Results of my OR interview

MollyBear

Ok, so this is the second time I'm writing this, due to my toddler turning off the pc before I posted lol!

Sorry I haven't been on since Thursday, was in quite a daze after our interview and then been really busy all weekend at work.

The interview went OK, a lot better than I thought but then again I was expecting something quite horrific! The OR was professional and very, very quiet, we could hardly hear him! We did get a telling off and he was very probing. He wanted to know things like why we got into debt, when, what did we use the money on, why did we get credit if we knew we couldn't afford it etc...

We answered honestly and fully as we could, we wrote lots of notes as we were going along and I didn't waffle or cry!! I was very proud of myself!! I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be, I just wanted it over and done with, but my hubby was quite nervous and was actually shaking at one point, bless. :rolleyes:

My interview lasted 45 minutes and was first, I answered questions about my debts and the joint ones including the house. Hubby's was 45 minutes too as most of the debt was in his name and he had assets, pension, car etc.

It's scary though, knowing that this stranger will decide how you and your family will live from here on in...

Here's a brief idea of what was asked, hope it helps others:

He went through the SOA page by page and also asked the following:

Where are we living, when did we move in, how much is the rent and who owns it?
Previous address and how long lived there?
Are we working and what hours do we do?
Why are we going bankrupt?
When did we start to struggle and realize we couldn't pay?
What are the reasons for the missed payments and arrears?
When did we stop paying the creditors?
How much were the last payments and exact dates of payment?
When did we seek advice?
Who from?
What did they advise?
When did they say to stop paying creditors?
How much were your BR fees?
Who paid for them?
How did you get the money?
Do you have any assets?
What are they, when did you get them, how much are they worth?
What did you have your loans for?
When did you have them?
Did you have any money eft after consolidating/buying furniture etc?
If so how much?
How much is outstanding?
How much are the arrears/whats the shortfall?
How much exactly did you borrow?
What did you spend the money on?
(Answer: furniture, carpets etc for house) What furniture?
How much was your mortgage a month?
When did you last pay?
Is it being repossessed now?
How much is it worth?
Whats there outstanding mortgage?
Whats the shortfall?
Did you have a valuation done?
Have you tried to sell it?
Have you had any other property or assets you've sold or given away?
How did you think you would pay back the loans/creditors?
Why couldn't you pay?
What would happen if you hadn't spoke to CAB?
How have you managed to pay all the payments up until now?
When did you last use store cards?
What did you buy and why?
How much did you spend?
When did you take them out?
How much is outstanding?
Whats the monthly payment?
Why did you buy the goods you did with them?
Why did you use your store card for birthdays and xmas when you knew you wouldn't be able to pay it back? (We didn't, we thought we could pay it back was our answer)
Did you know birthdays and xmas are luxuries and you shouldn't use credit to pay for them?
Have you destroyed all cards and cheque books now?
Are you up to date with bills at current house?
What is your income?
How much are your benefits?
Who are they from?
Are they paid weekly or monthly?

I'm sure there was more but thats all I can remember at the moment!

Here's our I&E and what he allowed:

(Hope this is allowed to post, if not please delete!!)

(2 adults, 5 kids)

Mortgage/Rent: 500.00 500.00
Housekeeping: 780.00 780.00
Heating: 120.00 120.00
Water: 20.00 20.00
Phone: 50.00 50.00
Traveling: 180.00 180.00
Clothing: 150.00 150.00
Council Tax: 113.00 113.00

Others:
TV license: 13.00 13.00
Car Insurance: 40.00 40.00
Home Ins: 17.00 17.00
Car Tax: 17.00 17.00 (How much is it a yr? What size engine?)
Home Maintenance: 40.00 40.00 (What for?)
Car Maintenance: 40.00 20.00 (What for?)
School Meals: 120.00 (Who for? How many kids? How much each?) 104.00
Work Meals: 20.00 0.00 (Who for? Why?) a luxury
Prescriptions: 15.00 15.00 (How many people?)
Opticians: 30.00 15.00 (Who for? Why this much? Allowed me 150.00 for glasses and 20 for eye test every 12 months not 6 months)
Dentist: 20.00 15.00 (Who for? How much it cost?)
Haircuts: 35.00 35.00
Mobiles: 40.00 40.00
After school clubs: 60.00 0.00 a luxury
Birthdays & Xmas: 115.00 0.00 a LUXURY??!!??
Basic Holiday: 50.00 50.00

