So So So So Stupid

feelsolow

Hi All

I first joined started looking into this forum about 2 years ago with the intention of going backrupt due to my home being repossessed. At the time i was 8 months pregnant and it was 3 weeks before Christmas. I decided I would wait until after Christmas, then I waited until after my baby was born, then I waited until after a moved into my own house (to give an accurate SOA), then... the creditors stopped chasing so stupidly I ignored everything and never went bankrupt and still had approximately 17k of unsecured debt around my head as well as a shortfall from my repossessed house of about 40k, that was the case until a few months ago where I started recieving letters again having traced me to my new address - like before I ignored this and hid them unopened in a drawer until it all came to a head on Monday when a debt collector knocked on the door - I never answered because I feared it was baliffs, and I sat crying all night at what a shambles my life is and how I've let my son down. The worse part is that my son saw me crying and he's not even 2 yet, he got scared and started crying too. I feel like such a bad mum.
I contacted the CAB the next day who have managed to book me in an appointment tomorrow to talk about going bankrupt or other options - I have made my decision that I want to go bankrupt and not to enter an IVA and just really need someone to talk to.

I've a Co-op basic account set up (did 2 years ago!) and have drafted out a SOA - I would really appreciate if someone caould have a look over this and let me know if I'm missing anything - I'm presuming that I'll be issued a IPA as my surplus is over £20 (Which if I had done this when I said i was it would be all over now and the allowance was £99) I have looked at a few on here already to try and get a guide for allowances

I work 25 miles away from home and the car that I drive is registered in my mum's name and I would need the car to get to and from work and my son is in full time childminding 10 miles in the opposite direction of my work from my home so I would also need it to collect him.

I dont know how to check if my house is an average price of property for my area - can anyone please recommend a website to check this?

Household Information
Number of adults in household................................1
Number of children in household..............................1
Number of cars owned..........................................0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax...................................... 1235
Partners monthly income after tax.......................... 0
Benefits.......................................... .................. 607 - including Child Benefit as I believe that this is now included??
Other income.......................................................0
Total monthly income............................................1842

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage..............................................................0
Secured/HP loan repayments....................................0
Rent....................................................................500
Council tax............................................................90
Electricity.............................................................50
Gas.....................................................................50
Water rates..........................................................40
Telephone (land line)..............................................0
Mobile phone.........................................................60
TV Licence...........................................................12
Satellite/Cable TV..................................................20
Internet Services...................................................0
Groceries etc. ......................................................200
Clothing................................................................15
Petrol/diesel..........................................................150
Road tax...............................................................15
Car Insurance........................................................45
Car maintenance (including MOT)...............................30
Car parking.............................................................0
Other travel............................................................0
Childcare/nursery.....................................................433
Other child related expenses......................................5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).............................9 (Contact Lenses)
Pet insurance/vet bills..............................................0
Buildings insurance...................................................0
Contents insurance..................................................20 (Not got get so am estimating at the moment)
Life assurance ........................................................0
Other insurance.......................................................0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)..............................0
Haircuts.................................................................15
Entertainment.........................................................0
Holiday..................................................................15
Emergency fund.......................................................0
Dry Cleaning...........................................................10 (Are you still allowed this??)
Total monthly expenses............................................1749


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

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income...................................................1842
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). .......................1749
Available for debt repayments........................................93

---

Thanks everyone for your help in advance

feelsolow

Windsurf

Hi,

Cant help with SOA but sounds like you are doing the best thing by Going BR now. Dont worry about it (easy for me to say i know) but things as I am sure you know will get alot better after BR.

I think there are people on her that may be able to help you up your SOA so as it falls unders the £20.

Just thought Id reply to bump you up the list.

Chin up,;)

Windsurf

JMV

I can't be a lot of help with the SOA but I did want to wish you well and reassure you that you are doing the right thing in seeking advice and making a start to tackle your debt...

Please don't feel you are a bad mum...your son is really only old enough to know you were upset, he won't know or understand why and when he is old enough to understand it all, it will be all behind you both...children are incredibly resilient and, in some respects it's good for them to know that life isn't always easy and mummy's aren't infallible...but you are strong and you will survive this together...

