Now, I realise I have only been on this forum for a little while and I am asking a personal question but you guys seem like good guys and very helpful/knowledgable!
My wife decided to leave me and my son last year and took my daughter with her. She wanted paying off, so I remortgaged the house and sent her on her way.
I was an adult trainee on £8.50/hr until I qualified in August and got my pay rise to £11.35/hr. That is too little, too late and the debts accumulated have gotten too much. So much that the mortgage, credit card payments etc are out of my reach.
I have been paying half the mortgage as agreed for six months now and its up next month. I can't afford the full payments. So what can I do?
I have been looking at the sell your house then rent it back scheme's and might ring up for a quote. Other than that, I'm not sure what else I can do. Would my son and I go straight into a council house or not? Should I contact them?
Sorry for the long post, and hope you can help.

Can't give you any specific advice other than getting down to the Citizens Advice Bureau sharpish. Avoid the rent back companies without getting good advice first, I've heard a few horror stories.

Best of luck in getting this sorted.

Have you been to your local citizens advice yet? They'll be a big help.

Have you got room for a lodger?

Go and get some real good advice.

ythere is a lot that can be done in your situation to make things better but you need real good knowledge to do it.

Get real advice

You'll probably have no chance of a council house, based on experience round here – have a word with the Housing Benefits team at your local authority to see how much Local Housing Allowance you would qualify for if you rent privately

Also check out local housing associations – ones round here seem to have a lot of stuff available – probably won't be ideal for you but might tide you over.

CAB or the housing charity Shelter will also be able to advise you

Get professional help now, try the CCCs or the local cab, talk to your creditor's and don't bury your head in the sand. also forum's such as money saving expert have a lot of advice and helpful posters so it may be worth posting on there forum as well.

Googlr debt councelling, most of the capitalist banks give money to these charities to help people in your situation,and only approach the ones that are free.

Ask for an extension on the half mtg payments. I guess there is no one free available for childcare , if you were to get a second job in the evening? Inlaws out the question but your family.
I would ask if anyone can help you with a short term loan , again needs to be fanily or real good friend, interest rates are so low if you offer, and can manage to repay at 6% + to them then that might help.
HAve you checked thoroughly all the benefits available as a single parent looking after a child, there might be funds available to you to as well as childcare.
Good luck, hope it works out for you

Moneysavingexpert forums will often offer good advice. I'd agree with the above about the CAB. Speak to your mortgage provider to let them know what's going on, they might be helpful, you may be able to extend the mortgage etc. The lodger idea is also a good one.

Best of luck, hope you come out of this ok.

Can you get another job?
Have you tried getting a mortgage breakor simply tried talking to the lenders.
In this climate it is pretty acceptable to admit you have problems.
I do sympathise. My business has just cost me 65K partly due to customers going bust but also a dodgy partner.
I just scraped by after forking out 65K from my own pocket, 2009 was pretty well alcohol and pill dominated.
I know it sounds corny but were there's a will there's a way even if it means two jobs an one hours sleep a day.
Good luck.

National debt line, free help, also

CCCS, again free,

or this annoying chap, really good info and links to the above.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan

Best of luck.

You need professional advice now…I've heard that these people are good…
Consumer Credit Counselling Service

[edit…as lots of people have already suggested !]

I was going to write more but you really need professional advice (just don't pay for it !)….be honest with whoever you get advice from…do not 'hide' debts it won't help in the long run

[edit #2]do not just google debt advice / be careful who you deal with…it's big business…I used to work for one company (not CCCS)…they even set up their own registered 'charity'..whose main focus appeared to be directing people towards their own profit making debt / Insolvency (IVA) business.

Do what I did, get on the council house list sharpish, (I wasted a year by renting privately) IF your'e lucky you might get a half decent house on a half decent estate like I did. Dunno if it still happens but after renting for 2 years I bought mine for 34K. The mortgage was £12 a month LESS than the rent & the week I signed for mine the house next door which had been owned for a few years went for 90K! Meaning (potentially) I could've made 56K in a week, but realistically i wouldn't cos the one next door had had a bit of work done to it.
If your'e gonna lose the lot like I had youv'e really got to swallow any pride & start all over again. I wouldn't be selling & re-renting my own house, that would be TOO much pride to swallow! Dunno if local councils even do this nowadays & god knows how long the waiting lists are but I waited about 9 months then turned 2 down.
All the best anyway, I know how you feel but it works out in the end.

