Financial worries and dealing with them

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As there’s been a few people worrying about how they’re going to get through treatment and still have a livelihood at the end I thought I’d start a quick thread here.

Like a lot of ladies here I’m still of a working age and I’m self employed so don’t have long term sick pay etc. I’m OK at the moment as I am lucky enough to work from home and the chemo hasn’t completely floored me yet (it’s trying though).

I’ve been told that it’s a good idea to talk to the Macmillian nurses as they know a lot about what help there is out there.

In the past when I had a debt problem (was about to clear it just before being DX’d grr) I spoke to the national debt line… They were wonderfully helpful and helped me make realistic plans and how to approach lenders etc. Basically there are orgs out there that will help you solve debt problems so do get help if it’s getting on top of you.

Google for NationalDebtLine

and for those running a business google for BusinessDebtLine

Would love to hear advice from others.

please note that there are companies out there that will help you clear debts for a fee, NationalDebtLine and BusinessDebtLine are not one of those, they’re government funded and do not charge you a single penny so make sure that the google link you click on has NationalDebtLine in the url eg NationalDebtLine and co and uk.

There is a company advertising under the name that’s not them. Oh to be able to post links…

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I’ve also found CCCS very good and Payplan…both give advice free of charge and set up Debt Management Plans free of charge too.

Karen

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I spoke to the MacMillan advisers and they were great. I couldn’t get IB as I had a 3 month gap in NI dating back to moving back to Scotland from London and becoming my dad’s f/t carer (long story, but the local jobcentre gave me the wrong advice on claiming benefits as a carer, which is how I ended up with the NI gap - I was absolutely furious about this as I could not get JSA after dad went into care). Anyway, MacMillan told my OH to try to claim tax credits as he had just started his business 6 weeks before I was diagnosed. It turned out we were entitled to £96 a week plus free prescriptions.

However, we didn’t actually get any of this until I was about 9 months into my treatment as we kept being messed about by the system! It seems trying for anything when you have cancer is a nightmare,equally when I looked after my dad who had dementia I had to jump through hoops to get him attendance allowance.