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[moggy]

Happy to be wrong, based on heresay.  just thought it may be worth chucking in.

End of they day, i beleive its advice, and you can walk away with no action if thats the course you want....

They are dealing with my situation, so speak as I find

Hi HKT,may i ask if you are in a similar situation to me.Regards Dean.

The only common ground is that we have debts that we cannot meet at the contracted amounts...

In your case, your unlikely to be able to pay anything towards them,  especially with no income... debt repayment,  with the exception of court imposed fines, is considered non essential when compared with housing and food.

Have you completed the online debt remedy? If not, I strongly urge you to do it before you ring them... it gives both them and yourselves a clearer picture of your specific situation.

In any case the last thing you want, or need, is for your creditors to be hounding you on a daily basis. Dealing with this aspect of your situation will relieve you from a burden of worry.

Hi mate can you but that part,in more layman's terms for me please.Regards Dean.

[LC0112G]

In your case, your unlikely to be able to pay anything towards them,  especially with no income... debt repayment,  with the exception of court imposed fines, is considered non essential when compared with housing and food.


In any case the last thing you want, or need, is for your creditors to be hounding you on a daily basis. Dealing with this aspect of your situation will relieve you from a burden of worry.

Hi mate can you but that part,in more layman's terms for me please.Regards Dean.

He means you need to prioritise any money you do have and how you spend it.

Priority 1 is putting food on the table, and keeping a roof over your head
Priority 2 is court imposed fines
Priority 3 is everything else

Trouble is, the creditors in Priority 3 know this, so may try and harass you into paying their bills in preference to all the others. 

[05omegav6]

In your case, your unlikely to be able to pay anything towards them,  especially with no income... debt repayment,  with the exception of court imposed fines, is considered non essential when compared with housing and food.


In any case the last thing you want, or need, is for your creditors to be hounding you on a daily basis. Dealing with this aspect of your situation will relieve you from a burden of worry.

Hi mate can you but that part,in more layman's terms for me please.Regards Dean.

He means you need to prioritise any money you do have and how you spend it.

Priority 1 is putting food on the table, and keeping a roof over your head
Priority 2 is court imposed fines
Priority 3 is everything else

Trouble is, the creditors in Priority 3 know this, so may try and harass you into paying their bills in preference to all the others.

Dean please, please follow this link...

http://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx

Completing it will give you a much clearer understanding of what is what re your finances and therefore your options. Those options are far more detailed than I have the eloquence to explain...

The council can help with housing and the job centre with benefits/work aspects,

[moggy]

In your case, your unlikely to be able to pay anything towards them,  especially with no income... debt repayment,  with the exception of court imposed fines, is considered non essential when compared with housing and food.


In any case the last thing you want, or need, is for your creditors to be hounding you on a daily basis. Dealing with this aspect of your situation will relieve you from a burden of worry.

Hi mate can you but that part,in more layman's terms for me please.Regards Dean.

He means you need to prioritise any money you do have and how you spend it.

Priority 1 is putting food on the table, and keeping a roof over your head
Priority 2 is court imposed fines
Priority 3 is everything else

Trouble is, the creditors in Priority 3 know this, so may try and harass you into paying their bills in preference to all the others.

Dean please, please follow this link...

http://www.stepchange.org/DebtRemedy.aspx

Completing it will give you a much clearer understanding of what is what re your finances and therefore your options. Those options are far more detailed than I have the eloquence to explain...

The council can help with housing and the job centre with benefits/work aspects,

Ok mate i will, i am just so worried what will happen to my wife and the cat.I don't really care about myself,but there future.

[05omegav6]

Sit down with your wife, complete the debt remedy, then go and see the council and the job centre together.

Make all your decisions as a couple, that way you both know exactly what your plan of action is moving forwards. Also she will add a broader perspective to the problems you are both facing

At risk of sounding blunt/harsh, moping around worrying will acheive nothing, so get getting.

1. Sort the creditor items first, then you can put them on the back burner.
2. Go and see council housing officer/department.
3. Go to Job centre to sign on/see what support you are entitled to.

Steps 2 and 3 might need repeating a couple of times as I suspect how each place deals with you will probably have a bearing on what the other can do and vice versa.

In any case, this all needs to be done BEFORE you miss your rent.

[05omegav6]

For everyone elses benefit...

The Stepchange Debt Remedy is basically a thorough and detailed income/expenditure assessment which takes 20 mins or so to complete and is free and impartial.

Even if an alternative course to those suggested is taken, it forces you to look at your household budget and see where every pound is going.

[moggy]

Hi HKT,went on the step change web site and filled in the form.They advised me to stop my sky tv as it is to expensive,also for both of us to stop smoking.They also pointed out that i pay out £1322 per month but have no income, so said to phone them to discuss it in more detail.So i will do that tomorrow.I have a job interview tomorrow don't know if i will get it,but even if i do.I need to get my wife back into work to be able to cover all the bills.So unfortunately its not looking good Dean.

