Overwhelming debt.

[MummytoCSJH]

I'm stressed and I feel that there's no way out of this. All the money I put onto my cards I need so I end up spending again to pay my bills. I literally can't do anything else because otherwise my rent won't get paid. Can't get a loan without a guarantor which I don't have.

I have an overdraft of 2000 which I'm always in
Credit card 1 1900
Credit card 2 500
Credit card 3 600 (400 of this is a 0% balance transfer until Nov but can't afford to pay it off before then)
All up to their limits

Very bnpl (furniture when I moved into my council house) 395.90 due by Nov, 51 due by feb, 705.96 due by march
£6k+ to my ex who I pay 250 pm to on arrangement.

These debts all exist because I wasn't entitled to any benefits when I had to quit my job because I needed brain surgery. I'm a single parent and student and literally can't spend any less than I'm already spending. I can't get a job because my course doesn't have a set weekly timetable and I can't get childcare for night times. Sons dad is a 2 hrs drive (and neither of us drive) away so no help on that front. I get a tiny amount of UC and my student loan and child benefit which only just in total covers all my bills/payments BEFORE the credit card payments. Feel like I could cry I just don't know how to get myself out of this situation. I'm suicidal over this. Every time my student finance goes in/end of the term I am still in the same position I was before with debt. No idea what I will do when I graduate. Anyone got any advice??

I’d you collect club card/loyalty points at super markets?

I get £20 every 3 months - worth a free shop!!
Have you any shop cards you haven’t spent?
Do you have pennies lying around - they really add up, GM used to save pennies for Christmas and had a fair bit by December.

Also have a look at your own clothes, things you don’t wear any more and eBay them.

Even little things like costume jewellery sells!

I do but to be honest I mostly shop at aldi and try not to 'pop in' for bits to save money. I do have co-op which is really close to me and their rewards scheme is good and I think I have a few pounds on there to spend in case I need anything this week as I'm not going to go food shopping. I have tesco as well but find they never add up to enough to get anything because I don't shop there often.

My clothes is a good idea as I've lost 5 stone in the past 3 years and never really got round to clearing out, odd bits and bats have gone to charity shop. Sadly the only pennies here are in my sons money box lol. I will get money for christmas and my birthday is close as well so all of that will go on paying off the debt. Don't even want to treat myself I just want it gone!!

I've just applied to my universities support fund however I'm not sure if I will get anything, they requested a lot of evidence which I didn't really have - proof of a bursary which I dont receive I March and won't get the letter until feb saying how much it is, child benefit letter which I havent had updated since my son was born and apparently can't download online anymore (Hmrc said to provide my chb number and they can confirm it from bank statements) and universal credit letter but my payments have varied because of student finance and paying back my advance so have just saved a pdf of my journal online. Since nothing I owe is a priority debt I'm not sure they will help but I did get to write a statement explaining why I am having trouble so hopefully they will take pity on me. I feel like I couldnt have explained any more than I have but on the surface my income covers my outgoings - well it would if I didn't have to make massive debt payments every month!

@MummytoCSJH contact Christians against poverty they are a charity that support anyone regardless of beliefs .

@MummytoCSJH
Here
capuk.org/i-want-help/our-services/cap-debt-help/introduction

Thank you @AldiAisleofCrap !

Well done for losing 5 stone! That shows determination!

This is a small debt, and I think you are close to the finishing line with university and then a job hunt.

It’s always that final hurdle that’s painful.

You can do this!!

Keep Christmas small, because I sit t he’ll be much in the shops anyway and I should imagine that indoor gatherings will be reduced. So get some basics, books from charity shops, stocking fillers of stuff he’d need anyway - socks, vests, PJs, a new toy and some fav sweets.

They don’t care.

DD in reception told her teachers her favourite gift was a pair of tights! Goes to show how little they worry about it.

Are you sure you aren't entitled to universal credit?? Have you tried applying??

