Credit Card debt and Income Support

oneoutofnone

I'll try and be as brief as possible...

I had to quit my job in February on medical grounds. To cut a long story short, I have some muscle/joint disorder that has doctors baffled, and my job involved quite a bit of heavy lifting. I also have problems sitting down or standing up for any length of time. If I was in my 50's then fair enough, but I'm 23!

When I left my job, I had 2 credit cards, with about £1200 between them. This was quite manageable on my pay and would have been paid off by September, when interest starts getting charged. Because of the amount of time it has taken the Income Support people to pay out (doctor put the wrong months on a sick note, and thus it wasn't put on their system, yet no one mentioned there was a gap and so on and so forth) I've been eating into the balances of those cards, and they are pretty much at their maximum. £2100 combined total.

My problem is, Income Support only pays £180 a month. At the moment my repayments are £75 total a month, but in September, I'll start getting charged interest, and there is no way I'll be able to keep up.

I'm at a total loss as to what to do. Any advice would be welcomed.

mandi

how about transfering the balances to a zero interest card. ... Is that an option youve considered, or write to the cc company and explain your situation , asking them to freeze the interest until you get another job ..




Mandi


Edited to say CUT your cards up.. you cant afford to have them .. sorry

oneoutofnone

mandi wrote: »

how about transfering the balances to a zero interest card. ... Is that an option youve considered

I've tried applying for cards but without a job, cannot get one.

mandi

oneoutofnone wrote: »

I've tried applying for cards but without a job, cannot get one.

I think that might be a good thing really One .. Id write and explain your situation ,if you need advice you could contact http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/.. they will give you free advice, and send sample letters.



Mandi

Sue-UU

In that case try Citizens Advice Bureau, they'll help you all they can, possibly put you onto someone else if it's necessary as well.

You may well be entitled to Disability Living Allowance in time depending on what your Drs are doing with regards to your illness. I was so sorry to read about having such problems, especially so young. Try putting an SOA (state of affairs) on using this link as we may well be able to help you further with your every day finances.

A warm welcome to the Forum and good luck with getting the help you need.

Sue

oneoutofnone

Well I'm very fortunate that I live at home, so don't really have any other outgoings, other than food.

I've got hold of the template letters to send to the credit card people regarding freezing the cards et al, and also I'm going to try a hardship case with my bank for my bank charges, which is around £500 which would go some way to paying the smaller card off, which would be nice....

Thanks for all your help so far