first post

howdidthishappen

I really dont know where to start but I guess im just going to write everything down and get it off my chest.
Im 21, married with 1 daughter, I think i got into this mess as I was young and Nhieve and didnt really understand how expensive living alone was.

Right here is the list.....
My Wage £320
DH's Wage £930
Tax Credits £192
Family credit £78

Total £1520

So this is to live on which has to include £600 rent and £270 Childcare.

I just cant see how we can possibly survive on this with all that we owe, I just dont know what to do



Debt

Joint

gas/electricity/water/bt arrears
rent arears £1200

mine

Car Loan £11672 ( court order set at £25 a month)
Time Share £8958.57
store card £162
catalogue £696.17
c/c £2929.88
c/c £1587.40
Overdrawn £428.60

DH
2 c/c totalling around £1400

So there it is, my life in numbers, it looks so scary. I know that I am going to have to go bankrupt, but even if I ignore all our debts It just seems so difficult to live on what we have coming in and pay all essential bills.

Please feel free to comment on my situation, all advice welcome

slowlyfading

Firstly, welcome to the board. and have a hug :grouphug:(which I know looks dodgy, but there we go) You need to do a proper SOA (statement of Affairs, see ths sticky on the debt free wananabe board about new posters) so we can see what all your outgoings are, and how to help you.
You've come to the right place, and you can do this, dont worry x

Waspeze

Might be worth giving one of the debt charities a call as well as they might be able to advise on a best course of action?

Taken from Tigerfeets sig

Your first port of call should be to contact one of the Debt Charities; see links below. Their services are free; they have no vested interest to serve; their advisors are professionally trained and the advice they give will be objective and in your best interests only.

CCCS 0800 138 1111 National Debtline 0808 808 4000 Business Debt Line 0800 197 6026 CAB – Contact your local office and ask to speak to a Specialist Financial Advisor. Insolvency Service- 0845 602 9848

shopaholic2008

Just wanted to say welcome and good luck. Your in the right place the people on here are fantastic and offer so much good advice. Why dont you have a look around at the different threads, just reading these has given me so many good ideas and im now on my way to being debt free.

howdidthishappen

Thanks waspeze, my mum used to work for cccs so I have acctually been in touch with them, they have advised me to go bankrupt so I am currently trying to raise the funds to do this, they havnt really given me any advise with regards to general household bills and arears though. The only way I can see to get over that would be to rent a cheaper house or up our income.
My DH is currently searching for a better paid job, but its just so difficult. And with regards to housing we have put our names down with 3 local councils and we would never get another private rented house as our credit is so bad, we currently have rent arrears and have no money to put down as a deposit

howdidthishappen

slowlyfading
thanks for the hug i will sort my SOA for scruitiny

slowlyfading

howdidthishappen wrote: »

slowlyfading
thanks for the hug i will sort my SOA for scruitiny

You're welcome and by the way, i'm the same age as you! x

tallyhoh

What is the timeshare?? Is there any way of selling or backing out?

Waspeze

howdidthishappen wrote: »

Thanks waspeze, my mum used to work for cccs so I have acctually been in touch with them, they have advised me to go bankrupt so I am currently trying to raise the funds to do this, they havnt really given me any advise with regards to general household bills and arears though. The only way I can see to get over that would be to rent a cheaper house or up our income.

If you feel that BR is your only option and you do decide to do it then pop over to the Bankruptcy sub-forum as there's lots of advice etc there that might help you go through the process.

For money saving and cost cutting, DFW is definitely the place to be

howdidthishappen

tally hoh
its a company calle sunterra I have looked into selling it as this is obviously the obvious choice, however they will not buy it back from us the only thing to do is to sell to an existing member which would be near on impossible as we have outstanding management fees

CCCS_Alan

Hi HDTH

Welcome to the boards.

Looking at your post you need to address your priority arrears such as utilities and rent. If you do not negotiate repayments you could be disconnected and even risk losing the property you’re in. The priorities should be paid first as your non priority debts are secondary, even after you have made arrangements to clear them and if your left with only £1 to pay your creds that’s all you should pay. Don’t worry if they pressure you to pay more as you cant pay what you don’t have and don’t give in to them.

Hopefully you have stopped the use of credit as this is very important at this time as you need to survive on the money you have coming in.

Look to open a basic bank account away from your creditors as well to get yourself in control of your money. Get your wages and benefits paid into the new account and set up your priority expenditures from here. And if you were to pay your creditors from this account you would pay by either a SO or over the counter. Avoid DD to creds as they control how much they can take which could leave you short for your priorities. Only pay them what you can afford as well each month, don’t give into the pressure as they will always want more from you.

If you use the following link Basic Bank Accounts, and in the Basic bank accounts section click on publications it will provide you with a list of accounts and what benefits the account offers.
Be sure that the account has no connection to any of your existing creditors though.

Have a look on www.entitledto.co.uk to possibly see if you are entitled to any more benefits as well to help try increasing your income.

For the Bankruptcy fees and utility arrears some utility companies do offer trust funds for help with people in arrears with the utility bills, and funds to help with BR. The following link is just an example of this for Water Trust Funds. If you scroll down the page it will show different trusts and what they can help with. By searching the internet you may find other trust funds as well that may be able to help out.

Hope this helps

CCCS_Alan