complicated financial issues -feel bad that mum is involved

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Morning.

Please be gentle as I am really stressing over this.

in 2021 I found myself in a very difficult financial position. I had a lot of debt and was looking at paying very high interest rates with no options of 0% of low interest cards etc. In hindsight I should have just contacted a debt charity such as stepchange and entered into a debt management plan. I think a mixture of pride and not wanting to totally destroy my credit file prevented me from doing this.

I am very close to my mum and she offered to help me out by taking out a loan at a low rate and also 3X credit cards with 0% offers - this was a massive relief and solved the problem short term. I make all of the payments so it's never cost mum a penny. She lives mortgage free and with no other debts of her own and therefore had a good credit rating. We have moved the cards around a couple of times, all in her name an the debt has reduced.

Fast forward to now and my circumstances have taken a bit of a downturn again and I am unable to work at the same level. This has impacted my income and I am struggling to maintain the loan and card payments. Nothing has been missed but I am robbing Peter to pay paul. We have spoken to the credit card/loan companies and they are willing to offer interest free reduced payment plans, however this will obviously impact on mum's credit file and reduce her ability to borrow in the future. I feel awful about this.

Mum's view is that she is 75 with no interest in taking on any additional borrowing, and therefore I should opt for the reduced payment plans as her credit file is largely irrelevant to her.

WWYD?

To offer advice, we need more information about your financial situation. What is the total debt now, how much has been paid off since 2021, and what are the minimum payments for the loan and credit cards? What is your current income and expenditure? StepChange are very helpful, and you should consider speaking to them.

Seek advice from a debt charity as you acknowledge you should have done previously.

Absolutely. This is too important to not get professional advice . Good luck

Stop spending and pay your debts back

If your mum is genuinely content with that approach, I'd do it on the condition that a proper, long term strategy is agreed to pay it off - think you need to sit down and properly work out a budget so the situation doesn't worsen and your mum is protected.

Just with other people mentioning StepChange, because the debt is in your mums name, it would be her who would have to get the advice and set up any solutions.

Have you stopped getting into additional debt?
The best plan would be to increase your income and repay the debts. Check out Dave Ramsay on you tube. He will have good advice for you.

As your mum is willing to help, is there anything she can sell to try and reduce the debt?

if you don’t accept the revised payment plan, what are your options?