Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

[jpop]

Hi, got directed here from moneysavingexpert.

I just wanted to see if there is any direct advice or places/sites to go to get some help with my debt issues.

I'm very close to being dismissed from my job. It's not a guarantee but I'm very worried about the outcome.

Currently I pull in about £30K a year with my partner earning similar (though she will earn less next year due to cutting hours).

My personal debts are pretty high with a £19K loan (including interest etc), £1.2K on a credit card (which I just changed to to take advantage of the 22 month interest free offer) and £2.4K overdraft.

My main worry is obviously paying these debts off. I think my parters income will cover the mortgage and other like payments but we will have almost £0 afterwards if I am not earning.

I really just need to get a handle on what I should be doing with regards to the loan/CC/OD issue. How I should approach it and what needs to be send to the lenders.

This is all really bumming me out and I'm increasingly worried that things at work will go sour. My first priority is to my family so any assistance/advice anyone can offer will be much appreciated.

Haven't done a SOA yet. Will do when the missus gets home and see where we are from there.

Thanks

[MrsD]

Re: Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

we don't need you to do a SOA

this isn't MSE!!!
Ok so it looks like your income igoing to half and you have outgoings to meet.
so first thing is you pay your priority debts, mortgage/rent, council tax, fuel etc
your personal debts are not particularly high, we have folks on here with 100K plus, so ramp down the worry a bit
so if you lose your job, (it's still an if???) your joint income is going to at least half.
what's the 19K loan for? Is it a car? when was it taken out? who is it with? and how long for? what does it cost a month? is it secured on anything, ie your house
not too worried about the credit card at the moment
Is your overdraft costing? if so how much?

if you lose your job will there be a payoff (redunancy etc)?
Will you be entitled to any benefits?
Do you get any benefits just now that may change?
Do you have children?
So what I would do is go to "entitledto.com" and fill in the worst case scenario moneywise, this will give you an idea of what you are actually likely to be left with (remember worst case scenario)
if you look like your not going to be able to live, I would think that the big loan will be the problem, depending on how long it's been going, it will be the one that needs to dealt with
remember that if you can't meet the committments on unsecured debt they will report you to the CRAs and they will trash your credit record, that is a certainty. There will be no more 0% deals So tell us a wee bit more about the loan, have a look at what you would get worst case, and come back to us and ask some more questions.

and don't stress, it's not good for you and it is only money

[kilasuit]

Re: Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

I'm very close to being dismissed from my job. It's not a guarantee but I'm very worried about the outcome.

I think this is the pressing matter and once we have helped with this we can then help with debts.

Can i ask why you feel your close to being dismissed? (recently been dismissed myself so know what you may have to go through)

We all here have our own areas of expertise in almost anything and everything and again most of us have gone through similar circumstances.

So if we can help you are in the best place to get it.

[jpop]

Re: Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

The dismissal situation comes from an allegation someone made about me. It's my word V theirs and all based on probabilities. It should be OK but the longer it goes on the more concerned I'm getting.

As for anything at the end of it? Nothing. Dismissed and that's it. I'll get my final monthly wage (I imagine) but nothing else.

THe 19K loan is actually a 15K loan (I've just added on the interest to give the grand total over the life of the loan) that I took out in December 2011 to consolidate other debts.

We moved house about a year and a half ago and that is the main reason for a good deal of my existing debt.

The OD is costing me about £30 a month. I was thinking of transferring the OD balance to the 0% credit card but I'm not sure how good an idea that is.

I'll hit up that entitledto.com page this evening and see what comes out of it before I return.

Thanks folks.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

UE is not an option sadly

[MrsD]

Re: Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

I wouldn't transfer that o/d balance until you've got the full facts. Have you spoken to ACAS about the situation at work, I'm thinking it would be gross misconduct which would be why you would just be out the door like that.

I would speak to ACAS and try to talk through your situation, people can't run around making accusations without some basis, if there is no basis, you need to be protecting yourself. It might be that you need to raise a grievance yourself about this. I would also read your contract very carefully to check if the company has done everything correctly. Kilasuit is absolutely correct, your problem isn't the money yet, it's the job situation. I guess you don't need anyone to say that consolidating debt is never usually a great idea?

[jpop]

Re: Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

I'll soon be in the Disciplinary hearing stage of the investigation and after that I'll know whether I'm getting the bullet or not. I've got union backing and I doubt there is more than 0.5% of the staff actually think I'm guilty but that's a moot point if I don't present my argument properly.

Yeah, I'm getting the consolidation thing isn't a good idea. Live and learn I guess.

Even though you are correct, it is the job situation that is the problem right now, I'm still keen to have routes to go down with the debt issue if things do go south at work.

________

I do have one question about mortgages if anyone can help.

We are actually a few months from renewing and were just going to do it online as there are no better deals that we can find than the lender we are with now.

We can't do it til Aug 1, apparently, is there any way to confirm a new deal more quickly just in case it does go wrong at work?

[MrsD]

Re: Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

i thought they didn't mind if you "reserved it in advance" worth a punt while your credit is good.

try not to worry about the money though as Niddy said UE won't apply here, doesn't mean there isn't an answer, but no point stressing before you have to. If creditors get wind you're struggling that 0% will go and your overdraft limit will plummet, so better to keep stum until you know you really got a problem. The other thing to bear in mind is that any claim for unfair dismissal takes forever to go through the tribunels. I would still get another opinion from ACAS rather than just the union, unions never seem to be very pro-active in these cases because essentially they are a bit out of their depth, remember knowledge is power.

[SXGuy]

Re: Could lose my job - mortgage/loans hanging over me

like the rest has said, dont worry to much about non priority debts.

Providing they are not secured against your house for example, then you need not stress soo much.

Firstly, work out what the worst case senario will be in terms of money coming in.

Check this against monthly outgoings for priority debts only.

You can get a list of what priority debts are, or someone here will list them for you.

If you meet all priority debts and have a little left over, then that is split between your creditors as a reduced payment.

Most should agree to 6 to 12 months on a payment arrangement, others who dont agree at first, will after some help from us here, so dont stress.

Bare in mind, only take this route if you dont need to secure anything like a new mortgage, you will get defaults registered and you dont want to harm anything vital.

The other option is of course to just let your mortgage go back to being variable.

My mortgage adviser told me to not do anything in terms of changing credit reports for at least 6 months after securing a mortgage though, so maybe it comes down to correct timing for you.

This is all speculation until you actually know if you have lost your job of course.