New and in need of advice

Eshka_2

Hi, I've been receiving the emails from this site for ages now and finally plucked up the courage to register and post so I can ask for some advice - I'm desperate.

I know lots of people have been in far worse situations than me, so I don't want to sound like a whinge, but truth be told I'm terrified and haven't a clue what to do so I'd really appreciate some words of advice. Bear with me as this will take some explaining.

Alright, this is my situation in brief. Last year, my partner and I split up meaning that I became a single mum with our two children, both under the age of 3. We privately rented a house which I kept on myself having applied for Housing Benefit and thereafter Income Support (as my maternity allowance ended in January of this year); the landlord was always sticky with me about the fact that I was dependent on benefits (I simply can't afford to work due to childcare) and recently things became extremely unpleasant, culminating in him giving me my 28 days notice just yesterday. He did this because there was a dispute over my rent - he was claiming I had a week outstanding, whereas I couldn't see where this outstanding week had arisen because he always kept the rentbook. After pulling out all my bank statements and cross checking them with cheques I'd paid my landlord, I realised that he had been correct and I do owe him one week of outstanding rent. That much has now been resolved, I apologised for the oversight, I assured him that he will be paid this money and there is no longer any bad blood between us - he even offered to let me stay in the house. However, I simply can't afford it. He demands the rent weekly, in advance, and my housing benefit is paid in fortnightly chunks, in arrears. Due to the drastic reduction in my income (changing from maternity allowance to income support left me down £100 a week), my regular payments simply meant that things started to snowball and I've been struggling to pay everything, to the point where my parents have had to pay for my home heating and food in recent months.

On the general financial front, things are a mess anyway. As I can't work, the only income I have is from income support, child tax credit, child benefit and the money my ex pays me as maintenance. I have several creditors, including an old student overdraft, a loan from my bank, a store card, a credit card, and my car finance - all amounting to about £8k. My once decent credit rating has gone completely to pot as I was foolish and thought that taking out a loan to cover existing debts would help (I now know this is NOT the way forward). My monthly outgoings are pretty hefty, including the aforementioned creditors and my regular payments (phone bill, food, petrol, insurance etc etc) and I've just come to the point now where I realise I need to take control, as my situation has started to make me feel intensely depressed. Having to wait for my housing benefit to be processed in recent months meant that I was paying my landlord out of my own pocket, and it completely drained me - the eventual backpayment from them also went straight to him. I'm losing sleep over it, literally, as I can't think of a way to help myself wade out of it - purely because there's so much to think about.

I've always been rubbish with money (the greatest irony is that prior to my second child I worked in accounting...hah!) but I really want to change that now. I have a very loose plan of action beginning today - all I know is that I need to go to the housing executive and apply for a house via them, and then I need to contact all my creditors and explain that I have run into difficulties. Rather than sitting around moping and wishing for some money to magically appear, I want to *deal* with it and start improving my situation. I know it's doable (now that I got over the initial fear factor), my debts aren't all that bad, my situation isn't ideal but can certainly be handled - the only thing is I need some advice from people who've been here before, i.e. woken up to a bad financial situation and took action to move out of it.

Sorry if I've been vague, I know I'll be asked to give a SOA which I'll gladly do after working it all out (I have pen and paper right here)...aside from that, any general tips til I post up my figures?(typing that makes me feel sick!)

Cheers.

Jules

Morning Eshka and welcome to the board. You have come to the right place.
Pop up you SOA and the lovely people here will give you invaluable advice on the savings you can make.

I don't have and advice other than that, but just wanted to say hi.

Get onto the Housing Exec ASAP and get on the list, not sure what the waiting lists are like in your area but in your situation hopefully you will get something quickly.

Oh and don't feel sick, its only money and they can't get blood out of a stone.

Jules

monkey22_2

Morning Eshka,

I'm was up early too this morning - I've got 2 little ones as well. DS2 was sick 4 times in the night and DS1 got up and put Cartoon Network on at 3.30am:eek: so apologies if this is incoherent:rotfl:

I just wanted to say good luck with dealing with your debts - I always think doing your SOA is often the hardest part. Seeing it written down somehow makes it worse but don't worry. It's like that saying about the darkest hour being just before dawn, you'll soon feel much better about your situation and you'll get loads of support and advice from the godd folks on here.

It would definitely be worth you talking to one of the debt charities like CCCS or Payplan - they're excellent.

Good Luck

Monkey22

HHH_2

wow that is a very eloquent first post well done. Just wanted to bump you up so others can see it and give advice. mine would be def talk to CCCS you dont have to go with them if you dont want but they are experts and very very helpful. they wont pressurise you in any particular direction but will be able to tell you your options. good luck

Tiglet

Hi Eshka, I'd just like to add to the voices welcoming you to the forum. The only thing I'd say on top of what the others have said is that you'd probably find it very helpful to have a look at the Old Style board as well. There's all sorts of good stuff there to help make what you've got go further. It's also a very friendly board too, so you'll be made very welcome.

