giving up

U

Upthecreek

Guest
I need some advice. I take home 1600 a month which is pretty good salary but am single parent and have 5 separate loans which is taking about 1100 a month on repayments, life assurance of 44 a month, car insurance 50 a month. im paying out 1200 a month on loans. that leaves 400 which 240 is childminding the rest is to cover petrol, phone, esb, food and general living!

HAve been to Mabs and and have been budgeting for the last 4 months really hard but its getting nowhere. in june school is over and the creche that my son goes will be wanting 90 a week i dont know where this is going to come from.

So basically i am thinking of going back to Mabs and declaring myself bankrupt - if thats possible! When i took out loans i was receiving my lone parents payment but since has been taken of me and Department reckon i owe them money too! Starting to consider packing in job as see other lone parents who dont work and they are a hell of lot better of!

Any help would be greatly appreciated - other than selling my body -
 
Don't give up or pimp yourself. While I don't think that individuals can declare themselves bankrupt, in Ireland anyway, I am pretty sure that a return visit to MABS for further assistance might help. They should be able to assist you in (a) identifying possible savings to be made based on your incomings/outgoings budget/diary for the past few months and/or (b) assist in rescheduling your loans if possible and if necessary in order to give you some breathing space. Unfurtunately there is no getting away from the fact that the process of sorting out your finances may take significant effort and possibly some sacrifices (although not the two options mentioned above!) on your part but it should be possible to sort this out.

Has consolidating outstanding loans onto your mortgage as a once off emergency measure to get control of your finances been considered or ruled out? This would mean replacing your higher cost loans with an increased mortgage at lower interest rates. When considering this make sure to schedule the repayment of the otherwise short/medium term loan over a shorter period of time than the bulk of the mortgage so that you don't end up paying more in interest in the long term even if your total monthly repayments are less.

Do you definitely need the car and the expenses that go with that?

Would giving up work be an option - possibly of last resort?
 
Need car to get to work, live 6 miles away.company i work for are moving in the next 2 months out of town and will have to travel about 13 miles so def need car.

As for mortgage i am lucky that i dont have a mortgage but the house is not mine it is my parents they know im having probs but there have just bought a new site and have stuff going on with my neighbours of how much of the land belongs to them. so not in a position to help.

i guess i would like to hear from someone who ahs gone down the road of blacklisting themselves as such from banks etc.
 
I honestly don't think that the bankruptcy route (not sure what you mean by "blacklisting" above) is a real option. Check with MABS to be sure but I'm pretty sure that there is no such way to avoid meeting your debt obligations in full or in part.

I assumed that the life assurance was mortgage protection life assurance and that you therefore had a mortgage. Do you really need this life assurance right now? I know that you probably want to cater for the worst case scenario given that you have a dependent but perhaps the need to reduce your outgoings means that you should re-examine the current need for this particular cost?

What exactly are the outstanding loans and what are the details (e.g. remaining terms, interest rates charged, fixed or variable, any arrears, individual repayments etc.)?

Is the €1,600 figure after tax take home pay? Have you checked that you're availing of all tax credits and possibly welfare payments to which you are entitled?

Feel free to post more details of your individual bills/loans/expenses.
 
Bankruptcy almost certainly isn't an option. Even if it was desirable I'm not sure it's actually technically an option.

Apart from that everything should be on the table.

I think giving up work is probably a bad idea, restructuring your debts and resolving to get shut of them and not go back would be my preferred option.

BUT.....

You should definitely work out the cost/benefit of quitting work while the kids are young enough to need childcare.
You need to satisfy yourself that you are better off working.

I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but if our system means you're better off on social welfare then do it. Looking at your salary I think you'll find that keeping up work but restructuring your debt will be the best thing.

Whatever you decide, I'd be very interested in hearing how it works out. I'd particularly be interested in hearing if you actually are better off on social welfare.

If someone bringing home €1600 a month is better off on social welfare rather than working and paying childcare, then we have a real problem in this country.

-Rd
 
Life Assurance is only €44 a month, im 30 and since taking policy i hurt my back in a car crash so therefore if cancel policy and renew further down the line will prob pay large premium, at moment my cover is worth over 150,000euros.

As for Benefits or Tax Allowances have all allowances got not entitled to any benefits from social welfare at all. Have worked out if i am "laid of" as such cant just give up work and sign on, i would be down about 60 euro a week if i avail of everything!

Sad really isnt that better of at home signing on! i mean at moment if either me or my child get sick i cant afford to go to doctors. the last time between the doctor and chemist it cost me over 100euro. No wonder so many people are not working.

