Advice needed

[timewarrior2001]

I was so tempted to put this into humour, because If I dont laugh about it I'm probably gonna hang myself.

I have mortgage, loan, several bills to pay. I've just been put on SSP by my employer (only entitled to 20 Days company sick pay......but no one told ME that)I received the princly sum of £250 give or take a few bob for this months wages.

My outgoings are £1200. Because th enature of my illness is depression/stress and anxiety, My payment protection wont do **** all to help me. I cant go back to work because Doc wont sign me off yet and as it goes I wouldnt receive a full pay packet till end of November beginning of december.

So HOW do I pay my bills and mortgage?
Any ideas put on a postcard, send it to an aquatic themed loan company and advise their head of claims to shove it up his ****. :D

Right I'm off to find some rope.

[Salu]

Some mortgages allow for a "payment" holiday for up to 6 months. You could ask them for this...

I would most certainly contact them and inform them of what is happening to you, even if they don't help it will save a lot of miscommunication between you....

[Minbu]

Forget the rope mate, that would be stretching things too far! Do you have an income protection plan with your mortgage lender? You could also consider a short term overdraft with your bank. I agree with Salu, contact your mortgage company and keep them in the picture. They might even lower your payments or extend to term of your mortgage.

[timewarrior2001]

Forget the rope mate, that would be stretching things too far! Do you have an income protection plan with your mortgage lender? You could also consider a short term overdraft with your bank. I agree with Salu, contact your mortgage company and keep them in the picture. They might even lower your payments or extend to term of your mortgage.


The problem is that lowering the mortgage payment by or instead of extending the term of the mortgage isnt going to help. I do not have enough money coming in to pay for my loan on its own, nor the mortgage.

So 1200 outgoing Cannot in anyway be covered by £250

[50420]

just sent you a PM dude

[orangebird]

The problem is that lowering the mortgage payment by or instead of extending the term of the mortgage isnt going to help. I do not have enough money coming in to pay for my loan on its own, nor the mortgage.

So 1200 outgoing Cannot in anyway be covered by £250
Have you called all your creditors and explained to them what's happening? Or maybe call one of the credit counselling lines like Debt Free Direct etc. They should be able to advise on what you should do.

[Salu]

The mortgage payment holiday I was talking about means you do not pay the mortgage for up to 6 months. I don't know how much your mortgage payments are but if you didn't pay for say 3 months then that would stop debt accruing. If you pay your gas/electric on a budget then they may be able to adjust the budget payments to allow a month missed etc.

The thing you must do is talk to them...

[AndrewJ]

I would SERIOUSLY advise you to visit your local Citizen Advice place, they would help you with good sound advice.

They helped my father when he got in over his head in debt.

Best of all it is excellent advice for nothing :)

[Gareth]

tw, I really can not stress this enough - speak to the mortgage provider, loan company, anyone you owe money to. Explain the situation and ask them for assistance.

They will want to help. Tell them your circumstances and explain that you do want to repay but that you are unable to do so at the current time. They will listen. They will help. It is not in the bank's, mortgage company's, loan provider's, etc... interest to have you default on your payments, and for this to go so far that a credit chasing company is called in. They would rather take the much smaller hit and give you a break from your payments for a short period, or pay a smaller amount than normal, whilst you get back on your feet.

I know that things at the moment won't seem that way. You have to trust me on this one. Don't think that there is no solution - there is, provided you contact the relevant companies and explain your situation to them. If you don't do this, then you will end up in trouble as they think you are just defaulting on your debts.

You're not the first person to run into difficulties with debts, and I would bet my life on you not being the last person either. All financial companies have procedures in place to help both you and them in this type of situation (trust me, I work for such a financial company ;) ).

As others will be saying, the key to surviving this is communication - you really, really, really must get in touch with the people concerned and explain the situation.

Good luck, and please don't do anything silly.

[Minbu]

tw, I really can not stress this enough - speak to the mortgage provider, loan company, anyone you owe money to. Explain the situation and ask them for assistance.

They will want to help. Tell them your circumstances and explain that you do want to repay but that you are unable to do so at the current time. They will listen. They will help. It is not in the bank's, mortgage company's, loan provider's, etc... interest to have you default on your payments, and for this to go so far that a credit chasing company is called in. They would rather take the much smaller hit and give you a break from your payments for a short period, or pay a smaller amount than normal, whilst you get back on your feet.

