Small Steps...

Things progress slowly... Another pretty fruitless weekend all in all, but here are the highlights.

The closing down sale at the shop is going pretty well, though I suspect all the decent stock has now been pillaged and what we have left will probably still be there when we close in a couple of weeks time. Looks like I'll be car booting for most of the spring and summer... Oh well, there are worse ways to spend your weekends I guess.

I have good reason to believe my landlord will be back in the country today and has an appointment tomorrow with his solicitor. Hopefully by the end of the week I might have a better idea of his line of attack. I've decided to speak with CAB today to ask if they can somehow support me with any of the letters I receive from the landlords solicitor, as I don't want to be writing back and inadvertently dropping myself further in the mire to due my lack of knowledge on contractual issues. My 'shoulder to lean on' David has kindly offered some help in this matter and I intend to take him up on his offer very shortly.

Had my first letter from one of my debtors on Saturday. It was from Virgin Mobile Collections who wanted me to contact them to pay this months invoice as the direct debit had been cancelled. I chose to write back to them rather than call them and ask them if they would consider reducing my monthly tariff from £20 to £10 as this was all I could realistically afford in the short term. I wasn't asking for the same package, just a way of keeping my current number live whilst honouring the remainder of my contract. I also suggested that if they could come up with a sensible full and final settlement figure I would see if I could raise the funds to pay it. Posted recorded delivery Saturday morning, so let's see what transpires.

As a contingency plan to Virgin not playing ball and because they've barred my number, I discovered what appears to be a fantastic PAYG deal. The company are called Giffgaff. They use the 02 network and I'm led to believe are in fact a subsidiary of 02, but that needs confirming. They offer a £10 a month deal that includes 250 minutes to all the usual suspects, unlimited texts and unlimited data. Free texts and calls to other GiffGaff users. Freephone numbers are FREE. No contract, simply top up after a month if you want to continue. If you don't want the package you can simply top up and use you credit as a normal PAYG. Their basic PAYG rates are by far the cheapest available in the UK. So is there a downside? Of course there is. Where they struggle is customer service. Basically the support is provided in the first instance by other users. They do not have contact telephone numbers and all help requests have to go through the internet. If you read the forums you could easily be put off trying them, but you pays your money you takes your chances as they say. I've been with them for about a week and so far no issues. You can also earn a few quid in a variety of ways by being active in the community. For anyone out there looking for a great PAYG deal rather than getting tied up in a contract, Giffgaff are certainly worth a look. If you decide to use them, let me know and if I refer you, you get £5 free credit when you activate your sim. Here's a link:

Giffgaff

I would like to make it clear that I will NOT endorse anything in this Blog that I do not have personal experience of and I will always give an honest and fair review.

My project for today is to source cheaper Gas, Electricity and Home insurance and put my van up for sale. I may for the first time in 31 years be forced to use public transport if the van sells. That should be a laugh. The last bus I remember using was a journey from my home to our local shopping centre and if memory serves me right it cost 2p. I suspect it may be different now.

Well that'll do for now... If your boredom threshold is anything like mine, you probably stopped reading ten minutes ago anyway.

I Get Knocked Down...

...But I get up again (or do I?)

 Thanks to Chumbawumba for the inspiration for the title, without you this post may never have happened.

Well in the words of someone famous whose name escapes me right now, "It's a funny old game". How many people hand on heart can say they were thoroughly dejected and saddened when their house was valued at considerably more than they thought it was worth. Just about sums up our luck at the moment.

The idea of bankruptcy is fading as fast as my dream of a debt free existence. I know it's foolish to pin ones hopes on a single solution and I should know better, but for just once in my life I thought something might go right.

Do I sound full of self pity? Well that's because I am. Today is not a good day. Energy reserves are low, emotionally I'm drained and I suspect my fantastically stoic wife is suffering, though she'll never let on.

I've always been a great believer that the world doesn't owe you a living and that ethos still holds true. I just wish now and again it would give you a break in recognition to all the hard work and effort you've put into it.

