I need help, I’m in a mess and I can’t extricate myself

[hidinginabubble]

I’m in a complete and utter financial mess and have been for a long time. This is despite earning an excellent salary.

I know the usual advice is to contact stepchange etc but they can’t seem to help, I need someone who can.

I have acquired things like parking tickets which I’ve ignored and had a head in the sand approach to, easy as I’ve worked abroad for a while. So haven’t received letters etc.

Every month I am having hundreds taken off me by bailiffs. This isn’t step changes remit, that’s more cc/loan debt. Although I have those too.

My credit file is shocking or else I’d take a loan and sort it that way. Basically I owe a lot of people a lot of money.

I can’t seem to get advice anywhere. I was speaking to one company this morning but he couldn’t help as I earned too much. (So this isn’t a begging thread, I admit this is my fault but if I’m ever going to sort it I need help.)

Anyone legal about at all?

If you don’t mind me asking OP,
How have you sorted it?

Thanks again Kevin just in case that wasn’t clear enough for fair

Nothing you say is clear on this thread OP.

Perhaps that's your problem. You don't communicate well.

It's actually very good news if your other debts haven't got to the CCJ stage. Sounds like this historic debt dep't info is valuable, the rest you can deal with more straightforwardly by the usual methods (ringing council tax, utilities, Step-Change for loans/cc).

It is worth it to get it all sorted, I sleep so much better now at night.

I have 2 CCJs but that’s not what I’m saying. If you never pay council tax you end up in jail not with a ccj

@eliza9917
The letters they send a bloody awful threatening jail and bailiffs to take your possessions. It’s awful. They give you 10 days to pay but you can’t get through on the phones and if you do they just have a court reference, so then you have to try and get through to a court (again a near impossible task, I have a screen shot of ringing unanswered for 5 hours once!!). A lot of the courts have closed down so the paperwork is hard to get.
Meanwhile the historic debt department carry on sending these threatening letters.
It’s a fucking mess. And the nature of the letters is probably why the op is panicking and being a bit spikey whilst trying to work out what the fuck is going on.

Hi all,
Thanks to those who reported in. And hi to hidinginabubble, we do hope that this thread has helped! We just need to post this standard message now, hope you don't mind?

Right now we can't see any evidence to indicate that the OP isn't above board - if we did, we'd remove the thread straight away. But the truth is that, sadly, we at MNHQ can't know with 100% certainty that any poster is genuine, no matter who they are or how long they have been around. As frustrating as it is, we're not able to vouch for anyone here.

So we always ask everyone to remember that not everyone on the internet is who they say they are - and remind folk not to give more to another poster, either financially (in cash or gifts) or emotionally (in time or care and support) than they'd be prepared to lose if things went wrong.

Kindest regards to you, hiding, and we hope you start to get things under control soon.

Thank you hope

@hidinginabubble
I’m so pleased you’ve seen my post.
They are fucking horrid those letters and they do just keep coming whilst you can’t get to the bottom.
They just send you into a tizz. Mine came over the summer holidays last year so I had to drag my kids around the courts whilst they heard about me potentially being sent to jail.
It was fucking horrible
All about a council fuck up.

I don’t normally swear this much!
It will get sorted and there’s a fair chance it will get thrown out. You just need to face it head on.
My advice when you go to do your stat Dec at the court, go early (they aren’t set times to everyone is told to go at 10) and it’s just a list they work down. Pay for plenty of parking and don’t expect to be back at work that day! You’ll go into the court, it is a bit scary I won’t lie. youll have to confirm you didn’t know about them until the bailiffs turned up, the judge then grants another court hearing and the time effectively resets back to before the first hearing. The actual court hearing you will have a set time, but that doesn’t meant anything! So again a whole day off, I went power dressed as it made me feel better. I always think it can’t hurt to look like you mean business. You’ll go into the court and you can present the evidence etc. I did time lines of events and bullet points as well as wrote my statement to read. The timeline was colour coded to the evidence and I did a copy of each folder for the judges, me and the prosecuting solicitor (and one spare!).
The actual hearing was bloody therapeutic as the prosecution had nothing!! They knew nothing and had nothing.
I found the court staff kind and respectful, I think they are just relieved your not trying to punch them.
Good luck

Another vote for National Debtline. Their service is free and impartial and they can advise on 'priority' debt like court fines, debt with bailiffs and so on as well as credit debts.

They will ask for details of ALL of your debts (even the ones you aren't worried about) as it's really important for them to have a full picture of your circumstances.

They are an 'assisted self help' service so not like StepChange, who tend to focus on getting people into Debt Management Plans and IVAs when they can (though StepChange are very good in their own way).

Really wishing you good luck with this bailiffs can be incredibly difficult to deal with in a reasonable way.

If you want legal advice, post on the Legal Matters board which is within the same "Other stuff" category as AIBU on the main Talk list.

