19 and Bankrupt (nearly)

pratty1988

Hi all! New and 1st post so any comments welcome!
I am 19 and moved out of home. I am renting a place.
I have a credit-card debt and the arrears on the account are more than i can afford to pay! On top of that i got a laptop on credit. Which i could'nt afford to pay off and i have now recieved a letter from a debt collection firm. and getting preety damn scared.

MBNA 2,500 limit (350 in arrears) = 2,850
HFC Bank 650 (now with debt collectors)
Lloyds 500 overdraft maxed out

Rent + bills = 350

I work 30-40 hrs a week as a bar man taking home 650ish a month

What to do?!?!

immoral_angeluk

What are the minimum payments on your debts?

Busterollie

You have come to the right place. There are some wonderful people on MSE and they will give you all the advice you could need. You have made the first move now by admitting your debt. Baby steps and you will get there.

cat4772

Pratty

Welcome to the forum. Before we can help, we need a bit more information (check out at the top of the DFW page, the Sticky: Debt-Free Wannabee Newbies Guide: Challenges, Honour Roll, Nerds & Where to start! by MSE Andrew (it'll give you ideas about a full SOA. Once you've uploaded it we'll be able to go through it and give you some ideas of where to make economies!

Again, welcome to the forum.

Cat.x

redsquirrel80

Welcome aboard. Firstly, don't panic! I think you're a long way from bankruptcy so don't worry about that. As Cat says if you put up a full list of incomings/ outgoings people will be able to have a look and advise. If you can sort it out at this early stage, it's likely that your creditors will accept reduced monthly payments until you can afford to pay more. They'd rather be getting something than nothing!

Is the £650 what you owe for the laptop?

Edited to add - I think at that level of salary you'd be entitled to some sort of tax credits which would give you some extra? I don't know much about it, but someone will be able to advise - and check out http://www.entitledto.co.uk/ as well to see what you should be getting.

Once again, don't worry, and good luck x

Gemmzie

No tax credits for under 25 I'm afraid.

Bismarck

Bankruptcy is a long way off - well done for posting. Is there anything you can sell on Ebay or Amazon to make a dent in this?

novagirl

Maybe head over to 'Up your income' and see if there is any other things you can be doing in your time off to make a little bit extra too

chevalier

Are you doing the bar job just to fill in time before going to college? What about retraining?

Ref the debt collection agency. They will try to bully you into paying more than you can afford, so get together a list of your income and outgoings and make them an offer of what you can afford.

Can your parents lend you the £350 to get your credit card back under the limit? You will be charged loads in over limit fees if you don't.

But the main thing really is that maybe you will have to squash your independence for now, and ask your parents to move back home. If you pay your parents half of the £350 you are paying now, then you will have lots to pay your debt off with. Then in about a year, you can try again, but this time you will have learned to budget properly and know that credit cards are only good if you can pay back the balance each month. Gosh I sound like a mother! Must be your age, sorry, I am old enough to be your mum and that is scary!
chev

redsquirrel80

Gemmzie wrote: »

No tax credits for under 25 I'm afraid.

Sorry I didn't realise that