Had Or Interview - Queries

Bnjracing

Hi all

Husband and I had our telephone interviews yesterday. Went though the figures and we had just over £600 disposable income (just given house up and moved into rental). He said they would want 70% as being over the £600 band the sliding scale puts us into this band.

Does this mean that if the disposable income is below £600 they will only want 50%?

Can you dispute the income vs expenditure or is it once agreed on telephone this is what they will stick to?

I have put our Income vs Expenditure below and wondered if some kind person could have a look at it.

INCOME:

Barry - £2400

Jan - £900

Son lives with us and OR agreed to us not taking any board from him as he is saving up for his own place

TOTAL INCOME: 3300

EXPENDITURE:

Rent 650

Council Tax 198

Housekeeping 600
(This includes money paid for lunches while at work for both of us pet food and cleaning items) ACCEPTED BY OR

Gas & Electricity 75

Water 30

Telephone charges 75

Petrol 350
(Husband is working in Bedford while we live in Durham) ACCEPTED BY OR

Clothing 100

Others: 603

TOTAL EXPENDITURE: £2681

Additional expenses (Others shown above):

Bed & Breakfast for husband in Bedford @£20 per night: 240

Specsavers 10

Car Tax (x 2) 30

Car Insurance (x 2) 75
Car Maintenance 50
Hair cuts 20
Dentist 10
Redundancy cover 28
Parking 140
(I have to park close to work due to bad back)

If the following were to be accepted the total disposable would be
£561 and in the lower band. Instead of having to pay £433 per @ 70% month it would only be £280 a saving of £153 per month

Pet Insurance 8
Holiday/Birthday/
Christmas slush fund 50

Views on whether we should stick to what is agreed or whether we should dispute would be welcomed.

philnicandamy

NekoZombie

As Phil points out you wouldn't be saving anything as you would still be subject to an paying 70% of your disposable income.

Sadly the ones you have been disallowed tend to be rejected across the board. I do think your dentist is really low - mine is £32 pcm! You also don't seems to have home and contents insurance. Any pescription charges. Even if you add all of these you will still be in the 70% band - I can't really see a way to get it down to £500 from where you are now, but here are some ideas anyway.

dalip

I might get shot down here but i think you OR has been very very generous. £600 h/k for 3:eek: some OR's dont allow that for a family of 4 or more. I would be very tempted to leave it.D

philnicandamy

dalip wrote: »

I might get shot down here but i think you OR has been very very generous. £600 h/k for 3:eek: some OR's dont allow that for a family of 4 or more. I would be very tempted to leave it.D

i'd have to agree to be honest......i've known people including myself have to survive on a considerable lot less that what your OR has allowed...my partner works and she pays most of the bills day to day etc I dont work yet I still hade some cuts made to my I&E as well

skylight

Don't spend that a month on 6 plus baby fund in real life, let alone on my I&E form LOL!!

Although as I don't work, all of my I&E allowances were accepted as it all comes out of OH household contribution anyway.

skylight

Mmmm.. Didn;t mean that to come across the way I think it did....


TBH, I do think that your OR has been generous in your allowances, and especially so by allowing you to include your son in that without housekeeping from him. Your income figures though - are these net (after tax)????

blind-as-a-bat_2

31.7.26 Holidays

Previous guidance stated that an allowance for holidays should not be included in the calculation of funds available for an income payments contribution, other than in exceptional circumstances, for example where a dependant was sick or disabled. Whilst extravagance is not endorsed in this respect, it may be considered a reasonable domestic need to allow the bankrupt and his/her family to benefit from a non-extravagant holiday as a break from routine. Expensive or luxury holidays (particularly if the holiday is abroad) are likely to cause offence to creditors but an allowance of between £60-£80 per month (amounting to £720-£960 per annum) for a household of 4 people should allow the bankrupt and his/her family sufficient funds to take a moderate annual holiday. Should the bankrupt consider this allowance insufficient to fund a holiday, he/she should be informed that any additional holiday cost that he/she may wish to incur must be funded from the amount of surplus income left with him/her after deduction of the assessed IPA/IPO contribution.

Hmmm by there own guidelines they should allow a holiday fund, but as the others say they have been generous elswhere so may cut other areas if you argue

Tough call really

dalip

Another thought is if your OH is away for 12 nighs of the month. Then your h/k is £600 for 2 peope for 2 wks and 3 people for 2 wks:eek: I would kiss your OR if i was you:D

Bnjracing

Housekeeping does include all meals whether we can get them at home or not, i.e. if OH is away from home in bed and breakfast he has to buy a lunch and a tea which is a lot more expensive than me feeding him at home. However think will agree with the majority and stick with what we have got as OR guy was quite lenient and as the scale doesn't move till £500 anyway. If we were paying 70% instead of 50% for just having an extra £20 a month I may have contested but will stick to what we have got cos at the end of the day it is a lot less than the mtg at extortionate rates, plus £300 a month towards arrears and £289 a month for the second charge. PLUS I dare to answer my telephone at home again as the only people to have the number are people I want to speak to not nasty debt collectors.