Can my bank really do that?

Spendi

Im new to all this but your food bill looks high to me - how many people is that for ?

Also your child maintainance payments look high for that income - have you asked to be reassesed due to a change in circumstances ?

msmicawber

Hi Zofo,

Eeek - your electricity bill's enormous! Are you paying them back for earlier debt? If not, please look at switching supplier.

Zofo

Hi Spendi,

Our food bill is for two people, what takes up the most is food on the move. His boss has just bought him this new truck but it doesnt have a fridge, my OH is a long distance truck driver and i go with him everyother week. If i stay at home the electric would be higher.
I buy very little fresh food for home as it gets thrown away but its a struggle keeping food fresh throughout the week without some going off. Ive tried a bowl of cereal on the move but i cant keep the milk fresh and UHT in cereal makes me feel sick!

Child maintenance is either 60.00 per week otherwise he doesnt get to see the children. No money, no kids.
Its all going to court in December.

I dont shop every week as there are some weeks when we dont have enough, the figure ive put down is what would be my ideal comfort.

Thankyou for your time Spendi

moozie_2

Good morning

Thank you This is what this forum is about though, support and advice and non judgement. I am really pleased you have your full SOA up, hope my comments are of some use.

Zofo wrote:

Hi there

Firstly i would like to say thankyou to moozie for your warmth, it feels so much better when you can talk about it to people who are understanding and sympathetic rather than that big old finger wagging at you.

OK hear it goes, my SOA:

Monthly Income
My salary Nil
Partners 1,103.61
Benefits Nil (still waiting on Dissability Allowance)
Total Monthly Income1.103.61 The priority aim should be to try and live within this amount until your situation changes so that your debt doesn't increase.

Essential Monthly Outgoings
Rent 330.00
Council Tax 99.68
Electricity 108.00 This seems high but I can see you have no gas. Check with comparison websites, such as uswitch to see if you can get a better deal. I am guessing you will be able to do better.
Water Rates 30.00 Showers instead of baths, not wasting where possible - every little helps.Telephone 30.00 You could get a basic package from BT for much less than that and then use a number of companies for much much cheaper calls. Martin has articles on this.
Mobile phone 50.00 Is this for one or two? Perhaps ditch the contract(s) and try PAYG for less than £20 a motnh if you are disciplined.
TV Licence 10.99
Internet 13.99
Groceries 260.00 This does seem high for two people but sadly, I don't do much better. Look at the old style board for ideas on how to bring this down.
Clothing 20.00 Could you live without this for a short while until your income is sorted?Petrol 50.00 Try to walk as much as possible, good for you and cheaper
Car Tax 16.00
Car Insurance 24.98
Car MOT 2.91
Car maintenance 10.00
Car parking 3.00 (Until i get my blue badge)
Other Travel 15.00 (hospital)
Child maintenance 260.00 Was this assessed before you lost your income? I can't see how this is right in your current situation
Birthdays/Christmas 50.00 Consider stopping this for the present time. Real friends and family will understand.
Total Monthly Outgoings 1,384.55
NET MONTHLY SURPLUS-280.94

Monthly Debts Total Debt Min Payment Rate
Overdraft 8,057.00 12%
Car Loan 3,059.82 185.50 19.90
Credit card 1 982.35 29.00 2.207 per mnth
Credit card 2 580.00 16.00 2.248 per mnth
Credit card 3 1487.00 32.00 1.771 per mnth
Customs & Excise 1,100.00 100.00
Cabalt finance 1,200.00 30.00
Paragon Finance 2,300.00 30.00
TOTAL DEBT 18,766.17.00

As I said, I really think your main priority should be to live within your current means. I would suggest you contact payplan or CCCS for your debts as they are far more experienced on how to deal with them. Also, eventually, it will take the pressure away from dealing with them yourself and as you are poorly, the stress and worry would be the last thing you need.

You've made the hardest steps, well done. Hope some of the advice you receive helps you to take the next step.

Good luck!

Zofo

Hi msmcawber

Our electricity is a card meter,
Its a rented 1 1/2 bedroom cottage so theres nothing we can do.
When we moved in over 4 years ago i spent the first 18 months trying to find out why it was so high, they eventually readjusted to not much difference. They arrived to adjust the meter 8 weeks ago only to tell me that id missed 3 price increases as i was never here during the week.
Guess what, they arrived to read the meter again this week only to tell me that their machines have all gone off to be recalibrated for the next price increase in a couple of weeks!!
And its not even winter yet!!!!

pboae

Zofo wrote:

Our food bill is for two people, what takes up the most is food on the move. His boss has just bought him this new truck but it doesnt have a fridge, my OH is a long distance truck driver and i go with him everyother week. If i stay at home the electric would be higher.
I buy very little fresh food for home as it gets thrown away but its a struggle keeping food fresh throughout the week without some going off. Ive tried a bowl of cereal on the move but i cant keep the milk fresh and UHT in cereal makes me feel sick!