The first and most simplest thing is to make a ‘budget’
Which is establishing what you need each month to literally live. In a way it’s giving yourself permission to spend that money on food,fun etc.
I work it how much I need for food (groceries) petrol, kids activities, and what I want to spend as ‘personal’ spends time treat myself.
Then what’s left is what you’ve got to play with to start knocking off that debt -remember you can get through this. I wish you all the best

@Littleposh I get universal credit, just an extremely small amount because my entire student loan is taken off my entitlement. Under the old system I was just over £350 a month better off which is almost my rent.

I have just received an email that I have been awarded a grant of £534 from the student hardship fund at my university, thank you to everyone who pushed me to apply! I wouldn't have that if it wasn't for you guys as I was too scared to apply after being told credit card debt wasn't a qualifier. It's going straight on my card when it's paid by the way

Great news!

Come and join the £10 a day thread in this forum - lots of ideas for ways to add a little bit of extra income and help get the debt paid off faster.

Thank you bookgirl I'll take a look when I've got a bit of time to sit and read through!

I was going to suggest the £10 a day thread (though I’m not on it myself!) - but I use a website called Prolific to do surveys. It’s not loads of money but I do it around full time work and it’s about £25 a month - this could be a little savings fund for your DS for Christmas? Probably more if you can dedicate a bit more time to it/have it open in the background while you’re in online lectures.

I’m sure you have done this already (and apologies if I’ve missed it) but have you checked/switched all your utilities to make sure they’re as cheap as possible? If you haven’t switched recently you could use TopCashback or similar to switch, make things cheaper & get the cashback on top. Also obviously the usual of seeing if you can find anything you can sell - old clothes, toys etc.

The other thing I wondered about was talking to your ex about slightly reducing the payments to him - not stopping or delaying, but if you could pay him back £200 per month rather than £250 that would free you up another £50 breathing space till you have finished your course. You could always offer that once you have a paid job you’ll up the payments to £300 or something?

Congratulations on getting the hardship payment! I hope that helps you feel a bit less stressed. You mentioned that you already have a 0% balance transfer - if your credit is good could you look at doing another balance transfer & consolidating all your credit card debt to see what a monthly payment might be for that? Apologies if you’ve already tried this and the payments don’t help!

No worries thanks for all the tips. I do use prolific and some other sites but should have them open and check them more regularly, then I could out the money aside instead of just transferring it into my bank. I've also sold a few items on facebook this week which has gone onto my card after shipping! I also use topcashback for any online purchases, I'm waiting for about £16 from them atm. I'm not sure I want to change my gas/electric provider, as I don't think anywhere will accept me on direct debit and I really don't want to go back to a prepayment meter but I will definitely look at this more in the future when some of my debt is paid off and others are more likely to accept me, though to be honest I hardly pay anything more than the standing charges for gas and my electric is quite cheap. I obviously can't change my water provider lol and I have a nowtv stick which only costs 3.99 a month as we only have kids tv nothing else. So there's not much to switch on I don't think? The main problem is the balance transfer card availability never seems to be enough to cover the amount I need to consolidate if that makes sense, like I needed to transfer 1900 but I only had a limit of 500.

My credit score is decent by the way it's just my card utilisation is high and I don't want to seem like I just keep taking on more and more credit I can't afford. The card with 1900 was the first card I ever got and I've had it for over 3 years and never missed a payment, so I think that looks best on my record? Which is why I would rather pay it down and reduce the limit on it (then only use it when I know I can pay it off in full), and close the others.

Have you looked at the Dave Ramsey method?

He uses something called the snowball method, so you pay off the smallest debt first, then throw all your resources at the next smallest etc.

He uses something called the snowball method, so you pay off the smallest debt first, then throw all your resources at the next smallest etc. that’s a really stupid thing to do, you should always pay off the highest interest debt first.

I have Cute but it ends up not leaving me with enough to pay the min payments on my other cards as well as interest being loads more.