I'm sure I'll actually feel much better when things actually start happening and the pressure is on. I'm always at my best when under pressure. At the moment it's the complete unknown that's giving me the headache.

I don't know how any of my creditors are going to respond because they won't talk to me until I'm in shit street...

I don't know exactly what benefits we're entitled to as the benefits agency can't tell me until I make a claim. They can tell me the range of benefits I MIGHT be entitled to, but that's no use to man nor beast...

I don't know if my landlord and his solicitor are devising some cunning plan to make my life even more miserable than it already is...

I don't know if the Hadron Collider is going to cause a huge black hole and suck us all into oblivion...

And finally, I don't know why I got out of bed this morning...

All in all a day I'd rather forget, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to steal a can of Tesco Value Extra Strong Lager and drown my sorrows...

Calm Before The Storm!

The feeling of of the 'condemned man' is not a pleasant one. I know the day of judgement is upon me and the vultures are circling, but I'm still in limbo waiting for some sloppy stuff to hit the proverbial fan.

The past few days have been relatively quiet and I wasn't going to bother with an update, but today was somewhat significant in that for the first time in my adult life, I defaulted on a creditor. Yep, Wednesday 18th April 2012 will go down in the annals of my family history as the day Virgin Mobile sent me a text to say my direct debit had been returned unpaid. This is the company I alluded to in an earlier post who refused to discuss a possible solution to my impending crisis because my account was in good order and not in default.

Well Mr Branson, you got your wish. Default I have, now let's see if you would care to discuss my account.

Maybe more significantly today, I have been admonished by my wonderful wife for giving £2 to a 'Big Issue' seller. She pointed out it is highly probable that he may well be in a better financial situation than we are at present and £2 was better kept in our coffers.... Of course she was right as usual. That's why I love her so much.

At 3-15pm today I will have one of two valuations on my home.

I'm quite apprehensive about it, as it is likely to be the deciding factor on whether I file for bankruptcy or not. I suspect I'm going to be way out with my own valuation, but not in a good way. For Mr Valuer to make me happy, I'm looking at my house needing to have lost about 30% of its value since February 2008. I'm presently trying to work out my strategy for getting him to give me a written valuation at the lower end of its worth without telling him he's only there to help me decide whether to file for bankruptcy or not. Fingers crossed on that one.

My only other worry at the moment is the fact I have heard nothing from my landlord or his solicitor. I have written to the solicitor on two occasions now and haven't even had the courtesy of an acknowledgment letter, though I have proof they have received both letters. I can only guess he is taking the same stance as everyone else and won't start harassing me until I actually default on the rent.

Well that's all for now... Not an earth shatteringly exciting post, but it brings everything up to date.

A Day of Rest...

Being an atheist, I'm fortunate in that I don't have to adhere to any religious dogma or doctrine that tells me when to take my 'day of rest'.

So on that note, I decided today was a good day to give my brain some much needed R&R as there isn't much I can do today in terms of my impending debt crisis. I'm a little worried that even before I'm actually in a position of 'unmanageable debt' my head is still a shed.

The real fun starts on 8th May when I begin to default on my creditors. I've had many discussions with a variety of well intentioned people regarding when to approach my creditors. There is a train of thought, that as I know I will be defaulting from 8th May, I should contact them now and let them know of impending problems. This in theory seemed like a good idea, so I did dip my toe in the water with one of my creditors who basically said they weren't interested as my account as far as they were concerned was in good order.

So, wait I will.... The exception to this plan has been my mortgage company who have already agreed a three month payment holiday as and when I request it (though I would be happier if I had that in writing)

My wife and I did spend this morning looking at our present household expenditure and although we have been on a cost cutting exercise for the past twelve months because of our deepening debt crisis, we did manage to find savings of £40 a month . This entailed having to convince Virgin that we no longer required their Broadband, Telephone and TV package and spending an inordinate amount of time answering very personal questions about my body in order to get a considerably cheaper life assurance policy.

Next on the list is Gas, Electricity and Insurance, but I think I just may switch off now for the weekend while I still have the opportunity and start all over again on Monday...

