Very Worried about IPA

Poodle34

Dear All,

I've had a letter today that says the following:

Whilst I have accepted that the majority of your claimed expenditure, I should point out that life insurance is considered to be a discretionary item, so would be excluded from the expenditure used in the calculation.

The stated figures for £94 per month for Electric and £84 per month for Gas are well in excess of average household expenditure for these items. I would required documentary evidence to support your claim, the figures should be for current use only - arrears are not to be included (these figures were allowed when I had my OR interview in July so I'm not sure what has changed).

Please help as I am so worried we are going to get an IPA and we really can't afford to pay it. In the last IPOQ I submitted I showed a surplus income of £9 per month. It looks to me as if they are trying to find ways of squeezing and IPA out of us.

As we are both bankrupt, does it mean that we can only have £99 surplus between us or is it £99 each?

I can't believe I've just had this letter. I mean, what was the point of letting us buy our life insurance policies back if they weren't going to allow us to continue paying them?

Thanks for your help in advance. I know some of you know how to quote from the technical manual and would appreciate it if you could assist me.

Very very worried poodle, who is also having a bad day as feels really poorly and has had to have blood tests! I feel like crying.

I would be lost without this board!!!!

fiveyearplan

Sorry to hear you're having a bad time poodle! Do you have your recent utility bills and do the figures above tally with them? My expenditure is the same per month but to be honest I don't think my OR even looked at my SOA - he was more interested in making sure I didn't get credit knowing I couldn't pay it back! £99 surplus is for each SOA. Did you do 2 separate SOAs?

creditpunch

((Hugs)) Hang in there Poodle am sure you'll get advice soon.

One question did this letter come from yuor OR or have you been transfered to RTLU?

CP x.

Poodle34

No, we did a joint SOA as we are married and both bankrupt under the same circumstances and on the same date. I am worried sick. We have a 20 month old little boy and this is going to absolutely ruin Christmas for us.

fiveyearplan

I'm sure the £99 is per SOA. Don't worry about your 20 month old son and Christmas - he'll never know what he got and will probably be more interested in the wrapping!

creditpunch

The best thing you could do Poodle is post your SOA (joint or seperate) and let the board examine it for you.

Poodle34

No of People in Household 2 adults & 1 ChildIncome
Wages2107Changed due to NIL Tax code being applied
Wages1009
Child Benefit80
Tax Credit230
Total Incomings3426

Expenditure
Mortgage-492
Secured Loan-320
NIL TAX IPA-360Not on Previous SOA
Mortgage Payment Insurance-51Not on Previous SOA
Electric-94
Gas-84
Water-42
Phone-60
TV Licence-12
Student Loan-114
Council Tax-100
Car Insurance-33
Car Tax-18
House Insurance (buildings & contents)-36
Life Insurance (both)-66
Nursery-650
Food-440
Clothes-100
Petrol & Bus Fare-150
Pets (2 dogs 1 cat)-20
Dry Cleaning -15
Haircuts (all)-25
Dentist (both)-20
Prescriptions (both of us on regular repeat medication)-20
Opticians (both of us wear glases)-20
Broadband (MBA)-10
Domestic Break-45
MOT & car maintenance-20
Total Expenditure-3417
Surplus Income9



Thanks folks. The only other thing that worries me, in my OR interview he told me not to count expenses as my basic wage, so I didn't add my expenses in on this SOA. He has requested my payslip too now and I bet he is going to frown on the fact I deducted my expenses from my take home pay when I listed it on the SOA.

Poodle34

sorry to bump up my own post, but desperate for some advice please!

fiveyearplan

Poodle34 wrote: »

No of People in Household 2 adults & 1 ChildIncome
Wages2107Changed due to NIL Tax code being applied
Wages1009
Child Benefit80
Tax Credit230
Total Incomings3426

You don't count the change in income because of nil tax code because that money isn't yours - you have to pay it to moonbeaver.

Expenditure
Mortgage-492
Secured Loan-320
NIL TAX IPA-360Not on Previous SOA
Mortgage Payment Insurance-51Not on Previous SOA
Electric-94
Gas-84
Water-42
Phone-60
TV Licence-12
Student Loan-114
Council Tax-100
Car Insurance-33
Car Tax-18
House Insurance (buildings & contents)-36
Life Insurance (both)-66 not sure about this
Nursery-650
Food-440
Clothes-100
Petrol & Bus Fare-150
Pets (2 dogs 1 cat)-20
Dry Cleaning -15
Haircuts (all)-25
Dentist (both)-20
Prescriptions (both of us on regular repeat medication)-20
Opticians (both of us wear glases)-20
Broadband (MBA)-10
Domestic Break-45 What is this? Was it on original SOA?
MOT & car maintenance-20
Total Expenditure-3417
Surplus Income9



Thanks folks. The only other thing that worries me, in my OR interview he told me not to count expenses as my basic wage, so I didn't add my expenses in on this SOA. He has requested my payslip too now and I bet he is going to frown on the fact I deducted my expenses from my take home pay when I listed it on the SOA.

Nothing sticks out at me on your SOA - looks pretty good!

Good luck!

Poodle34

Thanks five year plan for that.

Can anyone tell me if life insurance is an allowed expenditure or not please? I mean, why allow us to by it back and then not allow us to pay it. I've just gone over my online BR form that I submitted when I went BR and on the section where it says other essential payments, it says eg. life insurance.

I could do with some clarity on this before I challenge my OR.

Thanks for your help.

Darnit_2

Tell them it isn't discretionary as it is a requirment of the mortagge conditions to have it. I would like to know if they accept that as an explanation.