Please Help!

bimbo82

My husband & I are in serious debt & I just don't know what to do to get us out of it.
I am only 26 & he is 28 we have been married 6 months. We only rent our property as we probably would never be able to buy.
Between us we probably have in the region of £100k debt, this is on loans, car finance, credit cards, house hold bills & council tax, and this debt is not just for our current rented home, we also ran from our previous address leaving a load of outstanding bills there without a forwarding address which are all now starting to find us & we just don't earn enough money to get free of this - are we always going to be like this?
Would you suggest going bankrupt as we must have CCJ's coming out of our ears.
We are so bad that we can't even have a current account, or even get a mobile phone contract if we wanted one. We have no active credit or debit cars & do not think an IVA will help matters.
My husband is really up for going bankrupt - but me personally I have been reading up on it & I have seen that they notify your employee & landlord & I am too embarassed & ashamed to let it come to that!
PLEASE can someone give me some suggestions - I am struggling to sleep at night & fear we will never be free.
The hardest thing for me is that I was ALWAYS debt free until I met my husband who has always had terrible credit history & now he has dragged me down to his level - I don't want to resent him or for it to affect our new marriage as I love him dearly - but I want children & I can't see that ever happening with the way things are going we won't ever be able to afford them unless we sort this.
All your help & suggestions would be much appreciate.
Thanks:(

m.colak

bimbo82 wrote: »

My husband & I are in serious debt & I just don't know what to do to get us out of it.
I am only 26 & he is 28 we have been married 6 months. We only rent our property as we probably would never be able to buy.
Between us we probably have in the region of £100k debt, this is on loans, car finance, credit cards, house hold bills & council tax, and this debt is not just for our current rented home, we also ran from our previous address leaving a load of outstanding bills there without a forwarding address which are all now starting to find us & we just don't earn enough money to get free of this - are we always going to be like this?
Would you suggest going bankrupt as we must have CCJ's coming out of our ears.
We are so bad that we can't even have a current account, or even get a mobile phone contract if we wanted one. We have no active credit or debit cars & do not think an IVA will help matters.
My husband is really up for going bankrupt - but me personally I have been reading up on it & I have seen that they notify your employee & landlord & I am too embarassed & ashamed to let it come to that!
PLEASE can someone give me some suggestions - I am struggling to sleep at night & fear we will never be free.
The hardest thing for me is that I was ALWAYS debt free until I met my husband who has always had terrible credit history & now he has dragged me down to his level - I don't want to resent him or for it to affect our new marriage as I love him dearly - but I want children & I can't see that ever happening with the way things are going we won't ever be able to afford them unless we sort this.
All your help & suggestions would be much appreciate.
Thanks:(

Ok don't go for the bankrupt option straight away try and get in contact with
CCCS as they may be able to help you.
http://www.cccs.co.uk/

Verbatim

Hi and welcome,

First thing is to get all the paperwork together and wrtite a Statement of Affairs, all money coming in and all bills and payments out.

You will need to prioritize rent, council tax, Tv licence, gas/electricity and then water. What's left after food and household expenses is what you have to repay debts. If you sort tjis out and then phone cccs they'll be able to advise on whether you can reallistically have a debt payment plan and discuss other options with you.

Getting the papers together and writing down everything you owe is often the hardest thing, but it always feels better after that step is taken. Also if you post your SOA here the lovely dfws will advise on how and where you can get better/cheaper and cut your bills.

Try not to worry.

lauren_1

First things first, gather up all the debt info and add it up to give your self a figure. You will probably feel sick, cry, shakey or it might feel like you have just been slapped in the face. But thats the start of your journey.

Secondly do a SOA, work out what you need to pay back first like council tax, utilities.

Find out what you can afford to repay after you have taken out the living costs

Take anything you can back, you will be supprised how little you actually need.

And most importantly GET IN TOUCH WITH THE CREDITORS, be honest about what you can afford and aim to negotiate a token payment for the first few month before you know exactly what you are planning to do, £1 £5 £10 a month??

CCCS_Sarah

Hi Bimbo,

Have just had a quick read of your post but I have an appointment now with a client so I will reply back in about an hour

Sarah

bimbo82

The thought of the dreadful challenge ahead makes me want to cry my eyes out - I take it this is normal.

4littleone

Completely normal, in fact if you didn't have those sicky butterflies in your stomach i'd wonder if you were human! Don't worry, the lady from ccs is very good. I'd check back later if i were you and see what she has to say.

bimbo82

Hi 4littleone - thank you SO much for your kind words - glad to see I am actually human - was worried for a minute there :-)
I just can't actually believe how many people are in the same position as me - feels like I am all alone & then I have come on here for the first time & I am already feeling less sick than I did 20 minutes ago x

fermi

bimbo82 wrote: »

My husband is really up for going bankrupt - but me personally I have been reading up on it & I have seen that they notify your employee & landlord & I am too embarassed & ashamed to let it come to that!

You've had plenty of good advice on the rest, so I'll just concentrate on the bankruptcy side.

MSE has a sub-forum specifically for help and advice on bankruptcy.

Link: Bankruptcy & Living With It

Your employer is not normally contacted, although your tax code may change for the current year to a "Nil Tax" code. There are others reasons this can happen, so it doesn't automatically let your employer know that you are bankrupt. What are your jobs?

The Official Receiver normally has a duty to inform your landlord of a bankruptcy, but if you can provide a copy of your tenancy agreement and proof that you are up to date with the rent then many OR's are willing to use some discretion and not contact them.

Bankruptcy is a lot more civilised than it used to be, but as others have said, you need to get some professional advice from an impartial source such as CCCS before you make any decision.

bimbo82

Hello fermi,

Thank you so much for your advice on Bankruptcy you have made me feel better about the whole thing.
I have read though that is cost quite a bit if you file for bankruptcy yourself - but what I don't understand is that if you need to file for it in the first place then you obviously don't have the money to pay for this? All very confusing.
Thanks again though

CCCS_Sarah

Hi Again,

Try not to worry there is always a solution even though it may not seem it at the moment at least you have had you light bulb moment now!

The bills from your last house – as you are not living there anymore they are no longer a priority, so if needs be we can look at reduced payments to those. Do you have any of the same providers for Gas, Elec & Water? If you do for these get in touch and make an arrangement as they could transfer the outstanding balance to your new account.

You need to find out if you have any outstanding CCJ's as these are important to keep up to date with, as if you default they can send Bailiffs. You can find out by getting in touch with one of the 3 credit reference agencies (Call Credit – 0870 060 1414, Experian 0870 241 6212 & Equifax 0870 514 3700). If you do DON’T PANIC! You can get these set at an affordable amount, you need to complete a form called a N245 it will ask for details of all your income and expenditure so as long as the amounts are fair and reasonable it shoud be agreed. I wont go into too much detail yet as it might not be applicable.

With the rest of your creditors - Start putting together a financial statement this will detail ALL you income and expenditure. The amount you have left is the amount to offer your creditors. If you need any help completing a financial statement CCCS have a free online debt advice facility called Debt Remedy – does not take too long to complete and it will let you know the best solution for your problems. This link will take you directly to Debt Remedy or if you would prefer to talk to a counsellor you can call our helpline on 0800 138 1111.

Whatever option you decide is best for you and your husband you will get the support on here.

Good Luck