Father of five who is losing the will to live

beverleyhills

fatherof5 wrote: »

Looks like my last attempt at an SOA didn't get through so hear goes again. A couple of clarifications on costs:

1. Petrol high as we live in the country with 5 kids and need two cars for work (few buses)
2. Selling house - easy in theory but reality is the houses are way are not moving at all. Possibly a medium-long term solution but not any good in short term.
All comments appreciated though and other ideas welcomed.


Number of adults in household........... 4 Can the other 2 adults make a contribution?
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2774
Partners monthly income after tax....... 500
Benefits................................ 200
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3474
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1200
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 244 Is this over 10 months or 12?
Electricity............................. 80 Can you be more economical in use of gas and electricity?
Gas..................................... 76
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 No bills for water?
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 58 Is this a package which includes telephone and internet?
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 500 Can you plan economical menus using the old style board?
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 32
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 150 Are these expenses essential?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 40
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 40
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 3014

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 300000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 500
Total Assets............................ 304500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 127......(1200).....4.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 127.......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................15000.....400.......21
Credit card....................13555.....344.......19.9
Credit card....................9500......222.......20.9
Overdraft......................3000......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........41055.....966.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,474
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,014
Available for debt repayments........... 460
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 966
Amount short for making debt repayments. -506
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 304,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -127
Total Unsecured debt.................... -41,055
Net Assets.............................. 263,318

Can you or any meber of the family get another part time job?

pennies_from_Heaven

hiya,
I haven't posted here much so am by no means an expert, but for a mortgage of 127k your repayments seem quite high - maybe look at remortgaging - lower payments could balance out any redemption fee, also you could release some equity to put towards debts? not something i'd usually suggest, but as you've got loads of equity it may be a possibility, you could potentially be paying about £500 a month less on a better rate. Check out some of the mortgage calcualtors - I'd like to switch mine as I'm on a fixed rate of 5.39% (I pay £933 a month for £153k mortgage) this would cut my bill by about £200, but i'm struggling as we haven't that much equity.

sarahs999

Hi - concur with above posters but again, who are the two adults and why are they not contributing? Adults eat a lot, besides anything else...

fatherof5

Thanks for all the comments to date. I shuld have mentioned that the other 2 adults are actually school children (in fact one starting uni - another financial worry!) so no earning capacity there. Thus the reason for the £150 child related expenses. The satellite cost includes phone and internet but am looking at unbundling to just phone. Will be looking more closely at every penny and off to speak to Mortagage company and bank today. Will provide an update in due course.

dancingfairy

Hi. The good news is you can afford your basic bills, just not your credit card/loan repayments - so it could be worse.
I would suggest you contact one of the debt charities/free to use organisations that Martin recommends - ie CCCS or National Debtline or your local CAB (DO NOT use anyone who will charge you for their service).
They will be able to go through your options with you. In fact you can put your figures into the CCCS website and they give you a suggestion (basic recommendation) - there are many options about including a debt management plan (DMP), an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arangement) or Bankruptcy.
Also you really need to think hard about giving money to the student going to uni - yes it would be great to help them out but you can't really afford it and you are not just paying out 150 a month but all the interest that is associated with not paying your debts as well - so it will cost a lot. I appreciate that you want to help your children but hopefully your kid(s) are grown up enough to not want them money at the expense of putting your house at risk. Encourage them to get a student loan, apply for any grants etc that he/she is eligible for, get them kitted out with a teatowel and a couple of pots and pans and a lot of moral support. Hopefully they will be able to do some part time work to supplement their loan (at least during their first/second year) or in the holidays. It's not ideal but you need to have a serious chat with them - sorry.

Oh and please think carefully about taking a mortgage holiday - you may find that the debt charities advise against that - I don't know - it is a big decision and may well not be the best course of action (it might be but please take advice from an independent free source).
Oh and NEVER EVER EVER think about securing your debt as you then put your house in serious danger if you can't make the repayments and I have heard that you don't get help with the secured debt part of the mortgage (only the normal part) - don't know if this is true but don't even think about it.
Best of Luck
df

kissjenn

With 4/5 children school age children and your level of income you should be able to claim Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit.


Child Benefit

£20 for 1st Child plus £13.20 for each subsequent child. Thats between £59.60 and £72.80 depending on 4/5 you're claiming for or £258 to £315 per month.
For how long will you be paid Child Benefit?

Once your child turns 16 the Child Benefit Office can carry on paying Child Benefit for them as long as they are classed as a ‘qualifying young person’. This means you will receive Child Benefit for them until 31 August after their 16th birthday, and after that date payments only continue if one of the following applies:

• they are under 20 and in relevant education or training
• they are 16 or 17 and are registered for work, education or training with an approved body
• they have left school, relevant education or training after 31 August following their 16th birthday

Child Tax Credits

You are also probably entitled to about £500 - £1000 per year CTC depending on your actual earnings. It may be more if you use recognised childcare as part of the £150 childcare expenses shown. So worth phoning and getting the forms, worse they can say is no!

Overall

That's an extra £100 to £200 per month income based on your current figures of £200 per month.

dorisday

Before going for a dmp with payplan or cccs just remember it trashes your credit rating for at least 6 years and if you during this time wanted to change your mortgage for whatever reason it would have an huge effect on the interest charged, so try your hardest to cut down, increase income etc.

tyllwyd

kissjenn wrote: »

With 4/5 children school age children and your level of income you should be able to claim Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit.

Child Tax Credits


You are also probably entitled to about £500 - £1000 per year CTC depending on your actual earnings. It may be more if you use recognised childcare as part of the £150 childcare expenses shown. So worth phoning and getting the forms, worse they can say is no!

Are you sure there is a lot of money to claim? We've got a similar monthly income (I think) and child tax credits of very little and the childcare element reduced to zero because of our income.

kissjenn

The number of children all currently claiming Child Benefit (as you can back date 3 months) makes a big difference. I assumed one wage of £42k and one of £6.5k. 5 children ranging in age from 19 down all getting CHB.

That brought back about £350 for the remainder of this year so about £600 for a full year. There may be more available if I've set the salaries too high and there is childcare.

Worth claiming, you may get something and you can backdate claim 3 months from date you request pack.

Hope that helps.

fatherof5

Thanks to all who provided comments and support on this forum. I haven't posted in awhile but can confirm we have taken action to solve our problem. We have remortgaged and use the extra to pay off our credit card bills. I appreciate not all would recommend this but we have shaved £500 of our monthly debt payments and while the remainder is now secured we have a payment system that is more viable. Moreover, we di have the option to extend the repayment period at any stage if we need to reduce our repayment. It is true that we Cards now all shredded and we have squeezed our budget for all its worth. Not out of the woods yet but can at least sleep at night. More updates in due course.