What a pickle - SOA for DMP, please advise

Ames

No, you assumed right. It's definitely the case for bankruptcy and making token payments and so I'm sure it is for DMPs. I think it just depends on the charity concerned. There are CCCS (assuming it was them) people who post on here if you want to ask them, I think there's a sticky thread about it. You don't have to go with the first company you speak to, there's absolutely nothing wrong with asking for a second or even third opinion and going with which one seems best for you.

catmiaow

Lee_m wrote: »

You are right, you're not being helpful.

If you read my entire post you will see that some amounts were advised to me based on "guidelines" (I honestly don't know how much I spend on entertaining (maybe the occasional sunday lunch), haircuts (When required), Fags (my Husband has mental health issues and has tried many times to give them up, but his personality completely changes). In addition my husband is disabled and I'm his fulltime carer, (I think I'm on about 30 pence an hour based on the CA I receive). His disability also makes working impossible. I'm not a shirker (I worked from the age of 13). You have no idea of my personal circumstances and so I don't appreciate your assumptions. But thanks for taking the time to look anyway.

People are just commenting on the details given, I am not saying I agree with all of it. However both me and my partner work and are earning less than what you get in benefits and we could not afford Sky, all that money on tobacco and the huge grocery bills so you must expect from what people can see on your SOA, it can get some people's backs up.

catmiaow

Lee_m wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I have been intouch with a debt charity and went through my income and expenditure. In the areas I was unsure about the advisor told me that there were guidelines on amounts that could be applied. So, I let the advisor take the lead in these areas. The lady even said that there would be an allowance for tobacco. When we received the hard copy, I realised that my husbands DLA had been taken into account. I don't think the advisor asked me about my husbands care costs and so were not mentioned in the original call and from what I had read previously (maybe incorrect info) I thought that when it came to DLA it was placed in the income and then the entire amount was deducted as an expenditure for the purposes it was intended. Now as it stands based on our and their guideline amounts we have a deficit, so when I rang back they advised us to look at our expenditure again and come back to them. I'm not sure whether I should be looking at a DMP or DRO. Unfortunately some of the debt accrued has been quite recent and so I think a DRO is probably not an option (Please correct me if I'm wrong). I have been advised on the BR forum to contact the CAB, but wanted some of your expert advice also.

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................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits (Inc. DLA & CA).......................... 1606
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1606
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 87 - seems really high, can you talk to your supplier about going on a different plan that may be cheaper? Look into ways to cut down usage
Gas (inc. Arrears)................... 87 - as above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates (Inc. Arrears)............ 45
Telephone (land line & Internet)..... 45
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV (Half price offer).................. 24.5 - get rid as soon as poss, you can't afford
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 471 - I would say you could achieve £250 a month, by meal planning and making shopping lists it really works
Clothing................................ 50 - you can cut this down a lot easily
Petrol/diesel........................... 130 why is this so high? Whether you live in rural area or not do you REALLY need to spend so much?
Road tax................................ 19
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 44
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses (inc. 1 Annual School trip + Sports & Pocket Money)............ 45
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................................ 22
Entertainment........................... 40 - Can you not get by on free entertainment for now and put this towards debt?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 41
Care Expenses (Covered by DLA).......... 290
Newspaper/Magazines..................... 13 Do you really need this?
Dry cleaning............................ 10 Same as above
Tobacco................................. 151 Wow this is extremely high and a huge waste of money, My mum recently quit smoking after 35 years, it can be done, you need to look into it.
Total monthly expenses.................. 1691.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card (Me)....................1669......0.........0
Credit Card (Me)....................1490......0.........0
Credit Card (Me)....................2160......0.........0
CCJ (Me)...............................982.......0.........0
Council (Joint).........................2277......0.........0
Overdraft (Joint)......................200.......0.........0
Overdraft (Me)......................307.......0.........0
Door Step Lender (Me)............391.......0.........0
Catalogue (Me)......................76........0.........0
Catalogue (Me)......................502.......0.........0
Catalogue (Me)......................1081......0.........0
Catalogue (Me)......................543.......0.........0
Store Card (Me).....................290.......0.........0
Store Card (Me).....................1120......0.........0
Credit Card (Me)....................1215......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........14303.....0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,606
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,691.5
Available for debt repayments........... -85.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -85.5
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,303
Net Assets.............................. -13,803
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Thankyou

Comments in red above, Not sure how these banks gave you credit but perhaps you could speak to them about freezing interest and get into a payment plan with them? Or consider bankruptcy?

