Dont know what to do ...

LegacyUser

OK,

So here is my situation ...

Money has been tight, like really tight for a while but up to now when we were stuck for something/food/nappies/... we've been able to get money from someone / somewhere until payday / children's allowance day.

We've had direct debits returned, visa cards are maxed and we can only make the min payment, had our morgage restructured, we have a credit union loan on which we extended the terms to get the repayments down, our leccy bills went into arrears of close to €1000 so we were forced into getting a pay_for_use meter fitted (where 25% of every topup goes towards the arrears). We've cut back on absolutely every unnecessary extra to try and get back on top of the situation. We are paying all we owe, sometimes just later than supposed(ie when DDs are missed on payday, they are payed when the childrens allowance comes in or visa versa).

This isnt a case of things are a little tight but we'll manage, its a case of being lucky if there is €5 left the last week before payday.

Now, in the last week or so trouble has come knocking, ...

my car (needed to get to work - 60mile return journey) died (fatal, no getting it back on the road) ... so I need to get it replaced ... I'm finding plenty potential replacements for reasonable money (ie €3000 to cover car and tax - logic being to spend that and not end up spending 300 and having it in the garage and to pay for repairs every 2 months) ... problem is, I CANNOT get money to get a car, not even €1000 ... I've gone and talked to the bank, but with the returned DDs and the CCs max out they wont even start the process of an application, we recently restructured the CU loans so there is no wiggle room there either. We've gone and asked all our relatives, whilst they would all help if they were in a position to do so, none of them are right now.

I'm at a loss and have no idea how to get on top of this ... No car = bye bye job ... but I cant get the money together to get a replacement.

In lay mans terms I'm F*cked and dont know what to do ....

Any advise?

tomwaterford

While may only be a small help...if you've tax left on your old dead car...send in the book and get it refunded (this used be possible!)


Other than that...you'll have to try get spins etc for a few weeks....unless you'll try pick up an old Bangor to get you outta a tight spot for few weeks (rough i know but what can you do!)

Flippyfloppy

Buy a little 1 litre run a round to get you by? Spend €500 on a car.

njs030

3000 on a car when you have little money is crazy. I bought one for 400 and it lasted a year and a half and it will give you time to save up.

Have you cut everything out that you don't need and looked into sw help? The community welfare officer might be able to help but I doubt they'll give you 3000.

tomwaterford

The only thing il say...while not wanting to go too much discussion is be careful buying a cheap car as a run around as they can swallow money v.quixkly at times
Not to say that good ones can't be got cheap

LegacyUser

Thanks for the replies.

whether its 500 or 5000, I dont have it, I cant get my hands on it.

We have cut every thing out ... there is nothing left to cut.

orthsquel

Is there any car pooling system for work? Any public transport infrastructure that can take you a part of the way that you can organise lifts with a colleague?

Would you consider renting a car, e.g. from Enterprise Rent A Car? They do general rentals even for a day and not just for tourists, but privately and for businesses too.

Alternatively is there anyone else who would be willing to drive you to work and back every day?

You're literally living hand to mouth..... have you seriously talked with anyone about managing the rest of your finances? You should go to MABS asap if not. You've done well so far in getting things restructured but where possible you should try and get yourselves help for the rest. The car is just a symptom of a much longer term problem and you may have to face the prospect of living without to save money, because if you are that in debt then you shouldn't really still be paying out for insurance, tax, nct, maintenance and fuel for something you can't actually even afford to run, even if it may be essential as transport for working. The costs of running a car can then go on dealing with your debts, or at least making a start on it, and putting yourself in a better position on paper with the bank, or could potentially start chipping away at the principal amount owed on the credit card, rather than the minimal amount every month, which in the long term is a disaster waiting to happen.

Rubberchikken

you're doing good with what you've done so far.
but as others have said, you are living hand to mouth so there's no safety net when something happens.
have you spoken to mabs? i wouldn't be looking for a 3000 euro car, but on the other hand, a really cheap one is going to cost too, just in a different way.

have you explained your problem to the bank/credit union. without a car you are without work so the financial problems will just increase. is there anyone in work from your area who would car share for a bit?

i'm sorry you're in such a difficult situation. hope you get this sorted soon. good luck

JuliusCaesar

Are you getting the Family Income Supplement from Social Welfare?

nikkibikki

You could look into a debt management plan or personal insolvency to restructure all your debt OP. MABS probably the best place to start as they're free. If you googled Personal Insolvency Practitioners you might find one registered in your area. Might be no harm to have a chat with one of them as well as MABS.

Sleepy

Honestly sounds like you need to look into a Personal Insolvency OP.

Is there any equity in the house? Were you to sell it, would it leave anything over after to take care of your other debts and let ye start anew in a rental somewhere?

I don't know the rules exactly to this, but it might be worth going over to Reddit's personal finance section and asking there. Give as much details as you can (as much as you've given here). I say this because I've seen people get their lives tuned around there, some in much worse places than here.

http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance

I should say that there is no guarantee that they can fix your problems, like with here, but no harm in asking.

cassid

If you have any rooms in your house, take some students or renters, every little helps

JuliusCaesar

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know the rules exactly to this, but it might be worth going over to Reddit's personal finance section and asking there..

The Irish equivalent might be askaboutmoney.com

audi12

Give up the house and rent common sense

vertmann

Would either of you be in a position to work a second job for a while?

Flippyfloppy

audi12 wrote: »

Give up the house and rent common sense

With rent prices now most mortgages are cheaper!

macnug

Like most people who are bad with money, you've left it too late to seek help. In the short term, what about one of those lenders that knock on your door every week? In the long term contact mabs or something.

Flippyfloppy

macnug wrote: »

Like most people who are bad with money, you've left it too late to seek help. In the short term, what about one of those lenders that knock on your door every week? In the long term contact mabs or something.

Read the op, he stated that he has done several things to help his financial situation. Unfortunately they don't stretch to cover a new car. I don't know where you're getting that he left it too late.

FishOnABike

macnug wrote: »

In the short term, what about one of those lenders that knock on your door every week?

The lenders that knock on your door every week usually charge far more interest than the bank or credit union. Even the legal ones charge what can only be considered rack rates and you definitely don't want to go anywhere near the dodgier end of door to door money lending. If existing debt repayments are unmanageable how is a new high interest debt going to be serviced?

kylith

macnug wrote: »

Like most people who are bad with money, you've left it too late to seek help. In the short term, what about one of those lenders that knock on your door every week? In the long term contact mabs or something.

That's a great way to wind up paying 4000% interest.

macnug

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

Read the op, he stated that he has done several things to help his financial situation. Unfortunately they don't stretch to cover a new car. I don't know where you're getting that he left it too late.

What has he done other than spend more than he takes in? Without him giving specifics, how are we meant to know what he has done?

macnug

FishOnABike wrote: »

The lenders that knock on your door every week usually charge far more interest than the bank or credit union. Even the legal ones charge what can only be considered rack rates and you definitely don't want to go anywhere near the dodgier end of door to door money lending. If existing debt repayments are unmanageable how is a new high interest debt going to be serviced?

I was taking about the legal money lenders. Yea rates are high but but if its on 500, he'd be paying back about 650, so its costing him 150, not exactly a massive amount of money to get him out of a hole in the short term. In regards to existing payments, that's why he would need to see mabs.


I notice how you havnt actually giving any constructive advice to the op, have you any idea on how he should get out of his hole?

macnug

kylith wrote: »

That's a great way to wind up paying 4000% interest.

That's a slight exaggeration now isn't it.

Flippyfloppy

macnug wrote: »

What has he done other than spend more than he takes in? Without him giving specifics, how are we meant to know what he has done?

I have no idea how you've missed the specifics he gave in his OP. You're the one who has decided to fill in the blanks on the basis of missing what he has tried so far.

power pants

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

Buy a little 1 litre run a round to get you by? Spend €500 on a car.

1 litre cars are more expensive than 500 as they are more desirable due to their tax rates

spending 500 on a car is not a wise investment particularly if you are stuck for cash

spend 500 and spend 500 every few weeks sorting out all the problems.

kylith

macnug wrote: »

That's a slight exaggeration now isn't it.

Perhaps, but you'll have to forgive me if 'door to door lenders' don't exactly seem like they're totally legal, above board, and above breaking your legs. Call it stereotyping if you like, but I think that any kind of loan the OP takes out should be from a well known, reputable, regulated, financial institution, not some randomer who knocks on the door.

JuliusCaesar

MABS, St Vincent de Paul, AAM - you will really need to go and get advice somewhere.

FishOnABike

Originally Posted by FishOnABike
The lenders that knock on your door every week usually charge far more interest than the bank or credit union. Even the legal ones charge what can only be considered rack rates and you definitely don't want to go anywhere near the dodgier end of door to door money lending. If existing debt repayments are unmanageable how is a new high interest debt going to be serviced?

macnug wrote: »

I was taking about the legal money lenders. Yea rates are high but but if its on 500, he'd be paying back about 650, so its costing him 150, not exactly a massive amount of money to get him out of a hole in the short term. In regards to existing payments, that's why he would need to see mabs.


I notice how you havnt actually giving any constructive advice to the op, have you any idea on how he should get out of his hole?

Avoiding digging a deeper hole is the first step in getting out of the hole he is in at the moment.

If he had to repay 650 on a 500 loan over a relatively short term how would he do this ? Other posters have already given constructive advice to contact MABS or a personal insolvency advisor to look at his finances and possibly renegotiate his current repayments and finance a cheap car.

I didn't see the benefit in echoing what they had already suggested. I did see the potential problem with door to door moneylenders (legal or not) which had not yet been commented on.

Flippyfloppy

power pants wrote: »

1 litre cars are more expensive than 500 as they are more desirable due to their tax rates

spending 500 on a car is not a wise investment particularly if you are stuck for cash

spend 500 and spend 500 every few weeks sorting out all the problems.

Thanks that's true. I meant until he saves enough for a better car, just to get him to work. But true, keeping it on the road could still be expensive.

macnug

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

I have no idea how you've missed the specifics he gave in his OP. You're the one who has decided to fill in the blanks on the basis of missing what he has tried so far.

I didn't fill in any blanks. I wouldn't call the op specific. How much is his outgoing? What does he spend it on? How much income has he got coming in? We cant answer any of these questions. I admit I probably jumped to conclusions about him being bad with money, mainly because people who work and still find themselves in these situations are. At the end of the day if you spend more than you earn you will one day find yourself in this situation.

macnug

kylith wrote: »

Perhaps, but you'll have to forgive me if 'door to door lenders' don't exactly seem like they're totally legal, above board, and above breaking your legs. Call it stereotyping if you like, but I think that any kind of loan the OP takes out should be from a well known, reputable, regulated, financial institution, not some randomer who knocks on the door.

Well i have personal experience of them. Used them last year for a one off loan. Wouldnt do it again unless i was in a rut, as i dont accept them as a long term credit solution but they got me out of a hole. They don't break your legs. (legal ones obviously), in fact they are the easiest ones not to pay (if you choose to do so) as the loan is not secured, hence the interest rates.

macnug

FishOnABike wrote: »

Originally Posted by FishOnABike
The lenders that knock on your door every week usually charge far more interest than the bank or credit union. Even the legal ones charge what can only be considered rack rates and you definitely don't want to go anywhere near the dodgier end of door to door money lending. If existing debt repayments are unmanageable how is a new high interest debt going to be serviced?


Avoiding digging a deeper hole is the first step in getting out of the hole he is in at the moment.

If he had to repay 650 on a 500 loan over a relatively short term how would he do this ? Other posters have already given constructive advice to contact MABS or a personal insolvency advisor to look at his finances and possibly renegotiate his current repayments and finance a cheap car.

I didn't see the benefit in echoing what they had already suggested. I did see the potential problem with door to door moneylenders (legal or not) which had not yet been commented on.

Yes but not going to work is going to get him in bigger hole than 650, spread over 6 months will. Mabs is where he should go alright but they wont hand him 500, they work with long term solutions. How do you suggest he get the money for a car if all other avenues have been exhausted? I take your criticism of my op but you should really back it up with an alternative idea.

Flippyfloppy

macnug wrote: »

I didn't fill in any blanks. I wouldn't call the op specific. How much is his outgoing? What does he spend it on? How much income has he got coming in? We cant answer any of these questions. I admit I probably jumped to conclusions about him being bad with money, mainly because people who work and still find themselves in these situations are. At the end of the day if you spend more than you earn you will one day find yourself in this situation.

Why would he tell us how much he is earning? We know he's barely making enough to make ends meet, and he can't afford 3000 for a car to get to work.

You originally asked what has he done to get out of the situation. He told us all of that straight off.

Neyite

Mod:

All right everyone, the OP is not obliged to provide specifics - they can share as much or as little information as they are comfortable with. Provide advice to the OP based on the information given, and remember not to get into tit-for-tat with other posters.

Thanks.

FishOnABike

macnug wrote: »

Yes but not going to work is going to get him in bigger hole than 650, spread over 6 months will. Mabs is where he should go alright but they wont hand him 500, they work with long term solutions. How do you suggest he get the money for a car if all other avenues have been exhausted? I take your criticism of my op but you should really back it up with an alternative idea.

I agree, not being to get to work would put him in a bigger hole.

MABS should be the first port of call. In addition to rescheduling existing debts to something more manageable they may be able to convince one of the existing lenders of the logic in helping to keep the OP able to get to work by increasing the loan slightly to get a cheap runaround, suspending payments for a while to allow the OP get a cheap runaround (putting suspended payments towards short term loan repayments for a replacement car).

After all if the OP can't get to work none of the lenders are likely to see even their current repayments. MABS would have the experience of working with multiple lending institutions to balance the OPs and lenders needs.

Sunny Dayz

Op it might only be a small little thing - but maybe take your bills off direct debit and pay them through the post office bill pay system instead, either online or in the post office. Bouncing direct debits look bad on your bank statement for looking for a loan and also you get hit with bank fees with every bounced payment.

gline

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Op it might only be a small little thing - but maybe take your bills off direct debit and pay them through the post office bill pay system instead, either online or in the post office. Bouncing direct debits look bad on your bank statement for looking for a loan and also you get hit with bank fees with every bounced payment.

This is good advice, this will stop you going overdrawn, take all bills off direct debit, if you cant afford paying the whole balance off your utilities each month, pay as much as you can weekly. Once there is some money being paid off each week they will usually leave you alone. (I have personal experience with this).

Also, I have bought a few cheap cars in my life €500-1000 and you will easily get 1year+ out of a decent cheap car (with no money on repairs needed), dont let price put you off, it will get you out of a hole.

Nekarsulm

OP, how are you fixed at the moment? Did you get a car? Where are you based? PM me with the info if you like. Would you try putting an ad. up in Supermarket or on Done Deal or on the Motors thread here looking for a free car?
Chance your arm going around all the local garages and ask if they have anything half decent going to be recycled that you could have for a few months? Garage will only get 150 euro for such a car anyway. Saw a perfect Bluebird drive into the local metal recyclers last week. Crying shame.