Our SOA as requested

Cheeselady

DH and I have sat down and have now done our SOA, it makes scary reading. :eek:

As some of you may know from my previous threads, DH lost his job 3 months ago and is trying to start up a new business with some colleagues of his old company, which is not progressing very quickly at the moment, so that's all up in the air, he has another meeting next week to discuss what to do, so we should know more then. I know that even before him losing his job we were in a mess, but stuck our heads under the carpet. The time has come to get a reality check, we have an advisor coming from the Christians Against Poverty (CAP) in a couple of weeks, and will also do the CCCS online debt thingy, as well, and might give them a ring too, to explore all options. We both feel as small as we possibly could, what can we say, we got it wrong, but I guess now is the time to take it on the chin and try and sort it out, anyway will stop rambling and let you all look at our SOA, I really hope we aren't a hopeless case, as it looks pretty hopeless to me.

So, this SOA is the worst case scenario, where DH has no income from employment at all (if the new business doesn't work out), and also it doesn't include Housing Benefit, as we haven't applied for it yet, but from reading the online information, it would be around £550 if we did get it, but I didn't want to count our chickens so have left it off for now.

The 3 adults include our daughter, who's 20, and lives with us, not sure if I should have put her down as a child or not? Also, the second car is her old banger, so not sure if we should have put that on? She is a full time student at Uni with a part-time job, and is giving us £50 per week towards her keep, half her wages, which is the figure entered in 'other income'. Her student loan and grant cover her living expenses, travel, clothes, entertainment, so no extra expense needed from us. Our other child is 16 years old, just waiting for his GCSE results, hoping to go into 6th form, so he is still fully dependent on us, but is looking for a part-time job but no luck as yet. If DH's new business doesn't work out, we would look into EMA for our son.

DH's monthly income is his pension from a 25 year employment many moons ago.

My income (listed in the partner's income box) is my pension from when I used to work (had to give up work due to disability).

The benefits are my Incapacity Benefit and DLA, also child benefit and child tax credits for our 16 year old who will continue in full-time education from September.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 420
Partners monthly income after tax....... 180
Benefits................................ 750
Other income............................ 225
Total monthly income.................... 1575
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 925
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 140
Electricity............................. 57
Gas..................................... 57
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 58.50 *Reduced to £34.25 for 6 months
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 20
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 23
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 22
Life assurance ......................... 150
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 35
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2066


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description.............................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total credit cards...................60000.....1800......0
details:
HSBC Balance £11,800 Limit £12,000 APR 16%
Capital One B£8,200 L£8,200 26%
Egg B5,000 Account Closed £16%
Virgin B7,000 Account Closed 18%
Marbles B9,000 Account Closed 18%
Tesco B£5,000 L£5,200 18%
Bank of Scotland B3,000, L£3,200 20%
Nationwide £8,500 L£8780 16%
loan...........................9000......250.......12
overdraft......................9000......0.........15
Total unsecured debts..........78000.....2050......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,575
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,066
Available for debt repayments........... -491
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,050
Amount short for making debt repayments. -2,541
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -78,000
Net Assets.............................. -74,000
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

There, it's out there now, don't know if I feel better or worse at the moment. Would appreciate any help you can give.

angelicmary85

Cheeselady wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 420
Partners monthly income after tax....... 180
Benefits................................ 750
Other income............................ 225
Total monthly income.................... 1575
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 925
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 140
Electricity............................. 57
Gas..................................... 57
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59
Telephone (land line)................... 20 Incoming calls only?
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 15 Should this not be £13ish?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 58 This has to go!!
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 You could probably shave a few quid off here
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 20
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 23
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 22
Life assurance ......................... 150 WOW!!
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 35
Entertainment........................... 50 You have to cut this down!
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 You should try to get something for here.
Total monthly expenses.................. 2066


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description.............................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total credit cards...................60000.....1800......0
details:
HSBC Balance £11,800 Limit £12,000 APR 16%
Capital One B£8,200 L£8,200 26%
Egg B5,000 Account Closed £16%
Virgin B7,000 Account Closed 18%
Marbles B9,000 Account Closed 18%
Tesco B£5,000 L£5,200 18%
Bank of Scotland B3,000, L£3,200 20%
Nationwide £8,500 L£8780 16%
loan...........................9000......250.......12
overdraft......................9000......0.........15
Total unsecured debts..........78000.....2050......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,575
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,066
Available for debt repayments........... -491
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,050
Amount short for making debt repayments. -2,541
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -78,000
Net Assets.............................. -74,000
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Have left a few comments - Good luck with your debt free journey! x

Cheeselady

angelicmary85 wrote: »

Have left a few comments - Good luck with your debt free journey! x

Thanks for your comments
phone £20 is half the £40 payment we make to BT each month, that covers all the calls (outgoing as well), the other half is listed under 'internet', making it up to the £40.

