Any ideas, please help I feel sick!

[miaboo]

Every month is beginning to get a struggle, my husband works over 55 hours a week to support us, I have just gone on maternity leave and we have never been out of our overdraft for as long as I can remember!
We have a couple of loans and 2 credit cards which when I was working full time didnt seem a problem but now I'm on smp wages It's getting hard to cover, at the moment I dont want to worry my husband on how tight it's actually becoming as he would get very stressed and he really cannot work any harder than he does now and the added stress would be awful to cope with.
Baby 3 is on the way (unplanned but something we have to deal with) and over £500 per month just goes towards the loans and credit cards we have, everything else is essential bills and beleive me I've looked and looked and we cannot find them any cheaper.
I'm just feeling sick and stressed as even though we have just about covered everything in June its tight and baby 3 isnt due until august.
I feel embarrassed for getting into this suituation but at the time we had took these credit cards and loans the money suituation seemed fine but years down the line as things have changed its getting impossible to deal with :(
Any advice please

Don't panic first of all. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the same position because of the banks over lending before the recession

How much equity do you have in your house? Could you take out an additional loan on your mortgage to pay off credit cards/loans so it is cheaper (APR is ridiculously low)? Or shop around for a re-mortgage if you aren't tied in/no early redemption fee?

If you can't do that, see if you can change your credit cards to interest free ones?

Then, if that doesn't work, phone the banks who you have your credit cards, mortgage and loans with. Explain the situation (try to keep calm on the phone - I know it's hard) and see if they can do anything.

Or, you can go to CAB with all your bills, they will ring for you I think.

FWIW, I used to work in a bank up until Feb this year. They can do it, they are just a bit reluctant.

Last minute thought, do you have PPI on loans and credit cards? If your not sure, ring them and maybe get a windfall? Would be nice

Also, ring gas and electric companies with readings and you may have been over paying. My BIL did this last month, he had £2,000 back because they were taking so much!

If you want any more help, feel free to inbox me. I'm no expert, but have had experience from both perspectives.

I hope you sort it out x

Couldn't read and run. Others will be along with good advice soon.

My first thought was to get on to moneysavingexpert website and post a statement of affairs. People will then make suggestions about how to tackle this.

Presumably baby number 3 would have hand me downs from the other 2?

Thank you,
yes baby 3 is having what I've saved from the last 1, and is very much an ebay and asda baby!! I've never been one to spend a fortune on clothes etc and I'm always hunting for bargains so alot of what I buy is from ebay, using boots advantage points etc, and my christmas food shop is paid for by saving my tesco points all year! The boys christmas presents are paid for by saving all our coppers etc over the year, so we really dont spend stupidly, We cant get anymore loans or credit cards for some reason as we keep getting declined we havent missed payments so not sure why but it's seemed to have come to a complete stop, mbna have blocked us using our creditcard after we made a huge repayment as well which is strange so I feel our back up money has gone to if we ever needed it for an emergency have been with them for over 10 years never missed a payment either.

I'd also recommend booking an appointment with CAB, CCCS or National Debtline. If your debts are unmanageable and causing you real anxiety these free debt advice services can often recommend ways in which you can reschedule payments or bring the costs down. Good luck

Thank you
I am considering additional borrowing on our mortgage of £10000, need to look at what the repayments would go up to first though to see if its actually worth it, this would pay all but 1 of the loans off saving around £300 per month I think
I know it would take longer to pay the mortgage off but it would give us alittle immediate breathing space
I just want the bills for the house/car etc to be the only dd's we have and concentrate on getting the debts paid
good/bad idea??

The credit card companies will be looking at your overall picture, so if you have several cards close to max and are making minimum payments the they won't want to extend your credit. I tried to change cards and was refused. A financial advisor later told me that while my credit history was fine they are just much tighter now.

Do you get any paid maternity? Can you go back earlier?

Really... do talk to an adviser before jumping in with more borrowing. It can makes sense sometimes to consolidate borrowing to a cheaper loan than to keep paying out the high interest on credit cards and overdrafts. But you have to be extremely careful secruing the loan on your home because, if your outgoings creep up, if the interest on the mortgage increases, or something else upsets the balance, you can end up not only worse off but also homeless.

If you extend your martgage you are swopping ussecured debt for debt secured on your home. Get some free financial advice from CAB or Christians Against Poverty (they deal with evryone and are very good)

I'm sorry you're in such a bind. It's so stressful, isn't it. Not that I want to encourage more borrowing but have you had your credit rating checked? (with experian and similar). Worth ensuring all is ok if you keep getting turned down.