Help!! Debt is ruining our life

[alienatedyouth]

Hello everyone.

 

I am writing to ask for advice as my husband has two bank of scotland credit cards and one personel loan. I had to stop work last year due to depression and Stress after the death of my grandfather, who i was very close to. His death had a huge impact on my life.

My husband was the only one bringing in a full wage at the time and now he is currently off on long term sickness and only receiving SSP.

We are currently waiting on a form from my doctor to send to our mortgage provider to help us with the mortgage. We are just getting by on paying bills and surviving.

 

The big issue is that the credit cards and loan are too high currently sitting at £16,000 in total. The total payment to service all the debt is currently around £410 per month and the two cards are currently sitting one month in arrears (it will be two months as of next week).

The bank is now phoning non-stop everyday on the mobile and home phone. We do not answer them but have been advised from my father to tell them we can not afford to pay.

 

Does anyone have any advise that could help us as we are a young couple, I'm 24 and my husbands 26. We've not even been married for two years and are struggling with depression due to the events of last year.

 

Could someone help?

 

Thanks.

 

Christine

[Crocdoc]

Get along to one of the charity organisation who provide debt advice as it is possible to negotiaite TOKEN payments until your circumstances improve. At a later date when you return to work it may be possible to enter into a Debt Arrangement Scheme to take care of the usecured debt. DO NOT CONSIDER DEBT MANAGEMENT OR TRUST DEED AT THAT STAGE AS YOU OWN YOUR HOME, particularly if there is equity in the property.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Crocdoc

[IdaInFife]

Hi AY,

 

Have a read of this:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/entry.php?517-Debt-Diaries-Become-Debt-Free-in-Ten-Steps-Step-One-Don-t-Panic!

 

and the rest of the steps.

 

Sit down and work out your income and expenditure (also the above links help you see if you are claiming all your entitled too) and then see if you have any surplus monies you can offer and let us know

 

Ida x

[alienatedyouth]

Many thanks to crocdoc and IdainFife for the fantastic advice you gave to us. It is nice to know we are not alone in this situation. We have already made a budget and are cutting back on a lot of things. I will be seeing about reducing Sky tv, which at the moment is a big outgoing.

 

We also have an appointment with North Ayrshire Debt Advisors to talk about making token payments to the creditors which will give us time. Or perhaps use the PPI on the cards and loan instead of claiming it back.

 

Thank you once again.

 

I will let you know what the outcome is.

 

Christine

[blueda]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?20758-creditorsandDCAs-letterTemplates&Budgetplanner

[Space2001]

Or perhaps use the PPI on the cards and loan instead of claiming it back.

 

 

Your situation is actually what PPI is useful for - however, you will have had to have kept your PPI payments up to date ie you have not already stopped paying or claimed back

[alienatedyouth]

Hi IdainFife. I contacted the Consumer credit counselling service and they have taken a note of all our income, outgoings etc.

they will contact me on May 8th to check what can be done to help, this may include a token payment to each of the creditors.

I am following the advice you sent to me on April 27th, it is very useful advice and I would like to thank you for your help, it means so much to me.

 

Thanks again

[alienatedyouth]

Also I would like to thank Space2000 for your post yesterday, we have taken your advice on board about the PPI. Its so good to know that we're not alone is this.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.

 

AY

[alienatedyouth]

IdainFife - I will contact Turn2us tomorrow. Given the little income coming in at the moment, we should be entitlted to something. Whats worse is I worked since I was 16 and now im claiming job seekers and have been told I do not qualify for JS. Even though I explained to HMRC that Mark, my husband is off his work long term with illness, this still diden't make a difference.

 

Thanks again Ida,

 

thank you for taking the time to reply to my post with all the wonderful information.

 

AY

[alienatedyouth]

IdainFife - I went onto the turn2us website to use the benefit calculator -its telling me that the £62 that marks getting from WTC is all that we are entitled to? I am wondering if there is any more advice on how to claim Job Seekers income based given the very low income?

 

Thanks

 

AY

[IdaInFife]

am not benefits savvy am afraid i will Erika a tug for you, can you roughly say what you are getting and approx amounts for her?

[Jen2603]

Hi alienatedyouth,

 

The free self-help pack on this site has been very useful to me in budgeting and paying off debts in the past

 

http://www.gain4u.org.uk/document.aspx?cid=2

 

The charity grants finder on this site may throw something up that could help

 

http://www.family-action.org.uk/section.aspx?id=77

 

I would be inclined to check my benefits here as it's the government website and is up to date on rules etc.

