im a newbie & in need of help & advice

fairy_girl_2

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 969.92
Benefits................................ 410.05
Other income............................ 80
Total monthly income.................... 1459.97
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 113.6
Rent.................................... 485.34
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 11.31
Electricity............................. 33
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 25
Water rates............................. 34.53
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 11.62
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 30
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 20.55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20.55
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 7.55
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
account fee............................. 16
contact lenses.......................... 18
Total monthly expenses.................. 1437.05

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Secured Debt.................. 6801.3...(113.6)....12.43
Total secured & HP debts...... 6801.3....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................733.17....25........19.9
credit card....................766.85....20........14.9
credit crad....................746.88....20........14.9
store card.....................150.......6.18......14.9
Total unsecured debts..........2396.9....71.18.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,459.97
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,437.05
Available for debt repayments........... 22.92
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 71.18
Amount short for making debt repayments. -48.26
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -6,801.3
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,396.9
Net Assets.............................. -7,698.2

fairy_girl_2

Is this the right place to put my SOA or not? I'm not very good at this sort of thing. Sorry

dancingfairy

yep. Give it a bit of time - seems a bit quiet today though. Will have a quick look for you.
Hang on.
df

dancingfairy

Nothing looks too bad to be honest. A fairly tight budget. The good news is that you are only 48 pounds a way from balancing.
Can you reduce the mobiles at all?
Can you reduce the electric/oil at all?
You might also want to include some entertainment and some amounts for the car.
account fee - can you change to a fee free account - that would help you.
Any chance of earning anything extra at all? ebay/car boots?

How good is your credit rating? can you get a 0% card or a card with a good balance transfer rate?
What have you got on HP?
df

fairy_girl_2

We have already reduced our mobile tariffs but because we don't have a landline our bills sometimes go over if we have to ring companies that are 0845 numbers.

Our credit score isnt very good at all, ive tried to get an 0% card but have been declined. I dont want to keep trying too much cuz every time we try & are declined it affects our score.
We dont have anything on HP, its our loan at that amount.

I will speak to our bank about changing to a free current account too.

Our elec is at the lowest they'll allow us to pay. We are very good with electric, nothing on standby, energy bulbs, turn off what not using, only do our washing etc at night cuz its economy 7. We havent turned our heating on as yet but when we do we'll need to fill the oil tank so thats why we're leaving back £20 at the minute but when we get it filled it should last us the full winter, hopefully. Then we'll have that £20 spare for something else.

We have treid our best to cut back but we just feel we are sinking deeper & deeper.
Should we contact the companies or leave it for a while? Things should start to loook up for us in a few months with my partner hopefully getting a better paid job if we can raise the finance for him to do the course & i'm looking for a job too. But then we'll have childcare costs!!!!

We do try to stay positive but its really hard sometimes.

Thanks

Tixy

Your expenses don't look too bad.
See if you can reduce your mobiles down a tariff eac, or if not in contract shop around for a cheaper tariff or the best PAYG deal (and there are some great deals on PAYG at the moment).
Your food could be reduced slightly, perhaps aim for £200, which would make up the shortfall you are currently showing.

You need to budget for road tax and car maintenance, ideally you need to put aside 1/12 of this cost each month so that when you have to pay it out you have it already in a seperate account.

Usually fee charging accounts are not worth the benefits they give. Work out exactly what you get for the account that you use and cost that out to consider a free account (eg if you get breakdown cover you can get that for about £40pa, if you get travel ins are you using it etc)

Is your internet the best deal? As you don't have a landline it may be but worth shopping around, even consider a PAYG dongle for internet.

Are you not working because of your baby? Are you entitled to maternity pay? Are you getting all the benefits you can - www.entitledto.co.uk

What is the secured debt of £6.8k? Is this from a car or a previous debt consolidation?

To your question in your first post I certainly don't think an IVA is necessary or suitable for you. If you do not expect your income to improve for quite some time you could consider a debt management plan (use one of the free organisations such as CCCS or Citizens Advice) or if its short term then maybe a letter to your credit companies as you suggested in your first post.

You could also look at ways to earn money/vouchers online. New mom's are popular with some survey sites who are interested on your views on baby products. Also look at review sites where you can earn vouchers for giving your opinions on products. You won't earn a fortune but it can help towards things like Christmas presents. Look at the up your income board here on MSE for ideas.

EDIT: Sorry I hadn't seen your reply to df above (I forgot to refresh the page:rolleyes:) sorry if you've already answered some of these questions.

WASHER

I think it would be cheaper for you to have a landline and then you could have broadband, it wouldn't cost you £100 per month, with your SOA being so tight, you simply cannot afford that each month.

It may be good to talk, but its also expensive, only make necessary calls. How are you online now?

fairy_girl_2

We will look into getting a landlineI have already reduced my tariff once, they wont let me do it again, but i will def be going PAYG when my contract is up. We only have broadband through a dongle, which we are tied into a contract for the next year.
Our food bill is at the tightest we can get it cuz we have a baby who needs nappies, wipes, milk, food etc too. We only buy the necessary food required for ourselves for the week. We try to stock up on things we use when they are on special offer. But i will try to reduce it.

We are looking into opening another account to put money in for car maintenance etc. One that is free and we will be cancelling our account charge as we don't get any use out of the benefits.
I have checked out the benefit calculator & it says we should be entitled to housing & council tax benefit but our council seem to think otherwise. I have appealed this decision & await they're outcome.

I have looked into those survey things but im not sure which are scams & which are legit. If you have any links or websites I'd be only too happy to do them. Every little helps.

Our 6.8k debt is a consolidation debt, wish now we hadn't done it but needs must at the time.

I will definitely be taking all of your advice on board and hopefully, no "WE WILL" be on the road to recovery!

fairy_girl_2

Sorry Tixy for being a bit slow, but I'm still trying to find my way round the site, where will i find the Income Board?

WASHER

Have you checked entitled.com, your benefits don't seem high enough, are you receiving child tax credits etc