Over the past two years i've racked up an incredible amount of debt, it reached as much as £60k last Christmas but this has now come down to c£50k. I have a gambling problem which is where all this debt comes from and which is why its so hard to shift. The pressures of this debt, personal relationships and job insecurity have started me feeling anxiety and stress related symptoms, i don't want to over-egg this but going to the GP recently i realised that things had to change. As you can imagine the largest problem i have is being reliable with any substantial sum of money in my account. I'm currently living at home with parents and need to move out by March/April, i'm finding this difficult for budgeting purposes as i don't know how much its going to cost me in the future and i'm already struggling. My Debts are as follows:- Sainsburies Loan - c£11k Halifax Card - £9k IHG/Barclaycard - £4.5k Virgin/MBNA Card - £4.5k Nationwide Card - £4.5k Amex Card - £3k Currys/Creation - £2k Onstride Finance - £2k 118 Money - £1.9k Marbles - £1.2k Paypal - £1k Very - £700 In order to make ends meet i've also taken out several phone contracts to sell the handset, this means that i have about £150 pcm expenditure on line rentals across 5 contracts. Current salary brings in about £2490 per month, minimum repayments for all of these are approximately £1900. So if i was continuing to live at home and if i was able to not fritter away my entire pay packet within 7 hours of it hitting my bank account then i could get by. Unfortunately neither of these are true. I'm considering making a change to my working situation resulting in less hours and a higher pension payment (thankfully money i can't access to waste) which would bring my new salary to c£1800 per month, out of that i would estimate £800pcm for rent and bills, £450 for day to day expenses. So i can't work out whether i can put myself through the mass defaulting stage, i don't know if i can bear the constant calls, i don't know how easy it will be to get a place to rent with a wrecked credit file, i don't know what to do right now. I'm currently asking the gaming company for a partial refund of my recent deposits (After i've self excluded), if that provides a decent return i can keep going with the regular payments for a bit longer but its no long term fix. My dream is to own my own home, trying desperately to work out how i feel about pushing that out another 6-7 years. Also wondering if i should leave open the Halifax account or pay separately as its still on a balance transfer offer and presume it would be good to have one high value account with history when looking to get a mortgage down the line... Bit of a stream of thoughts there but i'm really at a crossroads, mostly 0/1 months behind and its about to hit the fan.

2007 stepdaughter and her husband took a secured loan (against house) for £10k. They subsequently separated and daughter was left high and dry to pay mortgage, loan and bills etc. Inevitably she fell into arrears but managed in 2014 to pay off all the arrears and has continued to pay monthly. The loan term ends in April 2017 and she has now been told she must pay £32k in further interest and legal charges. If she doesn't pay they will repossess. This would bring the total cost of the loan to over £50k as she has already paid them in excess of £23k. Ombudsman has investigated but says her claim against them is out of time according the paperwork she has seen from Swift. I was thinking of writing to the company and asking them to extend the term and freeze the charges and perhaps to offer to pay a lump sum to reduce the cost - but we can only afford a couple of thousand. Would they be obliged to accept an offer to continue payment? We fear the only alternative would be for her to sell the house but she has three children of 17, 13 & 12. Would paying a debt solicitor for legal advice/intervention be likely to help in any way? Finally although permanently separated she and her husband are still legally married but has not even contributed child maintenance. Would it be reasonable to give Swift his contact details and ask them to serve proceedings on him also? As you can tell - we are in turmoil and need advice urgently on what steps we can take to prevent my stepdaughter and her children being made homeless.