Help!

bonsibabe

Just to clarify the situation

The figures for clothing, prescriptions, food, telephone, satellite, and pocket money were what were suggested to me by CCCS.

We are just waiting for the keys for a council house which may hopefully be ready next week as the heating engineers are supposed to be finished tomorrow. Once in, we are going to contact sky and get them to bundle the internet, phone and tv all together. They are offering it to new customers for £26 a month so we are going to try to get it all for that price or we are going to go to virgin. Where we live we couldnt get a landline phone and have had to rely on mobile phones on PAYG and had to get mobile internet so that we could have internet. Hubby has an investigation on with his previous employer and we needed internet so we could communicate with the investigation team. That is costing £40 a month but when we move we can possibly get that cut right down to the bare minimum.

Hubby on overtime today, he is volunteering for all the overtime he can get. He was supposed to be working 10-6 but volunteered to do 9-midnight, plus he worked 11 hours overtime but only got paid normal time so he is still owed some money for that.

His second job is not a regular one but pays not too bad when he gets the work. He usually works a night a week but hasnt had any just lately but has a few coming up before christmas. So that should bring in a few extra pennies as well.

The only clothes that have been bought recently have been for Dh as he needed suitable clothes for work as his last job had a uniform provided. We do have a lot of stuff that could go on ebay but it is all still packed in boxes waiting for us to move into our own place. As soon as we are moved, ebay will be getting hit with loads of stuff.

At least I have my £100 amazon vouchers so can get some bits and bobs for the kids. I havent actually given them any pocket money in months as we have explained that there is no spare money in the pot. And even though they are young, they have been great.

thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.

LilacPixie

I think you should do an SOA with what you actually spend and not enter the figures suggested by CCCS.

Where are you moving too??

tallyhoh

Are you living in Forces accommodation? I cant understand why you are paying building insurance on a rented property, especially at that rate--its absolutely sky high.

As for a second income, have you considered that your tax credits will be reduced with more money coming in? You need to reduce your current outgoings as suggested above. No point in making your disability worse by working for no gain.

Good Luck.

bonsibabe

We are in forces accommodation at the minute but hopefully moving out really soon. We had to have the extra insurance while living overseas, we were told that it was a pre-requisite! But when we moved overseas our insurance went up so we are waiting for them to get back to us to tell us how much we are going to drop by now that we are back in the uk.

I have been looking into the tax credit situation. The way my disability has been going lately i would not be able to get a job even if I was able to. At the moment I have to walk my kids for an hour just to get to school (no buses nearby) and I have to do 3 round trips as the youngest one gets out at lunch time. It is getting to the stage that I have had to start taking the really strong medication at night time to help me get some sleep. When we move we are only a 15 minute walk from school and there is a bus stop on the corner of the road. I will also have my parents within easy reach as they live closer to the school than me and my dad has said when he is not working he will come and take me and the kids to the school in the mornings. he has even said that if he is on a night shift and its bad weather he will come to us straight from work in the morning and take me to school. Then he said I can stay at their house during the day and hubby can pick us all up on his way home from work or dad would take us back home after he has had some sleep. My folks are going to be a great help as we have had no help in the last 6 years and where we live is just no use to me at all.

I have spoken to my doctor about what kind of work I could possibly do and he has said nothing outside the home which would mean I would have to try and get some form of self-employment that I could do from home. I do write reviews on the net and after we move I am going to do this more seriously - I have only been going on periodically but when we move I have decided to set aside a couple of hours a night to try and make as much as possible from these sources. I am also going to sign up for mystery shopping companies as where we are moving to is a major city and there should be plenty of opportunities in the area. And as there are excellent transport links to the place where I will live, it should be no problem. I'm also going to sign up for the ones where you can do MS on the phone and internet and mail monitoring. All that should bring in a few extra quid a month. i would estimate that the MS won't bring in enough for me to have to pay much tax or ni but it will mean that there is some extra coming in. Tax credits have told me that if I go self employed we wont get as much but I have been told that I would be entitled to £200 a month disability premium apparently! why I cant get it now is a mystery but if i could bring in a bit extra I would not feel so useless.

