I have decided to give a general update of what's been happening in this post, but there will follow another post fairly quickly dedicated solely to a recent visit to the 'Benefits Agency' which I know you'll enjoy as much as I did.
So I here's the general update as promised.
Let's start on the 'Debtors' front. As revealed in my last post, I have engaged the services of the Citizens Advice Bureau in the first instance to approach my debtors. All of my debtors have been contacted and informed of our Dickensian levels of poverty and to date one of the five have responded offering to suspend all charges and interest for the foreseeable future and have asked that we make a token payment of £0.00 per month. They have asked that this be reviewed after six months and stressed the importance of making sure that we send them £0.00 per month. After reviewing our current income and expenditure, both my wife and I agreed we could afford £0.00 per month and have set up a standing order accordingly. On a serious note, well done MBNA for responding so quickly and actioning our request. We keep getting threatening letters through the post on an almost daily basis from our other debtors, but as requested by our CAB advisor, we simply collect them all together and deliver them to her office on a Monday morning when she will read through everything and respond to them accordingly. She then provides my wife and I with an update where necessary and any action she requires us to take. So far the service we have received from CAB has been impeccable and they deserve some kudos.
Some of our Blog followers may remember an earlier post that talked about the fun I was having with Virgin mobile who have consistently failed to respond to my written requests to try and find a resolution to my outstanding contract which I can no longer afford. Well unsurprisingly, a couple of days ago I received a letter from a 'debt collection agency (DCA)' demanding money on behalf of Virgin mobile for the remainder of the original contract. I have since drafted a complaint to Virgin mobile for the appalling way in which they ignored my attempts to resolve this issue, I have sent a complaint to Ofcom about the appalling way Virgin have dealt with my attempts to resolve this issue and finally I have written to the DCA telling them in a most professional and polite way where they can stick their demands for money and that I intend to use some of the monotonous hours I have at my disposal every day, ironing my best shirt and trousers for my day in court.
Our benefits seem to have stabilised for the time being, but I've experienced too much in such a short time to get complacent and always expect changes to be just around the corner. The benefits agency truly are 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma' On a positive note, we have been granted support for mortgage interest which means that providing I can get my mortgage company to agree to allow us to go onto an interest only mortgage for a while, we will be able to pay our mortgage with just a small 'top up' from our meagre earnings. Discussions have begun with my mortgage company, but it's not going quite as smoothly as I'd have liked. I will keep you updated on that particular issue when I know more.
On the jobs front it's not good news I'm sad to say. I won't bore you with the details of every job I've applied for in the past three months, sufficed to say I'm still unemployed. I had an interview the other day for a job which I proclaimed to my wonderful wife I would get providing I got an interview, only to find my confidence was misplaced and the job went to some graduate with a degree in 'Horse Psychology' and 'Raising Chickens for Meat and Eggs'. The job incidentally was for a case worker with a Youth Offending Team, but it seemed my 15 years working with youth offenders whilst the manager of two childrens homes counted for nothing. I have subsequently visited the local college and made enquiries about enrolling on their very popular 'Diploma in the Completely Irrelevant' All I have to do now is find the £2500 course fee. Maybe the Benefits Agency could help?
There is only one postive I can take out of my present predicament and that is being an armchair sports fan, I can vegetate in front of the TV and watch the Olympics. Every cloud and all that...
Emotionally we're bearing up quite well. We seemed to have settled into a state of ambivalence, being neither negative or positive about anything. It's maybe not the perfect state to be in, but it's some respite from the constant highs and lows we had been experiencing in the first few weeks of the journey. My wife continues with her part time job which gives her a sense of worth and a break from my curmudgeoning. I feel sorry for her somewhat as she never really knows which husband she's going to be greeted with when she walks through the front door. Mr Happy or Mr grumpy? Actually I'm much more talented than that and find I can take on the characteristics of nearly all of the 'Mr Men' with the possible exception of Mr Tall and there's not much I can do about that one
As you can see, not much has happened in the past seven weeks. We haven't traveled very far on our Journey to Financial Freedom, but we have started to map out the route. Until I find some work, I suspect the status quo will remain and we won't actually be able to cross the start line and begin the long slog.
Look out for my next post which should be up in the next couple of days. It deals specifically with a recent trip to the Benefits Agency and to be honest, they do deserve their very own post.
That's all for now folks!
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