How can we get out of debt?? Any advice?

[Kel001]

Found it!!

It was a post by LisaFire and she contacted a company called My Budget - just google it and check out their website. Sounds like it might be very helpful as they'll negotiate with debt collectors etc instead of you having to worry about it and will get you back on track

Good luck!!

[LimeSlice]

I would roll over your cc debts to another new card with low or no interest on repayments for 6-12 months, shop around. This will put them together and remove the MASSIVE interest you will be paying. And begin paying off whatever you can FIRST. They will cost you the most.
Make a payment arrangement with your bill's and speak to the company that has sent it to a debt collector - they can take them back so it doesn't affect your credit rating.

Talk to Centrelink and see perhaps if you are eligible for a $500 loan - not sure which payments can get this but I got one earlier in the year and it helped me cover some outstanding bills until we have income again.

Contact the Salvos or Smith family - they will usually do it one day a week, you must go down to the office with your outstanding bill and they will pay it for you.

And budget. You will need to be very strict until you are on top of things again. Personally unless you are tens of thousands in debt I would stay away from My Budget, have heard some not so good things about them.

Perhaps go and speak with a financial planner through your bank, they are usually free when organised through your bank.

Good luck

[Ella]

We have been in financial trouble also and were getting bullied by debt collectors. The best advice I cangive you is to call the Salvo's and see one of their free financial counselors. They are so helpful and will help you with any budgeting bits you need, they will help you decide what repayments you will be able to stick to and then will be happy to ring the debt collectors for you and advocate on your behalf and get the debt collector to agree to the amount you can afford, its amazing that they will bully you but never a financial counselor.

Worked really well for us and I ended up being able to negotiate with the companies after that no problem as they realised I wouldn't agree to things I couldn't pay no matter what they said!

[Anila]

Hi hunni, i wanna send u some hugs and let u know it will all work out ok, i know, im going through something very similar and although it sometimes feels like the world is against u, there is a shinning light at the end of the tunnel.

Basically my hubby left work to study for 6 mths, when the study was ova we thought hed get a job straight away but he didnt, he was then unemployed for 6 mths, only being on centerlink and having major bills already, we then have to move out of our house as it sold, we were paying cheap rent as it was family owned, but then we were hit with reality rent which was an extra $150 a week, there went our bill money, we had debt collecters calling, and we were becomming depressed etc

We had to step out of our funk and this is what we did...
Cancelled foxtel, home phone and internet, we were hit with default bills, but we couldnt pay either way.
we saw a free life line councilor and she gave us some advice, first and formost, u pay rent/mortgage, then u pay food, then car/petrol and electricity! She said in no way were we to pay the debt collecters, centerlink money isnt enough to cover these payments, she said they may send u bulling letters and threten to take u to court, but they wont, they never do!

[Anila]

oops sorry i must have hit post
ok continueing on from my pp

I called my credit card company and aplied for financial hardship, they put a stop on all fees for 3 mths etc, i also wrote emails to people we owed money to saying that we realise we owe them money, and once we were financial we would pay them.

We put in order of less expesive to most expesive debt, and when we could we would pay 15 a fornigt on the bill, at times it was super hard, our mobiles were cancelled and we felt like we had no connection with the out side world, we got a pre paid, so family could call us, we also just last week got pre paid internet, my hubby has been at his new job 4 weeks, and although we still have a long way to go i think we have already come so far.

did u know the government offers a once only payment through the electicity company where they will pay ur bill if u are having finance issues?

I found food outlets such as the golden circle factory outlet a fantastic way of helping fill my once empty pantry, and there are comunity groups that hand out food parcels when ur in need!

Its not something u can fix over night, it takes time, i sometimes think i could have handled things better in regards to letting people know what was going on, and my marriage was so close to being ripped apart all because of money, but the struggle does get better.

Please feel free to pm and ask questions, i only gave a small sample of what we went through, there was heaps more, and although we still have debt i dont feel as lost as i used to.

hth

[Just Me]

Starfish - Just wanted to offer you some support. I think sometimes situations crop up that we don't expect and we can find ourselves in financial trouble. A couple of years ago, DH's boss stopped paying him so for 3 months we lived off credit cards and racked up nearly $10'000 worth of debt. His boss never paid him and ended up going bust so our money problems compounded one on top of the other until we were in a substantial amount more debt (it is embarrassing to say how much). We have only just started to get on top of it all now - we haven't paid the debt off completely yet, but it takes time to get on top of things and now we feel like we are actually making headway with it. It has been a really hard few years and it will be for a couple more I suspect. I just wanted to let you know that you aren't alone. It isn't a fun place to be, but I hope things start looking up for you in the next few weeks to months. Good luck.

[Starfish]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It feels so good to know that we're not the only ones in trouble. Hugs to everyone else going through this. Its not nice, but I kind of think it puts things in perspective - i.e. that you really don't need money to be happy.

DH went to the financial counsellor today (it was a charity like the Salvo's or someone), and found out about the government electiricity payment that someone mentioned (at least I think that's what he said...) I am going to see them next week to organise this.

Thanks for the advice re not paying the debt collecotrs. I am so ****ed off with them and their bullying attitute. I will pay them when we're ready, and I spoke to a friend today who agreed that no one is going to take us to court for $200.

We can't apply for other credit cards, as ours are maxed out (already tried), and unfortunately I don't think that we have a good relationship with our banks anymore as we have been having problems with repayments for the past 3 months. I will see if we qualify for financial hardship.

I also made a call to a debt solution company last night and was told that they would call me back. So things are looking a little less bleak. Thank heaps everyone for your support.

Oh and the really good thing that's come out of this - I have realised that by buying fresh fruit and veg, etc, we have really cheap grocery bills and actually eat really healthily.