WASHER

What is the debt you owe to the council? £2K

WASHER.x.

Lee_m

catmiaow wrote: »

People are just commenting on the details given, I am not saying I agree with all of it. However both me and my partner work and are earning less than what you get in benefits and we could not afford Sky, all that money on tobacco and the huge grocery bills so you must expect from what people can see on your SOA, it can get some people's backs up.

It was never my intention offend people. If either my husband or I could work we certainly would.

WASHER

Lee_m wrote: »

It was never my intention offend people. If either my husband or I could work we certainly would.

PLEASE REMEMBER ON THIS BOARD WE DO NOT JUDGE PEOPLE, REMEMBER MARTINS' FORUM ADVICE, BE NICE TO MONEYSAVERS.

Lee has come here for help, and whether we like it or not the fact she is receiving benefits, we should treat her with the same respect as all other posters.

fatbelly

dancingfairy wrote: »

Could they do one each or is it a joint thing with regards to the max amount allowed?
df

DROs are done on an individual basis, so if the OP went for one, the partner would still be pursued for the council debt and the overdraft.

Lee_m wrote: »

Some of the credit is quite recent and though not intentional (and maybe irresponsible) thought that perhaps there might be a fraud implication. Is there a timescale for this? Would the DLA be treated the same "In" & "Out" under a DMP?

Most unlikely to be any repercussions. Restriction Order is a possibility but I'd be surprised.

DMP providers do treat DLA differently. Who's right and who's wrong usually generates a bit of heat on these boards.

Lee_m wrote: »

It was never my intention offend people. If either my husband or I could work we certainly would.

Quite right, and those who get offended by looking at SOAs are probably on the wrong board!

Lee_m

Sorry for the delay in responding to you as my husband hasn't been well at all.

I thought that a DRO was personal, so I'd like to ask does my husband have to enter into it as well. He said that he would maintain the monthly payments for the council and joint overdraft from his dla. If this was the case does his dla need to be mentioned as income as the rest of the debts are in my name?

Even after making cuts to our expenditure it will take many, many years to pay these debts back under a dmp and due to my husbands mental health problems and the day-to-day stress levels of looking after him feel that (for both our sanities) the only option would be a DRO for me. However, if my husband doesn't enter into the DRO, how would the intermediary sort out the benefits that are paid jointly.

Ideally, what I'd like to do is push the situation as far as possible so that I am told that a DRO is my only option. I'm obviously aware that others are struggling for years themselves to repay their debts and for that I take my hat off to them as they have my deepest respect, but as my husbands health has no real prospects of improving (and consequently our income) a DRO seems to be the only logical conclusion. I've recently read about something called the CFS and trigger figures and was wondering does anyone know or could PM (entirely in confidence) what they would be for a family in our situation.

Again to reiterate from my earlier post, I've no intention to offend anyone but feel that this my only option.

Thankyou for your support so far! :T

Tixy

I think a DRO does look like the right option for you, you are right that only you would be doing the DRO. You would really need to speak to one of the debt charities to talk through how they would split up your income/expenses so that the DRO would just be based on your figures (and they should be able to help you demonstrate that you qualify).

I think CAB are probably the best people to discuss the DRO with (I think they have done the most DROs since they were introduced). As fatbelly said earlier though you need to act sooner rather than later as you don't want your debts to increase above the £15k threshold.

I think the figures you are after might be the one in the link in this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2519501 but you will need an indivdual SoA so think talking to CAB is your best bet to make sure you follow the rules in splitting of costs etc.

PS - hope your husband is better now/improving.

Jacey53

Dear Lee

I have nothing to add on the SOA, but wanted to say that you should stop beating yourself up for having to claim benefits - they exist to help people who need that help, mostly through troubles not of their own making.
We do not know what will happen in the future to any of us. I have a good job with a reasonable salary and still managed to get into debt through my own carelessness - I would hate to have to live on benefit levels.
And whatever the rights and wrongs of the benefit system, the real reason the government is targeting it is because people on benefits have no political clout and it is easy to rouse the rabble into vilifying them.
The financial sector is now back to paying huge bonuses, heavily disguised, but the government will not target those who could pay much more into the coffers.