Another debt disaster

Fester I've just reread your original post. You seem to have a 100% mortgage, how on earth did a bank give you a mortgage with all your other debt? I think you should go to MABS for some advice, they may be able to negotiat with your creditors. You must cut up your credit card, the interest rate must be crippling. Have you anything you could sell to reduce your debts?
 

Bronte,
The debt wasn't a problem at the time. My money was 20k+ higher and my wife was bringing home 50k also.
We have destroyed one credit card but currently we need the other credit card as I outlined in more detail earlier.It's not the interest, per se, thats crippling but the overall loans monthly payment.

Not surprisingly a second institution turned down the consolidation loan.
I will try one more but expect absolutely no joy with them, but I'll try anyway.
Did my first odd job at the weekend and made about 75 quid. A lot of effort to get it though!
 
Fester1 said:
The debt wasn't a problem at the time. My money was 20k+ higher and my wife was bringing home 50k also.
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Your income has halved since you bought the house, this would seem to be the main cause of your current difficulties. Might your wife be entitled to any welfare allowances? If she stopped working recently she may be entitled to Jobseekers Benefit.
 
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circle said:
Your income has halved since you bought the house, this would seem to be the main cause of your current difficulties. Might your wife be entitled to any welfare allowances? If she stopped working recently she may be entitled to Jobseekers Benefit.
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Circle, She is currently not in a position to seek work. I'd rather not get in to it but let's just say that her working again in the short-medium term is not on the cards.

If anyone wants to put up 45,000. I'll pay them an annuity with monthly repayments of 900-910 over 5 years,let me know!!!!!
 
As I said earlier I would post some updates.
I had tried a 3rd lender for a consolidation loan and was refused.
Things hit a nadir earlier this month.
I had some yearly expenses hit my account(home and life insurance) and both were unpaid DD from my account. Also car payment was unpaid DD also-First time this had ever happened in 16 years of banking.

Thankfully in Novemeber I realised that since I changed job in May that I had not received my PAYE tax credit(I had been self employed). So in the nick of time I got this tax back in my pay.
Along with our spending restrictions this was enough to clear what we had built up over our overdraft and allow us to catch back up on the missed direct debits(which was done by them been represented a few days later-Does the car loan get marked as a missed payment with ICB?)
So going in to 2009 I will need to use my overdraft but will not be going over it. I rang my bank and now pay my VISA by Direct debit which allows me to pay only 3% each month(300 less a month). I'm well aware that this is going to cost more in interest but in the short term this will allow us to breath when we were very close to defaulting on Decembers DD. I will up these payments with the money freed from the loans which finish in 2010/2011.
It's a long road but we do see a very faint light at the end of the tunnel!!
I'll update again next year.
 
fester,

have you looked at all your tax credits to make sure you are claiming your full entitlements? i.e. home cares allowance for your wife. also are you claiming your tax relief at source on your mortgage? may seem obvious but you would be amazed at the number of people that are not claiming this.
 
Besides approaching the lender and getting your tax credit, have you done anything else Fester? Have you approached MABS yet? Have you checked out all entitlements your wife may be able to get? Is your family keeping a diary? It isn't a criticism but from reading your posts Fester1 I get the feeling you would rather fix the problems yourself where possible. It isn't a bad thing to look for help when you are in difficulty. Your family needs you more now than ever and handling everything yourself is not looking out for their best interests or yours. I am not suggesting reneging or handing over control but using all available resources that the State can provide.
 
SC,
Many thanks for your comments. Yes you are correct in that I do want to deal with these myself as much as possible. I(we) racked up the debts so I want to sort them out.
I'm pretty sure that I know what MABS will do. Work out a budget of what you need to live and whatever is left over goes to paying debts. They will then assist you in having the banks agree to some write off in debts or extend payment periods. I can do that myself if required.
I feel things are twice or three times better than they were in October/November.
We just need to stay focussed and watch the cents. I have some nice spreadsheets that show how the debts are reducing..Seeing how rolling over payments as loans finish help clear things quicker iis good encouragement. All going well we should clear the loans in mid 2012. Naturally things will come up, but if in 4 years time we were debt clear(or close to it) I would be very happy(2 loans clear in 2010, 1 in 2011 and the last in 2012)
 
Its a small thing but we did it a couple of years ago and never looked back. Try taking out Sky card and switch unit off for a while then switch on and see what channels you get. We get almost all UK ones and film4.
 
