council refused payment plan, what now?

Ames

stephbond89 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs & Personal Balance Sheet

Summary

Monthly Budget SummaryAmount(£)
Total monthly income1,300
Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans)1,297
Available for debt repayments3
UNsecured debt repayments0
Amount left after debt repayments3

Personal Balance Sheet SummaryAmount(£)
Total Assets (things you own)200
Total Secured & HP Debt-0
Total Unsecured Debt-0
Net Assets200
Household Information

Number of adults in household2
Number of children in household.5 Is this right?
Number of cars owned1
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

IncomeAmount(£)
Monthly income after tax1300
Partners monthly income0
Benefits0nothing for the kids?
Other income0
Total monthly income1300

ExpensesAmount(£)
Mortgage0
Secured/HP loan payments0
Rent420
Management charge (leasehold property)0
Council tax150
Electricity35
Gas60these two seem high depending on how big the property is, if you do have five kids then that's fine, but if there's only the bump then they can come down a bit.
Oil0
Water Rates50ouch! Again, fine if there's five kids, if not then look at getting a meter. If you look on your suppliers website there should be a calculator to see if you're better off with one, it's free to have one fitted and it's free to have it removed within a year if it's not saving you money.
Telephone (land line)11
Mobile phone90:eek:when are you out of contract? You need to cut this down to a tenner pay as you go as soon as you can. Also try phoning them an asking to drop down a tariff, explain you're struggling.
TV Licence35
Satellite/Cable TV55If you got rid of this it'd be the £50 you need for the council tax. Even if you're in contract you can cut it right down to the basic package and save about £35.
Internet services0 really nothing?
Groceries etc.90 this is really good.
Clothing0 really nothing?
Petrol/diesel100 make sure you're driving efficiently, there's an article somewhere on this site.
Road tax10
Car Insurance43 this is high for a car with such low road tax, is there a reason for it? ie, points that will come off soon? When it's up for renewal shop around and get cashback.
Car maintenance (including MOT)0you need something here to stop it catching you out.
Car Parking0
Other travel0
Childcare/nursery0
Other child related expenses0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)0
Pet Insurance/Vet bills0
Buildings Insurance0
Contents Insurance13 make sure you shop around and get cashback on renewal.
Life Assurance0 you should get this when the bump arrives.
Other Insurance0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.)0you need to budget something here
Haircuts0
Entertainment0
Holiday0
Emergency Fund0
debt management50
overdraft payment40
loan45
Total monthly expenses1297

Secured & HP Debt DescriptionDebt(£)Monthly(£)APR(%)Mortgage0(0) 0Secured & HP Debt totals0- -

Unsecured Debt DescriptionDebt(£)Monthly(£)APR(%)Unsecured Debt totals00-

Asset DescriptionValue (£)Cash0House Value (Gross)0Shares and bonds0Car(s)200Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc) 0Total Assets200
Comments on the results
You have sufficient monthly income to meet your expenses and your minimum monthly debt repayments with £3 left over. You can use this to pay off your debts more quickly or to build/top-up an emergency fund. Whatever your results show, it always pays to seek advice or comments from others. Why not post your SOA details on our Debt Management discussion board or on your preferred discussion forum elsewhere. Thankyou for using the SOA Calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.


Just to clarify our tv licence is so high because of starting it halfway through the year, so we are having to pay a very high amount until the new Tv license year!

I have been through this whole thing before though, got a lot of nasty remarks from people because I said that i cannot lower the payments on any of the things in my budget due to them been in contracts etc. Trust me, it has been tried lol!!!!

Well, if you cut sky down to the bare minimum, and send all your other debts just £1 a month then you can cover the extra £50 for council tax easily. Then there's other savings like the phones which can be made as soon as poss to increase the amount you have to pay towards the debts once the council tax crisis is over.

stephbond89

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1300
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 420
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 11
Mobile phone............................ 90
TV Licence.............................. 35
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 90
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 42
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
debt management......................... 50
loan.................................... 45
overdraft............................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1296

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
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,300
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,296
Available for debt repayments........... 4
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 4
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 0
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

stephbond89

its 0.5 kids lol, im pregnant so one on the way, so basically I will have something coming in in a few weeks but not yet!

stephbond89

hey again,
the internet is in with the mobile phones, we have 3 contracts, my husbands which he needs for work really as he is a security guard and although has a works phone, hes not to use it for personal use, so if he's late home or if theres a problem,he's to use his own. I also have a phone, and there is anbother contract which is internet! I am also paying off another contract which is included in this! Buit that finishes in October. None of them can come down, i have cut them down as much as i can.

virgin is at its lowest, it cannot come down, again i have tried.

the gas and electric is right yes, and no i cannot change, this is including arrears from over winter when they messed up my direct debits and had me payoing just £10 a month for each one, we accumulated £300 gas and £200 electric bills which we couldnt afford and so we're on a payment plan which pays the arrears and our usage too. We have tried switching supplier but cannot.