On the rent thing - £500 per month doesn't sound like it's too much, especially if you are the South of England (I don't know what rent is like in the North) - it may be worth checking out the Local rent allowances for your area - this is about housing benefit but if the local authority allows rents for your size house in your area and you aren't too far above then you should be fine - https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Default.aspx

Good Luck with everything and do keep coming back here for support if you need it

Angiepange

Welcome to the forum feelsolow x

Im so pleased you have an appointment sorted with the CAB tomorrow, they are very helpful and will hopefully put your mind at rest about going BR.

I just wanted to say, please don't feel you are stupid hun. If we all had the benefit of hindsight things would be alot different for most of us thats for sure! Look at it now as you are taking positive steps to sort out your debt situation and you are putting an end to the stress and worry you have been under.

You are certainly not a bad Mum, but I know how you feel. You want to protect your kids from all the stress and worry, but sometimes its hard to stay strong in front of them. He's so young hun and won't remember this so try and take comfort that by going ahead with BR, youwill be making a fresh start for you both and a debt free future to look forward to. Good luck with it all, and keep posting here for support, we are all with you xx

feelsolow

Thank You for kind words Windsurf, JMV and Angiepange

I have called my local court and they offer a walk in centre as long as you are at the court by 10am with the correctly completed application forms and fees. If I was to become bankrupt before the 1st of November - ie on Monday 29th - would I still be subject to the £20 surplus - or would it be calculated on the date of my interview with the OR. I was really worried about calling the court and them thinking that I was some sort scum of the earth but she was really nice and understanding. I was struggling to see why I should carry on at the beginning of the week but the thought of leaving my son with no mummy made me snap and face facts for him. My life may not be great at the moment but at least I have one, some people do not get a choice in this decision. This seems pathetic over debt when there are far worse things out there but I'm sorry I'm just having a bad day.

dojoman

feelsolow wrote: »

Hi All

I first joined started looking into this forum about 2 years ago with the intention of going backrupt due to my home being repossessed. At the time i was 8 months pregnant and it was 3 weeks before Christmas. I decided I would wait until after Christmas, then I waited until after my baby was born, then I waited until after a moved into my own house (to give an accurate SOA), then... the creditors stopped chasing so stupidly I ignored everything and never went bankrupt and still had approximately 17k of unsecured debt around my head as well as a shortfall from my repossessed house of about 40k, that was the case until a few months ago where I started recieving letters again having traced me to my new address - like before I ignored this and hid them unopened in a drawer until it all came to a head on Monday when a debt collector knocked on the door - I never answered because I feared it was baliffs, and I sat crying all night at what a shambles my life is and how I've let my son down. The worse part is that my son saw me crying and he's not even 2 yet, he got scared and started crying too. I feel like such a bad mum.
I contacted the CAB the next day who have managed to book me in an appointment tomorrow to talk about going bankrupt or other options - I have made my decision that I want to go bankrupt and not to enter an IVA and just really need someone to talk to.

I've a Co-op basic account set up (did 2 years ago!) and have drafted out a SOA - I would really appreciate if someone caould have a look over this and let me know if I'm missing anything - I'm presuming that I'll be issued a IPA as my surplus is over £20 (Which if I had done this when I said i was it would be all over now and the allowance was £99) I have looked at a few on here already to try and get a guide for allowances

I work 25 miles away from home and the car that I drive is registered in my mum's name and I would need the car to get to and from work and my son is in full time childminding 10 miles in the opposite direction of my work from my home so I would also need it to collect him.

I dont know how to check if my house is an average price of property for my area - can anyone please recommend a website to check this?

Household Information
Number of adults in household................................1
Number of children in household..............................1
Number of cars owned..........................................0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax...................................... 1235
Partners monthly income after tax.......................... 0
Benefits.......................................... .................. 607 - including Child Benefit as I believe that this is now included??
Other income.......................................................0
Total monthly income............................................1842

