Breaking rules to pay the bills...

[wheresmymojo]

We've stuck to the rules all the way through however we're going to have to break the rules in this lockdown because the alternative is that we can't pay our mortgage/bills/for food.

Just wondering if anyone else is in the same position?

I hear you, but to be honest if I was one of his clients I wouldn’t be attending

Difficult one, but you are breaking the rules and that’s one of the reasons we are where we are now

I would do it in a heartbeat to feed my child. But of course we are in MN land so people will “claim” that they would rather have to put their house on the market before breaking the rules 🙄

@Ifonlyoneday

Are you able to sell the house and move into much cheaper rented accommodation or buy a cheaper house?

Are you able to change mortgage to interest only?

I guess reducing/removing mortgage is the obvious option, plus getting out of the car finance contracts.

Rented accommodation is not cheap. Ridiculous idea. Moving costs and so... how would OP fund this?

all userxx@ so why have the country been in lockdown if it’s doesn’t matter if the odd individual can break them.

@Ilovecheese53 it’s cheaper than being repossessed surely?

It's absolutely disgusting that the car companies won't take the cars back. Fight hard for that to happen, OP! Have you considered trying to shame them into it on their social media? (I realise that you only want to get rid of one car.) Good luck.

I would do it. Masks, distance as much as possible and ventilate.

[quote 2kool4skool]@Ilovecheese53 it’s cheaper than being repossessed surely?[/quote]
If people could just move house and sell up as easy that I suspect there would be less repossessed houses. You clearly live in MN land.

@SheepandCow

Just had a thought. Why hasn't there been a campaign to ensure that, instead of furlough type schemes, we restore the safety net - so everybody has enough to live on. Including all the many people who lost their jobs or got sick before the pandemic. Also through no fault of their own.

There's clearly a public acknowledgement, shown by this thread and all the others like it, that the current benefits system is not fit for purpose.

Yes a universal benefit. For all.

Couple of questions:
The self employed grant scheme is being extended. Why can't both of you still claim this? (I know it's only 40%, but...)

Am I right in assuming your husband knows a fair bit about fitness/personal training in general?
If so, I would say there is a call for personal and group (zoom?) fitness training and motivation for those working at home where the snack bar is continually open. So many complained last time they'd put on weight. This time it's colder out there and could be a lot more difficult.
Could he explore a subscription scheme for working at home people eg exercises to start the day or ones they could do at their desk, in the spare room/in the garden plus motivational videos to keep them away from the fridge etc. Keep it affordable, personable and publicised well on social media, I think he could get good numbers signing up. It's not something I've seen publicised locally to any great extent.
Also, as you're allowed to exercise on a 1:1 outside in public places, who is to say your DH and one other are not just doing that in the park? I'd also be offering 1 to 1 training outdoors.
The government list says :
parks, beaches, countryside,
public gardens (whether or not you pay to enter them), allotments
playgrounds are OK.
So either convert part of your garden to allotment - and train there. Or open as a public garden (and charge a small entry fee), borrowing a gazebo off Facebook. Or talk to an allotment/horticultural association that runs allotments and offer a small payment for use of the facility - most allotment sites have some surplus areas at the edges. (They may be keen, as they'll likely have lost some of their income from activities such as produce shows that have not run this year.). Or talk to any local venue with a garden that opens for the season - I can think of about 4 or 5 venues within a 10 mile radius these normally make ££ from running events that have not happened, and see if you can use it cheaply, with a gazebo.
Or find a local farmer that you can talk to about using or renting a small piece of land.

I was also just thinking of a local pub garden - that's a public garden, that will be closed and may already have a gazebo up.

Can you do a balance transfer from your credit card debt to a zero % card?
I don’t know too much but I have heard Martin Lewis the MoneySavingExpert talk about it in the past. It may help get you through the month till can work again.

All the best. 🍀

I wish the benefit system could give you more help and pay your mortgage for 6 months or so like it would pay rent if you were renting. Sounds like you've paid loads in but getting nothing when you need it due to no fault of your own.

He can't offer boot camps outside because the Council won't allow it.

If you're going to break the rules, I think that would be the better one to break as presumably it doesn't come with the risk of a £10,000 fine.

Just a thought but have you looked into casual work? Care home etc to get you through? They’re always crying out for staff.

Also with your car finance, most do it where after you’ve paid half you can give the car back, finance companies hate it but it is allowed. It may stop them giving you finance in the future but won’t stop others. Look at your contract wording to see what it says? Or if you’d sold one would it be enough to pay the finance off?

I would strongly recommend talking to your mortgage lender. They absolutely won’t want to foreclose on your house. Go to them with a plan and ask them to work with you. In the long run it’s more expensive for them to foreclose.

I don't see a problem with it. Good on you both for trying so hard. Definitely look into online pt classes as well.

I hope you both manage to get through this very difficult situation.

We tried this in the last lockdown. The council wouldn't allow it and they own the open land here

The rules are different this time.

Definitely not judging, only risk is staid neighbours

stasi

So sorry you've ended up in this situation OP

Is your house quite big, and could it fetch a rental value to cover the mortgage/give you any income so you could rent somewhere smaller/cheaper nearby till things improve? Or even stay with family. Sorry if that is completely unworkable. Also agree with PPs to contact your mortgage provider again, speak to step change, and a PP had a good idea about trying to hire a bit of land as a premises for your DH's work.

Hope you manage to find a solution.

You’ve probably thought of this already and forgive me if so, but could you rent a room to a lodger? You can earn over £7000 tax free under the rent-a-room scheme I think. You don’t mention having children and most houses with a garage are likely to have more than one bedroom.

No judgement from me. I broke the "one childcare bubble" rule over half term to carry on working.

The ignorance in this thread about how businesses are run is depressing.

When you’re a limited company you pay corporation tax on all your profits. You also pay dividend tax on the money you take from your company (except for the tax free allowance via PAYE).

I also pay VAT.

There is no tax benefit and a lot of risk (no holiday pay, no sick pay).

But finances are arranged like this for flexibility. To absorb the ups and downs of business life (sometimes clients don’t pay on time etc. So you’d be mad to commit to a high monthly salary... much better to take dividends when finances allow for it).