The Horror....my SOA

Colonel_Kurtz

Hello

This is my first post, so I'm a little bit nervous. But it's about time I confronted my 'demons' so here goes......

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1345
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 382
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1727

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 112
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24.51
Telephone (land line)................... 45
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 23.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 19.5
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 13
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 40
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1428.51


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................12145.....284.......34.95
Credit Card....................12923.....131.......5
Credit Card....................10626.....266.......29.95
Personal Loan..................11300.....180.......7.4
Credit Card....................1633......33........14.94
Credit Card....................6208......84........17.95
Credit Card....................8557......172.......19.04
Total unsecured debts..........63392.....1150......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,727
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,428.51
Available for debt repayments........... 298.49
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,150
Amount short for making debt repayments. -851.51

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -63,392
Net Assets.............................. -63,392


Basically I'm wondering if this situation is salvageable at all, or am I facing bankruptcy? I've been avoiding the problem for far too long and in doing so have only made matters worse. I'm not one to make excuses, this is all a mess of my own making, but I've finally woken up and realised that I need to sort myself out! If anyone has any helpful advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks and God bless.

thatcherschild

I have no advice, I'm in the same position but I just wanted to offer you a hug. I'm so sorry and I wish you all the best.

Maggie

Deep_In_Debt

Hi and welcome

Most situations are salvagable - just have to tighten our belts!

Can you cut down on the food? Batch cook and freeze, take paked lunches to work etc.

Can you ditch the entertainment and emergency fund for a while?

Is your Council Tax over 10 months? ring your council and they may agree to do it over 12 months.

TV licence - is that arrears you are paying?

Sorry, so many questions!

poorandindenial

Hello :wave:

I have made some suggestions below, they may sound a bit brutal, especially as it is always a bit raw when you put it all down on paper for the first time but I mean them in the nicest way possible.

Well done for making this difficult first step and good luck for finding your solution.

Colonel_Kurtz wrote: »

Hello

This is my first post, so I'm a little bit nervous. But it's about time I confronted my 'demons' so here goes......

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1345
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 382
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1727

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 112 if this isn't over 12 months ask for it to be, they don't have to do it but they might and it could make it easier month on month to cope
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 30 (£70 on energy is high each month, not massive but definitely on the high side - turn off heating when not absolutely necessary, turn of stuff you aren't using, don't leave things on standby etc etc etc)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24.51
Telephone (land line)................... 45 (this is high, try a different package. you pay 65 for tv and this (assume internet included) you can bundle up through sky for much less, or get better phone package and totally ditch the telly and get a freeview box)
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 23.5 (do you have 2 licences? are you in the forst few months of payment? it should be about £12)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 19.5 (see telephone post)
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (you can definitely reduce this - check outthe old style board for meal planning and cooking from scratch)
Clothing................................ 40 (ditch as far as possible - check out freecycle for clothes for kids - although that depends on if tehy are old enough to have got fussy - lol)
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 13
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 40 (I don't want to sound harsh but this is your energency, ditch this - it seems to be a new thing as you haven't put any cash assets, either that ort you save it and then use it)
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1428.51


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................12145.....284.......34.95
Credit Card....................12923.....131.......5
Credit Card....................10626.....266.......29.95
Personal Loan..................11300.....180.......7.4
Credit Card....................1633......33........14.94
Credit Card....................6208......84........17.95
Credit Card....................8557......172.......19.04
Total unsecured debts..........63392.....1150......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,727
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,428.51
Available for debt repayments........... 298.49
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,150
Amount short for making debt repayments. -851.51

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -63,392
Net Assets.............................. -63,392


Basically I'm wondering if this situation is salvageable at all, or am I facing bankruptcy? I've been avoiding the problem for far too long and in doing so have only made matters worse. I'm not one to make excuses, this is all a mess of my own making, but I've finally woken up and realised that I need to sort myself out! If anyone has any helpful advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks and God bless.

you do already have £300ish for payments and I reckon you can free up at least another £100 relatively easily, with more if you can manage to slash your food bill in half (which is doable) so you could be a candidate for a DMP.

Because the shortfall is so large you might want to get in touch with one of the free to use debt advice charities although I reckon you could make payments at 50% of your current minimums if you really went for the frugal life.

If you did use one of the charities they could run a DMP for you. The cccs website has a tool called debtremedy that gives you an idea of your options.

poorandindenial

Link to the list of free to use debt advice orgs: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

hermoine_2

Hi OP

You have such a huge shortfall that I think this debt will be around for so long you will never have a life.

It is a big step to go bankrupt but you are in an ideal situation as you own very little and your income is so low.

If you stop making any payments to your creditors you could save the money to pay the BR fees in 2 months and then you can start to get your life sorted.

I have been BR and it was a tough decision but I did not want the payment plan for the next 30 years so it was the best thing for me and my family. I cannot say that it has made a lot of difference to our lives except that we now do not owe any money to any one and we can sleep at night.

PM me if you want any more information.

Good luck and hugs

H

Treacle1983

Because you don't own your own home or have a car etc.. I would prob recommend looking at going bankrupt - talk to CAB or other professional first - I just don't think a debt management plan would help.

IVA might be worth looking into.

Colonel_Kurtz

Thanks for the input guys, I think I'm going to contact the CCCS and get their advice. I have been thinking about bankruptcy but it's just such a frightening thought. I worry that our Landlord may decide to 'evict' us (not because we're behind on the rent, we're not, purely just because of the stigma that goes with being bankrupt), I'm not sure about the implications for my job and I dread to think of the impact it will have on my family. My wife is fully aware of the situation but it's our two young children I'm most worried about.

Thanks for the help, I'll let you know what the CCCS say.

God bless

chevalier

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,727
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,428.51
Available for debt repayments........... 298.49
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,150
Amount short for making debt repayments. -851.51

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -63,392
Net Assets.............................. -63,392

As others have said you can make cut backs. For example I spend about £250 a month feeding 2 adults 2 children and 2 cats in the UK. I appreciate that things have gone up whilst I have been away, but that just means shopping smarter. So down shift a brand of tinned stuff for example.

So that is £150 saved . So you would be half way to the total needed to repay your debts.

There is no partners wages here. If this is because they are looking after young children, then I can understand that the costs of childcare might outweigh the gains - if you work at the same time. But if you don't ie partner gets evening work, then no child care costs. Ok so you become ships in the night a bit, but if you don't want to do a DMP then the income has to be upped some how.

Then there is doing mystery shopping, for various firms. You can both sign up to survey sites and do them. It all adds money to the pot. You can learn to use cash back sites to buy everything via, to earn money there. Sign up to dooyoo and slice the pie and other review sites again to earn money via vouchers - it means that money is then freed up cos you use the voucher instead.

Good luck
chev

System

Hello Colonel, Martin Lewis said he has never seen a debt problem that cannot be solved. Writing it all down is the hardest bit, its all downhill from here. Be it DMP, IVA or even BR, there is a way, there is always a way. Let us know what CCCS say and good luck. Len

Cyril

TBH given those figures I think Bankruptcy is the best option. I don't think you will ever be in a position to clear those debts unless your income increases significantly. In the current climate many people are struggling and Bankruptcy doesn't have the stigma you are worried about. You will have a few years of difficulty obtaining credit but lets face it you wouldn't get further credit now anyway, and then life begins again.Your children will become more expensive as they get older and with the BR option you will be debt free by that time.


You are in a fortunate position of having no assets that can be taken so IMO have nothing to lose and a future to gain.

Good luck.