Help please......can't see the woods for the trees anymore!

mikee31

Hi all,

Some help urgently required please. Following redundancy last year I had to take a much lesser paid job, with much higher travel expenses than I was previously used to. Add to that my partner being laid off from her p/t job and finding it difficult to find anything else which fits round dropping off/picking up the kids from school and now I am struggling to pay everything.

Even when things were good I neglected my debts and realise in hindsight that I have been very stupid. I am speaking with CCCS and Payplan regarding going forward with a DMP but am willing to seek suggestions here first to see if other areas can be reduced in order to increase what I can pay to my debtors, as I am worried that they will reject what I can currently afford.

SOA below;

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1810
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 138
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1948

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 540
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 97
Electricity............................. 23
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 33
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 13
Car Insurance........................... 54
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 258
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 34
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 11
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 40
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1640

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 900
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 130900

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 90000....(540)......3.7
Total secured & HP debts...... 90000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA Credit Card...............12500.....250.......?
Lloyds TSB Loan................45000.....507.......?
Total unsecured debts..........57500.....757.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,948
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,640
Available for debt repayments........... 308
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 757
Amount short for making debt repayments. -449

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 130,900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -90,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -57,500
Net Assets.............................. -16,600

WASHER

Had a quick look at your SOA.

Firstly your wife needs to get a job, evening, weekends, anything that will help you.

Internet seems high, and a few others bits and pieces, but in reality I cannot forsee £449 to make up the shortfall.

However, have you considered selling your house, you have £40K equity to repay alot of the debt and renting until your debts are cleared.

WASHER.x.

Tixy

Hi

mikee31 wrote: »

Hi all,

Some help urgently required please. Following redundancy last year I had to take a much lesser paid job, with much higher travel expenses than I was previously used to. Add to that my partner being laid off from her p/t job and finding it difficult to find anything else which fits round dropping off/picking up the kids from school and now I am struggling to pay everything.

Even when things were good I neglected my debts and realise in hindsight that I have been very stupid. I am speaking with CCCS and Payplan regarding going forward with a DMP but am willing to seek suggestions here first to see if other areas can be reduced in order to increase what I can pay to my debtors, as I am worried that they will reject what I can currently afford.

SOA below;

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1810
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 138 have you double checked you are getting all you can? www.entitledto.co.uk is your partner claiming JSA?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1948

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 540 repayment or interest only?
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 97
Electricity............................. 23 not high but still worth researching if your gas & elec are with the cheapest providers and best tariffs (the online ones are usually the best tariffs)
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 33
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 25 telephone, satellite tv & internet are costing £65 all in, should be able to get cheaper by combining 2 or all 3. Or consider ditching sky and using freeview. Cheapest landline & internet deals are around £20ish combined
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 not bad, but all savings help
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 13
Car Insurance........................... 54 quite high, especially considering car value, do you have points? or a high ins group car? have you shopped around & followed tips on earning cash back etc?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10 is this sufficent for mot, servicing, tyres etc?
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 258 what is this? is is the cheapest form eg a season ticket? is a car still essential if you commute via public transport?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 34
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 11
Contents insurance...................... 11 again, shop around to see if you could get a better deal, make sure your cover is appropriate (some automatically have really high contents cover that people may not always need)
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 40 what is this for? again have you shopped around?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1640

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 900
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 130900

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 90000....(540)......3.7
Total secured & HP debts...... 90000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA Credit Card...............12500.....250.......?
Lloyds TSB Loan................45000.....507.......?
Total unsecured debts..........57500.....757.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,948
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,640
Available for debt repayments........... 308
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 757
Amount short for making debt repayments. -449

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 130,900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -90,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -57,500
Net Assets.............................. -16,600

Good luck with setting your DMP up. Hope OH manages to find something suitable soon.

mikee31

Thanks Washer, yes she's looking very hard at the moment and in the meantime using Ebay as another means of some money coming in. She was previously earning around £400 per month, so something like that again would help massively!

Selling the house is definitely something we are considering, as its really too small for us now. The only problem is its in need of some diy and therefore not immediately saleable, and as a result need to spend money on paint, etc.

Thanks again.

Tixy

If you are thinking of setting up a DMP, and talking to charities etc it is quite normal to just send token payments for one month, if you did this along with a template letter that would give you a small amount of money which can be put aside for emergencies or perhaps the paint costs etc if you do consider selling the house.

Link to a token payment/hold action letter http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=21937969&postcount=52

WASHER

Can I suggest your wife looks on your local council website, it is a great time of year for schools to have vacancies for midday assistants/kitchen staff/cleaners etc which will fit in with the children. It may not be highly paid, but once she has her foot in the door, the possibilities are endless. (Talking from experience here).

mikee31

Thanks Tixy.

Is your partner claiming JSA? - No not yet, only recently happened and was hoping for a new job asap, but will get her to action this as I know from experience this can take time.


Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 540 repayment or interest only? - Repayment. Mortgage company are ****holes but will see in Interest only is viable.
Electricity............................. 23 not high but still worth researching if your gas & elec are with the cheapest providers and best tariffs (the online ones are usually the best tariffs) - Yes changed earlier in year and EON have only just reduced to this as we were paying too much previously.
Internet Services....................... 25 telephone, satellite tv & internet are costing £65 all in, should be able to get cheaper by combining 2 or all 3. Or consider ditching sky and using freeview. Cheapest landline & internet deals are around £20ish combined - Will look into this.
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 not bad, but all savings help - Hmm, not sure we can go much lower, but will try!
Car Insurance........................... 54 quite high, especially considering car value, do you have points? or a high ins group car? have you shopped around & followed tips on earning cash back etc? - Previously had company car, therefore had no 'no claims bonus etc', and was best deal I could get last October despite car only being a small 1.0L Peugeot 106!
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10 is this sufficent for mot, servicing, tyres etc? - Seems ok at moment as not had any problems (yet!) and only doing around 200 miles per month.
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 258 what is this? is is the cheapest form eg a season ticket? is a car still essential if you commute via public transport? - Yes, my main bug bear! Cheapest monthly Travelcard I can get into London. Car needed for weekend use.
Buildings insurance..................... 11
Contents insurance...................... 11 again, shop around to see if you could get a better deal, make sure your cover is appropriate (some automatically have really high contents cover that people may not always need) - Have B&C together for £22 so just split equal for ease. Will look into cheaper option.
Other insurance......................... 40 what is this for? again have you shopped around? - Well not really insurance, but private pension. Previously had company pension plan and wanted to keep paying into....realise it may have to sit for a while though.

Thanks again for response/advice.

mikee31

Token payments - check.
School vacancies - check.

Will look into. Thanks again guys.

lazy_daisy

£138 per month looks like child benefit for 2 kids. You should be able to claim tax credits too.
Good luck!

RAS

Tax credit to recover some of the lost income?

Sorry but you simply cannot afford the car. It needs to go.

Do you have your bank account with the same company or a related one to your loan or CC. If so, your most urgent action is a new bank account into which your income and benefits are paid, before they decide to off-set your income against your debts and leave you nothing to live off one month.

mikee31

Thanks Lazy Daisy/RAS will look into the tax credits.

RE: the car, thought this may get mentioned, not something I want to do but understand the reasoning, will consider.

Bank account is seperate. LTSB have indeed taken from my account before and left me short without notice!