CCCS_Matthew

Hi Eshka,

It sounds like things have been a real struggle recently, so well done for taking the plunge to start looking at dealing with your finances.

You are correct in thinking that an SOA is a good start, people on here tend to be very constructive in helping with ideas in order for you to save money. you might also benefit from using Debt Remedy where you can complete a financial statement and be provided with advice on the best way to deal with your debts. Alternatively you could choose to have a phone appointment if that's better for you.

Regards
CCCS

chevalier

I was wondering about the child care thingy. I think there is a scheme to help with this. If you get a job, you then get extra working tax credits to help with child care. Or could your parents (and your ex's for that matter) have your little ones some days so that you can get 'free' childcare? How about putting your cv around local accountants to see if you can get any out work, ie they give you accounts to do but at your home? I am not up on how accountancy works in this way, but could you go self employed and do accountancy from home?

Like I said give the job centre a call. I am sure there are schemes for getting single parents back to work but I am sorry I don't know the name of it.

Ref the housing could you and the children move back in with your parents for a short while, and put your furniture into storage? The only thing with this though is it may affect any claim you do for social housing from the council (the intentionally homeless bit).

best of luck
chev

bountiful

Bump Up To The Top

tiredredhead

Eshka , sorry to hear of your misfortunes. I'm pretty sure that if your income goes below a certain level it used to be £12k you can stop paying your student loan until you earn above that amount again. I dont know if the rules have changed that was a few years ago now.
You said the landlord had the backdated rent from housing benefit was this in addition to what you had already paid him or not?
Local council or housing association accomadation will be cheaper than privately renting so although the landlord has in my opinion been a bit harsh it could turn out for the better and put you in a much better situation.
You will stand a better chance of being housed if you are being evicted rather than just struggling along paying high private rents.
Look out on here for tips, and be honest with creditors they can sometimes be helpful if you are polite and honest to them. you said car finance, can you get out of this is it a PCP contract or hiring contract? Do you need the car? could you buy a cheaper one? Just food for thought.
I have been in dire straights before and remember saying to one snotty nosed creditor if they continued to be rude to me i wouldnt even put them in the hat for the draw of who to pay. Didnt get me anywhere but made me feel better.

Good luck

tiredredhead

Me again just done a quick search in England it is £15k before payment is required for student loan. Hope this helps.
Post below
http://www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=53,1261459&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Eshka_2

Wow. I'm stunned by the response I got, I really do appreciate it - thanks everyone.

Well I do have some good news on my situation already...seems grabbing the bull by the proverbial horns does actually make you feel better almost instantly *and* you might just see some progress faster than you thought.

Before I continue, I will say this - I'll definitely be following the CCCS avenue, sounds very helpful and many thanks to that poster for his help (I'm rubbish with names, if I don't see it in front of me then BAM, it's gone...having kids does that to you!).

Today I went to the Housing Association, having agreed with my landlord that eviction is the best route - he can occupy the residence quickly, avoid losing much more money and I'll receive more help from the Housing Association. They were very helpful indeed, I have a home visit sometime next week and then I should be housed fairly quickly as they just purchased quite a few new properties. Due to having two young children and of course due to the eviction I'll be given priority - all being well I'll be moving within the notice period of 28 days. This to me signifies a totally fresh start, and I'm hugely relieved. I'll be saving £135 a month by moving to a HA property.

Then of course because I got my brain in gear after posting this morning, the old numbers game came in handy. I did a very rough SOA, and immediately picked out several items that I can either cancel or reduce. Most significantly (I believe there's a thread for this purpose on here) I was shocked to see the amount I spend on smoking (cue slap on wrists). There's a good £150 a month I'm literally burning up when it could be used to pay off debts....so guess what? I felt so sick with this revelation that I've made a firm commitment to give up. I did so cold turkey with both my pregnancies, so I can do it again and if I falter then there are free services out there to help me quit. Needless waste of perfectly good money - to hell with the addiction, my health and finances are much more important. So that's another step in the right direction.

Anyway, enough rambling - I'm going to start a diary of my debt, beginning with a full, firm SOA and track my progress. I have a few budding ideas to possibly generate extra income, a few work-from-home ideas that I picked up from friends. I've also learned that I can shave a good £100 a month off my shopping bill by using Lidl for my groceries, and only using the bigger supermarkets for stuff like baby formula and nappies. Rest assured I'm going to make full use of all the very helpful resources here on MSE, and I intend to be in a much better position this time next year - maybe not debt free but certainly well on my way!

Thanks so much guys!