Sectioned by Police - where now with debt?

[mortyarty]

Within the last week I was sectioned by the police and taken to a secure mental health unit. I was allowed home and the crisis team who visited me have have indicated that there is a long journey ahead of me with treatment and medication, meaning that for the first time in 25 years I'm unable to work.

 

(it appears from initial assessments that I've not been overly well since 1992, but have built up numerous coping and concealing mechanisms which have given the appearance to the outside world of relative normality)

I have been particularly '"less than well" since the beginning of february this year, and since then I agreed to arrangements from a couple of doorstep agents collecting debt (both from utility companies) approaching £350 per month.

 

There are additional debts and last years council tax is in the hands of the bailiffs. We now have a limited family income of under £1800 per month with a few young children.

 

 

There are also a few other issues that have a financial bearing, including faliure to SORN the car at the beginning of the year when I became unable to drive (the car wasn't used but for some reason I just wasn't in the correct mental place to SORN), and a number other outstanding debts.

 

 

No-one in the family smokes/drinks/used drugs etc, we have no telly, no landline, and have cut all spending to the bone over the last 12 months.

 

At the moment I'm really unclear where to go from here, or who to contact to get things worked out in the right way so any advice would be really appreciated. I feel that were just about treading water at the moment, but in-laws are very kindly propping us up by helping with children's uniforms and clubs etc.

 

 

I hope I've been as clear as possible here, I may not to be able to reply quickly to posts as I have quite a lot of appointments with the Mental Health Teams and the assorted medications that I've been started on have altered what my usual perception of normality is.

Many thanks

Edited April 28, 2013 by citizenB
formatting

[renegadeimp]

regarding the doorstep collection agreements, ignore them. The collectors get around 20% of the amount you agreed to. Treat it as if they never came calling. Never pay a DCA anything. If you absolutely must, then they get £1 a month regardless of what they try and say or do.

 

The first thing you need to do is get your finances and budget sorted for your essential living costs. Forget about the low priority debts for now, you have much more important things to attend to.

 

 

Can i ask if you can supply us with more details on your debts? We can supply you with much more detailed info to help you out, if you give us more info on your debts.

[mortyarty]

Many thanks for the reply.

We owe all of 2012 council tax - around £1100 - Liability order issued and bailiffs have called but no agrrement entered into and nothing further heard from them. Bristow and Sutor

 

As of March 2012 we are now in reciept of council tax benefit.

£50 per month - water severn trent - I don't know the balance or when this aggrement was made - sorry - but we've been paying this for around 6 months.

 

Electricity bill with british gas - agreed to £233 per month and am up to date having paid one installment, but next due tomorrow. Regret that I just agreed, to the best of my memory £1500 outstanding. We live in a rented property and have no access to gas or electric meters as they are in a locked basement to which we have no access.

 

Gas bill with SWALEC- £104 per month agreed a couple of weeks ago. No payments made yet but they said that they will take directly out of my benefit payments. (I've never been on benefits before this yeasr, so am still getting used to the system)

 

I'm unsure about the DVLA end of things - will see if I can find out.

There are a few outstanding debts fro bank overdraft/loan from 5ish years ago - unsure of details, nothing being paid on these at the moment. One old store card one of £300 has CCJ

 

£80 per month provident loan of around £550 that we got out to pay december 2012 rent on the house.

 

A loan from HSBC from 3 years ago being chased by Fredricksons - not able to face dealing with that but will soon.

 

There may be a few others, but the ones above are the ones that are most pressing.

 

My partner is on maternity leave until the end of August

Edited April 28, 2013 by citizenB
I worry too much about grammar!

[renegadeimp]

Ok. The council tax is your main priority. You need to ignore the bailiffs, do NOT let them into your home at all, and contact the council to start repayments. They will try and say to talk to the bailiffs, but you can make payments through their internet payment site, or in person at the payment office.

 

With your other debts, who is actually contacting you? The original companies, or Debt collection agencies?

 

Regardless, you need to drop every single one of them to £1 a month.

