What do we do????

Gemmzie

Trieshard wrote: »

Thanks Tallyho

yes we have no life insurance as we surrendered that last year as we needed cash, our water rates are included with the Council Tax payment and yes my boiler maintenace includes electricty and plumbing but as we used it twice last year it a bit higher. i could not cancel my alarm as my OH works shifts

Life insurance is far more important than boiler cover.

Tustastic

Hi trieshard, well done for posting. Look at the article on the main site about mortgage protection insurance - you may well be able to get it cheaper;
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/payment-protection-insurance
One day a few years ago I read the small print on my policy and realised it was no use, so I just cancelled it.
Given the big difference between your monthly income and outgoings, I suggest you look at the PayPlan and http://www.cccs.co.uk/ websites to get expert kind and non-judgemental advice from them ASAP.
Keep posting - you'll get great advice and support.

tallyhoh

It might be worth cancelling your mortgage protection & taking out basic life insurance. Check what it actually covers carefully, not just thinking it covers say, redundancy. Sometimes the conditions are such that it woulf be impossible to claim.

I am trying to restyle my expenses to what they were in 1985-- just paying what I HAD to pay, there was no cable, mobiles, alarms, internet etc, We take these things for granted now but we dont actually need them --just want them. (ok, I will keep my internet)

Bismarck

Hi...are you getting everything you're entitled to? Didn't see a mention of tax credits...or is it bundled in somewhere else?

I'd second Gemmzie on the unsecured debt part....(don't secure anything else against your home) and make sure you can pay your priority debts...like your mortgage, council tax etc.

As agree re life v boiler insurance...think my other half would go spare if I chose boiler insurance over my own life insurance! There's a joke in there somewhere too but maybe now's not the place....

Take your point about the car, now I understand the situation better.

Wouldn't go anywhere near an IVA for a long time as equity in your house could go into the mix after a few years of it...others know better than me but I'd certainly go for a DMP out of preference.

Please, see CCCS or CAB....and they'll go through stuff with you and you'll feel a whole lot better....once you start getting to grips with the monster, the better you'll feel!