As PP have said, it sounds as if you are in a spiral of denial which means you have already closed down options in your head. Baliffs can negotiate payments, courts can set payment schedules and can administer or consolidate your debts, advisors can help you to write up a payment schedule. You can consider a bancruptcy application but a proportion of debts will still have to be paid.

There is no way out of a debt spiral except an honest and rigorous accounting of every penny owed and to whom, and exactly what your incoming money and outgoing expenses are. This is your protection also, as a court will enforce debt repayment proportionally and within your means. Some debts take priority over others and that also needs to be taken into account. Any dependants you have are also taken into account.

It sounds, however, as if you have ignored most of the stages of the legal procedures and you won't get anything sorted if you do this - you need to engage with the process and go through it. It won't be quickly sorted, it won't get sorted on the internet.

Start again, go to a Citizen's Advice Bureau with every documented fact about your debts. They can help to negotiate on your behalf and it may actually be better to go to court. CAB's can also put you in touch with free legal information services, and may host them. Also go to your GP for support if you aren't coping: this is also a mitigating factor which may help to pause the baliff action.

Hiding, understandably you are very distressed as this situation is spiralling out of your control.

You are in a repeating cycle of not paying bills on time, paying penalties & then missing your penalties so the amount you owe frequency/number of debt payments is rapidly increasing. This happens to loads of people particularly after illness when income goes down AND the everyday financial routine gets blasted out of the water. Happens a lot.

You need someone friendly & non-judgemental to talk to gain some peace of mind. I suggest the *Samaritans on

Whatever you're going through, call us free any time, from any phone on 116 123.
or find your local branch www.samaritans.org/branches*

Forget saving right now. Any interest you are earning on savings is being devastated by the interest on your debts & loans. Yes, you want to have an emergency fund in place in case you are ever ill again & cannot work - understandable.
BUT for now, clearing debt is everything, that £500 pcm will go a long way to clearing the outstanding balances, & will bring you peace of mind & financial stability far far sooner. Once the debts are gone & you are in control, then set about building up your financial cushion.

Should your income drop again due to illness again soon it is far far better to have no debt & a little saved than a wedge of money but being chased for ever increasing debt.

Hiding, anyone can screw their finances up for a variety of reasons, & it takes methodical application of debt reduction to get free of this difficult situation. You will come through this.

But more importantly I think you need some emotional support e.g. the Samaritans - as uncontrolled debt is very distressing - to help you get to a place where you can take a breath & turn into the problem you have.

It is just a phone call... 116 123.

I have been in debt and had help from StepChange. They asked me for any outgoings AND any debts outstanding, which included bailiff's. I don't understand why they have changed the rules, or if you may have misunderstood. All debts are included so it would show that your outgoings are more than your income.

I think OP your main obstacle at the moment is that you are not able to define the problem you're facing with a breakdown into its individual components. I suspect that not being able to set it all out has been the problem in you getting help from debt management organisations.

OP are you still abroad? Is that why you talk about someone sending you a photo of a letter?

If you are, I think you’re going to need to bite the bullet, come back, and trawl through everything.

**Are you sure this isn't just a begging thread? Because to say you don't know where to start after all this great advice seems more like a scam to me confused

Or someone who is in a) panic/worry mode

And/or

Executive functioning difficulties

Accusing people of this stuff is not helpful, at all...I know it would spiral me further into panic (if you think OP is a money hunting troll - report, don’t accuse)

@SaveKevin Thanks.

If only they put so much effort or money into tackling gangs and knife crime, and acid attacks etc

“
Because let’s say my income is £2000 and my outgoings total £2200 stepchange can help.

However on paper my income is £2000 and outgoings £1300 so they cannot.”

I just have to comment on this as it is absolutely, categorically NOT TRUE. And I don’t want this incorrect statement to put off people seeking help from Stepchange. I converse with Stepchange on a daily basis in my job and from my experience having a high disposable income means they can get you into a debt management plan and get your debts paid off quickly. It makes their job a lot easier!

If you have outgoings that are more than your incomings they can still help you, but it makes things a lot harder. I’ve seen people with “token repayment plans” with Stepchange where you pay £1 for example to each of your creditors but I think they only keep those going for 12 months. They also give advice regarding bankruptcy and IVAs etc.

I just didn’t want this incorrect info to put someone off seeking help!

Ok so if you didn’t get the letters about the fines as you were abroad you need to find out the issuing court and file a statutory declaration to say you didn’t get the letters
Do you have proof that you were out of the country when this was sent to the courts?

£700pm after food?

1st month:
Pay £400 to Jacobs - Baliff
Pay £150 towards parking fines.
Pay £150 towards council tax

2nd month:
Pay £400 towards Baliffs
Pay £300 on credit card

3rd month
Pay £200 towards Baliffs
Pay £100 towards parking fines
Pay £100 towards council tax
Pay £100 on credit card

Repeat month 3 until paid off.

Edit: pay £300 on credit card for month 3

If the previously mentioned fines were £900 each, you should have called them up and told them you only have £700pm spare and could you pay over 3 months. It's not rocket science.