My wife came across this quite well known video earlier and I remember it well. However, I had never really taken much notice of the lyrics, just thought it was a decent tune. Take a look, it certainly resonates with my present situation and I've decided it will be our 'Debt Anthem'

Unless anything of significance happens over the weekend, I'll update again next week.

Be well... !

Faith Restored!

After my somewhat frustrating experience with the benefits agency, I decide I would visit the local Citizens Advice Bureau on my way home, if for no other reason than to make an appointment.

What a truly wonderful experience. From the moment I walked through the door, I felt important. Here were people who's only goal was to help. Appointment? Not a bit of it. "Take a seat Sir, someone will be with you shortly"

And true to their word, an advisor was indeed with me shortly. She took me to a private room and spoke to me with such genuine concern, that she reminded me of my wise old grandmother who comforted me the day after my first true love broke my heart at the age of eleven (not that the advisor was particularly old you understand.) But coupled with her concern was a depth and breadth of knowledge that made me envious. However, not content with the mass of information she stored in her head, she then consulted with a colleague, consulted with a rather weighty benefits publication and consulted with her computer before giving me a definitive answer to my question. And you know what? I never for one moment believed the answer may be incorrect. Of course she may prove to be wrong when we eventually make our claim, but somehow I very much doubt it.

It does however beg the question why the 'Customer Services Floor Walkers' at the benefits office didn't have access to the same knowledge base.

If it's of any help to anyone, the question I wanted answered was whether as 'Contribution Based Job Seekers' we would be eligible to the Governments 'Support for Mortgage Interest' scheme as the .gov website suggests it is only available to 'Income Based Job Seekers' which we would not become until six months after making our claim. This is important because if the latter was true we would effectively have to wait for a total of 39 weeks before we could get help with our mortgage. If the former is true, then we would only have to wait 13 weeks. The benefits agency help line gave me two different answers, the wonderful advisor at CAB gave me the answer I wanted, so my spirits at this moment in time are lifted and I can try and enjoy the rest of my day.

Whilst on the subject of helpful people, I would just like to thank a gentleman called David, who runs a debt charity, for all his support over the past week, it's much appreciated. David and I are not consulting on any formal arrangement at the moment so I won't go into detail at this stage about his charity or what it does, but I just wanted to acknowledge him and thank him for the e mail exchanges we have been having.

You Couldn't Make It Up....

My main task today was to visit the local benefits agency to try and establish exactly what my wife and I would be entitled too the day after we close our business.

Now my first mistake was expecting the benefits agency to be open before 10am. Do they take the stereotypical view that claimants spend all evening smoking dope and playing video games and don't get up until after 10am?

My second mistake was expecting that I might be afforded some measure of privacy for my enquiry. What you get is a huge open plan office area that caters for a multitude of services from 'signing on' to looking for jobs to abusing the staff. For general enquiries, you're directed by the 'floor walkers' (yes that really is what they are called) to a podium in the centre of the open plan office which you will share with at least two other people making a general enquiry, while staff proudly wearing a 'customer services' badge ask you to speak up so you can be heard over the two other people stood uncomfortably close next to you.

My third and fatal mistake was expecting that 'customer services' staff, or indeed any member of staff would be able to answer my specific question about 'BENEFITS'

I was informed that there were no members of staff in the 'benefits' office I was stood in that was qualified to answer any questions that concerned 'benefits' I would have to check the .gov website or telephone the benefits agency to get the answer I required. I explained that I had already contacted the benefits agency by telephone on two occasions with the same question and had received two completely different answers, which was why I was stood in the 'benefits' office trying to get a definitive answer.

Their advice? "Try the local Citizens Advice Bureau, they're much more skilled in these matters than we are"

I have to say my experience has not filled me with much confidence when the time comes in approximately four weeks when my wife and I have to make a claim. I'm sure that experience will get another post all of it's own.

On a positive note, they were extremely polite and well presented and I was made to feel welcome.

Did You Know?

Not a very interesting post I'm afraid and probably only of slight interest to anyone who has a Limited Company.