[05omegav6]

Hi HKT,went on the step change web site and filled in the form.They advised me to stop my sky tv as it is to expensive,also for both of us to stop smoking.They also pointed out that i pay out £1322 per month but have no income, so said to phone them to discuss it in more detail.So i will do that tomorrow.I have a job interview tomorrow don't know if i will get it,but even if i do.I need to get my wife back into work to be able to cover all the bills.So unfortunately its not looking good Dean.

Good luck with the interview

But please consider that you're unlikely to be paid before end of June, even if you start on Monday... Not trying to put a downer on it, but you need to start helping yourselves... Losing the sky and stopping smoking will probably take £200 off your bills without even trying... Whatever route you take regarding your debts, Stepchange will act as a single point of contact for your creditors, removing the immediate pressure there.

Did you both go to the Council and Jobcentre today? If not, why not?

[omega2018]

LC0112G thanks very much for explaining the COPE deduction i thought i had my head round the new pension but obviously i didn't.  not helped by hmrc hiding cope deductions behind assumed future years ni contributions. as you suggest i will request a written statement.

anyway i will have to buy more years, i had already paid £400 for 3 more years of class2 to bring me up to 35 years.  i didn't contrive to keep my self employment profits below the limit, they just are.  there are 2 more years of class 2 i could purchase (2014-16),  presumably i should do that as class 4s are a lot more expensive. Or is it too late for those class2s to count? 

i see class 2s will continue until at least april 2017 so I could increase up to 38 years but i have no idea how much further that would get me towards the £155 a week final state pension, if at all.   

[05omegav6]

LC0112G thanks very much for explaining the COPE deduction i thought i had my head round the new pension but obviously i didn't.  not helped by hmrc hiding cope deductions behind assumed future years ni contributions. as you suggest i will request a written statement.

anyway i will have to buy more years, i had already paid £400 for 3 more years of class2 to bring me up to 35 years.  i didn't contrive to keep my self employment profits below the limit, they just are.  there are 2 more years of class 2 i could purchase (2014-16),  presumably i should do that as class 4s are a lot more expensive. Or is it too late for those class2s to count? 

i see class 2s will continue until at least april 2017 so I could increase up to 38 years but i have no idea how much further that would get me towards the £155 a week final state pension, if at all.   

The inland revenue links should explain what you can and need to do

[Lazydocker]

Not getting involved in the whole pension discussions but...

Speak with Stepchange. I had to when my business went tits up last month. OK, I was lucky because I knew something was lined up but there was a month's gap. The advice given to me was to speak to the companies, which I did - Mortgage company gave a 2 month zero payment agreement, bank froze all payments to them, fees and interest, including on a loan, for 4 months. All I did was be honest with them all.

As for JSA, Housing Benefit etc... Claim it! You are entitled so get yourselves down there TODAY! There's a waiting period before they start paying and it took 3 weeks before I saw any money. In the end I got just under £200 JSA for the month but it's better than nothing

Most of all, don't ignore the situation (which you aren't by the sounds) and just bury your head. Talk with people and they will work with you Chin up

[moggy]

Hi all just a quick update.First i got the job £8.50ph plus lots of overtime,but the wife is still unemployed.So i rang hartlepool council to ask about help if we are made homeless,we have an appointment Monday.Also contacted the job center about what we can claim,ie housing benefit,working tax credits and anything else.As the wife is not working we may get something,don't know what until our appointment Monday.I will also speak to step change next week personally,to see what options they advise.As you all say i need to find out what help,i can or cant get.Thanks for all your comments and advice,Dean.   

[moggy]

Not getting involved in the whole pension discussions but...

Speak with Stepchange. I had to when my business went tits up last month. OK, I was lucky because I knew something was lined up but there was a month's gap. The advice given to me was to speak to the companies, which I did - Mortgage company gave a 2 month zero payment agreement, bank froze all payments to them, fees and interest, including on a loan, for 4 months. All I did was be honest with them all.

As for JSA, Housing Benefit etc... Claim it! You are entitled so get yourselves down there TODAY! There's a waiting period before they start paying and it took 3 weeks before I saw any money. In the end I got just under £200 JSA for the month but it's better than nothing

Most of all, don't ignore the situation (which you aren't by the sounds) and just bury your head. Talk with people and they will work with you Chin up

Cheers mate kind words.Dean.

[05omegav6]

Congrats on the job, but dissappointed that you are only just taking steps... that said, it sounds like your are starting to get the ball rolling, which can only be a good thing

[TheBoy]

Sorry I cant help with the financial advice (other than lose the non essentials like Sky, and fags if you can), not something I know enough about...

BUT...

I will also speak to step change next week personally

...why didn't you get this done days ago. Stop delaying, they are there to help, and I'm sure the relief following the initial conversation will be like passing a bowling ball. Do it!