I know that things at the moment won't seem that way. You have to trust me on this one. Don't think that there is no solution - there is, provided you contact the relevant companies and explain your situation to them. If you don't do this, then you will end up in trouble as they think you are just defaulting on your debts.

You're not the first person to run into difficulties with debts, and I would bet my life on you not being the last person either. All financial companies have procedures in place to help both you and them in this type of situation (trust me, I work for such a financial company ;) ).

As others will be saying, the key to surviving this is communication - you really, really, really must get in touch with the people concerned and explain the situation.

Good luck, and please don't do anything silly.
Sound advice from Gareth. Whatever you do, DON'T borrow more money to cover these payments.

[jonifen]

Sound advice from Gareth. Whatever you do, DON'T borrow more money to cover these payments.
I agree, Gareth covered everything.
I would definitely go to the Citizens Advice Bureau rather than go to any Debt type company as the CAB is free, whereas no other company could even attempt to give advice out for free without some sort of future incentive to themselves.

[cookie_365]

tw, I really can not stress this enough - speak to the mortgage provider, loan company, anyone you owe money to. Explain the situation and ask them for assistance.

They will want to help. Tell them your circumstances and explain that you do want to repay but that you are unable to do so at the current time. They will listen. They will help. It is not in the bank's, mortgage company's, loan provider's, etc... interest to have you default on your payments, and for this to go so far that a credit chasing company is called in. They would rather take the much smaller hit and give you a break from your payments for a short period, or pay a smaller amount than normal, whilst you get back on your feet.

I know that things at the moment won't seem that way. You have to trust me on this one. Don't think that there is no solution - there is, provided you contact the relevant companies and explain your situation to them. If you don't do this, then you will end up in trouble as they think you are just defaulting on your debts.

You're not the first person to run into difficulties with debts, and I would bet my life on you not being the last person either. All financial companies have procedures in place to help both you and them in this type of situation (trust me, I work for such a financial company ;) ).

As others will be saying, the key to surviving this is communication - you really, really, really must get in touch with the people concerned and explain the situation.

Good luck, and please don't do anything silly.

Spot on :tu:

To timewarrior2001: get in touch with the mortgage company etc as soon as possible. Don't wait until the outgoings catch up on you - do it now.

Your local CAB will help you draft letters, prioritise which bills are more important, and generally help and support you.

You can find shedloads of advice and info on how to contact other advice providers on the CLS Direct (http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/index.jsp) website; there's also a specific guide to dealing with debt (http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/legalhelp/leaflet01.jsp?lang=en) though it's mainly aimed at people who didn't do what Gareth suggested and are in deep trouble already.

The last thing your creditors - especially the mortgage company - want to do is take out court proceedings. It'll cost them a fortune, and drain up resources. They're well used to people who find themselves in your position. If you're realistic about what you can afford to pay and what your 'roadmap' to getting back in the black is they'll do all they can to help.

Do not under any circumstances take out a 'roll all your debts into one easy payment' loan like you see advertised on ITV3 during the daytime. It may well be that your advisor will see that you're paying over the odds on one of your loans; in which case they'll look at the options available to you, but chances are if you can't get one of your existing mainstream lenders to consolidate over the ripoff one then you won't be any better off going to one of these, err, specialist providers.

Borrowing money is not a solution to your debt problems.

Also, don't go to a fee paying debt advice company. Check that the first month's payments go to your creditors and not the advice company's commission account. The CAB or the advisors listed on CLS Direct will advise you for free.

If your mortgage company has a 24 hour telephone service give them a call now; you'll feel much better once you put the phone down. That's now ;) !!

Good luck - if you don't stick your head in the sand you should be fine :tu:

PS - why are you still reading this post and not on the phone ??? ;)

[MovedGoalPosts]

I don't know much about this sort of situation. One of the reasons I have an insurance to replace salary if I suffer prolonged illness. THe advice to contact CAB, and all creditors seems eminently sensible. Additionally contact your local DHSS office and even your local authority. It seems to me that this is the sort of thing for which income support and other benefits are intended to kick in.

