Ok newbie alert. 7 years burying my head in the sand...

immoral_angeluk

koloko wrote: »

Incomings

Wages £1057.35
Housing Benefit £314.99
Council Tax Benefit - £120.00
Child Benefit £173.33
Child Tax Credits £645.66
Working Tax Credits £125.66


Total = £2436.99


Wow. Not a comment on you Bradley, more on the system, but due to 11 years at university, attaining a masters and a phd, and now working 75 hour weeks including many weekends, I bring home double the wages you do.

However as I do not qualify for any benefits, you still take home £300 a month more than I do. Incredible.

Not a comment on you Bradley, more just wondering where I went wrong.

I'm guessing you don't have 3 children for starters. lol

Bradley_1984

dancingfairy wrote: »

Council Tax is a priority debt and you can go to prison for not paying it. :eek:. However the council must have got liability orders against you and have passed the debt to the bailiffs for recovery. If the bailiffs pass the debt back to the council then the council could in theory go for a comittal hearing - ie they can ask you to have you taken to prison for non-payment. They can find you guilty of culpable neglect or willful refusal - culpable neglect means you are just an idiot and haven't paid and willful refusal means you are deliberately not paying - you really don't want to get to this situation so you must get this sorted.
National Debtline factsheet here:

The only other comments I can make at this moment are 1) you need a spending diary and 2) you need to get a grip before things get much worse.
Good Luck
df

I totally understand, we have an appiontment in 2 weeks with the C.A.B. Once we have sat down and see what we really are spending...it will make more sense. I just felt I had to get this down on paper and what better place than MSE!

koloko

deleted as work colleagues found username and forwaded on all posts to laugh at

dancingfairy

Sky is a lot of money even if it includes, home phone and broadband etc - you really can't be shelling out this much at the moment with your levels of debt - sorry.
df

Bradley_1984

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Please don't misread my intentions, I get the impression by the last comment you think I'm being nasty or something, I'm not, I was just genuinely intrigued as your income seems very high to be eligible, although as you say, the criteria has recently changed and as I work in the advice industry debt/benefits so was interested to see how the changes are taking effect 'on the ground' so to speak.

I'm sorry. I am always very defensive as I get a lot of stick from my finance-conscious family. I came on here for opinions and advice and appreciate your words. But I only recently checked with them and they do hold the correct amounts. Housing is also very expensive where I am so this could be another factor.

Tixy

Bradley_1984 wrote: »

Ok first things first - SOA:


Debts

Capital Oneb £386.99
SAV Credit £455.87
Aqua £542.35
Vanquis £372.77
O2 £60.73
Capital One £488.03
Auto Direct £112.14
Chase £58.93
Three £67.25
EDF £472.76
TV £59.00
Provident £78.15
1st Quote £104.83
Sky £129.92
Water £347.94
Metropolitan £3,799.46
Aktiv Capital £927.10
Southern Water £655.15
Naturally Close £745.41
Barclays Loan £3,381.72
Littlewoods £619.94
BT £240.00
Rossendales Total £3,753.93

Total £17,860.37

Okay you need to get these into priority, first any mortgage or rent arrears, then any council tax (especially council tax with a liability order. Next comes gas & elec then water (I see you have a few of these).
Then after all those comes the regular consumer debt (cards, loans, catalogues etc).

Do you have any CCJs (aside from the liability order for council tax)?
Are any of the debts secured (on a vehicle or other asset).

It would also help to know what you are paying (or what you should be paying to each one of these debts).

dancingfairy

Is food really that low with 3 kids and you and an OH? if so that's pretty good - although I wouldn't be surprised if there were 'top up shops' as well.
With regards to your wife - she either needs to do a spending diary or you will have to do a joint budget and she can have 'an allowance' of 20 per month to spend on whatever she likes and doesn't have to justify it. Perhaps she feels you are judging what she spends her money on - you kind of need to try and get her on board as it sounds like you know there is a problem but she is trying to ignore it.
Hope you get it sorted.
df

Bradley_1984

RAS wrote: »

Is all the Rossendale debt for Council Tax?

They are not correct that you cannot get a CCJ for the other debts.

But they are right that most of your other debts are consumer credit and council tax and utilties are priority debts.

Until you get the CT sorted, you need to pay the consumer debts a token amount.

What is Forbes?

And if you get Child tax credit, do you use any child care?

Yh Rossendales is all for past council tax. Forbes is where we rent our TV, w.machine and tumble dryer. A necessity in our house of 5, also if it ever breaks, they fix it the next day or replace it the next day so really important.

For childcare, we use the NEG grant for out middle child. Our eldest is 7 and at school now.

immoral_angeluk

Incomings

Wages £1057.35
Housing Benefit £314.99
Council Tax Benefit - £120.00
Child Benefit £173.33
Child Tax Credits £645.66
Working Tax Credits £125.66


Total = £2436.99

Outgoings

Car Insurance £65.00 - this is high, is it for the 2 of you?
Tax £11.00
MOT £3.00 - Only £3 for car maintenance?
Travel / Petrol £130.00
Gas / Elec £120.00 - you could get this cheaper if you shopped around.
Water £80.00 - this is very high? any arrears? How do you pay? In one go? Monthly? You could ask to spread it over 12 months instead of the usual 8.
TV Licence £28.50 - very high, does this include arrears?
Rent £541.67 - this is paid on top of your housing benefit? Your rent is very high if so, would you be able to move to a cheaper rental area?
Council Tax £120.00 - does this include arrears? How do you pay, could you spread it over the full year?
Sky £44.00 -non essential, would be queried by a creditor and would likely lead to non acceptance unless you were in a minimum contract term and dropped it to the minimum.
Food £250.00 Very low for a 5 person family.
Forbes £43.00 - if this is a debt repayment don't include it in this part of your SOA.

Total = £1436.17

Debts

Capital Oneb £386.99
SAV Credit £455.87
Aqua £542.35
Vanquis £372.77
O2 £60.73
Capital One £488.03
Auto Direct £112.14
Chase £58.93
Three £67.25
EDF £472.76
TV £59.00
Provident £78.15
1st Quote £104.83
Sky £129.92
Water £347.94
Metropolitan £3,799.46
Aktiv Capital £927.10
Southern Water £655.15
Naturally Close £745.41
Barclays Loan £3,381.72
Littlewoods £619.94
BT £240.00
Rossendales Total £3,753.93

Total £17,860.37 - are all of these debts in your name only or joint? None of them are your partners are they?

Edit: just seen that Forbes is tv etc rental, be careful as this may be queried by a creditor as non essential, if you could otherwise buy a tv, washing machine etc with the income you have. You can get all of the items you're renting off freecycle or ebay for hardly anything and save £43 a month in the process.

Bradley_1984

dancingfairy wrote: »

Sky is a lot of money even if it includes, home phone and broadband etc - you really can't be shelling out this much at the moment with your levels of debt - sorry.
df

I totally agree, but its a fairly new contract (i know...i know...im a pilchard for getting it) so dont want this to be another debt. Soon as the 12 months is up...im outta there!