Buy a cheap cool box, you can pick them up for less than a fiver. Use empty pop bottles 3/4 filled with water and frozen as cool packs. Better still, fill them with juice (diluted cordial I mean) and as they defrost you can have a chilled drink. That will keep milk fresh for around 2 days.

You can also freeze milk. So freeze it in 1 or 2 pint cartons, and take that with you as well. In the cool box it will take 36-48 hours to defrost and will be fresh for about another 24 hours after that.

Fresh milk on the move for 3 or 4 days. After that, just stop at any petrol station and buy some more!

pania

Hi Zofo.

My biggest respect to you for confronting this so openly and what a good SOA!!
With regards the council tax, this is normally paid over 10 months with two months free. See if you can spread it out over 12 months. you will still be spending the same but a smaller payment each month.
yes the electricity is crazy high. I had the same a year ago where my prices were continually increased without my authorisation. I contacted the company. asked them to justify the increase which they couldn't do and set an agreed amount per month with them as would usually happen with a direct debit. Have you had the meter checked to see if it is faulty? there is a chance it is ticking through two units for every one used.
With regards the tv licence. Give them a call and see when your bill is paid until. I was amazed to discover that on direct debit the payments mount up and often mean you are paying almost as much as six months in advance.
my bill is paid until end of jan 07. I have taken a payment break until then and will set up a direct debit with them in jan to start the payments again.
Not a permanent solution but may allow you to breathe a little more until then.
Re the food bill try to take advantage of 2 for 1 deals or bogoff etc. Does your partner have a power socket (ciggie lighter) in his cab that you could plug a cool box in. Then you could make up some nice meals before you leave and cut down on the eating out costs. I know eating on the run at work is v v v v expensive. Until recentlky i worked at canary wharf and buying lunch there cost me almost £30 per week!!! GAAAAH!
if you are away from home so much do you need broadband? there is an excellent portal named V21 (will try to find link if you're interested) which do 15 hours of dial up internet for only £5 per month. i use it and it's quite quick!

Just a couple of ideas for you honey. Keep that chin up and come to us whenever you need us .
Hugs
P
xx

msmicawber

Dear Zofo,

Thanks for the information, but I'm still horrified by your electricity bill. It is very difficult and expensive to live in a property with only electricity, and card meters make it worse. Please look at the Utilities board and investigate Ebico, as I think you could make some savings there. They specialise in providing gas & electricity to low income households with meters.

I notice that you're awaiting a decision on DLA - please have a look at this link and see if you could get any help with your fuel bills. http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/campaigns/winterfuel/winterfuel_invest_2005.htm

Best wishes.

Madam_Ra

I have just found out yesterday that my bank has just taken out a couple of hundred pound for an outstanding payment! They didn't inform me, however!

I just had some money go into my account and the second they saw it, they pounced! I had only found this out when i had taken a trip to the bank to pay it all myself! The annoying people - if they had let me know what they were going to do it would have saved me a fiver to get into town RAAAAAAAAA! I'm really annoyed at them I can't wait to take them to court next week the bar stewards! (can you tell that they've really hacked me off?)

Fuming Madam Ra!!!

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (this is how i chose my name!)

Zofo

Thank you Moozie,

Havent been about for a few days as ive been off the internet waiting to recieve phone calls from the bank and Incapasity benefits people.

Firstly in response to SOA
Electricity: Because of the long delay inbetween price rises on my meter, i now owe them about 350.00 so the meter has been set up to pay this off. (Not my fault they dont come weekends)
Mobile: This is for 2 payasyougo mobiles, and if i have no money then we go without although most of this is so that i can ring my OH while he is abroad, we keep it very breif although its still cheaper than contract which was costing me from 200.00 to 400.00 per month when we had our own business having to use our own phone.
Waterates: We dont have a shower in this house. We had a meter which fell off the pipe inside the house and flooded the kitchenl. Still waiting for a new one. Ive rung, written and told meter reader. So bills are estimated.
Telephone: I will ring BT regarding your suggestion.
Clothing: This is also trying to include my OH's teenage children who's mother demands school uniforms, new shoes etc. Only now have we had to start saying we havent got it.

Does that all sound negative?