help or advice needed urgently

gelf_3 · 11 February 2008 at 4:09PM

ten years ago I landed a job with local government after bringing up my son singlehandedly. I had lived off benefits and was always struggling with my finances. I opened a bank account with Lloyds Tsb so that I could have my salary paid in. They offered me a credit card and I accepted. I used this for all sorts of luxuries, which I had never had before.I naively carried on spending and only paying the minimum payment. Before long I had applied for and got 9 more cards and two bank loans. I carried on living in cloud cuckoo land and just paying off the minimum payments and using my cards to live on and to pay off the minimum payments on others.
Well here I am with all my credit limits used up and approximately £50,000 in debt. I still work for local government in the housing sector and bring home £1250 a month. My son still lives with me and pays me £180 a month. I have missed payments on my credit cards and 1 loan payment. I have received letters from the CC companies. The constant phone calls are getting me down and I don't know which way to turn. I have caller display on my phone so i dont answer it unless its someone I know. They call at weekends too. yesterday Capital One phoned 16 times {they are the worse}
I logged on to this site for the first time today and I feel better knowing that help could be at hand and that I am not the only person in the world with financial difficulties.
Please help me get my head out of the sand and live my life again
:eek:

HHH_2 · 11 February 2008 at 4:23PM

Well done for posting. a lot of people will ask you to post a statement of affairs showing your income and outgoings and they will help you budget. I was in a very similar position to you but with higher debts and Lloyds were my main creditor. quite honestly I found there was no point in talking to them at all they didnt help one bit however my saviours came in the form of CCCS (not c-c-c-s) who are a charity helping those in debt. give them a call or go on line and fill in their debt remedy. I choose to do a debt management plan with them, it's going well my debts are going down and i have enough to live on. Even if you dont want to take thier advice they are very good people to speak to as they are totally non judgemental, they actually speak to you as if you are a normal human being!! good luck and keep using this forum it's invaluable especialy when you're feeling bad.