Close, but so far away

legofsalmon

Hello, I've been told that you're lovely and helpful here (I'm hoping to manage to avoid trolls) I've put background at the top, and cut to the chase at the bottom for those helpful beans with no time to read my ramblings.
I've been getting on with getting the bills paid all by myself for a while and just as I thought I was getting somewhere Scottish Power have turned from helpful to *expletive*.

As a bit of background:
I've managed to pay my credit card off with inherited money, and have had £500 knocked off my N Power gas bill for keeping up with their repayment plan, and they'll knock £192 off my electricity debt if I continue for another 6 months. All hail the helpfulness of N Power. Student loans are all deferred. I lost my job 12 months ago and although I've been for a lot of interviews I can't seem to get another (they assure me it was very close every time, so not sure what else to do to help myself there). I also lost my mum in February after 2 months of horrific illness, so my mind was not focussed on debt then either. I've had a bit of a contraception failure and so I've got a cherub on the way who I'm sure doesn't need to be born to a stressed out mummy. Luckily we have a really supportive (but broke) family around us who have donated many of the initial expensive things the little one will need like pram, cot etc.
We live in a small 2 bed terrace house, and don't go mad with the appliances (energy saving lights, fridge, washer, kettle, toaster, gas cooker, gas central heating, 2 tvs 2 freeview boxes and 2 computers. Every now and again a games console will go on).

Cutting to the chase:
I transferred my electricity to Scottish Power around the end of last year, it should have been gas too but N Power would not release me because of my debt (thank goodness). I couldn't make payments to them for a few months because of all of the other debts (including big credit card one which was getting ugly). I called SP in April, explained the situation and income and they said they could take low payments to cover use and slowly pay back debt. They were £51. Today I got a letter saying DD was going up to £87. I haggled them down to £67.50. I asked when my contract was up because I intended to leave but I was told I'll be charged £30 to leave and the outstanding balance will need to be paid within 3 months. I'm not feeling like I can afford to stay with them, and I can't afford to pay back the debt that quickly to be able to leave them. Someone on the Gas/elec boards suggested I come here and do a SOA to see if anyone could make suggestions to make my debt go away more quickly.

Income per month:
Joint JSA claim - £408
Mortgage interest payments - £152
Total: £560

Outgoings per month:
Mortgage - £296
Gas £57
Elec repayment N Power £10
Elec Scot Power £67.50
Home insurance £16.84
Car insurance £34.27
Water £20.02
Phone £20
Internet £13.79
Washing machine insurance £8.89
Total: £544.31

That leaves a little over £15 to spend on petrol and food. We visit each others parents for dinner once a week (each) so we save about 8 days worth of food there, and they put a bit of petrol in the car for us every now and then.

We get TV license and car tax paid as birthday / christmas presents, and can't lose the washer insurance as it breaks down loads, and needs new parts each time it is fixed (and to get it out and swap for a new one we would have to remove half of the cabinets in our very small kitchen because there physically isn't room. Besides, we can't afford a new one anyway)

I really hope someone can give me a bit of advice, because it's been a bad day.

Thanks
Emma

isy1011

Sorry to hear all this Emma. Can you post up a SOA on the thread.Its a format people are used to so will be able to see where you can save.

dancingfairy

Hi - I did a nice long reply for you before but unfortunately the forums went down
Anyway my suggestions are:
1) check on entitledto website that you are getting every benefit you are entitled to - I don't know whether you will be eligible for a maternity grant or anything like that? child benefit once child arrives etc.
2) it's ridiculous to expect you to live off 15 a week for food and petrol etc. How much is your actual usage for the electric? I would complain to the energy company that you just can't afford the payments any higher than what they were before - you could always complain to the regulator as well if energy company are no use.
3) the CAB/your local MP might be able to intervene on your half and get things moving quicker.
4) I presume council tax is paid for my benefits?
5) have you got any food schemes near you - ie cheap fruit/veg as on benefits? a local salvation army/mosque/church etc that could help out with food?
Good Luck - I hope you can get things sorted soon.
df

gravitytolls

When is the baby due pet?

legofsalmon

issy, is that not a SOA that I did near the bottom of my rant, with the income and outgoings? I'm not being rude at all, it's just I thought that's what it was according to what I saw in the sticky - I have no loans or CCs left that have an APR, is there a different form or something I have to fill in?

dancingfairy, thanks, I've checked we get everything we're entitled to, and I'm not entitled to a maternity grant - nothing else until the little one's arrival is much more imminent. I spent half of the day on the phone trying to tell SP I can't afford any more, but they wouldn't budge below £67.50 "or you just won't clear this debt". I did forget to mention I get £3.10 per week in vouchers for free fruit, veg and milk, so that does nearly double the food budget o_O

I will try the CAB again, but whenever I go I seem to get the one who spends 2 hours looking in the wrong book then suggests I call and tell people my income/outgoings (like I'd never have thought of that). I'll try my MP, he's pestered the DWP for me in the past. He got nowhere, but it's nice to know they try. I'll try the regulator too.