 

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/diol1/doitonline/doitonlinebycategory/dg_172666

 

For emotional help and support with your depression these folk might be able to help

 

http://www.depressionalliance.org/

 

I don't know if you're a member of a trade union or not. If so, contact them and see if they can assist as many unions have funds that members can access. If not you might wish to consider joining the Unite in the Community scheme-it is specifically for people not in work. It costs 50p per week and comes with a range of benefits, including access to the union benevolent fund.

 

http://www.unitetheunion.org/member_services/community_member_benefits.aspx

 

You may be entitled to Disability Living Allowance due to depression. I was able to claim low rate care DLA for two years due to depression. DLA is not means tested, it is granted purely to help with your health regardless of your financial situation. I would strongly advise you get help to complete any application for this benefit as the form is quite tricky and the criteria are quite strict. Depending on your partners condition and it's duration he might also be able to claim DLA.

 

You may also be able to claim Employment and Support Allowance, though i don't know enough about your circumstances to say for certain.

 

I'm pretty crap with debt but have a good working knowledge of the benefits system and would be happy to try and help if you have any questions.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Jen2603

[National Debtline]

Hello there. You may be interested in downloading our self-help pack, Dealng with your debts. It has a wealth of really useful information:

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland/pdf/self_help_pack/full_pack.pdf

 

We also have a money advice tool, My Money Steps, which can provide tailored help and support via the web: http://www.mymoneysteps.org

 

We hope you find them useful!

 

National Debtline.

[ErikaPNP]

Hi Christine.

 

Firstly, I am so sorry for the delayed response. I've not been online the last few days due to illness. As he is on SSP, he can't claim any DWP benefit such as JSA, ESA or IS. I see you stopped working last year. If you were working in the tax years 09/10 and 10/11, there is a possibility that you may be eligible for contribution based JSA. This is only payable for 6 months, but it's a start and is definately worth looking into.

 

The turn to us calculator isn't designed to deal with in-year adjustments as far as I am aware - it's more geared toward a total year award. However I would suggest that you contact Tax Credit 0845 300 3900, and tell them that your husband is on SSP therefore the total estimated income for the year will be lower, and ask them if it is possible to do an in-year adjustment on your award. They will likely need a new estimate for this. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on in-year adjustments. All I know is that it is possible in some circumstances and I've had them done when I've been long term sick years ago, so I don't know if you will definately get one or not but it is worth a shot.

 

Another thing worth checking is housing benefit (if you are a renter) and council tax benefit. You may be eligible for some help with your rent and council tax due to the drop in income. Your local authority will have an application form to apply - don't delay though as benefits are rarely backdated unless official error is the reason for the delay. If eligible, they will of course be backdated to the date of your claim, apart from JSA because that has a three day 'waiting period'.

[alienatedyouth]

Hi ErikaPNP! Thanks for your response. We have a bit of good news. I had an interview on Friday there for a clerical Assistant, full time, mon - fri 9-5. I got offered the job on the spot. I just started there on Wedensday.

We have put in a claim for Council Tax benefits and are currently waiting on them getting back to us. I need to let them know that I've started work, do you think that'll mess up the claim?

 

Moneys still a bit slow as I don't get paid until a week tomorrow. Its all fun, you go to work, see your pay then its all gone!

 

I contacted tax credits and managed to get an extra £20 added on a week, so thats helping.

 

Once again thank you for your response, it's very much appreciated!

 

Christine

[alienatedyouth]

National Debtline! thank you so much for the debt advice pack! I have downloaded it and I am finding it a very useful information packaage!

It has made things a lot clearer!

 

Many thanks

 

Christine

[alienatedyouth]

Jen2603 Thank you very much for your reply! I appreciate the time you spent putting up all this wonderful information.

 

Thanks

 

Christine

[alienatedyouth]

IdaInFife! thank you for contacting Erika for me, she sent me a lot of great information.

Sorry I haven't been on CAG for a wee while, I started a new job on wednesday there and have also been studying for my maths exam.

 

Thank you for all your help, It's very much appreciated!

 

Christine xx

[citizenB]

Excellent news regarding your new employment

[IdaInFife]

Great news and please make sure you have told the benefits office you are working

[alienatedyouth]

Hi IdaInFife! I informed the job centre about my job as soon as I got offered it. My husband may be able to claim job seekers on my behalf through income based for the time i was off.

I'm hoping things will improve, as this has been one hell of a year so far!

But thanks to yourself and everyone on CAG that replied and gave wonderful advice, I can finally see a way out the mess!

 

Kind regards

 

Christine

[alienatedyouth]

Hi CitzenB! thank you! It feels great to have money coming in now, although it'll be a wee while before we're clear of debt.

Thanks to everyone on CAG for the fantastic support!

 

Christine

[thevoice111]

hope u get this sorted soon gl