommodation close to the hospital, feed myself and pay for my own repeat medications.  When she was transferred by ambulance back to Belfast I had to make my own way back via plane and Aircoach.   By this stage I had missed more than a week at work which of course was unpaid.  I had to miss more time at work totally unpaid and then my own blood pressure became so high I had to take two weeks off on ssp which may as well be unpaid.  Thankfully, my wife is gradually getting better but the whole ghastly situation has brought my anxiety syndrome, depression and ptsd back to the fore so I am struggling.  We have done the sums. We owe approximately £30,000 in unsecured credit cards and loans.  We are not in arrears to any of them.  All payments until now have been made but we have hit the proverbial brick wall.  We need to work something out and we cannot make any more payments to them until we do so.  What can they do if we stop the dd's?  Should we ask for payment breaks or are there any other options?  We are not trying to get out of paying our debts but it will have to be at much reduced rates.   Can someone set us on the right path.   

This sounds counterintuitive but the fastest way to start dealing with nonpriority debts is to stop paying them.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul is NOT a sensible strategy as all it is doing is racking up more debt via interest. In 3-6 months your debts will default and interest will be frozen. In the meantime you

(a) get your health addressed - you will need to chat this through with your gp
(b) start to save an emergency fund and keep it somewhere unconnected to your debts so you may need a new account for all your income

We can discuss a long-term strategy when things settle. Those NI organisations should help but post here just to check. We are not trying to sell you anything.

nandswobblies

We are fortunate then.  We do not owe our bank a penny.  We have two joint accounts there both in credit.  We have neither a credit card nor a loan with them

fatbelly

That's a good start. Have you read our introductory thread?

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