TV licence, oh possibly, lol

Satellite/cable, yes we are going to ring them and try and shave something off, movies can go for a start, will get DH to ring them, but loathe to lose it altogether, as it's my main form of socialisation/entertainment due to the restrictions my deafness brings, but if it has to go, it has to go, I'm prepared to do that if I have to.

Groceries, yes, I actually did a £50 shop this week, so it would probably be under the 300 figure, but still finding ways to cut down, using these forums so yes it will be less than that in the long term

Entertainment - not sure why DH put £50, he goes to the pub twice a month, that's it really, also DS's xbox is £5 a month, but loath to take that off him, it's not his fault we are in this mess, I would rather eat beans on toast every day before I do that. So probably less than £50 all told.

yes, Life Assurance is a wow, but that's what it costs to cover DH, he has a few health problems which bump it up, the payout isn't a great deal either. It also includes some cover for myself as well.

Emergency Fund - if we get the housing benefit and also if DH found some work, then there would be something to put in here.

Thanks for your comments.

Hannah_10

Daughter is an adult yes. Because she is an adult take her car out of the assets list, it's about you and your husband and your responsibilities. Selling a 20 year olds car off isn't something that's allowed to happen just because she shares a roof with you still, it's hers not yours as a family, so her car doesn't belong on here. That said I would leave in the £50 a week housekeeping as it offsets her electric and food costs.

Your income is low, check any benefits you might be entitled to by calling the CAB or using the online tool at www.entitledto.co.uk (that said the online tool worked mine out all wrong). JSA springs to mind, as do the Tax Credits, be sure to apply even if you're unsure, they might just say yes! Be aware you can apply for everything all at once, you don't have to see what one lot say before you put in a form to the other lot, just get them all in. With £925 of rent I would expect to see more there for Housing Benefit or Local Housing Allowance than is currently showing. As you're not getting this then call your County Council or Borough Council for forms as they administer it not the Benefits Agency. They also administer Council Tax Benefit (sometimes called Council Tax Relief) so ask for forms for that too. If it's quicker to just drop into a Council office on Monday Morning then do so, as they wont usually backdate any claims, so if you wait until Tuesday you lose a days money- at £30 a day rent you can't afford to!

With your second daughter being 16 now and able to fend for herself to an extent then can you take more hours at work? Could you take a second income anywhere, like start eBaying seriously or advertise yourself as a babysitter? Mystery shopping is fun, paid online surveys are a bit of a bore unless you're into that kind of thing and if you can bake like my Nan you'll make a fortune selling cakes in the office... I wish I could bake like my Nan! Anyhow all these ideas and more are discussed on the Up Your Income board, head over for a browse.

Electric, gas and water are always potentials for lowering. Have you tried a comparission site like USwitch to see if you could lower your bills that way? There are other sites that tell you if you'd be better off on a water meter too although my mind has gone blank of any names at present they should be search-engine-able.

Phone and mobile very good, if you can make savings do, but not really urgent I'd say. Satalite TV HOW MUCH :eek:, this is going to have to go, so sorry. Also internet's not cheap, can you switch it or go for a lower package? Sometimes phone and internet together makes for a better deal).

Groceries are fair, but consider the downshifting challenge and if you can make more things from scratch. Your car maintainence is a bit high but your petrol, insurance and parking knock that well into shape so your motoring costs are overall quite fair.

What's the medical for? You shouldn't be paying for prescriptions anymore your income is too low, raise this when you speak to the benefits agency, they will tell you more. In the mean time as long as you have a claim for a means tested benefit being processed whether you're approved or not you can tick the box on the back of a prescription and get it free. If this is for contact lenses see the main site- prescription glasses (nice ones too) can be as little as £8 a pair. If this is for dental again you ought to be getting at least subsidised rates now.

