Claim for Possession sorted - onto the next Chapter :)

TotallyBroke

How many of the unlimited texts do you use? You can get contract phones that give you 100's of texts for less than £30.
You may not be able to cancel sky/bt vision but you can reduce the package on them.
Your broadband, you've renewed your contract does that mean that you no longer have to pay line rental to bt. Get them to combine the land line, broadband and vision into 1 cheap package.
Yes groceries are high. For me 2 adults 1 child still in nappies and we spend £150-200. Write out meal plans and only buy each week what you need. Make your own burgers etc with mince. Your daughter can help she is at that age now to be interested in cooking.
Check out freecycle etc for kids clothes or ask family to buy her them for christmas and birthdays. When needs must there are also charity shops.
You don't spend a lot on petrol each month. Do you really need the car. Would it be a major problem if you sold it?

The one thing I would like to ask (so that you think about the answer more thn anything). Where is the £300-400 coming from to pay onto rent arrears? Are you basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. Will you be getting into debt elsewhere to do this? If the answer is yes, then reconsider offering that much and stick to the normal repayment scheme.

Also redo your soa listing all your debts and amounts and apr's. Your soa shows a surplus of £178 by tweaking your spending now you could turn that into £250 atleast starting January. Is it just 1 more payment that you have on the court fine. You could use that to pay off a smaller debt hidden in the £10000.

Good luck it is achievable

MissConfused_2

TotallyBroke wrote: »

How many of the unlimited texts do you use?

I use quite a lot, about 400-500 a month, I tend to text friends, rather than phone, its cheaper!

TotallyBroke wrote: »

You may not be able to cancel sky/bt vision but you can reduce the package on them.

- I will speak to BT about combining everything into one package, they can only say No.

TotallyBroke wrote: »

You don't spend a lot on petrol each month. Do you really need the car. Would it be a major problem if you sold it?

I may have guessed the Petrol, I do need the car, because I live one end of town, work the other, and my parents live another side, so each morning I drop my daughter off at my parents (they take her to school), then I go to work. To lose the car, I'd have 8 bus trips a day, 4 morning and 4 afternoon, and it takes about 2 hours morning and afternoon, and isn't worth the hassle as I'd be late for work everyday (I did it for 6 months!)

TotallyBroke wrote: »

The one thing I would like to ask (so that you think about the answer more thn anything). Where is the £300-400 coming from to pay onto rent arrears? Are you basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. Will you be getting into debt elsewhere to do this? If the answer is yes, then reconsider offering that much and stick to the normal repayment scheme.

Oh this is ok, I did a lot of overtime prior to Christmas, and this was paid on Christmas Eve, so I have a lump sum to pay to them, which I will do later after I'd paid for my car to be fixed. So no, I'm not taking money from elsewhere

I also have 2 payments left on the Court fine, I owe £96 now, so another 2 months (ish), but I was going to ring them and ask if I could make one payment of the whole amount on Jan 15th, as I missed Decembers, I can't get through to them at the moment though so think they may be off for Christmas.

Thanks for your help so far, and I will redo my SOA when I get home with all paperwork nearby:)

Trollfever

If you are due to attend hearings in possession proceedings due to rent arrears, you may want to seek free advice or representation from a 'housing possession court duty scheme'. If you have not sought legal advice prior to attending housing possession hearings, this can be a source of last minute help.
The scheme allows you access to a duty solicitor/advisor at the time of the hearing. This person will represent you through the hearing itself and follow through any resulting action. The scheme ensures that all relevant information is taken into consideration before the judge reaches a decision.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Keepingyourhomeevictionsandhomelessness/LosingYourHome/DG_10026228

mum2one

Just remember one thing you have a turned a corner, your not burying ur head in the sand, and your fighting damm hard to get somewhere, and with determination like that, ur doing well.

The next couple of days theres not much you can do via the court side of things with new yr etc, so put that aside and look again at your income v expenditure.

