Angie12 needs help

UK007BullDog

Angie12 is not the best with computers so i am posting her question here.

Please help her. The original post was under another persons post/thread from here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=11497979&posted=1#post11497979 I suggest to read that thread to get a gist of Angies question.

Hi

We've not been too good with money matters over the years, mainly due to my inability to work for longer than 3 mths here and there. Only my O/H has worked solidly so we've just muddled along, taking loans out to survive and re-mortgaging to repay them (which has resulted in I/S only paying us £68 per month towards a £321 mortgage.)
Thanks to this site, we now realise we have wasted thousands of pounds over the years due to our not understanding interest rates, costs of taking cash off cc, paying loans off early with re-mortgages, not claiming benefits/rebates ect...
We've finally learned our lesson, but, it may be too late.

About 18 months ago, my illness worsened and my O/H gave up work to become my carer. Since then, we have had nothing but stress and worry which is making my illness worse. He wasn't on a good wage but he was able to come home/stay off whenever I needed him to and he loved his job. Money-wise, we're not a whole lot worse off, but, we are really struggling to pay our bills. We.ve decided he's going to have to look for a part-time job, we're waiting for a "better off" appointment with DHSS to make sure part-time will pay.
We love our house, We have lived in it for 24 years. One son owns next door, the youngest is still at home and our families all live close by too. We can't downsize as there is nothing much cheaper that will clear our debt too. I've been trawling this site for months looking for a way out and then I saw this subject.

I wonder if someone could kindly explain HOW this idea works AND if it could work for us. People tell us to sell and rent, and if we can't find a solution, we will have to, but, we're not bothered about having loads of money, we would be happy just to live rent free in our own home.

Mortgage owed £37,100: £200 pm ( Halifax, lengthened repayment from 13 to 18 years)
Secured loans £8,500: £110 pm
Credit cards £2,300 £80 pm
Loan £800 £27 pm

Total Debt £48,700

House value £120.000

Any advice at all will be greatly appreciated.

Angie

jonathon_hart

Might be worth putting it on Debt free Wannabe as well - the guys there could be able to help as well.

LilacPixie

All i would say is Do not go to one of the sell and rent back companies. They are cowboys.

As a first thought what is your son's financial position. Could they effectivly buy your home and let you live rent free or you rent it back from them officially and claim housing benefit.

anopther think would be make sure you are claiming everything you are entitled too. DLA, carers allowence etc.

DO not let the implied stigma of claiming benefits stop you claiming everything you are entitled too. You have both obviously been hard working people who are now struggle due to no fault of your own. Now is the time to claim all you can.

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

Angie, it seems to me that the mortgage it's self would be affordable if it were your only outgoing, but unfortunately it's not.

Have you tried the Consumer Credit Counselling Service www.cccs.co.uk pr PAYPLAN http://www.payplan.com/ ? While your debts are nowhere near the norm compared to the majority of the population, the problem is it sounds like it's a big chunk of your income due to your situation.

The above may be able to negotiate affordable payments for you.

Selling your home and renting it back would be a bad move, but selling it, renting eslewhere and then looking to buy a house for cash as auction, then being mortgage free, might be an option, but could your health stand the stress?

angie12

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

Angie, it seems to me that the mortgage it's self would be affordable if it were your only outgoing, but unfortunately it's not.

Have you tried the Consumer Credit Counselling Service www.cccs.co.uk pr PAYPLAN http://www.payplan.com/ ? While your debts are nowhere near the norm compared to the majority of the population, the problem is it sounds like it's a big chunk of your income due to your situation.

The above may be able to negotiate affordable payments for you.

Selling your home and renting it back would be a bad move, but selling it, renting eslewhere and then looking to buy a house for cash as auction, then being mortgage free, might be an option, but could your health stand the stress?

Hi Ian.

Thanks for the advice. I filled out the form on the cccs site 2 days ago. It came back with, "Sorry, we can't help you. Even if you didn't have the debts, you still would not have enough to live and therefore have no money to haggle with creditors."
I was shocked to be honest. I have already taken the advice of LP and got all our letters out from Income support. We should be getting £128 p/w. (We got a loan off them in 2007 for £400.) We get £102.50 p/w. I am going to ask them to reduce the payments.
I also had hell on earth trying to get an appointment for a better-off calculation if O/H goes part-time. three days on the phone, getting sent from pillar -to -post. turns out, my O/H is not on my claim. So, they can't make him an appointment as he doesn't exist. She said there has been a mistake made but, it's too late now, all she can do is apologise. I've got a feeling they've done something really wrong with our claim. My flaming heads done in with it all. I've a good mind to report them with all the trouble and money they've lost us in insurance.

Anyway, I've got an appointment with pathways to work and even though It won't be me looking for work, it is for me not O/H. They are rediculous.

Thanks again to both of you. I apologise for rambling on.

Angie:beer:

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

Try Christians Against Poverty http://www.capuk.org/ . They may be a little more understanding and have more time to help you with your finances. It sounds to me like CCCS are getting too busy to help people thoroughly.

angie12

Thanks again Ian.

I don't really want to go onto any debt management programs. the only thing that has kept us afloat is we have always payed our debts to keep credit score good in case of emergencies.

I've had 3 to 4 phone calls in the last 2 weeks offering me loans. We won't be taking any, we've learned our lesson.
thanks again
Angie