Losing job, no savings, 3k credit card bill

I'll try to keep this simple. I found out a couple of days ago out of the blue that I'm being made redundant, and I've got my 2 weeks notice. I'm an IT contractor and I've looked into it and it seems I'm notentitled to any redundancy. This was very unexpected as my contract just got renewed a few months ago and was due to run until summer 2013.

My rent is 1200 eur per month
Internet 35 eur month
Sky 82 eur per month
VHI 65 eur per month

Gas & Electic can vary.

Savings: 0 euro
Credit Card Bill: 2900 euro

I worked out that with what I'm left to get paid, I'll have a total of about 5500 euro coming in over the next month.

As you can see, these numbers don't add up. I live in Dublin by myself renting and it's looking like I may have to pack up and move home to Northern Ireland. The dole down here won't cover my rent even with rent allowance.

I called my landlord a few hours after I found out I was being let go and they were very understanding and aren't holding me to needing to give a months notice. They said to wait a few days before deciding anything and if it helped, we could go to a weekly or 2 weekly rent payment.

I guess the thing I'm really worried about is the credit card bill. If I decided to move home to Northern Ireland and had no more rent to pay, I could easily clear it off and would have a couple of grand left over when I get back to the north. This would allow me to get back on my feet and pay a deposit and rent somewhere else whenever I get back to work. But having to pack up and move out of Dublin isn't a small task and I'm kind of settled and somewhat happy here.

My other concern is, I could try and just pay off a few hundred euro of my credit card bill, and use the rest of my money to pay rent and bills for the next couple of months in the hope I get work in Dublin. The problem will be when those couple of months are up, if I have no job, I will still need to move out and I will still owe money on my credit card. At least if I go in a few weeks, I can clear the debts.

My car is a southern reg also as I imported it a few years ago. The insurance company told me the car wouldn't be covered if it was kept in the north which is to be expected. So I'd probably have to go through the whole rigmarole of exporting it to the north and re-registering it. While that isn't an expensive task, it's a lot of hassle. I just renewed my car insurance and road tax down here a couple of weeks ago so I'd get most of it back anyway and could re-use it to tax and insure it at home.

Basically I'm trying to work out what I should do. In my head I'm thinking if I don't get work within the next 2-3 weeks, I should pack up and leave. But it's a big deal having to move home and who knows, I could end up moving back a few months later. I don't really have anyone I could bunk with here and doing so would just mean moving out of my place anyway so what's the point of trying to stay in Dublin if I need to move out, I might as well go the whole hog and move to the north.

I will probably try and claim a tax refund if I don't get work but I did that a few years ago when I moved abroad and I've a feeling I only got a couple of hundred euro back.

I know I was stupid to allow myself to be left in this situation but I can't change that now.

Is there some option here that I'm not seeing?

Thanks.

IF you decide to stick around - sky can go - OR at the very least, it's possible to reduce it to the minimum subscription if your within minimum contract period.

Your rent is pretty hefty - at least given your new circumstances.

Moving back sounds like your best option. At least that way, you can regroup - without current overheads - and start from there...?

Where your car is concerned, most of the insurers allow you to have a certain period out of the country per year (some as much as 90 days) - so that may give you a bit of breathing space if you decide to move home for a while.

Regarding Rent Supplement, you will not receive a supplement for a property costing 1200 euro per month, that is far in excess of the maximum rent limit for a single person.

The max rent limit for a single person is 475 per month and less for a person sharing.

Your credit card bill isn't that high - surely if you pay the minimum each month, you can reduce it gradually. The important thing from now on is not to use it again! Also, agree with comment about high rent - in your current situation, why not explore the possibility of house-sitting or staying in one of these large houses where tenants are allowed to stay virtually rent-free in return for basic maintenance. Get rid of Sky - if you have it for more than 12 months, the box and the dish is yours - just tune into Freesat for the time being. Go through your outgoings with a fine-tooth comb. Shop in the 'reduced to clear' section of Tesco, use Aldi/Lidl for almost everything after that. Amazing how much you can reduce your outgoings like this. Do you need the car? If you're living in the city, maybe not? Cycling, walking - great for the health and the bank balance. Good luck.

