£30,000 debt, better suggestions if possible of dealing with it.

marcus79_2

Problems started a couple of years ago when tried helping out family member but they were then unable to pay money taken out in loans in my name and of which i regret i happily did at time as end of day was family

I took out 2 loans for this member of family one being a £5000 loan and another being £20,000.
Now ive managed to let these go to basicly a debt collector where i can pay them what i can afford each month, 1 being £55 p/m and another being £20 p/m, the names of these 2 I cant remeber at the moment as im currently at work but once home ill add the names of these collectors to this thread.

My wife has a heart condition so she can't do no more then 28hrs a week and thats written by doctors, so her doing more hours is out of the question and i do 45 hrs a week at the moment, so we both work.

*We tried claiming help with our poll tax or housing rent of which was denied.
*We are in process of trying claim bank charges back but have to wait on the court case disission.

We currently pay out p/m as follows:

rent £645 (Elvin Estate agents)
poll tax £125 (Forest heath council)
water £45 (anglian Water)
gas £35 (british gas)
elec £35 (british gas)
opticians £25 (scrivens)
HFC bank £25 (HFC)
virgin media £30 (old NTL)
sky £45 (sky)
food £200 (shop at Iceland, netto's, Tesco)
transportation £50 (bus's to get to work)
loans £75
perscriptions £20
tv licence £11
*misilanious* £50 (to cover b'days etc or needed repairs)

this equals to a £1420
we only bring home a combind £1520, of which i know is pretty bad, but my wife is a sales asistant at a bakery so she won't beable to ask for payrise as they all pay there staff mininum wage, and there are not to many companys out there that will take my wife on due to her heart condition.
We are always looking to see if there is cheaper acomodation out there all the time but there isnt to be honest in our area.
We also have to travel down to london once every couple of months for check-ups with the wifes condition which costs £50 a pop aswel.

I've been at my employer for 9 months and not sure if i can justify being there long enough to ask for a payrise, even though i am looked upon to do things not in my job discription and cover shifts for people when others have let my company down...oh sorry forgot to mention im a care asistant at a unit for mental illness.

But basicly im asking anyone who may have some ideas on to help reduce our outgoings to leave us more in the bank at end, cause £100 to cloth and unwind with for 2 people is pretty bad, a £ saved is a £ gained in my eyes.

thanks for the time in reading post.
:T

splishsplash

Is your family member in a position to make any effort at all to strart repaying you what they owe you? Even £5 or £10 a week would make a big difference to you, and to be honest, you can't afford to let them away with it.
Otherwise, the only thing that jumps out at me is the Sky/Virgin(NTL) totals - they're taking the same as you're repaying on the loans each month.
If you can cancel Sky and get a freeview box, you'll save that £45 each month, and won't be short of something to watch on tv.
The Virgin bill - is this arrears, if not, what is it, and can you cancel it?
Best of luck, I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice here.

marcus79_2

splishsplash wrote: »

Is your family member in a position to make any effort at all to strart repaying you what they owe you? Even £5 or £10 a week would make a big difference to you, and to be honest, you can't afford to let them away with it.
Otherwise, the only thing that jumps out at me is the Sky/Virgin(NTL) totals - they're taking the same as you're repaying on the loans each month.
If you can cancel Sky and get a freeview box, you'll save that £45 each month, and won't be short of something to watch on tv.
The Virgin bill - is this arrears, if not, what is it, and can you cancel it?
Best of luck, I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice here.

sky i cant cancel til may as they lock you into a 1 year contrat
ntl is my broadband and home telephone line service.
family member in no position to pay back as currently they dont have a house to live in and are currently living with another family relative.

Dithering_Dad

What did your family member use this money for? Is there any way they can sell it or some other possessions?

If the family member is refusing to repay the debts then I would look at taking him/her to court. Your immediate family are much more important and this can't be helping your wife's heart condition.

You should be working for your own future and taking care of your wife, not working to repay someone else's debts and caring about someone who clearly doesn't give a monkey's about you..

marcus79_2

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

What did your family member use this money for? Is there any way they can sell it or some other possessions?

If the family member is refusing to repay the debts then I would look at taking him/her to court. Your immediate family are much more important and this can't be helping your wife's heart condition.