Water is right too, we got the bill half way through a year like the tv licence, and so its higher this year than it'll be next when it will be about £30 a month. A meter would be fine, but we'd have to pay the bill first...so we'd have to find £100 to pay that off first.

My husband works quite a way from home, all of that petrol allowance is for him going to work, we walk everywhere else and have shopping delivered.

I do not buy new clothes as I cannot afford to.

This tax is what we have to save up over the year, so £10 a month, our tax is £120 pet year we have to put £10 a month away to cover it come payment month.

Car Insurance was £124, so we'tre VERY happy with £42, this is also including £7 breakdown which we need as the car is very old and so breaks down in winter when its very cold.

I have been through all of this on another thread i posted a while ago, and ended up almost leaving MSE as I was getting a lot of people getting quite nasty to be honest about my income and expenditure when I said we couldnt cut down on anything.

As for the debts, we have around 10 creditors, and we use a specially formulated calculation used by debt management companies which gives each one around £1-£5 depending on how much we own the company. If this was brought down, they would likely not accept the payment as it is so low. We were lucky to get them to agree to the payments we make as of now, some companies refused at first.

Marisco

Hi Steph, so the £1500 is actually this years CT? To clear it ready for next years' bill, you would have to pay £214pm, that would be clear by March 2011. I get hassle every year 'cos I pay it over 12 months instead of 10, but it pans out by March. I've never owed going into the following years' bill, so I don't really know what they would do!! But I do know they are relentless and heartless:mad: As has been suggested try talking to your local councillor, and stress that you are trying your best, and take a copy of your SOA with you. Good luck

stephbond89

Marisco wrote: »

Hi Steph, so the £1500 is actually this years CT? To clear it ready for next years' bill, you would have to pay £214pm, that would be clear by March 2011. I get hassle every year 'cos I pay it over 12 months instead of 10, but it pans out by March. I've never owed going into the following years' bill, so I don't really know what they would do!! But I do know they are relentless and heartless:mad: As has been suggested try talking to your local councillor, and stress that you are trying your best, and take a copy of your SOA with you. Good luck

its from this year and last year too, they added the two amounts together as we missed some payments this year and last year! So its a bit of both!

RAS

Hi love

I can see why the Council are not prepared to accept the offer. You have satellite TV and massively expensive phone contracts that they simply will not accept as part of your SOA. Plus non-priority debts.

When does the TV licence revert to the proper £12 deal?

Ames

I'm sure you could get breakdown cover for less than £7 a month independently from your insurance, something to think about when it's renewal time.

I know you're putting aside the car tax, but what about something for maintenance, repairs and mot's and things?

When are you out of contract with Virgin and the phones? If your hubbies is just to let you know if he'll be late and stuff then a tenner pay as you go should be more than enough, I get 300 texts for that, plus the tenner to spend on calls, and there are better deals.

How much are the phone and internet contracts for? You can get internet for less than a tenner, so you need to look at changing when you can. You could probably get a bundle with phone and internet with virgin to save money.

It doesn't matter what the credit card, loans etc want you to pay. The bottom line is that you can go to prison for council tax arrears (incredibly rare and almost certain not to happen but it can) but you can't for consumer debt. They can shout and scream as much as they want, but you can only afford £1 to them at the moment.

When will you finish off paying the gas and electric arrears?

With the water, have you been paying from the beginning of when you got the bill? Because there shouldn't be any arrears if you have, you'll have paid for what you've used so far, and so getting a water meter straight away will save you money. I paid my bill by direct debit, and when I changed to a meter they just carried on taking it, I didn't have to wait till the new bill came.

The reason I'm asking when the contracts come to an end is that if it's over the next few months you might be able to cancel things and increase what you pay to the council so that it is all cleared by April.

I'm sorry you've had harsh comments in the past, there are some judgemental people about but most of us just want to help.

debrag

stephbond89 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1300
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 420
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 60 - arrears?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50 - arrears?
Telephone (land line)................... 11
Mobile phone............................ 90 - arrears or high contracts?
TV Licence.............................. 35
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 90
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 42
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
debt management......................... 50
loan.................................... 45
overdraft............................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1296

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
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,300
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,296
Available for debt repayments........... 4
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 4
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 0
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Are any of the above arrears?

AndreaE

Might you be entitled to Council Tax Benefit?

I'm not sure what the criteria are but I know someone who was having a problem with Council Tax arrears and I think had even been taken to Court for it but when she applied for Council Tax Benefit, not only was she given it for the current year but they wiped out most of her arrears too.

Worth checking the Benefits Advisor:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DoItOnlineByCategory/DG_172666