First-time poster - don't know where to start

Saturnalia

I'm scared and confused, in debt up to my eyeballs. I suppose my SOA would be the best way to begin.

I'm on JSA and housing benefit of £634p.m. and I do a day a week work, earning £240 (take-home). So my monthly income is £874.

Rent £447
Bills £25
Phone £30
Debt repayments £295

That leaves me £77 per month to eat and pay travel fares with.

The debts I am paying break down as follows -
2009 at £30 p.m.
3344 at £20 p.m.
3340 at £80 p.m.
768 at £20 p.m.
580 at £145 p.m.

The worst of it is that those are just debts to loans, credit cards etc... I also have council tax debts I have just been hit with and need to make arrangements to repay, and I don't have any money.

£200 to Borough A (for a flat I lived in 3 years ago that they are chasing now, I didn't know I owed this.)
£250 to Borough B (for the flat I stayed in for a month last year as a favour to a friend while between flats - turns out the council tax was owing and I'm the only ex-tenant they can find.)
£350 to Borough B for my current address
£1650 to Borough A (housing benefit which was paid to me in error, I offered immediately to pay it back but they refused and told me to wait for their invoice, no invoice has ever arrived, that was 6 months ago and stupidly I left the money in my account and I spent it. I could kick myself for being such a moron.)

So that makes £2450 that I need to find from somewhere... what on earth can I do?

loumac

There are more experienced and qulaified people on here to respond first but just wanted to say well done for getting started!

SOA is definitely the best place to begin and although it might look scary there is always something that can be done now that you know what the problems are.

Is there any way at all you could increase your income? Even something like ebaying or car boot? Just to create a little more coming in.

You've listed bills as £25 and phone as £30. Does the phone need to be that much?

Obviously most of your income is going on debt repayment. What is the APR on what you're paying back?

Keep your chin up, as you'll see from lots of people on this post - it can be done! xx

Tixy

Hi and welcome to MSE

Firstly you need to tackle council tax arrears before any unsecured cards/loans etc. These are priority debts.

Do you get full JSA even though you work one day a week? Do you live alone (you housing benefit looks high for 1 person). Do you now get council tax benefit?

What does the bills figure cover? gas, elec, water, tv licence, insurance? anything else?

It would help if you could complete this SOA so we can see more detailed breakdown of your outgoings and more info on each debt - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Essentially though you need to come to some arrangement with the councils regarding your arrears. Do any already have liability orders? if they do then baliffs will likely be instructed. If baliffs do turn up do not let them in.

Regarding the second arrears you mention - were you ever formally a tenant at this address? were you on the electoral roll at this address? I wonder if you can be held liable for this amount, someone will advise but we may need more info from your first.

You will probably need to suspend payments to all your other creditors and just pay £1k token payment to each per month whilst you sort out your council tax arrears. If this is the case there are template letters you can use.

Well done for taking the first step and posting to ask for advice

saxysarah

firstly well done for stopping off here u are surrounded by people in both worse and better situations to give you support and hopefully advice.

I agree the next best step is to fill in a proper SOA that will calculate everything for you so dig out all your paperwork cos you'll need all the loan aprs etc grab your bank statements and a big cup of coffee - sometimes when you estimate figures in your head they just don't add up the same
I agree you shouldnt be liable for the £250 council tax bit of the debt - seems a lot for a flat for a month anyway and i'd start with ringing the councils and coming up with a figure you can afford - same for the cards etc ---then you can look into ways of saving money earning extra cash to overpay so you can get them sorted quicker
i'm only a newbie i'm sure others will have much better advice than me

good luck

sillyrabbit

I'd be asking Borough B in the first instance how they came up with the figure of £250 for one month in a property that wasn't yours?! Definitely do the full SOA - it really is enlightening and hopefully will help you see where you can cut back. Good luck!

Saturnalia

Ok, here goes with the SOA.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 240
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 388
Other income............................ 256
Total monthly income.................... 884
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 447
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 15
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 5
Groceries etc. ......................... 50
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 25
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 582

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
Capquest.......................768.......20........0
I Can Pay You..................3340......80........0
Mercers........................580.......145.......0
Council Tax Borough B..........250.......0.........0
Council Tax Borough A..........200.......0.........0
Council Tax Now................350.......0.........0
Benefit to repay...............1650......0.........0
Credit Solutions...............2099......30........0
Debt Managers..................3344......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........12581.....295.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 884
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 582
Available for debt repayments........... 302
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 295
Amount left after debt repayments....... 7
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,581
Net Assets.............................. -12,581


I'll try to answer all your questions in order - thank you all for your replies, it's been very helpful to me.

PHONE - yep that is expensive. I'm on a contract which is supposed to be £25p.m. but the bills are always more. I'm locked in this contract until November but when it expires I'll be looking into PAYG.

APR - all the debts have gone onto debt recovery firms so I'm not sure what the interest is, if any.

COUNCIL TAX ON LAST FLAT - I was stung on this. I moved in to take a friend's room over the summer as she was leaving before the end of her contract. I was registered as living there as I claimed housing benefit there. The other 4 people have all left, owing the money, and I'm the only one they can find. It has been to court and a liability order granted, which is why I need to make arrangements quickly to pay it.

INCOME - I get £256 JSA per month, 388 housing benefit, and I'm paid 240 (after deductions).

Saturnalia

I've done some sums on this. I have £302 in total to throw at my debts each month. I'm going to write to my creditors (the loans & cards) and get them to accept a token payment of £1 per month, which leaves me with £297 to sort the priority debts.

I've worked out those on the basis that if one priority debt is 40% of the total priority debt, they get 40% of the £297 - is that the correct way to do it? If so, that means:

£1650 (benefit repayment) pay 199 p.m.
£200 (Borough A) pay 25 p.m.
£250 (Borough pay 30 p.m.
£350 (Current Council Tax) pay 43 p.m.

which means that in just over 8 months those will be clear, and I will then be able to pour the rest of that money into my other debts.

(Of course I hope that soon I will be working - I'm trying like mad to get full-time work but it isn't happening at the mo, however I've had an extra 3 days work this week and hopefully the temping will carry on like that!)

I can't believe what a difference plucking up my courage and joining this site has made. When I first posted I couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Now I can see the direction I need to head in.