You should be working for your own future and taking care of your wife, not working to repay someone else's debts and caring about someone who clearly doesn't give a monkey's about you..

the family member is my mother. which puts me in the tangent that im in, even if i took her to court and she still cant afford to pay anything its just gonna result in more legal costs and possibly ripping the whole family apart
the money was lent to her to keep her house a float before she had it basicly re-possesed.

EmRayMarRhys

You might not be able to cancel the sky, but you could cut it down to the lowest package they do.... also maybe get rid of NTL by having Skytalk and Broadband off sky?

splishsplash

I feel for you - it's a tough situation to be in, but your mother must be getting benefits or some kind of pension, and surely could manage something to you each week? Sorry if I'm overstepping the mark - I know it's difficult, family and money don't mix, but you and your wife have to live too.

Re the Sky: I agree with EmRayMarRhys - if you got a 3 for £30 deal, you would be far better off, or are you locked into Virgin also?

Another alternative, maybe, (or maybe not, feel free to ignore!) would be to consider having your mum to live with you for a while and let her pay rent to you? Again, I realise this could be totally out of the question, I know nothing of your circumstances, I just thought I'd mention it...

dancingfairy

rent £645 (Elvin Estate agents)
poll tax £125 (Forest heath council) - can you pay this over 12 months instead of 10 to make budgetting easier if you don't already.
water £45 (anglian Water)
gas £35 (british gas) - when Martin says so I would look and see if you can get this and the electric cheaper
elec £35 (british gas)
opticians £25 (scrivens) - what's this for? - is it direct to opticians? for eye tests? for glasses? do you save this amount a month into a savings account?
HFC bank £25 (HFC) -what's this for? is it debt repayment?
virgin media £30 (old NTL)
sky £45 (sky) - phone them and tell them you want to cancel - they may offer better deal -wortha try anyway. Or get a freeview box
food £200 (shop at Iceland, netto's, Tesco) - not too bad but I'm sure you could get things a little cheaper- try looking at the MoneySavingOldStyle Board
transportation £50 (bus's to get to work) can you get a weekly /monthly ticket to make it cheaper? get a lift to work from someone?
loans £75
perscriptions £20- have you looked at the prepayment certificates- works out cheaper if you buy more than a certain amount a month.
tv licence £11
*misilanious* £50 (to cover b'days etc or needed repairs)

magentadreamer

Are you out of your contract with Virgin Media? If you are give them a ring and see if you can get your phone/broadband cheaper - I pay £30 a month for broadband/phone/unlimited weekend&evening calls and the XL TV package. So if Sky can't cut you a deal on a phone/broadband package Virgin should be able to reduce your phone/broadband with them.

Regarding your loans - I really think you should talk to your Mother and explain the situation to her ie you've got debt collectors at the door regarding what is basically her loan. If my daughter borrowed money for me I'd move heaven and earth to make sure she wasn't out of pocket on my behalf. Sorry that might sound harsh and I don't know your Mum's financial circumstances but even a token payment would help you at the moment.

mummytofour

Do you work for the NHS? My sil does and she said that at her hospital they have accommodation for staff which is much cheaper. I love the sound of your job very challenging. Can you do any bank work? Bank work round here pays loads of money and well worth it. I am sure there is a way to up your income with your experience.

marcus79_2

eek so many things to reply to and really appreciate the input.
as mentioned the money that my mother borrowed was used to to try keep her house going but shecouldn't in end of which it got re-possesed.
as she curently lives with my nan and my sister and her husband in a 2 bedroom house they are awaiting housing in a council house but they have been living with my nan for 18 months so its not the ideal situation.
she said she gonna try giving me token payments as from april when a couple of other things that she needed to pay off have done, but how much i dont know plus thats not til april.

ive taken the movies package of sky 2nite, which saves me £8 p/m but no point me going to sky for all 3 packages (tele, phone, net) coz it works out more money up front as i have to have a bt line installed which not only is a 2 month wait but also a £100 payment to get installed, but managed to cut virgin broadband down by another £4 gone a smaller meg.

as for having my mum live with us, its just an unrealistic option plus by bringing them into my house hold im not sure if that would also be detrimental to the wifes health also.

as for my work no i dont work for the nhs, i work for a govement funded charity, plus in the contract ive signed with them it makes me in eliagble to work for another caring job whilst doing it there.
i think i might have to just take the plunge and also ask for a pay rise.