I wasn't impressed with the birthdays and xmas being a luxury! I've got 5 kids for cripes sake, they don't get a lot spent on them anyway but they need something! It will have to come out of our spare money now. Was hoping they would allow this, or reduce it.

He's obviously disallowed it so we pay some back.

We have to pay and IPA of 200 a month for 36 months and obviously pay all the tax to the OR as well as my hubby get a NT tax code.

Well I think thats everything lol.

I hope its OK to post this, if it isn't please feel free to delete the post mods.

Hope this helps someone.

Molly
x

dalip

Of course it is ok to post it:D . It will help lots of others yet to go through the process. Not bad really so good luck in the future molly & family.Dx

peachyprice

Hi Molly,
Goodness he asked alot of questions!!

I'm not suprised he disallowed £115 for xmas/birthdays, that's £276 per child per year.

I do think the afterschools clubs was particularly mean, that's penalising your children for your circumstances. Other than that it seems pretty reasonable.

Diamond66

Thank you so much for posting this... I have been so nervous about my OR interview (still don't know when it will be). It still scares me but knowing what they ask helps.

Sorry to hear you have to IPA (at the expense of birthday and christmas presents ... while I can kind of understand their logic .... bet they wouldn't ever not buy their kids presents... no matter how small)

skylight

An IPA is an agreement. If you do not agree with it then write to them explaining why. £115 a month for birthday and Xmas over 5 kids is NOT a luxury. Explain this. You may be able to negotiate a bit. You may not, but its worth giving it a go.

skylight

Mind you £115 is a a lot of money though. (Another post as my little one slapped the keyboard...)

I would also argue the after school clubs. They are not a luxury and are essential to your childrens education.

Also - have you checked that he has NOT included your child benefit in the calculation??? Thats not allowed......

Jaks

Congratulations on getting through your OR interview. I had my OR interview a little while ago and I am glad I didn't get the same OR as you, he sounds like a right jobsworth. I hope you are going to appeal the decision to disallow money for childrens activities.

:beer: .

Keep us up to date with how things are going.

Queen

Hi glad things were ok, what happened about your car

blind-as-a-bat_2

MollyBear, did you post an I&E on here, looking at what he has allowed (and you havnt done that bad really on a quick glance) it struck me that you must have a high income if you where allowed all that and still got a £200 IPA

So can i ask you to check your income against that list, or post so we can check if they have disregarded child benefit?

I am probebly wrong but it just looks odd to me for some reason and it never hurts to check


Edit- I get your income to £2734 to cover that list and surplus to allow a £200 IPA AFTER child benefit is taken off

lxpeanut

I'm not sure about the christmas and birthdays not being allowed but I'd argue the after school clubs being classed as a luxury. If you both work they are a necessaty as its childcare if not then I'd say its part of your childrens education.

MollyBear

Actually thats a good point, he did say something about child benefit as an income.

Let me just check...

Hubbys average income was worked at 425.00 a week!! Usually varies between 320.00 - 420.00 because of fluctuating bonuses. Mine was 350.00 a month. We also had child tax credit as income.

Hubbys monthly: 1703.82
My monthly: 350.00
CTC: 402.32
CB: 276.00

Total in: 2732.14 he said 2455.00

Which works out to:

Mine: 350.00
Hubbys: 1702.68
CTC: 402.32

So no, he hasn't added it. Phew lol. Although I wish he hadn't averaged hubbys wages so high, more often than not they are at the lower end of the scale.