Advise and or whipping needed.

munkiemunkie81

SOA before you ask for it!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1 recently seperated but live with sister
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1382
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 87
Other income............................ 383
Total monthly income.................... 1852
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 264 - this is half of a repayment mortgage - ex pays the other 50%
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 167 - my car
Rent.................................... 200
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0 - live with sister this is half of all her bills - council tax etc etc etc so no extras on top
Council tax............................. 0 - see above - ex lives in our house - dont ask me how he wangled that one and pays the bills, water etc for it.
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 45 - this is in Ex's name he automatically deducts it from his child maintenance payments - fixed deal for another 1.5 years. cant get out of it apparantly - though i would like to give it back to him and walk away he will get it one way or another - he wanted me to still pay half all the house bills on top of the mortgage.
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160 - CCCS think £300 is more realistic?!
Clothing................................ 22
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 3
Car Insurance........................... 24.22 best i could get.
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 254.6 I work full time but from home 2 days a week. Ex pays £220 on top of this.
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 5
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 9
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 23
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1286.82

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 125000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 110000...(264)......2.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6900.....(167)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 116900....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
DMP............................46000.....384.......0
Total unsecured debts..........46000.....384.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,852
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,286.82
Available for debt repayments........... 565.18
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 384
Amount left after debt repayments....... 181.18
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 125,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -116,900
Total Unsecured debt.................... -46,000
Net Assets.............................. -31,000

I know written it looks like I have left overs - the CCCS DMP payment is based on £300 food a month and £40 clothes so the budget above is what i'm hoping to stick to and see if i can make it work - first time on my 'own' and could be kidding myself? - So that spare £180 will hopefully go into increasing DMP payments once i know i can live as above.

So does anything seem out of sorts, too high etc? Can i make savings anywhere or am i kidding myself in other areas?

The house is a sticking point - i am paying twice for a roof over my head I know how ridiculus that is but HE wont leave so i had to, when i can afford a solicitor that can wipe the smirk off his cheating face I'm hoping i'll be in a better position from the equity to be debt free well before i die! The house will go up for sale at some point but as he wont do anything to get it ready for sale and i cant afford to its all a bit of a vicious circle.

At some point i'm going to have to move out of my sisters spare room and get my own place to live where my little boy can go to school somewhere I'm happy with - but in the mean time i have to suck it up and get on with it and concentrate on the debt. He's 2.5 now so i reckon i have another year to start worrying about schools?

Any advise appreciated - no kid gloves required!

Tixy

Hi munkie - I have a whip to hand.......

Are you getting all the benefits you can? Do you not get CTC? What is the other income, is this maintenance? Look at www.entitledto.co.uk

Are you in a shared ownership house or are you renting one place and own another?

Mobile -are you on the best tariff? are you in contract? If so ask to switch to a cheaper tariff, if not consider using PAYG or a cheaper contract.

Road tax - doesn't look right?

Childcare - is this the cheapest price you can get (at a good place)? any scope to reduce hours? Do you get childcare vouchers from work instead of some of your salary (tax efficent). How soon until your child goes to school or this reduces?

Amount left after debt repayments £181.18? Do you have this? have you been paying overpayments? if not and you don't know where this goes then start a spending diary and write down everything you spend (from 50p to £50) for a few months - this should highlight this missing money. Or have you been saving it up for full & final settlements?

Do you buy magazines books, lottery, makeup, coffees etc, lunch at work, toys and sweets for your child -has the cost of these been included in your SoA (these are common things that people forget to include).

Is the HP your car? What is it worth (you have ommitted it from assets)

Hope this helps, and actually if you do have that surplus then I would say you are not in a bad position month to month and maybe you could increase your DMP payments at your next review.

Who is your DMP with? Are you using one of the charity organisations or are you paying a fee to a commerical company?

EDIT - sorry I started my reply before your edit with explanation- I see you have now answered several of my queries.

the_cat

munkiemunkie81 wrote: »

when i can afford a solicitor

Hi munkie

There will be lots of advice forthcoming from all the folks on here, but the most important thing that jumps out for me is that you can't afford NOT to get a solicitor - pronto!

If I understand it correctly, you have custody of the child and he is living in the house you jointly own? Or did I get that wrong?

munkiemunkie81

I think I edited my post as you were writing that! Sorry! This is only my first month like this.

Tax credits - will have to look into - never entitled to them before because Ex's pay was high and combined income excluded us..

Other income is maintance.

Housing - Own mortgaged house but Ex living there, rent room with child with my sister!

Mobile - far from best tarrif - its an i-phone my ex got as 'treats' for us but now he takes my bill out of maintenace. I have no control over it, they wont speak to me and he wont speak to them. Have to suffer because I left him!

Road tax is only £35 a year - cheapest car i could find - had work hours reduced this year - construction had a hard summer so went straight out and got this in place of my other!!

Childcare is the best priced place i could put him - other than a childminder which is where he was previously but he's stunted by the lack of variety there - so yes 20 places visited best i was willing to go to based on price!
I work full time at the moment but work two days at home with him - so he's only in childcare for 3 days a week. I cant do any more at home its too many days as it is - for my sanity and for it being a viable option for employer.
Boy will start preschool easter next year so will have some free sessions then.

The left over money - thats my plan to pay extra on DMP if i can make the other budget spends realistic.
I pretty much have most days as NSD - Dont eat lunch - free coffee and tea.
Dont buy mags - get books from library.
Dont play lottery, makeup spend is soo unfrequent and is normally given to me as presents - Makeup is my vice but it tends to last because i dont use a trowel!
toys and sweets - He rarely has sweets - normally come from grand parents - he loves his fruit and that comes within food shopping or i make cakes.
Toys - he is over-run with from birthday and xmas I rarely buy him anything. he's happy enough with a den, a football, his bike, paints/drawing and cars! He also borrows from the library if something takes his fancy there or my nan gets him a little treat every week from the charity shop!!

Car is worth £6400 ish - it is the HP. I wasnt sure whether to count it as an asset as essentially i'm really just renting it and then changing after 2.5 years.

DMP is with CCCS

jennihen

Would you qualify for legal aid? Or at least 30mins free with a solicitor . . . .

munkiemunkie81

the_cat wrote: »

If I understand it correctly, you have custody of the child and he is living in the house you jointly own? Or did I get that wrong?

yes thats right.

I know about the solicitor, i'll work on it once the short term money stress is sorted, DMP starts 1st october , in the meantime have no bank account sorted just yet and most priority debts are going to bounce because of that! Stress city!
Bit reluctant making that legal step too, its going to be ugly and awful and i'm not sure i'm up to that just yet, used up all my strength just getting out of it, trying baby steps to keep me sane for my little boy because i dont think a grown woman sobbing on the floor is much good for him to see any more than he has to already! :rolleyes:

mummum2

Good luck MM81, like you say baby steps and little by little time will heal, then strength will comes then you will be able to handle your business.

In the meanwhile, take the wonderful advice given from a bunch of excellent people and you'll be fine.

MM2

curlytop12

please ring benefits people ASAP,you'll qualify for working and child tax credits based on your wage now you are separated.
good luck for the future.