One of the benefits of the cccs is that there funded by the banks and finance companies, and the creditors tend to listen to what the cccs proposes.
They can make a real difference, and can show you a light at the end of the tunnel, I've used them in the past and they helped me out of a right mess.

Can't really give you any specific advice but I do know that there was/ is pressure on the banks to support people in difficult situations and not simply to resort to repossesions. As above make sure you talk to CAB and the bank – they'll probably take some convincing but might give in to better terms eventually.

If it is an option, have you considered re-mortgaging over a longer period to reduce the replayments? Maybe as part of a package of measures (as above, extra job/ hours, lodger?). It's amazing what you can save if your really put your mind to taking stock of your monthly income/ outgoings.

Also have heard (maybe Watchdog?) horror stories of the buy-to-rent-back companies.

Good luck – hope you can get through this one way or another?

Can't pay for advice, so that's easy! I do have room for a lodger and have thought about it. Will have a word with the above mentioned people and ring the mortgage company. Will also get an appointment with the CAB. As long as we have a roof over our heads, we'll be fine. Oh, and our bikes of course!
You guys are great, you know.

Curly – ules you have been or are about to be really stupid then you should save the house. No bank wants a repo atm FFS. Talk to folk, get good advice and do what you agree and you could come out of this OK

Curly68- there are a lot of ways out of your situation and none of them are as painful as you think they will be. CAB and then fill your boots with what they offer you.

My advice is to stop paying the unsecured debts and keep paying the secured ones and food and utilities if you can. It'll all be sorted pretty quickly in my experience.

Curly talk to the people in my links the cccs and others mentioned here,they will talk to the creditors for you as they know what to say and what to expect, its so easy for you to agre to the wrong thing with your creditors.

How old is your son. Sweet flogging at schools is surprisingly big business. I know people at mine who make £5-10 a day

My son is 11 and quite enterprising but hasn't thought about the sweet trade as yet!

Good luck with your situation. My wife and I got in to money troubles a few years ago and it is not a nice feeling! Above all don't do what I did and bury your head in the sand and let it affect your(mental) health. And don't let the banks bully you.

As suggested above get yourself down to your local Citizens Advice Bureau or other advice agency (see Advice UK – http://www.adviceuk.org.uk/local – for non-CAB local agencies) tomorrow!

Take as much info about your income and expenditure including mortgage details as possible.

Also see http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/money_management_index_ew.htm for further information which might help you understand the options available to you.

Good luck!

If you mortgage is on a repayment basis, you could possibly switch to an interest only mortgage freeing up a significant extra monthly amount to help your situation.

Curly68 – Not one to usually respond to stuff on here of a personal nature, as I find it uncomfortable, but I hope the good advice provided on here helps you on your way.

I really really hope things pick up for you and your boy. Stay positive.

You can email me if you want, but i would suggest you click my name and get some proper advice asap.

You have plenty of options, I'm happy to tell you via PM.

The CAB use Shelter to get professional advice btw. As much as i admire the CAB, they phone me(and my organisation) for professional advice. So you may be better served contacting Shelter first

CCCS are very good. Credit cards and other unsecured finance is a low priority in this situation. Make sure you pay the Mortgage and household bills though, you really don't want a pre-pay fuel meter. Once CCCS are involved any debt collectors tend to go away once you tell them a payment plan is in place.
The banks software and systems are not designed for this situation, you will gets lots of dire warnings and then threatening letters from them. Usually you ring and they say to ignore them, then 2 months later another appears.
Good luck

In all seriousness, you are going to have to go down some sort of shared house route. The council house route can be hellish – I know a girl who's a single mum, and she had be living in a hostel before she could get a council house. But, if you can get one, RTB is a great way to get a house on the cheap. I really does depend on your area, how many council houses they have and what their policies are.

I'd personally aim to keep the house, get a lodger in, and pay down the debt like crazy. Renegotiate the terms of the debt for a start – Credit cards are going to be costing you a fortune.

That route will obviously be painful in the short term, but should pay off long term.

You need to tot up your income and expenditure, not including unsecured credit. If by cutting out your unsecured credit commitments, you have money left over, then an IVA may work for you.

IVA's are generally good if you have something to protect, such as equity in a house. If you have little or no equity in the house then maybe consider going Bankrupt. You wont loose your house as long as you can keep up the Mortgage payments.

If however, you do not earn enough to cover the mortgage and your standard expenditure ie council tax, gas and elec, then you are obviously going to loose the house.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

I can't offer any great advice but I would like to say good luck and hope you manage to keep the place 🙂