Pet insurance/vets bills is high, do you have a lot of elderly animals? Can you switch this? What about the PDSA? They pay vet bills (even jabs and neutering) for people on low incomes- you are on a very low income! Phone the vet and ask about it.

Contents insurance is worth checking for switchability too.

Life assurance £150, I'm sorry again but you can't afford this. Check on the reclaiming boards to see if you can get anything back from this policy before you leap and cancel.

Presents is reasonable, haircuts is far too high. Your local 6th form which teaches hairdressing will have a salon where you can get a supervised student to cut your hair for a very small amount or sometimes for free. Consider changing styles to something that requires less maintainance. I know it hurts, I'm sorry to bring bad news.

Even £50 entertainment is £50 you don't have presently and so it's got to be zeroed for the forseeable.

I'm not even going to think about addressing the debt part of your SOA until you've got your income addressed because right now it's impossible and anyway I'm quite sure you're entitled to more help than you're geting. Address this as priority No.1 on Monday at 8.30am (benefits agency open at 8.30- council probably at 9).

If you want to at least do something about those debts in the mean time send the creditors a copy of this SOA and a covering letter to say that for now you cna not afford to make any further payments as your household expenditure exceeds your income by £500 just for your living expenses and your total debt repayments would curently be over £2000 a month on top of that. Say you have applied for several benefits and you will be looking again at your options with a view to clearing your debts whn you have recieved decisions relating to those applications. Then just leave it at that. Some will be difficult, some will be helpful, but that's all a tomorrow problem. The today problem is making your money go 25% further just to cover your essential living costs.

happycamel_2

Hi,

I agree with AngelicMary, the life assurance has to go - or at least be minimised. As does the sat TV. Not a great situation to be in, I know, but realistically you need to minimise expenditure on anything that isn't strictly necessary and get those high interest debts down.

Also, your grocery bill is quite high, try the old school boards for some advice but basically use cheaper cuts of meat, plan you meals to minimise waste, bulk out with veg and bake your own bread/cakes etc rather than buying.

Other than that, is there any hope of dh or you getting some work? Maybe Avon or Virgin Vie for you. One of my friends, recently redundant, has been doing some taxi driving for a local firm which seems to be working out quite well, could DH do that?

Your water rates seem very high. I only pay £60 every six months. Any chance you could get a meter or reduce your usage? Same for gas and electric, you could save a few quid by cutting down usage.

Can your 16 year old find work so that he can buy his own treats? I worked in a supermarked one evening a week and every Sunday from when I was 16. Then full time in school holidays. Maybe your daughter could increase her hours now its vacation.

Try getting model/trainee haircuts to reduce costs there. Maybe you could get some clippers and do dh and ds's? Can you roll the broadband in with your mobile phone tarriff or landline and get a deal? With O2 and Orange (don't know about the others) broadband is only £6.50 a month unlimited.

Okay, next question isn't pretty but you've spent £78,000 on something. Can you sell any of it to put towards your debts? Boot fairs, ebay, for old clothes, furniture, electricals etc.

Good luck to you and your DH, I hope the business works out in the meantime remember every small step counts and we're all here supporting you.

jwil

I know you say you don't want to get rid of the satellite - could you not get a phone TV and internet package with sky? That would surely be cheaper than what you are paying now.

You could also check out Weezl's thread on here, and the website they built - http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/ it's brilliant, and comes up with a mealplan to feed a family of 4 for £100 in a month. There are some great recipes on there, even if you don't follow the whole plan.

KiKi

Hi Cheeselady

Just a few comments to go on for now.

Cheeselady wrote: »

Electricity............................. 57
Gas..................................... 57

Hop over to https://www.moneysupermarket.com and compare your £114 a month with other elec and gas companies. If you can get it cheaper (and I suspect that you can), then swap companies. You can even get cash back when you swap by going to https://www.uswitch.com or a casback site like https://www.quidco.com (eg, Scottish Power used to offer £70 cash if you move to them). But find which would be the cheapest supplier for you first.

