General advice on submitting budget & expenditure to Creditors

[watchcat]

I have a lot of debt.

 

I can't go bankrupt willingly as CCCS said I should, as I will lose my rent agreement on my house and I have 3 children, the eldest is disabled.

 

I paid all my debts solidly, (borrowing from Peter to pay Paul) until a couple of months ago.

 

I sold everything I had to pay for them as well.

 

Now I've just stopped paying as I can't do it anymore.

 

I have nothing left to sell.

 

I have also recently been diagnosed with Bipolar-disorder and, yes I spent an awful lot of money during my highs,

which I then tried to recuperate by selling during my lows.

 

I now have my partner looking after all the money (benefits now), but it is in my name as I have to be the one to claim it.

 

I have personally £20 per month to pay for anything personal, which will include my debts that I ran up during my highs.

 

How can I explain to the creditors/court that the money that comes to me in the form of benefits is for my children and partner as well, and not just mine?

 

As if you look at the money that goes through my bank, it looks like I have enough to pay my debts, when I haven't.

 

If I changed cetain benefits to my partners accounts would I still have to say this was mine on the budget sheet?

 

Can anyone please give me any advice on this, as I haven't contacted any of my creditors since I stopped paying them and really need to try and sort this out.

These debts have been totally run up by me and not my partner- who now looks after the money so we have enough!

[i hate bailiffs]

you only need to give income information to the court

 

not debt collection agents

[watchcat]

Thankyou for your reply.

 

On the budgeting forms I have read on www, it says (roughly) "benefits received and how much?"

 

Which is the reason for my uncertainties.

 

As I do receive x amount of money in my name but it isn't all mine!

 

Is it wrong to get some paid into my partners account and then just not mention it?

 

Officially and truly, I now have £20 cash in my hand per month for me for personal items etc..

 

this means I can't spend any of the money when I have a high and is helping get things on track food wise etc...

 

My partner has my bank card to get the money out for food and to pay bills by direct debit.

 

The money i owe is credit cards and catalogues and overdraft.

[i hate bailiffs]

credit cards and overdraft as a non priority debt

 

is there any PPI to reclaim and lots of charges

 

are they with debt collection or the original lender

 

when was the last payments

 

time for you to take control £1 per month if money tight

[dx100uk]

OD prob got charges

cat debts - will have lots of chagres i bet

 

CC's too

 

have you all thhe statements?

 

dx

[Bandit127]

As above - you do not have to give I&E information to creditors.

 

But negotiating acceptable repayment plans with them will be very difficult without.

 

Personally I would phone one of the debt charities for direct advice and perhaps to set up a free DMP for you.

StepChange (CCCS) and Payplan seem to be good providers.

 

Considering your worst case - it is highly unlikely that you will forfeit a tenancy for going BR. Your rent would be paid by the OR and most letting agents know that they would be getting reliable payments.

 

You could call them - I did when I thought bankruptcy was the only way out for me and wanted to know. They said that, as long as they carried on being paid, they wouldn't take any action.

[watchcat]

I have all the statements, but unfortunately I haven't looked at one of them since I had to stop paying.

I have given them to my partner to open and just tell me if it's from the court or not. Sorry, I know that's bad, but at the point when I had to stop paying I was at my wits end, (Except see below*) and have lacked the courage to do anything since.

 

*The exception above is that I contacted the CCCS (now step change I believe) and after going through all my finances they said my only way out was bankruptcy. I have read my tenancy agreement, and have a not-very-nice-landlord (although the agents are ok) and the tenancy states I can (will?) be evicted if I am made bankrupt or take out an IVA. My eldest daughter is disabled and we have to have a bungalow, so I really can't voluntarily risk bankruptcy for the childrens sake. Obviously I'm aware that this problem is of my own making, but I didn't really realise what was happening as I wasn't even aware I was ill till I was diagnosed.

 

....????

[watchcat]

I just wondered if anyone else might know anything about this that may help me, as I would really appreciate as much advice as I can get before Monday. Thankyou in advance.

[westfield]

If you look on the oft website under debt collection there is some info for people with mental incapacity, not just mental health issues but real incapacity which i am sure would cover you and your situation. How many creditors have you got?

Maybe cccs or national decline could help you fill out the cfs which makes allowances for dependants etc. If you have a disabled daughter have you looked at social housing.

[westfield]

Just out of iinterest how old are the agreements? Another thought is if you get HB could you get that paid direct to the landlord and would he need to know about BR

[Bazooka Boo]

Forget about budget sheets for DCA's, they don't need them.

 

Do your own I&E sheet to see what is coming in & going out.

 

Concentrate on your priority debts such as Rent, utility bills, secured loans, council tax.

 

Catalogues, unsecured bank loans, store cards credit cards are all non priority debts and come at the very bottom of the pile, so after you have paid all of your priority debts, then bought food and necessities to live on, and paid for clothes, hair cuts, eating out, cinema, etc, then and only then, do you look at what is left to pay your non priority debts.

 

If this means that you can only aford the token legal minimum of £1 a month, then that is it, and as your on benefits anyway, that is all you need pay.

 

No judge would force you to pay more, in fact I do know of an elderly couple who were ordered to pay 75p a month.

 

Besides courts and judges are a very long way off so don't let that distract you.

 

Can you list the debts, who they're with now, and roughly how much.

 

Something to read http://www.malg.org.uk/debtmentalhealth.html

[Bandit127]

My tenancy agreement said the same as yours. My finances were unstable at the time too - late payments (but never more than 1 month over).

 

I called the letting agent and advised them that:

1. I had been advised to go BR.

2. That, if I did, the OR would pay rent reliably.

3. Could they get a view from the Landlord? And let me know.

 

They asked the Landlord and the result was that I would be able to keep my tenancy if I went BR.

 

For the price of a call you could get some piece of mind here. All they can say is no and your position is no worse.

 

All ANY Landlord wants is regular payments - nasty or not. (Your credit situation will make no difference right now if you stay up to date...)

[Bazooka Boo]

Yes your right Bandit, it is always worth having a chat with the letting agent, can take a big strain off your shoulders, it is worth a shot.