Financial help for someone in a lot of difficulty.

[MummyPig24]

My father has got himself into debt (not sure how much exactly) and is in danger of not being able to pay the mortgage.

About 8 years ago he bought a house he could not afford, when he and his gf split up he didn't have much left and he got a flat with quite a large mortgage.

He has sunk into depression and alcoholism, spending around £500 a month or more on alcohol. The company he works for is not stable and everyone has had to take a 25% paycut. Now he is beginning his journey to sobriety, he is signed off work and he will only be paid half his salary whilst he is off work. This leaves him in dire straits and he doesn't know what to do.

Ssafa and the royal British legion have been contacted and ssafa say they can probably help (he is ex forces). What other help can he get? The bank will not give him a mortgage break. Who else do we need to contact to find out how he can get himself out of this money mess??

Encourage him to get someone in to share the flat under the Rent a Room Scheme, where he can charge up to approx £70 or £72 a week in rent I think it is, tax free (it'll be easy to check the allowed amount.)

If you have a brother/s, sister/s, see if you can get all of them to chip in the same amount each month along with you so that between you all you can help your dad by paying a percentage of his mortgage for him. Maybe suggest to your siblings that it'd be for a finite time - say, one year or two years.

If you could get those two things in place, maybe that would solve the problem. Also, talk to the Citizens' Advice Bureau.

I take it that you and your father are 100% certain that he doesn't have a mortgage protection policy?

My brother lives with dad and pays him rent, or at least was until recently, when he realised it was all being spent on drink I think my brother used the money to pay for gas, electric and food. I think he has gone back to paying cash now. I feel terrible because I just cannot help financially, we haven't two pennies to rub together and it is a real struggle for us to pay all our bills as well. I will have another look at anything we can cut back on and see if there is any way I can help.

Dad thought he had mortgage protection, but when he went to the bank they said he didn't have it, when he signed a new contract the protection policy wasn't carried on and dad didn't realise.

The cab is a good idea, thank you, we will make an appointment to go and speak to someone there.

If he explains his circumstances to the bank they may let him go onto an interest only mortgage for a few months. Can he afford everything once he's back in work? Does he have other debts or just the mortgage?

I'm presuming you / your brother have helped him to cut down all his outgoings - cancelled sky, lowered phone contracts, got rid of any unnecessary direct debits?

Unfortunately the bank just wouldn't do it. The guy was really helpful and did try but eventually said nothing could be done. My brother pays for the sky so that's fine. The mortgage and overdraft are his only debts. My uncle is handling dads finances mainly but he doesn't have the resources of forums and things online so I thought I would try and help a little.

Even if your brother pays for sky, surely if things are so tight he could cancel it and use the money towards the mortgage for the next few months to help your dad? While the finances are this tight they may have to see any contributions from your brother as part of the household "money pot" and cut their cloth to get rid of anything unnecessary.

How long is he likely to be off work for? Does he have any equity in his property, if this is going to be a very long term problem he may seriously have to consider selling the house.

Very goo point about cancelling sky and using the money in a better way. Will suggest that. Some of the block of flats are owned by sovereign so my dad was thinking about approaching them to see if they wanted to buy his flat too. He would be able to pay off his debts and have a bit spare. This is definitely something that he is considering.

Can you explain why your father needs to be signed off work to deal with his drinking problem? Why is it necessary?

Would think that the stress of money worries would threaten his sobriety more than working while trying to get sober.

if he previously had ppi on a mortgage would he have a claim for mis sold ppi?

He needs time off because he is severely depressed and stressed, his job is very stressful, not to mention the fact that he is several times over the limit when he wakes up in the morning so it is very dangerous for him to drive to work. His car has been removed from him now. He is going into a residential rehabilitation programme followed by counselling, it will be a long process that he needs to focus entirely on, he cannot work whilst this is going on.

Ppi claim a good idea, thanks.