[Minbu]

I don't know much about this sort of situation. One of the reasons I have an insurance to replace salary if I suffer prolonged illness. THe advice to contact CAB, and all creditors seems eminently sensible. Additionally contact your local DHSS office and even your local authority. It seems to me that this is the sort of thing for which income support and other benefits are intended to kick in.
Correct. Make sure you're claiming everything you're entitled to.

[timewarrior2001]

Thanks for the replies people, its comfoting just to get it off my chest.

I spoke to loan company, they informed me collections wouldnt speak to me till I was in arears, so I was told by the lady to cancel my DD and wait for the collection team to contact me. (bit odd but I am following the advice as there is no other way atm of speaking to this team).

My mortgage is safe, we have worked out that with the small amount I am getting, plus some savings we can make the mortgage payments anyway.

PLus parents have offered us food for the duration lol.

I will speak to the people concerned, even for the utility bills, as I would rather be open and honest about it all. If then I end up in the ****, I can at least say, "I did warn you" .

The only downside of it is that I may end up going back to work earlier than planned, but I have handled this crisis better than I thought I would. Which I think is a good sign.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Glad to see you are seeing this in a positive light.

One more quick thought: if you are seeking assistance from DHSS or wherever, do it sooner rather than later. These organisations are unlikely to be able to backdate any valid claim.

[cookie_365]

Thanks for the replies people, its comfoting just to get it off my chest.

I spoke to loan company, they informed me collections wouldnt speak to me till I was in arears, so I was told by the lady to cancel my DD and wait for the collection team to contact me. (bit odd but I am following the advice as there is no other way atm of speaking to this team).

My mortgage is safe, we have worked out that with the small amount I am getting, plus some savings we can make the mortgage payments anyway.

PLus parents have offered us food for the duration lol.

I will speak to the people concerned, even for the utility bills, as I would rather be open and honest about it all. If then I end up in the ****, I can at least say, "I did warn you" .

The only downside of it is that I may end up going back to work earlier than planned, but I have handled this crisis better than I thought I would. Which I think is a good sign.

Good to see that you're feeling more positive about things timewarrior2001.

However:

I spoke to loan company, they informed me collections wouldnt speak to me till I was in arears, so I was told by the lady to cancel my DD and wait for the collection team to contact me.

I don't like this at all. This isn't the advice I would expect from a reputable lender. You don't want this to ever get to 'collections'.

Suggest you call again and ask to speak to a manager (perhaps during office hours; more likely to have a decision-maker available then) and explain that you want to agree an alternative repayment regime, not slip into 'arrears'.

And drop them a line in writing explaining the position, and again offering reasonable monthly repayments.

[Minbu]

I spoke to loan company, they informed me collections wouldnt speak to me till I was in arears, so I was told by the lady to cancel my DD and wait for the collection team to contact me.
Banks have been known to do this. Once you're in arrears, a block is placed on your account and no interest is added. The 'collections' department then work out with you a mutual payment programme. When this has been completed you carry on as originally. Not too sure about cancelling the DD though. I think the loan company should stop requesting it from your bank.

[SMHarman]

I would imagine what the loan company person says is correct, so much of this is computer processed these days that you cannot press a button on a computer to change the status, but it needs to generate a collection, fail, try again and then it gets flagged on the collection teams work reports.

My advice here, get the names and times of the people you spoke to and write them down somwhere safe, the calls may be recorded and it is far easier to find a call with this info, it is also easier to show your proactivity if you need to write later and say i spoke to a on x and b on y and c on z etc.

Also if you are cancelling this DD and have the funds to pay it, but want to hold them back for the moment put them someplace safe, like a new deposit account so they don't dissapear on more frivious bills like the food!

Sorry to hear this, hope it all works out well for you and get well soon.

[timewarrior2001]

I do have the cash to almost pay it, been doing more calculations, and I have some money stored away I forgot about, It will leave me about 30 quid short of the full payment.

I'll see what happens. If it affects my credit then a letter of complaint will go in.
There is nothing more I can do really.

But I have now spent my lifes savings, and it looks as if the honeymoon next year (getting married in June) will be non existant. Which hurts.

[Minbu]

I have now spent my lifes savings, and it looks as if the honeymoon next year (getting married in June) will be non existant. Which hurts.
You never know what's round the corner. Think positive. As the saying goes: It ain't over till the fat lady sings!