Can't afford minimum payment -advice please?

[daysmustgetbetter]

I know I'm a idiot
When I moved into my house I had nothing
I got my appliances /sofa from littlewoods
I put them on buy now pay later but now I'm struggling.
I get £1,000 a month
£460 is rent £100 is gas /electric £90 council tax and I pay them £240
I'm left with £110 for food
It's killing me
I've asked if I can set up a payment plan they said no
I honestly don't know what to do
If I don't pay the full amount will they pass me to a debt collection agency ?

They pay for their own food which I think is more than enough of a contribution

Err no it's not, they use heating, lighting, gas, electric, water, Council tax? Yes? In the real world functioning adults have to pay towards these things, they wouldn't get away with not paying utilities if they lived in their own rented home would they so why are you allowing them to not pay towards these things? It's madness..

The trouble is the deal with the catalogue was that you would pay that amount in a given amount of time. I'm sure they would extend the time but as you've said you will pay more.

I think you need to do 3 things. Work more hours, ask your DC to contribute more and seek advice to see if the interest could be stopped.

I'd go to step change or whatever its called and work with them for a payment plan.......hindsight is there to smack us on the arse so pointless worrying over what you shouldn't have done but ffs, go round the charity shops and look on Facebook selling places next time 😬

Yeah, just get a higher paid job… fuck sake, this place.

Why are you getting into debt that the other two adults in the house could pay for? The interest rate is only going to get worse.

Sit down with the adults, yes all three, and hatch a plan. If you can join together to clear the debt, life will be much easier.

I don't understand how you think it's acceptable for your adult kids to only pay for food when you're getting into thousands of pounds of debt.

I'm another one that says your kids should be helping more.
It's not a bad idea and you wouldn't be a terrible person for dipping into their savings, you can pay it back!!!!
A home is a necessity and comes before travel. They'd be rude to argue with you, especially if you intend to pay it back.

flat out refused me on live chat

Sometimes live chat is a bot, you need to speak to a real person on the phone OP.

I’m sure OP looked at getting second hand stuff before paying double the cost via a catalogue.

There is also finding the means to get the item delivered, which often involves hiring a van which also costs money.

OP moved into a home and needed all of the basics.
She wouldn’t have had enough time to save up and get things as you go as certain appliances you need.

Some people are being very judgemental on here and obviously have no clue what it’s like having no spare money.

Yes she didn’t have time to save up, which is what ‘buy now pay later’ does for you. It allows you to do the saving after you have the item. But you must make the payment on time.

Are littlewoods going to keep adding on more interest until the debt is paid?

If so, would you be better off paying it off with a credit card and then transferring that credit card balance to an interest free credit card? Interest free for 22 months and then you've got two years interest free to try and get the balance down a bit more until you get a better job?

Id be looking for any job that will take you to be honest. There’s nothing wrong with hospitality -for most of my early twenties I worked full time and then had a restaurant/pub job too in the evenings and weekends. You’ve no idea if you’ll be good at it until you try and most places will take people on and train them up. You’re asking for advice but you’re not actually doing everything you can to find a job if you’re only looking for office work!

Can you ask to speak to somebody a bit more senior? I doubt that the folk at the bottom are decision makers. Tell them that your finances are so bad you might have to apply to be bankrupt. Surely they will understand it is better to get all of a small repayment than none of a larger repayment.

How come you don't get benefits?. Are you no recourse to public funds?. @daysmustgetbetter

Any need for that she was trying to help

Agree with a PP if you could get a 0% interest credit card to pay off the loan that would stop Littlewoods from charging you further interest and you could make the smaller repayments over longer. Or could you take out a loan from the bank to cover the cost and arrange an affordable payback scheme with them? I also agree your adult DC need to pay their way rather than letting you get stuck in debt

Sorry I just read all your responses, ignore that. I'm guessing the reason you can't get benefits is because the household earns too much?.you are being very unrealistic, you need to get money from your kids. You should have gotten them to pay it off before it doubled. You need to get your head out of the sand!

Or they have experience of living within their means, the patience to wait, are risk adverse and realise paying for anything on high interest rates is a very bad idea.

I’ve done the mattress on the floor for years when we couldn’t afford a bed and had to prioritise something else. 3rd hand sofa for years. I remember overhearing my niece asking her mum “is auntie Touch really poor?” because we didn’t have a carpet in one room for quite some time.

Stop mollycoddling your adult children.
They need to wise up and get with the real world.

Not if the kids are over 18.

Does the interest reduce if you pay it off faster? Just wondering if it might be better to borrow the money off your kids and pay them back? I’d absolutely do it for my mum rather than have her struggle.

The reasons for poverty are massively complex. Check yourself.

Apologies if someone has already shared this, but have you tried this site for advice?

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/

It’s mentioned on the Citizens Advice website.

Not ideal but could you get a loan to pay it back. Spread out the years etc with the loan so the payments are smaller?

So many self righteous people again on here … Ive done this, I’ve done that, so what, that has nothing to do with the OP she has asked for help and constructive advice, if you can’t give that don’t say anything.
OP first thing is speak to a human being, chat bots are just computer linked answering machines. Speak to the debt management department for Littlewoods and ask if they will freeze the interest if you go on a repayment plan.
I'm not sure on your income if you’d get an interest free credit card but it’s worth trying.
Good luck, these schemes sound so promising, I’m sure your not the first person this has happened to.

OP , I wish you'd take on board all the helpful advice MNers are giving you . You seem to be rejecting a lot of advice on jobs as you're determined to stick only to similar work you do now .

Somewhere upthread a pp put a phone number for Littlewoods Financial Difficulties Dpt . Please use it , as it was probably a chatbot previously telling you what to do , not a human .