stuck in a financial rut!! help!

[maryjane29]

Hi there,
For many years myself and my husband have been struggling with money..through irrisponsible decisions we made when we were younger.. loans, etc..then he took ill a number of years ago, couldnt work for a year.. i was pregnant so couldnt either and things got much much worse. everytime we are getting somewhere..(he gets a new full time job)..something pulls us back- an unexpected bill, probs with car, a charge..etc etc.

We are struggling to pay our bills each week, as we are having to pay arrears occured when he was ill, each week aswell as our normal weekly's..and despite going over and over our budget we never seem to get very far at all. We are 15,000 in debt and are not even managing at the moment to put anything toward anything!
Where do we start?..how can we beging to fix this? we have a young family to support..plus my husband has maintence to pay for his other son, and at the moment my husband is the only earner because im pregnant.

Any advise would be gratefully recieved.

First, you need to list all your debts, the minimum payments and the APR on them, and work out a realistic minimum budget to live on.
Next you need to focus on paying off the highest interest debts first, while keeping up minimum payments on the rest.
You need to detail your current spending on everything to see where you could economise. Be brutal, it will hurt for a while, but getting into good financial habits now will really help once baby arrives and you have an extra mouth to feed.
Is there anything you could do, even while pregnant, to save or make money? Could you bake, sew, walk dogs or iron etc?
Check out if you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to as well.
HTH

Hi, sorry to hear you are in this situation. I'll try and suggest some options for you.

Firstly, and please don't think I'm being horrible saying this, but you say that you can't work as you're pregnant - why not? Most women work throughout their pregnancy! I understand it can be hard to find work while pregnant, but is there any reason why you can't look at (eg) temping to get some more money in? What are your plans for returning to work once you have had the baby, as obviously your expenditure will go up after this.

How much does your DH earn? Have you checked to see if you're eligible for tax credits, housing benefit, council tax benefit etc?

Thirdly, what are the debts and arrears you are repaying? It may be worth contacting CCCS, or one of the other free debt help companies, DO NOT pay for a company to do a debt management plan, you are likely to end up no better/worse off if you do.

X posts

inmysparetime sorry but it's quite wrong to advise people to pay off debts according to the ones that charges more interest.
The ones that carry the risk of losing an essential service or asset (rent arrears or mortgage, utilities and possible car if needed for work) or that could result in serious sanction (council tax, magistrates courts fines, child maintenance,etc) need to be tackled first. These are called priority debts. The rest, e.g credit cards and unsecured loans, can be offered a pro rata payment only if there's spare money left. This is the basis of debt advice.
OP I know how distressing being in debt can be but there is help out there! Go to CAB or phone the national debt line.

moneysavingexpert.com - brilliant site -start with the debt help section but its all very useful

www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan

I think, if your debts are as unmanageable as they sound, you need to make an appointment with one of the free debt advisory services i.e CAB, CCCS or National Debtline. They really are very good at helping people in exactly your situation. Good luck

thank you all for your advise so far.
Rockchick1984-I cannot work as i have 3 children also under 5.. to look after at home. my profession was as a dental nurse before, and during my last pregnancies but gave that up to come home and look after kids and husband after he took ill and couldnt work. he works full time now so at least thats one good thing, but not the added worry of the stress to him and possibly his health again.

do you own your home? If not then you can apply for a debt relief order if your debt is under £15,ooo - might be worth getting some advice on that. 4 children under 5 will be a lot to manage!!!

No we dont own our home, we rent from a local housing asociation. ok i shall look into that also.
thank you very much.

Sorry olimpia , the OP said "debt" and I assumed credit card and unsecured loans, OP if you have debt pertaining to rent or essential utilities, definitely pay that off first.
3 kids under 5 and another on the way you must have your hands full! Have you looked into using your 15 hours free childcare if you have any DCs over 3?
That might give you the head space you need to get to grips with your finances.
You could contact "Christians Against Poverty", they give good, free advice about budgeting and debt. Sure start offer budgeting advice to families in some areas too (but it can sometimes be a little basic).

Sure inmysparetime
OP a DRO is an excellent solution especially if you've been repaying for years and have made little or no inroad.
It's a bit like bankruptcy because your debts get written off but much less expensive, only £90 per claimant. The four main reasons why someone would not qualify for a DRO are:
-being a home owner
-owing more than £15,000

• owning a car worth more than£1,000
• less than £50 per month disposable income

I could go into more detailing if you want me to. If debts are joints then you need two DROs. It's mostly suitable for credit debts.

Sorry should read more than £50 disposable income

thank you so much for all of your information it have been invaluable. :)
i have contacted the cccs gave them a break down of our debts etc..and have an appointment with one of their councellers next week to discuss options and routes to go down.

has any one had previous dealings/experience with them??.. how helpful are they?? they seemed very informative and undersatnding on the phone. :)

maryjane -that's brilliant- from what I understand - not direct experience they are very good
there are a number of forums on moneysaving expert which might also be quite helpful

Well done for taking this important first step. It takes courage

Hi Op I am on a Debt management plan with PayPlan and they have taken my monthy debt repayments from £800pm to £105pm based on my disposable income. It was taken a big weight off. The only thing I am still getting a lot of hassle from my creditors but I suppose that is inevitable I am fairly new into it and hope this will stop with time.
Good luck :)