Thanks for the replies so far.

I'm going to start shopping in Lidl/Aldi so hopefully that will help things. I already walk everywhere I can in order to save petrol. Selling the car isn't an option, especially if I need to move.

Regarding clearing the credit card, I can probably reduce the payments and use the rest of my wages to hopefully tie me over for rent and bills while I try to find work. My concern is burning through that money, end up with no job and still having the credit card bill to clear.

I think the rent supplement is 475 a month. I'm not exactly sure how that works. If your rent is more than that, will they still pay the supplement? My landlord said not to worry they weren't going to leave me homeless so I guess they might possibly be willing to reduce the rent temporarily, but that hasn't been discussed. I was wondering if I agreed a temporary reduction and agreed to pay 500 a month or something, that might be more manageable. But nothing really has been discussed around that.

I think I will go talk to the Welfare office this week and find out what I'm entitled to (if anything) and see what they say.

Unmillion said:

My concern is burning through that money, end up with no job and still having the credit card bill to clear.

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I think your concern is well place. Sounds like you have skills - so no doubt you will get yourself setup again. However, these things can take a bit longer than expected.

Therefore, you need to move out - and cut that rent bill immediately.

Unmillion said:

I think the rent supplement is 475 a month. I'm not exactly sure how that works.

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Check out citizensinformation.ie - it will give you the basics on rent supplement, including the thresholds for the area your living in.

Unmillion said:

If your rent is more than that, will they still pay the supplement?

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Officially, no. They will want you to declare what exactly the rent is - and that amount will have to be under the threshold.

Unmillion said:

My landlord said not to worry they weren't going to leave me homeless so I guess they might possibly be willing to reduce the rent temporarily, but that hasn't been discussed. I was wondering if I agreed a temporary reduction and agreed to pay 500 a month or something, that might be more manageable. But nothing really has been discussed around that.

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Well, it costs you nothing to have that conversation - if you think there was even the slightest possibility of them going for it - so nothing to lose in that respect - and it would make the adjustment so much easier if you didn't have to move.

Unmillion said:

I think I will go talk to the Welfare office this week and find out what I'm entitled to (if anything) and see what they say.

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If you were contracting, were you effectively self-employed? I'm open to correction but it may well be that you don't have any entitlement in this instance...?

serotoninsid said:

If you were contracting, were you effectively self-employed? I'm open to correction but it may well be that you don't have any entitlement in this instance...?

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Just regarding this, I was contracting alright through a Ltd company but I was paying PAYE and PRSI every month for the last 4 years so I *think I am entitled to benefits. I could be wrong on that. I guess if I bring my PPS number to the Welfare office they can look that up and check anyway?

I'll probably be speaking to my landlord during the week so I will discuss what the options are. They've already suggesting moving to either a weekly or 2 weekly payment and I might suggest lowering the rent temporarily.

My rent is paid up to the end of the month so I guess I will stay here until around then and hopefully I will land another job by then.

Just an update.

I've managed to get myself a new job and will be starting it next week. So thankfully I shouldn't need to worry about needing to move or anything like that.

I still need to clear my credit card bill and save some cash but hopefully I will be able to do that now. I think the mistake I was making before was to pay off too much on my credit card and not leave myself enough to live on. So I'd end up using the credit card again.

I know roughly what my minimum payment is (€75 approx per month) so I'm going to pay off about €200 each month and use the rest of my money for savings and general expenses such as food, rent and bills. Once I get enough saved up to clear the credit card and still have money to live on for that month, I'll clear it off completely. That way the credit card bill won't be going up any more.

That seems like the most sensible plan to get it cleared off as quickly as possible. Although if there are better ways, I'm willing to listen to them.

If you are continuing to contract, you need to plan for rainy days. Most contractors will expect to work for maybe nine months of the year, and will plan to spread their payments over the dry periods.

have a serious chat with your landlord too. get that rent down to 1000 per month. They seemed keen to keep you as a tenent, so maybe a rent review would be in order.

Thanks.

I got a rent reduction about 9 months ago. I live in a two bed apartment. I'm not really interested in sharing again, I did that for long enough and moved to my own place so I could live by myself.