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Hi all, I’m in a bit of mess financially, I’ve had enough of it and would appreciate a pointer of where to go.
Basically ive got 2 mortgages, I rent the property I currently live in.
I’ve got money tied up in a house I can’t get the tenants out of in order to sell.
I’ve got credit card debt I can’t get a loan to pay off at a lower apr etc.,
I have a good, well paid full time job and two part time jobs and I still feel like I’m sinking and just want to get my “shit in a sock” once and for all
Who can I go to to get advice?
How much will that help cost?
Any ideas, links or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance
Sounds a right pickle. CAB can help, before other more expensive options such as IVA.
Seriously - go to your local CAB. They helped me massively 12 years ago when I was in the poo. It ended with them advising me to go bankrupt - a nuclear option I know, but even they could see I couldn't work my way out of the debt I was in (due to family business failing).
And this forum - there are many, many knowledgable people on there (ignore the thread title)...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/bankruptcy-living-with-it
Try Stepchange too...
https://www.stepchange.org/
If anyone is charging you for debt advice they are just fueling the dept.
A DRO is another option, you'll have to Google what it stands for as I can't remember. Similar to, but not as hardcore as going bankrupt. A mate did it a while back.
EDIT: Just did a quick check. It's a Debt Relief Order and I don't think you'd qualify as you're not allowed assets.
Just put the windows in of your house, they’ll soon move on.
Why 2 mortgages?
And you mean you have a mortgage on a house that you rent out, but you rent a house to live in yourself?
You need to give the Tenants notice, then sell it. You could sell it with sitting Tenants, but you'd be 20% down on the selling price compared to Freehold no tenants.
Or, give them notice and move back there yourself.
First suggestion is get yourself to r3.org.uk and they've got a really decent guide called something like "dealing with money worries - a guide to your options"
R3 is the insolvency trade body but this publication is designed for the general public and is a downloadable pdf.
It contains an overview of all the options it also has contacts for a lot of different bodies at the end who can help in different ways.
Just to be clear it is not only insolvency options it covers that need an insolvency practitioner (IP) but a wide range of other solutions.
Note that a number of personal financial advice services around debt management should be FCA regulated.
I just found the guide on my work pc but can't share the link from there and can't find it on my phone easily. If you struggle to find it PM me and I'll find a way to send you the file or link tomorrow as about to switch off.
I am aware of rule changes regarding tenancy and Covid which complicates things. Do you rent out via an agent or diy? Lots of landlord advise online or get an agent to take care of it. Pitfalls for not following procedure may be difficult.
Stepchange highly recommended. But first of all, well done - you’ve recognised there’s an issue and that the status quo isn’t sustainable. That’s the first step to sorting this out. It may take a while, possibly years but it will be so, so worthwhile. Good luck!
I'll be honest, all of this talk of DROs and Insolvency seems a bit over the top.
To my mind OP isn't struggling per-se, just perhaps over-leveraged, over-worked and stressed.
Being completely frank, with two mortgages (and I assume two homes being rented to tenants) and renting a 3rd to live in, it sounds like someone who was chasing wealth and found out how much of a head **** it can be. I had a Friend I used to work with who was the same, but much, much more so. At one point he 'owned' about 15 houses on interest only mortgages, a handful of plots on sites he intended to 'flip' as soon as they started building them plus other things, on top of that he had the super stressful job, plus a side hustle importing really dodgy champagne from France and trying to selling it for mega money. It ended very badly for him.
I'm sure CAB / Step-change will say the same thing, because they did to me, but whilst debt is stressful sometimes and clearing / consolidating makes that go away, you can only really fix things by working out why you're over-spending.
With 3 jobs and sitting tenants, you shouldn't have any problem putting food on the table.
Oh dear. I thought you were in financial trouble?
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/free-hub-body-ali-or-steel/
you can get help from these organisations;
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/
https://www.mentalhealthandmoneyadvice.org/
I'd also advise speaking with your mortgage providers and bank
you can only really fix things by working out why you’re over-spending.
This. Stop spending on new wheels for a start.
Having been in a similar financial situation earlier in my life I can give this bit of advice:
Be absolutely honest with yourself about how you go into this situation.
Only then can you even hope to find a way out of this. First step is to contact CAB or another FREE debt advisory service and be 100% open and honest with them. You need to realise that any treats or luxuries that you plan to buy in the near to mid future will not be happening, otherwise you are either not in financial trouble or just adding to it.
Make that call and be honest with everyone, including yourself.
See if your job has an EAP helpline, if so give them a bell. They can be really good for stuff like this.
Be absolutely honest with yourself about how you go into this situation.
To be blunt, if you're in this situation Hope Pro 4's at £180 RRP should be off the table. If your mental health depends on riding bikes (which I can understand) and you don't have a set of wheels, then you should be buying the cheapest possible to get yourself going again. If you already have a set of wheels, then you don't need shiny different ones.
Here's another couple of links if you've read all the ones above already:
https://monevator.com/why-you-must-get-out-and-stay-out-of-debt/
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan/
Not sure the lecturing's going to help. I've been in a similar position and it didn't.
To the OP - I found that remortgaging helped me clear enough of the debt to massively accelerate the downpayment of the rest. The extra monthly cost was pretty small because I was able to get a much lower interest rate than I had been on. And yes, whilst I owed more on my house all I was effectively doing was moving debt from a very high interest rate to a very low interest rate.
Because the remortgage allowed a large amount to be paid off, the resulting extra cash meant we could pay off the rest of it far quicker.
Maybe, maybe not. But all the (non debt crisis) advice essentially comes down to the same few items. Spend less than you earn, and rearrange your debt and focus your repayments to pay as little interest as possible. Posting about new wheels in one forum and about money problems in another shows a level of cognitive dissonance that needs to be dealt with for step 1.
The Money Saving Expert link writes it all out in softer language than I did for sure, but even so the first item when it comes to doing something about it is 'Sort your spending'.
Free impartial debt advice is the way to go.
I work in financial services and have had dealings with most of the free and fee charging debt advice companies and organisations. I would rank Step Change Debt Charity as probably the best of the bunch.
Money worries and stress go hand in hand, so look to get some help in that regard too. Speak to a GP, use an employee assistance program if there is one, speak to a friend, register for local mental health services.
Counseling (or 'therapy' as the yanks call it) worked wonders for me when I went through a period of stress and anxiety.
Riding bikes is great for the old mental health but is often an escape from your problems, not a solution. You need to find the root cause and deal with that.
When you say CC debt means you cannot get a loan are you behind on payments otherwise this shouldn't be an issue.
I am terrible with money and have run up debts, cleared them, run them up again and round and round we go. It got to the point Mrs D threatened to leave if I did it again which was a perfectly reasonable stance for her to take as I had promised before I would not.
However, whilst my income to debt servicing ratio was very high it was just about manageable and I have never missed a payment on anything and have been able to refinance everything to a very sensible interest rate and brought the repayments down enough to give me room to breath. So CC debt in and of itself should not prevent you getting a loan to clear it. but then you need to cut the card up.
And as others have said I have had to step back and take stock as there is no other reason I got into this mess than I spent too much on stuff I wanted but did not really need