Also - and this may sound silly but trust me, it really makes a difference - don't leave anything on standby! A TV on standby uses 80% of the electricity as when it's on, and the same goes for chargers (laptops, mobiles etc). Switch everything off properly. Turn lights off if you're not in the room. Wash clothes at 30C and try and do one less wash a week. Turn the heating down a degree or two (when you have it on). All these little things will help get your bill down - I halved mine!

Water rates............................. 59

Are you on a water meter to make sure that you're only spending what the water costs you?

Telephone (land line)................... 20
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 58
Internet Services....................... 20

Woah! £100 a month on your phone, TV and internet! I get phone and 10MB internet for £19.99 with Virgin, so you can definitely get this down!!

I know you don't go out much so the TV is your entertainment, but I'm sure you never watch all those channels. Honestly, Freeview has LOADS of channels with plenty of films and good TV! You can always get a cheaper version again once the debt is cleared if you need it. But perhaps give Freeview a try? It includes lots of non-terrestrial channels.

Groceries etc. ......................... 300

Well done for making inroads here - you can probably get this down further by going to the Old Style board where they have loads of tips. I always feel so pleased with myself when I can spend £20 a week on a shop!

Life assurance ......................... 150

Seriously? Could you compare it with other deals and look at moving? Or could you leave it until you are able to pay it again once your debt is cleared? I know you said your DH has some health issues, but that's a serious amount of money you're paying out there and there may be options to move it to a cheaper plan or suspend it for a few months. Perhaps have a look into it?

Haircuts................................ 35

That's a lot for haircuts every month! I pay £20 and get mine cut 3 or 4 times a year. I appreciate it's for you, DH and DS but that's still a lot. Could you reduce it a bit, for now? Perhaps allow yourself a cut once every 3 months for £20 for you and £10 for your DH and DS? That would be £160 a year, or £13-14 a month.

Emergency fund.......................... 0

You need to set something aside here, even a little, if you can.

Right, now onto making some cash! Do you have things you can sell on Ebay? Have a look at the 'Up Your Income board', as you can earn cashback on purchases, do online questionnaires, things like that. It's not a lot, but every little can go towards your debt. What I find is that it also gives me something to aim for and a real sense of achievement when I manage it! I like having things to do, as it keeps me focused and stops me worrying!

I hope that helps you a little bit. Good luck!!


KiKi

Hannah_10

KiKi wrote: »

Also - and this may sound silly but trust me, it really makes a difference - don't leave anything on standby! A TV on standby uses 80% of the electricity as when it's on, and the same goes for chargers (laptops, mobiles etc). Switch everything off properly. Turn lights off if you're not in the room. Wash clothes at 30C and try and do one less wash a week. Turn the heating down a degree or two (when you have it on). All these little things will help get your bill down - I halved mine!

And 98% of the electric used by a microwave in an average home with 4 people is not used on cooking but on running the little digital clock. I've got a clock in the kitchen already- so the microwave is switched off at the wall except when it's in use.

KiKi

Hannah_10 wrote: »

And 98% of the electric used by a microwave in an average home with 4 people is not used on cooking but on running the little digital clock. I've got a clock in the kitchen already- so the microwave is switched off at the wall except when it's in use.

I think I may have just fallen in love with you.

Cheeselady

Thanks so much for all your replies, will go through them one by one, as I can, but can I just say, as I posted at the beginning of my thread, that this is the worst case scenario where DH is not working at all, at the moment he has got a salary provided by one of his colleagues who is helping set up the company, but that could end soon, we will know more next week.

Also need to note, that the list shows DH as the lead person, and myself as the partner. I can't work due to being on incapacity benefit, even if I could find something I could do, my benefit would go down. DH would not be applicable for JSA as he was classed as self-employed when he worked for the company.

I have sold everything I can find on Ebay, been doing that for a while, we don't have anything else I could sell, and I don't have any items of jewellery except for my wedding ring, most of the money spent was on day to day living and holidays. DS has been looking for a job for a few weeks now but no luck yet.

Yes we had a water meter fitted when we moved in here.

Will get back to you when I've checked out the other things brought up. Thanks for all your help.

Hannah_10

Ok, that's everything you can't do. Try another approach, go for a list of everything you CAN do. Scrub out can't and only consider can. It sounds horribly American doesn't it- but bear with it. It can be very worthwhile.

We can....
?

I'll start you off with one, how about We can at least apply for JSA, it costs nothing to try.