Thanks for all the good wishes. I do appreciate it.

penniesgrowintopounds

Haven't any advice to give, sorry, but just wanted to give you a hug (((bonsibabe and family.)))

I know it seems tough just now, but if you can use the wise advice already given, you'll get there.

Hoping you get your move soon x

RAS

bonsibabe wrote: »

Just to clarify the situation

The figures for clothing, prescriptions, food, telephone, satellite, and pocket money were what were suggested to me by CCCS.

hi

You need to understand that there are three types of SOA.

1. The one you do if you are going bankrupt and they are assessing your IPA. This is reasonably generous becuase they recognise that if you get and IPA, you are going to have to live with the deal for three years with no credit to cover emergencies or cash-flow problems.

2. The type you have produced as per CCCS or Payplan, which provides a decent standard of living but releases money for debt payment. it is not as generous as above but you can amand it more easily in an emergency.

However, in both instances above, if you actual income is lower than the total allowances, you have to reuce your expenditure to come within you income. if you are no benefits, this can mean a considerable cut.

3. The DFW SOAwhich means paring back to expenditure to come within your incoem and release yet more money to pay off you debts. If you are on benefits only, his may only be a token payment.


if you know that you are already unable to meet your normal living costs from your income, you have to cut your expenditure. No alternative. If you have to go bankrupt, then you will be asked to justify why you were spending more each month than you earned and not budgetting properly.

Have you spoken to any of the debt charites in Scotland (NDL or CCCs both offer Scottish support)? Have you considered going bankrupt?

bonsibabe

We don't really want to go bankrupt for a few reasons. We have some nice things that are bought and paid for and we don't really want them taken away as part of the bankruptcy. And then there is the fact that if our circumstances change we wouldn't be able to buy a house or start up a business or anything like that.

The SSAFA rep did suggest a trust deed to us but didn't tell us what it entails - and he still hasn't gotten back to us. We are hoping against hope that they will be able to help somehow. Even if they can help us pay the car off, we can sell it, buy a cheaper car, and use the rest to pay off at least some of the other debts.

But I think we are hoping against hope just now as no-one wants to get back in touch after we contact them, either that or we are running round in circles trying to sort stuff out.

Thanks for the advice though, really appreciated. x

Ames

When you say you've got nice things you don't want to lose in bankruptcy, what kind of things are you talking about? Do you mean expensive works of art or jewellery? Or just run of the mill sofas and things?

bonsibabe

We have some very nice furniture that we saved for ages to get and I have some jewellery that was left to me by my gran that I just don't want to lose, it means too much to me.

bonsibabe

if you know that you are already unable to meet your normal living costs from your income, you have to cut your expenditure. No alternative. If you have to go bankrupt, then you will be asked to justify why you were spending more each month than you earned and not budgetting properly.

To justify why we were spending more each month than we earned. Before OH lost his job we were NOT spending more than he earned. We were managing fine. It is because he lost his job that we are in this situation. It is not as if we did this deliberately. If we had, I would not be asking for help on here. I asked for help because I was told that I would get some really good advice on here. I have had some really good advice but feel that I am being berated at the same time for circumstances that were beyond our control. I mean OH did everything he could to keep his job, but it was unsuccessful. We have tried to do as much as we can. I can't help that I have been told that I cannot hold down a job medically. I have looked to see if I could get a job, but with childcare costs in the area being sky high and my disabilities it would not be practical or helpful to my health. I am trying to see if I can get some kind of work that i can do from home, which would mean that I could pace myself and only work when I felt up to it.

I don't want to sound ungrateful because I am very appreciative of all the advice I have been given. It is just I am feeling that there are some who are judging us unfairly.