I'm normally much more together than this, but with the preg hormones too, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Thank you
x

legofsalmon

gravitytolls, I'm due 1st March

whiteguineapig

the soa form is on the stickys at the top of the page
hth
(and sorry i can't help more)

NorthernLas

Emma - I am sorry you are having a bad time and your budget is really tight.

How can you up your joint income? Can you / OH do temporary work (agency), Christmas at Argos, call centre? If either of you could do 16 hours, I think you may get working tax credit.

Practical things - There is a feed a family of four for £100 a month on the old style board.
Could you do surveys/daily clicks, they are a few pence but it all accumulates.
Can you measure your electric / gas usage and then turn things down or off and work out what is causing the drain.
Can you put extra jumpers on?
Is there anything you can sell on ebay or carboot?

Please don't take offence with the jumper suggestion, I was racking my brains to think of something immediate and useful...

The standard SOA is here http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html. If you fill it in you might find more that you pay out for (like a TV licence) that will reduce the food budget even more, but at least you have gone through it. It means that you have checked things through as best you can.

I'm sure there is a Scottish Power Rep that posts, you need someone from SP who can actually understand your situation and do something about it.

dancingfairy

What's your actual usage per month? and how much do you owe them please?
To be honest if it came down to it I would pay them for my actual usage as far as possible and a little on top for arrears if I could manage it but clealy eating must come first. You might have to setup a new bank account with a different bank so that the electric company don't try to keep taking dd's as they have you bank account details - you could cancel the direct debit and set up a standing order but they may still try and take the direct debit and then you would have to go and state your case to the bank and while some banks are helpful, some are not and to be honest you probably don't need any more stress so I would get a new bank account (a pain I know) and set up a standing order to them so you and only you can control how much they get - if they want to take you to court well tough.
I would only do this if getting in touch via your mp proves fruitless.
df

dancingfairy

I'm wondering whether there is guidance somewhere that says how much arrears utility companies can recover per month - similar to the fact that if you can't pay your debts you are expected to pay a minimum of 1 pound per month as a token gesture and that courts have a set level of deductions for some things for those on benefits I believe.
Might be worth having a look at OFGEM'S website for guidance on this or perhaps National Debtline can help?
df
Edit:

I found OFGEM'S website not particularly helpful but I did find this on consumer focus:
http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/assets/1/files/2010/01/Are-you-having-diffculty-paying-your-energy-bills.pdf
it does say that due to their licence conditions they should take account of your ability to pay and not force you to repay more than you can afford basically.
There's also a link on this page with a letter to send them as well:
http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/energy-help-and-advice/households/debt-and-disconnection-advice

See also this from National Debtlne pages 6 onwards
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/pdf/self_help_pack/priority_debts.pdf
Basically you need to pay for your usage plus whatever you can afford towards the arrears.
It does advise asking to speak to someone senior, asking for the companies code of conduct or it says you can get the DWP to arrange payment from your benefits - I don't know whether this will encourage the utility company to be more helpful
Hope this helps
df

HappyMJ

Right to start with a joint JSA claim is £445.35 per calendar month you've just multiplied it by 4.

The Mortgage interest the Jobcentre pays is 6.08% of the lowest balance the mortgage has ever been. That's all you need to pay to your lender. You do not need to pay any capital whilst unemployed so don't pay any extra. They can jump up and down as much as they want but they are getting the interest so they should be OK with that. That alone will give you another £144 to play with.

As you are unemployed you don't technically "need" a car. Is it possible to cancel the insurance and park it off road? Keep the MOT up to date so if you were to get a job all you need to do is get insurance and get it taxed again and you can be earning again.

I would dump the washing machine insurance and put a fiver aside every week for those emergencies if you can.

If scottish power are not playing ball with fair and reasonable payments with regards to you both being unemployed then get the help of CAB.

I gather Npower is a previous supplier with an outstanding balance...Offer them £1 per month and keep to that.