My various debts are with different finance companies and none are willing to take on other finance company debts, have joined credit union but not saving a lot at moment.

4 of the loans have been restructured but Bank of Scotland wont budge as the loan was only topped up in May 2003, one if for car with Permanent Tsb. I have no problem getting more money which is funny, still being sent letters offering more money and yet this companies knew im having trouble meeting payments.

Have tried MABS but to be honest i havent had much luck, just advised to battle on but cant get my head above water even for a little while.
 
Sorry to hear of your difficulties.
Just to temper the "isn't it a strange country" despairing, we can't lose sight of the fact that a big chunk of your salary is going on debt repayment. You have very high repayments when you consider that you have no mortgage/rent included in this figure. Presumably, you got some good experiences or value when you were spending this money, so now you have the pain of the repayments.

Going bankrupt isn't really an option either - Why should the banks be expected to give up on the money you borrowed?

I don't really have any constructive suggestions above & beyond what others have said. If there was an opportunity the remortgage the property (though I know you don't own it), this could allow you to repay your loans at lower interest rates. If this is not possible, you should concentrate your repayments on the highest interest loans, to get them cleared first.
 
Could you post the amount left to pay, and the monthly repayment on on each of the Loans. If you don't have an exact balance, just post €X per month, Y years remaining.

That'll help to get a better handle on the situation.

You could try emailing RTE or Eddie Hobbs to see if they've finished taking on participants for the new series of [broken link removed]. But only if you're prepared to bare your soul to the world.

-Rd
 
I honestly don't mean any offence by this but, as implied by the previous cntributor, you really need to forget about getting distracted by bitching about other tangental or broader issues right now and concentrate all your efforts on doing whatever is possible to rectify your specific debt problems. A lot of useful advice/information has been posted here already and I would encourage you to persist with the MABS route if at all possible. Don't give up or let this situation drag you down unnecessarily if at all possible. Try to take a step back and, using some of the information posted here already and perhaps a return visit to MABS, try to assess if/where adjustments can be made which will yield results.

Further down the line, once you have rectified this current debt situation, you should also consider planning to make sure that this does not happen again.

I hope that this helps and, as I said before, I don't mean any offence by any of these comments! Good luck.
 
dire straits

Have you considered going on to a 20/21 hour week. Reducing your earned income and going for family income supplement from social welfare. Thats what a lot of people in you position do. As far as I know the FIS is
a)not taxable b) does not count towards the medical card and c) once you are in receipt of any social welfare its like pandoras box for all kinds of entitlements ie Chidrens clothes/ shoes, washing machine repairs etc. Also you will have more time with your child and childminding might cost less. Good Luck.
 
Raising child

Are you the only person contributing to the raising of the child?? Is the other half available to help?
(I mean absolutely no offence if deceased.)
 
Raising child

I can't understand how giving up work would be an option, assuming you have one child, you would get €151.60 a week, your monthly income would 656.93 as opposed to €1,600 (€1,360 net of childcare).

The banks won't stop demanding money simply because you are on benefit. Go back to MABS, although you don't have much (any?) savings in the Credit Union, local MABS offices work very closely with credit unions and may be able to get you access to flexible credit.
 
Re: Raising child

I can't understand how giving up work would be an option
Click to expand...

That's not all the money they would get. The rent will probably be paid, they'll get medical card and a whole host of other stuff. They'll also have lots of free time to do cash in hand child minding.
 
Re: Raising child

They'll also have lots of free time to do cash in hand child minding.
Click to expand...

Hmmmmm.

But if she does this she'll never be allowed to Join a Political Party. FF especially. Don't know if that's something that would affect her decision. :)

-Rd
 
Low income

Hi, and sorry you're having problems.

Part of the problem seems to be that you are on such a low income. You should speak to your employer and say you are having great difficulty in making ends meet. Don't tell them you're in debt, just tell them your salary isn't paying your way.

Don't even consider going on social welfare, you'll be worse off, the financial institutions will be even more unsympathetic (people on social welfare are the lowest form of life in their reckoning) and anyway social welfare is very likely to be squeezed under ireland's increasingly neo-liberal economic culture. You will almost certainly end up much worse off and totally alienated.

I'd try to get a small increase from your employer, or maybe an opportunity to do a litle extra overtime if they won't pay you upfront. If not try to get a bit of extra part time work, and see if family or friends will temporarily help out with child minding. My partner gets nearly 100 extra every 2 weeks for 4 hours overtime, and its paying off a car loan a bit early :)
 
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