Use ur 1st SOA as a base figure, then start ringing the companies concerned, sky, bt etc to reduce the packages, look at Sim only deal, I know Quidco have a deal with TMobile, cash back, get unlimited texts included calls, even if u use 500 texts, ur saving at least £10.00 per month.

Look at ur presents list, me personally I do a spreadsheet, with the list of people I need to buy for with a sum of money allocated for them. Add these up then divide by 12 to give you a better idea.

Same with xmas, then I set myself a challenge to reduce the bill. look at sales, nows the best time of the yr for xmas cards, wrapping paper, tags, I cut up the front of xmas cards.

Look at increasing your income, daily clicks, cash back sites, (if u want any more info pm me).

I dont know much about the court side of things, but money saving if I can help, just shout xx

MyRubyRed

Can'toffer any professional advice otherthan go to court to show willing if at all possible. May be you can'tdue to work committments and if so make that really clear in any letter you send. Wishing you all the very best. It could be anyone of us in your shoes xx

TotallyBroke

Agree with mum2one think about a contract phone and use quidco to get cash back.
I understand about the car, I was only suggesting. Sometimes you can't see the obvious unless someone else points it out.
Again about the money. It was something to point out not to get into further debt with. Have you considered paying the £96 off now and getting that debt out of the way. You can't get in trouble with them for not paying December if you paid it before the 31st lol.
When is your car tax due, insurance and mot. By putting the amounts on your soa aside will you have enough to cover them when they are due. Or will you have to go over your budget to pay them. Why not consider putting some of your overtime into a seperate account? That way you will have some of the money plus each month's payments there for when you need it.
The rest along with the court payment can then go towards your rent arrears.

TotallyBroke

You won't need to represent yourself in court. It will be Judge, you and a representative from the landlord. (As far as I am aware. That's all it was when Woolwich took me to court for repossession and lost hee heee heee.)

Take all proof of your payments and Judge will see that the agreement and that the arrears are almost paid off. But do ask the Judge who will be liable for the court costs. Tell him/her that you will struggle to make payments on your payplan commitment if you have to pay them. Ask him/her that under the circumstances that since the agreement has not been broken since November and arrears are almost paid off that the costs are not awarded to you.

Good luck

MissConfused_2

Trollfever wrote: »

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Keepingyourhomeevictionsandhomelessness/LosingYourHome/DG_10026228

Thank you for this, I will have a look at the link and see what it suggests, I had no luck at all today ringing various people, but you guys have all been brilliant!

MissConfused_2

mum2one wrote: »

Use ur 1st SOA as a base figure, then start ringing the companies concerned, sky, bt etc to reduce the packages, look at Sim only deal, I know Quidco have a deal with TMobile, cash back, get unlimited texts included calls, even if u use 500 texts, ur saving at least £10.00 per month.

I will definately have a look at your ideas, I will have to make the phone calls to Sky/BT etc tomorrow (am guessing its too late now), my phone is PAYG, i don't have to top up with £30, I can top up with £10 and get 300 free messages, but due to the amount I text, hence the £30! I can and will economise, lol.As for the Christmas cards, pressies all going on a spreadsheet, I will do that also, that's a brilliant idea. I'm terrible with shopping as i see things I haven't got on a list and end up spending double, if not treble. x

MissConfused_2

TotallyBroke wrote: »

I understand about the car, I was only suggesting. Sometimes you can't see the obvious unless someone else points it out..

Thanks for the above, I need to apologise as I may have sounded stroppy - I'm sorry, I'm just a bit stressed! I appreciate all you are doing to help. I had thought about paying the £96 off, but then it's £96 less for the arrears, and i'm not sure which I'd rather to be honest.

TotallyBroke wrote: »

When is your car tax due, insurance and mot. By putting the amounts on your soa aside will you have enough to cover them when they are due. Or will you have to go over your budget to pay them.

All three are due at the end of february, so not long now, and no I haven't got enough to pay them. I tend to pay the insurance monthly and then hope I've got money spare to cover the MOT and Tax when it comes around. Not ideal I know