Good advice on here, wondered if you managed to go into your bank and consolidate your loans on the basis of your points made on here. At least you are clued up and facing facts now, I do know some folks who are still burying head in the sand etc. In order to cut back on all outgoings you need to have your other half totally on board, there is no point saving on one item and frittering away money in other unseen areas. The weekly Grocery shop can be an area you can really save on. You already do this by shopping around and going to Aldi etc. However it is very worthwhile to get a shopping list made out each week and stick to it. The shopping list is based on a weekly meal planner, check stock already in freezer and cupboards, check what personal care and cleaning products are actually required. If shopping at Aldi some treats for kids can be added but other than that stick to the list and shop without kids. I cannot stress this enough. Hope things are going a bit better. Most of us have some or all of your issues regarding debt, what matters now is to sort it out.
 
Nesbitt,
I had gone directly to my customer service manager(AIB appoint you one) back in October and I was told that all decisions are made centrally. My manager wanted to try and help me but 'central' would not do anything to help.
I don't think this attitude is helpful for someone that is trying to sort out a situation pre-emptively.
 
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I looked at the MABS website some very good sample letters for financial institutions on their website. I would telephone MABS and outline all the points. I have an inkling you can get MABS to contact the Bank on your behalf... If not discuss the matter with MABS regarding submitting a letter in person (keep a copy) to this Branch Manager at the bank and then in turn request/demand a response in writing from the bank. This centrally located baloney seems to me to be a fob off... You have a lot at stake here so please try again. Perhaps getting a 3rd party such as MABS on board and indeed putting your request in writing you may get sorted out. If you are given a negative response (demand it is in writing) go back to MABS and take it from there. If you fell further behind I think the bank would find it harder to pursue you etc and you can prove your efforts to circumvent the inevitable. You might be able to come back and let us know how you are bearing up. All the best.
 
Thanks again for suggestions Nesbitt.
I've been through the MABS site a few times and have seen those sample letters so certainly something that I could use if needed.
I have been able to reduce some of my loan burden as I outlined earlier so things are not as tight or as precarious as they were 3 mths ago.
 
Well done Fester1 for keeping on going to clear debt. Reason I was emphasising re-visiting issue with banks is I know two people who had large credit card debt and managed to get much cheaper term loans to clear it.
 
Nesbitt,I would have ideally wanted to trade the cc for loans but after trying my own bank and then 4 others with now joy I had to revisit my options.
The lowering of interest rates has really helped over the last few months and although they will raise again in the future I am hopefull that I will have a much better cash flow by then.
 
I hope it's not minded that I resurrected such an old post but I thought after 15 years I might provide an update for closure.

It can be a reminder perhaps to anyone that is in a difficult financial situation that with sufficient time it can all work out.

Since the last update, we kind of wondered through the woods managing from month to month for some time but as tends to happen things got worse before they got better. Missed some mortgage payments to try and help with difficult months(winter ESB/oil bills)

We cut back further on expenses (cut home life insurance/health insurance) and managed to save a little and pay off the car loan early in 2010, rolled this over to the FF loan and paid it off in late 2010. My wife got some one work in late 2009 and 2011 worth 5k each time which really helped through some of the difficult times(eg. oil boiler cracked and had to be replaced after the 2010 big freeze)

After further talks with AIB in 2011 and they agreed to make a loan of the AIB credit card and outstanding overdraft

So good progress was made, but all the time the MBNA debt was stagnant, with minimums been paid. This eventually transferred to Avant (in 2013) and eventually to Cabot(in 2014). Started to see the light from about 2015 when Cabot agreed to fixed repayment.

The years continued to tick by and with pay increases and job changes we managed to clear the AIB loan in late 2016 and finally made an offer with Cabot in 2018 for a final settlement(80% of debt was paid in total).

So even after all that happened we have no debts now , in fact we are now overpaying mortgage by 500/mth and have savings of 10k rainy day and manage to make good contributions to our pension. Our plan is to have house paid off by 60, with the option to retire a year or two after.

So you may not see it at the time but if you work through the debt there is a very faint light at the end of the tunnel that gets closer and closer.
 
Well done to you. Seems like you really focused your efforts to clear debt and glad that things worked out for you.
 
Con'grats on turning things round and making decisions that I am sure where tough at the time. It takes courage to meet thigs like that head on. Well done, you both should be proud (maybe one to tell the kids when they are old and will understand).
 
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