I need help, I'm in debt and don't know what to do.

[InTooDeepForUs]

My husband is now on income support and I can't deal with it anymore.

We have catalouge debts, I have £1,500 on one and its 40% APR!

The minimum payment on just that one is £65 a month.

We have a loan that we got 3 years ago, its only got 5 months left now thankgod.

but i just can't do it anymore

I'd get in touch with the CAB asap & make an appointment to see a debt counsellor. There's another organisation whose name escapes me for the moment but I think it's something like National Debt Helpline.

You need someone to help you negotiate to freeze the interest payments and a reduced payment.

Good luck

I just don't know what to say.

its not debt like other people have (mortgages, cars etc)

but to us its alot.

One of the other charitable debt counselling services is run by CAP - they will get interest frozen and help negotiate a debt repayment plan etc

Call them today do not go to anyone who will charge you or give you a loan to pay off the other loans etc

Do as mumble says and call CAB. Or the National Debt helpline - their number is 0808 808 4000. Website is www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

It doeasn't matter what the debt is - if it's important to you then it matters.

Call them soon and put your mind at rest x

Cargirl, I tried to get our loan extended so i could pay everything off and just have that 1 payment a month (my CTC pays the loan) but they wouldn't extend it.

I will ring.

www.capuk.org/help/needhelp.php

40% is ridiculous. I assume you have stopped ordering , in which case you could write and ask themto freeze the interest and offer a regular repayment for the balance - at worst they say no

There are lots of places that will help you to tackle your debt without charging you anything. Please make sure you go to one of them. Several have been mentioned here, and you might find an independent place local to you.

There are also Debt Management Companies that will set up a Debt Management Plan for you, but will take a commission out of the money you can afford to pay, thus extending the time it takes to become debt-free. Please don't get involved with one of these.

Oh, and a Debt Advice service will be able to get the charges and interest frozen, even if the company have refused to do it for you directly.

What purpleturtle says is absolutley rigt. The CAB will advise you for free. On no account go with a company that charges you to do debt managmenent or IVA.

If the debt is really overwhelming and you have essentailly no assets (except a car worth up to £1000), no pension and no savings and on low income you should seriously consider a Debt Relief Order (DRO) wich is like a very cheap form of bankruptcy for people with smallish debts. Not many people know about them as they were only introduced in April last year.

Having been involved with a charity that helped people on low incomes with debt I know very well that people really hardly ever manage to pay off their debts once they get into Debt Management PLans or IVAs. The fees and charges take most of the money you will pay - the debt just does not go down.

I really think a DRO would be better for many people. Once a DRO is issued the debt stops accumulating, your affairs are put with a trustee, firms you owe money to stop hassling you and baliffs do not turn up on your doorstep. After a year, you are discharged providing you comply with the trustees instructions.

I'd love to work for a debt/money charity.

I've recently started doing it, CarGirl. I don't know a great deal, yet, on the advice front, but I'm getting pretty good at sending out letters and financial statements to creditors!

CarGirl - depends if you are looking for a volunteer (unpaid) role or a salaried role.

Your local CAB is the place to go. Get an interview. They are desperate for people to come and help out. be warned though, it is very hard work an dyou will need to atted quite serious training.

I did not work for CAB but had a close working relationship via the other charity I worked for which was a Credit Union which is like a small building society. I was the loan officer there. I used to find a 3 hour session completely draining having to work through peoples finances and make a decision whether or not to lend to really poor and often desperate people. I knew that often their only other option was a doorstep lender or even a loan shark.

Some people got angry, some violent, one person rang me to tell me she would die if she did not get a loan as she had diabetes and had no cooker so she could not cook any food that weekend.

We never just turned people down, we always referred them on to CAB or got help from DSS.
I stopped doing it when they asked me to run the entire organisation unpaid. The pressure and responsibility was too much for an unpaid job.

I am so I would be so happy doing spreadsheet calculations and writing to nasty creditors and showing people how to budget etc.

I volunteer for a centre affiliated to Community Money Advice. I volunteer an evening a week - usually see a client and then do the paperwork.

I confess I am also doing some paid admin sessions to help out while the main employed Debt Adviser is off sick. And that's an opportunity that has come about through the volunteering.

It has always been one of my dreams (since being a teenager) to set up a community bank, not done much about it though!

Currently doing voluntary work for another type of charity and desperately seeking paid employment

Thanks everyone,

We are going to go to the CAB on Friday morning.

We are going to try for a DRO, not ideal because it does ruin your credit rating but to be honest we can't get credit anymore anyways apart from with the catalouges and we won't touch them with a barge pole again anyways!

This DRO thing, does anyone know if you apply as a couple or individulally? Would DH and I both have to apply because we have debts in both our names seperatly and together?

Not at all sure but if you have joint debt they may be 'joint and several liability' which means that if one of you fails to pay the other person (if he/she is party to the original agreement) becomes automatically liable for the whole amount.

I think you'll probably both have to apply. Disclaimer: am still very new to this - don't take my word for it.

Hope you find Friday's appointment helpful.