Spent years dragging myself out of debt and now I’m going to need to do it again

[Pacificallythespecific]

I divorced around 7 years ago and have been paying joint debts off ever since. Ex took responsibility for a loan and I got left with everything else. Even as far as last year I was being chased for tax credit overpayments from when we were together.

I’ve bloody pulled myself up by my bootstraps, I work 2 jobs, have no credit at all and have finally got my total debt under £1000 (should be paid in total by March 2020).

And now my car is buggered. I physically cannot do without one. I drop DD at A, DD2 at B and then work is in direction C. Public transport would not work at all.

No spare money at all. I have £331 total to last until 26th of this month (bills all paid), that would usually cover food, school dinners, diesel and electricity. I have £50 cash hidden for dire straits. My lovely old banger has got me through thick and thin but has given up the ghost today and quote is £550.

Bank said no to an overdraft or loan or CC
I did a soft search for a loan and got rejected for all of them except ridiculous APR (borrow £500 pay back 2k type loans).

I have nobody to borrow any money off.

So my options are: don’t get the car fixed, take £100 out of the £331 and buy an old banger until I can save enough to fix the car in a few months.

Borrow £500 from stupid APR company and take on more debt (really do not want to do this!)

Sell car for spares/repairs, use money to buy old banger (false economy?). I’d rather not do that as I have a long MOT and the car runs lovely usually.

Im feeling so annoyed I got so close yet so bloody far! I said to the bank look you can see how much I have coming in, you can see I haven’t been overdrawn or had a DD bounce in 5 years what more can I do! They are like robots “computer says no”

I can’t sell anything of value as I do that periodically to help clear debts. Have been on MSE debt free wannabe boards for years and feel bloody gutted I need to take a loan out.

Is there any other option I am missing here? Which option would you go for?!

DD is 13! Has a paper round

Wwell done on getting your debt situation sorted. Fingers crossed for your car

And you should be very proud of your DD!

Créate an account on euro car parts. Put clutch in basket and leave it there, they usually send a discount code via email.
Then enquire with garages and see how much cheaper they are if you buy the part yourself.

If halfordsdoesnt work out formula one autocentres also do a payment plan if yu have one close enough

Fuck, Halfords have quoted £1300 all in

There’s a reason they’re known as halfrauds .

That’s just pure extortion when you know how much the others charge.

Are there any of the fixed price clutch repair places that let you pay in instalments?

Sorry if you mentioned before - what make of car is it?

Good idea ReluctantBettlynch - could you buy the part yourself and then advertise on FB for a local mechanic to do the work themselves rather than a garage. That won't necessarily help with the payment but it might make it a lot cheaper?

I can't see that sourcing your own parts will make it cheaper. Garages are likely to be able to get them cheaper than the general public and they may have preferred suppliers for known quality or best prices, making sure all the necessary extras are there (bolts etc).

And if they normally profit from parts, they'll just increase their labour charge to compensate if you buy the part yourself.

Can you reduce the payments to your existing debt to divert payment towards getting the car fixed?

Does your employer or union have any sort of hardship fund?

What about one of those websites where people can bid to do a job? Don’t know if mechanics use them though. Have you thoroughly researched public transport? Could your eldest get a lift from another parent? I’m just thinking of temporary options to buy you some time

I think your best bet is to go for a credit card. Even one of the ones with shitty APR will allow you to withdraw, and you should be able to pay it back fairly easily by the sounds of it. Better than a loan because you won’t have to pay an early repayment fee. Plus, the credit card will actually boost your rating in the long term, assuming you don’t have a CCJ or something.

I feel for you it’s shitty isn’t it when you are at the mercy of lenders.

Clearscore will do a soft search and an indication of how likely you are to be accepted.

Have you spoken to the original garage that gave you the lower quote and explained your situation? They are likely to try and help you rather than lose your business.

Anyway you can make it to 26th without a car? Or put the car in the garage just before 26th and they give you a courtesy car?

Then you could use £100 from this month, £50 emergency, say £100 from next month. You'd only need to borrow £250 which may open up more options.

Have you tried Credit Union and Peer to peer lending. I once bought a car off eBay for £140 when I was in desperate need and it latest two years with no issues. You can get some money for scrap for your old car as well or through one of those car buyer places like we buy any car.

*lasted

If you can hang around for credit cards coming (about 7 to 10 days) or insurance claim from fraud, it wouldn't be much longer waiting until the 26th, which is just a little over two weeks away...

I’d post on FB asking if anyone knows anything about cars and can take a look. But then I am utterly without shame in that respect.

I had similar to you. It's not easy. But, summer is here...any chance you could embrace your bikes? First week might kill you (i struggled big time) but it gets easier.

Or, would the local college teaching car mechanics be willing to help out?

Formula 1 do a spread the cost plan too might be cheaper than Arnold clark.
Do think though is it false economy to repair? Is there other stuff which will need attention soon such as breaks etc and its starting a money pit? If not then i would repair if yes then look what you can get from maybe the scrapie?

I used to work for an NHS trust and I'm pretty sure there was a staff loan scheme - definitely ask!

Op look up matched betting - it’s a bit of a faff but it’s a way making extra cash. There’s several threads on mn about it.

Do you have a National Tyres near you ?

www.national.co.uk/information/payment-assist

Halfords autocentres do 0% credit for their work if it's over £250, speed over 4 months.