[unclebulgaria67]

Do your local council have support people who help with debts in this situation. Sounds like there are a lot of issues that needs to be looked into. e.g why your Gas/Electric bills are so high. If your local authority will be helping with housing benefit and issues with landlords, then I would have thought they would wish to help. If they don't have the resources, perhaps the local Citizens Advice can assist.

[renegadeimp]

His MHO should be able to assist too, or at least put him in direct contact with services that can.

[mortyarty]

Many thanks for that.

I'll get the council sorted soon. I've got quite a few few days with psyciatrists and mental heath teams coming up next week, but will get to the council asap. after that. It in my name, so I assume that I rather than my partner needs to deal with it?

SWALEC dealt with me directly. As for the electricity it was someone on behalf of British Gas, but I don't know who. I have a paypoint card from British Gas though to pay for electric, so assume that it was done directly for british gas

Do you think I'll need a formal diagnosis before moving forward with things? That will come soon. I'm also currently fairly lucid but may need people to act on my behalf - is there any process for this or will mental health team know.

[citizenB]

Where the Bailiff/Council are concerned, you should make them aware that you are a vulnerable person. The council should then take any debt back and deal with this themselves. Or the Bailiff company should have a department that should deal with your situation with more sensitivity.

 

Your Mental Health Team should be able to provide you with a counsellor who might be able to help with this as well.

 

I have attached a budget sheet for you below. This might be the first step. Enter what monies you are in receipt of and all your PRIORITY debts. Rent/council tax/TV licence/utilities/food, etc. The budget sheet goes into more detail what these are.

 

Then see what disposable income you have in order to repay any arrears/debt.

 

Ellens Budget Sheet.xls

 

National Debtline might be able to offer some more advice as well, especially where your vulnerable status is concerned.

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

 

or call NationalDebtline free on 0808 808 4000

• Monday – Friday 9am-9pm
  
• Saturday 9.30am-1pm
  

Edited April 28, 2013 by citizenB

[unclebulgaria67]

Speak to the mental health people about this and they should know. Debt can make the problems you are experiencing worse, so it is in their interests to link you to any help that can be offered. They may have contacts with your local Citizens Advice, who can look into all the issues you are facing. The council will also need to make sure they are offering any necessary support and again the mental health people should contact the council on your behalf.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I agree with the comments above about involving the mental health team. I don't know if they still have them, but I've heard about mental health social workers.

 

I would just tell the team about your worries, I expect they'll know what help is available. At the moment, you probably just need to concentrate on getting your head together and looking after yourself.

 

 

My best, HB

[mortyarty]

Thanks for all the advice - it gives some good ideas of the questions to ask and the avenues to go down, and yes I should have realised that the mental health teams will be used to issues such as these, but its also been really helpful to be getting some sense of how to tackle things from your relpies here.

I'm concerned about the financial aspects getting sorted correctly as initial indications suggest that I will only ever be stabilised rather than cured and the possible knock on effect on employment. I also know that I'm likely to be spending quite alot of the next 6 months with periods in hospital, so the more things can get going in the right direction now the better

Many thanks again for the help, it's very gratefully recieved

[renegadeimp]

Forget about the debts for now. If you really have to, send each creditor who is chasing you a letter stating that you have a serious medical condition and will be in hospital for a considerable amount of time in the future. They will try and demand all kinds of documents, none of which they are entitled to. The ONLY one that should have these documents is the council to prove your vulnerability status.

[seanamarts]

Because of your illness you are classed as vulnerable where the bailiffs are concerned, may I suggest you request from one of your mental health team to contact the council and the bailiff company and let them know your situation, this should then be passed back to the council and you can set up a reasonable payment plan with them.

 

Council tax is far more important to get paid off than your other debts, it is best to get this one sorted first.

 

If the bailiffs come back you dont have to talk with them at all, dont open the door even if they start shouting through the letter box, just ignore them, if you have any cars then I suggest you hide these until you have it sorted with the council. You need to do this asap.