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage..............................................................0
Secured/HP loan repayments....................................0
Rent....................................................................500
Council tax............................................................90
Electricity.............................................................50
Gas.....................................................................50
Water rates..........................................................40
Telephone (land line)..............................................0 £60 INCLUDING MOBILE
Mobile phone.........................................................0
TV Licence...........................................................12
Satellite/Cable TV..................................................20 NOT ALLOWED IN BR
Internet Services...................................................0
Groceries etc. ......................................................200 £300
Clothing................................................................15
Petrol/diesel..........................................................150
Road tax...............................................................15
Car Insurance........................................................45
Car maintenance (including MOT)...............................30
Car parking.............................................................0
Other travel............................................................0
Childcare/nursery.....................................................433
Other child related expenses......................................5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).............................9 (Contact Lenses)
Pet insurance/vet bills..............................................0
Buildings insurance...................................................0
Contents insurance..................................................20 (Not got get so am estimating at the moment)
Life assurance ........................................................0
Other insurance.......................................................0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)..............................0
Haircuts.................................................................15
Entertainment.........................................................0
Holiday..................................................................15
Emergency fund.......................................................0
Dry Cleaning...........................................................10 (Are you still allowed this??)
Total monthly expenses............................................1749


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

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income...................................................1842
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). .......................1749
Available for debt repayments........................................93

---

Thanks everyone for your help in advance

feelsolow

Hi and welcome to the forum, I can only agree with what has already been said. I have made a few suggetsions, hope this helps?

feelsolow

Thank You Dojo

I had copied and pasted the form from another user so the £20 satallite wasn't mine, I must have missed it when deleting the old information.

I dont have a landline so I had put all phone calls under mobile at £60 - will this be ok?

£300 for a monthly shop seems like such a lot, I had raised my orginally figure from £150 to £200 - would this get questioned??

Would the OR want to see proof that I am actually spending £300 / shopping?

As for my gas and electricty - I currently pay £68 - electricty and £30 - gas, the electricity was to get rid of old debt (just finished) and the gas has just been reduced as I was payin too much before - would the OR question why these are suddenly being claimed at £50 each?

dojoman

feelsolow wrote: »

Thank You Dojo

I had copied and pasted the form from another user so the £20 satallite wasn't mine, I must have missed it when deleting the old information.

I dont have a landline so I had put all phone calls under mobile at £60 - will this be ok?

£300 for a monthly shop seems like such a lot, I had raised my orginally figure from £150 to £200 - would this get questioned?? No, you are still allowed to live to a reasonable standard.

Would the OR want to see proof that I am actually spending £300 / shopping? . Not usually

As for my gas and electricty - I currently pay £68 - electricty and £30 - gas, the electricity was to get rid of old debt (just finished) and the gas has just been reduced as I was payin too much before - would the OR question why these are suddenly being claimed at £50 each? Mine didn`t.

Hope this helps?

feelsolow

Thanks Dojo

This may sound like a really silly question but what do the OR's do / look at in those 12 months - do they have access to your bank statements? Or details of if you leave the country - my reasoning for this question is that my father lives in Canada now and I usually visit him in the summer, I had planned to visit him next May as it's his 50th birthday. Previously I have paid for the cost of the flight for me and my son but with being on a such a strict budget now I will ask him to pay for the flights, unless I save and save (out of the £300 groceries - I'm still amazed at this figure!!) - will this flag as suspicious to the OR? I'm not trying to fuddle my figures and i really dont want to get into any further trouble. This is suppose to be a fresh start but I worry that I'll be scrutinsied for the next 12 months

Thanks

feelsolow

Sorry for all the questions but I have just logged onto my Co op account and have seen that their is a linked account with £100 in it - this was my son's account which everybody put his birthday money into and I was only suppose to be on this account because he is under 16 - will the OR want this money? Will this account be frozen too?

JMV

feelsolow wrote: »

Sorry for all the questions but I have just logged onto my Co op account and have seen that their is a linked account with £100 in it - this was my son's account which everybody put his birthday money into and I was only suppose to be on this account because he is under 16 - will the OR want this money? Will this account be frozen too?

I'm not sure about this but what I can tell you is that I had about £380 in a current account and £314 in a business account and the OR said she wasn't interested in them - so I really doubt that they would be interested in your son's £100...and you can state that it is HIS money, and that your name is on the account for the reasons you've said here...or you could move it to a National Savings Account - I don't think any questions will be asked about it...

Yes...get into court on the 29th - you are really lucky to be living in an area with a walk in service I don't beleive you will be subject to the new rules that come in on the 1st...

You go Girl!!!! - high five and all that...