So I’m writing this on behalf of my mum. She’s been a single parent and had a rough deal in life. Divorced in 2004 with 2 young kids, dad left to another country and never paid a penny for anything.
Mum has little education and has been a secretary all her life.
Ok so that’s the background - now she’s gotten herself in a little mess and I want to try and help her out of it but I don’t really know what to do.
She has around £10k worth of CC debt. Earns £29,200 p/a gross. £450 mortgage per month. -DD and bills inc mortgage comes to arund £1,300 per month. Leaves her with about £500 for the month.
This is all eaten up by overdraft fees. She’s £1,500 into overdraft with no hope of getting out.
Always struggles every month with money (I give her what I can but she sometimes refuses to take money from me, I’ll usually do the food shop to take away that burden though).
How can I help her get out of the overdraft and reduce the CC debt??
Consolidate all debts onto a credit card or get a loan to clear them. This means 1 repayment and generally you can pay less each month and less overall.
Then there are plenty of posts in the Monzo blog on budgeting and saving etc
Speak to the lenders. If she tells them she’s in financial trouble they should help
But it’s hard to know what to say to them so make an appointment at the local citizens advice, bring all statements etc with you and they can advise and contact the lenders on her behalf. The bank should convert the overdraft into a loan making it a lot easier to pay back
Speak to someone like Step Change, Citizens advice etc. Rather than get a loan out you can agree a debt management plan. Most creditors will freeze interest on repayments.
A DMP will allow your mother to pay all her essential bills and any remaining surplus after that can be used to repay all her creditors.
My brother had a similar situation a year or so back, he kept it private from everyone. When it eventually come out, we sorted his finances out for him and give him support.
He was paying something like £100 a month on his credit card but his interest was in the region of £140 so was never actually clearing the debt. He struggled to have a life as he couldn’t afford it.
We got him a zero percent balance transfer credit card and transferred his balance to that, it allowed him that break he needed.
I have helped others who couldn’t get a zero percent card due to their credit rating, if you ring the provider they are obliged to help in financial difficulties, they can do this by lowering the APR for a set period. She will need about an hour spare when ringing as they do a financial check on you to see why you are struggling and were they can help