Don't bury your head in the sand.......

barbie_doll_2

I am so delighted to read about how many people have become debt free as a result of all of the helpful advice that is posted on this website. I hope to join the list in a few years time and as with everyone else, will be so glad when I finally do.

I have been a financial adviser for the past seven years and typically those who are great at looking after everyone elses finances are pretty hopeless at looking after their own! I was slightly orgainsed and set up a direct debit for everything to come out at the 1st of the month knowing that everything after that was my play money.

I was very fortunate to be successful at what I did but unfortunate to have a boss who bullied me and gradually chipped away at my self confidence. As a lot of my job involved paying for expenses and then claiming them back, my cash flow was not brilliant sometimes.

Over a period of about six months, this worsened and I never knew what was and wasn't being paid. I was too scared to face the truth and my kitchen was piled high with 'very urgent' envelopes that I promising myself to take a day off to open. That day never came and I was in complete denial. As far as a I was concerned, as long as my credit or debit card worked, then it was never as bad it seemed. Even when my debit card was swallowed by the hole in the wall I was still in denial.

Crunch time arrived one evening in the form of a debt collector who turned up on my doorstep to be greeted by my mother who was staying for the week. I was summoned home to a mother whose face had been turned ashen at the news that her daughter had neglected her financial responsibilities. My missed payments had turned into defaults and then into county court judgements (CCJ's).

Three months previously, my doctor had told me that I was suffering from depression as a result of my boss and his bullying attitude towards me. I was a fairly easy going person and was in total denial that I had depression. I had been feeling low and unmotivated and as a result had not been on top of everything. I would not blame this for my financial crisis but I do think that it contributed towards it.

Unfortunately, I had buried my head in the sand for so long that my credit rating was very poor and borrowing at low rates was no longer an option.

The first thing to do was to open all of the envelopes (which took a day and a huge amount of courage) and the second was to contact the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) who were fantastic. They have helped me set up a debt management plan which means that I make one payment to them every month to pay my creditors and any additional money I have goes towards reducing my debts. I contacted all of my creditors and told them that I was working with the CCCS to solve my problem which they actively encouraged.

I have come to realise that you need to tackle the problem head on and to be brave enough to pick up the phone and speak to these peope. Creditors, debt collection agencies and baliffs aren't monsters and if you genuinely want to resolve your situation they will do all that the can to help you. If you are reading this hearing the phone ring (for the 50th time) from a debt collection agency, or are hoping that the dog will eat all of the envelopes coming through the door, I'm afraid that it won't go away but you need to deal with it. Be brave.

If you are in a similar situation, remember that you are not the only one ( I know it seems hard at times) but remember that there are so many organisations that can help you. I know that it is the hardest thing is to ask for help but promise that you will be glad once you have. I am sure that you wonder why you have left it so long.

Good luck - think how you will feel to be in control again. I promise that there is nothing that can't be sorted. You will get there in the end and guarntee that it won't be as painful as you think xx

Numpty_Monkey

:T well said hun, :kisses3:

maddysaver

You are so right.
I won't go into details of my situation; I got to the CCCS in the nick of time before I couldn't afford to pay minimum payments, although I was robbing Peter to pay Paul. But I felt sure my situation was 'unsolvable' and the CCCS made me see it wasn't. That was 3 years ago. My DMP would have taken 11 years to run its course but with help here on this site, a little bit of luck and a few other things happening, I think we may be just about to pay full and finals on our remaining debts very soon (fingers crossed).

Nothing is unsurmountable and nothing compares to the relief of feeling back in control of finances. I feel I've learnt a lesson the very hard way, but I also think it's the only way I would ever have learnt it so I'm glad it happened.

G-G_4

Well done for getting it sorted out.. i'm sure it must have been tough..

I also have just been diagnosed with depression, after years of kidding myself that I would be fine.. x

I am also a bankrupt mortgage advisor, also studying towards CFP, so in a year or so I will be a fully qualified Mortgage and Financial Advisor, albeit a bankrupt one! haha - oh dear!

Best of Luck x

MissKJ

I thought you couldn't be a registered financial/mortgage advisor if you had financial difficulties, or is that just CCJ's you can't have?

Don't mean that to sound critical at all, just curious?

barbie_doll_2

It really depends on the company that you work for as to each individual policy. Most high street banks will not employ anyone that has had serious financial difficulty or been bankrupt as they consider it a little risky. Generally, it is not acceptable to have outstanding CCJ's but if they have been satisfied then most IFA's will accept this although your activities may be limited. My CCJ was paid off very quickly (CCCS see these as priority debts) and so this has not caused a problem.