I contacted a very helpful charity today who primarily deal with business debt, but will also help with personal debt that is often associated with your business debts. Let me make it clear that I don't intend to use this blog to  promote organisations or charities or help lines etc. However, I will relate my experiences with such organisations whether good bad or indifferent.

So back to the point. Today I contacted this charity Business Debtline specifically to ask them about the process of closing down a Limited Company.

I had assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that I would simply write to Companies House to inform them I was going to cease trading on a certain date and that would suffice. Now assuming you don't have any company related debts, you can sort of use this method, though there is a specific form you need to use from Companies House. Even then, you cannot apply to have your company struck off the register until three months after you cease trading and then it will take another three months before your company will be struck off.

Should your company have any business debts, you also have to inform your creditors that you have applied to be struck off the register and they then have three months to object to your removal or not as the case may be.

As I said, not the most interesting post I'm likely to write, but it wouldn't be 'warts and all' if I left it out.

Planning!

My wife and I decided to close the shop on Sunday and Monday in order to start making some plans. This was a very important step, as until now we both acknowledged the net was closing in on us, but hadn't actually sat down and decided what we were going to do about it.

The first very tough decision was to agree the shop had to close and decide exactly when it was to close. Our choices were to close when my rent runs out on 8th May or to keep trading until we had sold pretty much all the stock we had remaining. In order to do this we would have to pay another three months rent or get into arrears with our rent, something we haven't done in the past seven years. On the face of it the decision looks pretty easy, close when the current rent period runs out. Unfortunately, this was one of those occasions where sentiment and emotion started to cloud our judgement. The idea of taking away the service we offer to many local people (though not that many that it could save us) filled us with a great sadness. Being a village shop, your customers become friends, you visit them in their homes and share their lives. Despite our precarious financial situation, the effect we may have on others suddenly seemed more important.

However, after a couple of beers (don't worry, they were a gift, we weren't being extravagant) and a quick look at our negative bank balance, we returned to the land of the logical and decided there was no value in putting off the inevitable and adding to our debt. Our business will officially close on the 8th May 2012.

I subsequently drafted a letter to my landlords solicitor and to my landlord informing them of our impending closure which were duly posted this morning by recorded delivery. The response to this letter could be interesting as the relationship between ourselves and our landlord is particularly fractious.

We also had a productive hour getting our filing system in place. All our creditors will be pleased to know they have a very special place in our home by means of their very own individual manila concertina file, that hopefully will keep all their correspondence in tip top condition.

I've decided that we need to plan for the here and now and not think too far in advance about things that might or might not happen. This isn't particularly easy, as it is human nature to look at all the if's and but's. However, to remain in control I need to deal with the things that need dealing with today as opposed to the things yet to come. Hope that makes sense.... Well it does to me anyway.

Well that was our first constructive course of action. Wasn't too painful in the end, but I suspect isn't even an indicator of what's to come.

To finish, a very good school friend of mine died last week aged 48 and I woke up the next morning in relatively good health listening to the birds ushering in a new dawn. Despite my predicament, I know who the fortunate one is.... RIP Paul 

What's The Damage?

Before I list exactly what my debts are, I would like to make the point that I am not proud of being in this position, nor am I ashamed. In the 48 years I have been on this planet I have never had unmanageable debt, so it has all come as a bit of a shock. I will even admit in the past to being somewhat dismissive of people who found themselves with unmanageable debt, believing that they had in some way been irresponsible and should suffer the consequences. I only mention this so that others may choose to get off their high horse and have some understanding of how some people get to this position.Over the past twelve months I managed to convince myself that sinking deeper into the mire was the right thing to do, call me naive, call me foolish but at least acknowledge that what I was doing was in my mind for the best.

So what do I owe and who do I owe it too:

Barclays Bank Business Overdraft £10,000
Halifax Personal Overdraft £1,500
Halifax Personal Loan £4,500
Virgin Credit Card £6,000
Companies House Penalty £700

Last but not least a theoretical debt on my business premises. I presently have 11 years left on my lease at an annual rent of £8,400. Whilst I'm not in arrears with my rent, the day I close my business, the landlord does in theory have a right to the remaining 11 years rent. I haven't got a clue how this one will play out, but of course I will keep you all updated.

In respect of any assets, I do own my own home (well Northern Rock actually own it of course until the mortgage is paid) and I do have a motorbike along with the normal household stuff like a couple of TV's, computer etc.

Should I be posting my assets on an open forum? Sure, why not? To hide the information suggests I may intend to be deceitful and economical with the truth when it comes to dealing with my creditors. This will not be the case. I plan to work on a principle of absolute honesty, if for no other reason than it will help me sleep better at night.

I presently owe £118,000 on my mortgage and based on recent sales of similar houses on the same street, I'm guesstimating a value of around £130,000.

So there you have it.... Not a pretty picture, but an honest one.

My next post will outline what action I've taken so far. Thanks for reading!

How Did We Get Here?

So how did I get in the position I find myself in today? It's difficult to know how detailed I should be in revealing my personal circumstances and by default those of my wonderful wife. It strikes me that if I don't give the 'warts and all' version then my Blog could just be a diary of events without providing any useful information to those in similar situations, so I have decided rightly or wrongly and with the full support of my wife to be as detailed as I can, without compromising our integrity.

Here goes with the background.

I'm 48 and my wife is 46 and we have been together for 26 very happy years. 

In January 2005 I left a very well paid, but very stressful position as a company director. I left not knowing what I was going to do next, but was not overly worried as I had a decent nest egg to give me time to reevaluate my life and decide what I wanted to do. After a couple of months of much soul searching and deciding what was important in our lives, my wife and I decided we would go into business together (dangerous I know, but our relationship was and still is very strong) After a short search we found what we thought would be the ideal lifestyle business that would see us through to retirement. We bought a village pet shop.

Years one, two and three were very difficult but we managed to get through them relatively unscathed. Years four and five began to see some rewards for our efforts. We broke even year four and actually made a small profit year five. However there was already a cost to getting into this position. For five years we had worked seven days a week from 7:30 until 5:30 with the exception of Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day. Tiredness was starting to kick in and it was difficult maintaining the same sort of enthusiasm we had at the beginning. Thankfully our relationship was still strong and we managed to keep each other up when we were down.

Then at the start of year six the sign of things to come started to rear its ugly head. Takings were down, regular customers were clearly spending less than they had in the previous five years, unemployment was beginning to creep up in the surrounding areas. The media were telling us on an almost daily basis that we were in recession and that the world was doomed. Now with hindsight (isn't it a wonderful thing) we should have called a halt there and then and closed the business. We weren't in any debt at that point with anyone other than our mortgage company and by that I don't mean arrears, I just mean we still owed on our mortgage.

However, being the eternal optimist and also being more than a little stubborn, I refused to lie down and die and was determined to make things work. Unfortunately my hunter/gatherer attitude has ultimately proved to be our downfall. 

Year seven, the present year, has been nothing less than a complete disaster. Business has taken a nosedive of mammoth proportions and all the debt we have accumulated has effectively occurred in this past year as we desperately tried to hang on.

So there you have the background. In my next Blog I'll detail the debts we have and what our plan is so far.

Sorry for the overlong post, but I thought the background kind of helps put things in context.

Hello and Welcome

I have never felt inclined to start a Blog in the past as I've never really felt I've had anything interesting to say. I often read Blogs and realised those that held most interest for me were those that in some way imparted advice or just through someones writings helped me in some small way.

It's for these reasons that I've now decided to join the Blogging fraternity and record a journey I'm about to undertake. A journey that if all goes well, will take me from being in considerable debt to a place where I can enjoy financial freedom.

I won't hold anything back and because I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, I'm afraid you'll probably have to share in all my emotions as well as my experiences.

Clearly the frequency of my Blog will be dependent on the frequency of significant happenings, but I will make every effort to update as regularly as I can.

Ok... That's the introduction over. My next entry will give you the background and the situation as it is today.

I sincerely hope my ramblings will be of some help and/or comfort to others in a similar situation and I look forward to receiving feedback.

LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN!