SOA - please help me someone

dojoman

When filling an SOA out for BR you should put down what the the household bills are in full, then you put down what expenses are individual to you, ie haircuts, medical etc. Your partner will be expected to pay a contribution the the general household bills, this will be whatever percentage she contributes to the running of the house, you do not have to put down her full income.

dojoman

Do not forget you will need the fees to go BR, which presently amounts to £600.

Iris_Blue

Maybe first of all if you're unsure about BR right now is to be honest with yourself and put the correct figures down including your partners. Although you say finances are to some degree separate there are still joint.


For example the CT is £100 pm - does your partner not pay towards this at all?

Have you tried jotting down everything you spend in a dairy, a true grocery budget , a true petrol allowance..I know your figures ( to you and on paper) look bad but from what you say they are guestimates. It may not be as bad as you think.

It sounds hard and harsh of me but you could cut back by £150 if you really wanted to.

HappyMJ

woody24 wrote: »

with regards to groceries, there is no way I spend £100 a week just for MY groceries, jointly maybe but we spend absolutely no more than £60 a week between us so iv put my share of that down as £40 to cover any extra. Groceries includes quite a lot from food to personal needs to replacement household items anything really. £400 is the joint figure then you would put your partners contribution to this next to your partners income.

are phone lines and internet allowed at home as expenditure? as that cable tv figure i put down is for internet as well so i could put that into those instead. Yes they are just put £50 against the telephone instead and that can include internet and all call charges.

..........

Iris_Blue

dojoman wrote: »

Do not forget you will need the fees to go BR, which presently amounts to £600.

I'm shocked at this. I didn't know that.

See..you can't afford to go BR. That in itself is a sign.

woody24

iv made comments below in red. thank you Katie xxx

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

I don't know much about bankruptcy I'm afraid. Have you looked at a DMP instead? It might be an option for you and is worth considering before you make a final decision. I have considered it as an option, but having spoken to CCCS and DAB they do think that BR is the right option for me. I think I just dont want to hear it and thats why Im here just double checking I guess and getting advice from people who have been there or know what Im going through.

It would help if your SoA included full expenses and your partner's wage too, I know you don't want to burden her but I'm sure she would want to help and save you some stress if she can. Is your partner fully in the picture? You need her help to get through this. To be honest, we keep our finances very seperate and always have done because its an independancy thing for me more than anything - I wouldnt even know what her expenses are but she earns a lot less than me and still pays for half of everything for the house the same as I do and has her own debt. She has practically no money left every month the same as me, so theres no way I want to be asking her to help me because she is in absolutely no position to, even if she wanted to - and i know she does want to but theres nothing she can do. thats why iv just done things as MY share of outgoings to give a clear idea of my own situation. We aren't married or anything so I dont want to be dragging her into anything that was my debt before i met her. does that make sense?

Your gas and electric do look high especially if this isn't the full amount, do you have debts on your account or are you using this amount? Have you checked alternate suppliers? Have you asked whether you can repay any debt over a longer period to reduce your DD? Can you reduce your usage at all? Sit under a duvet if necessary! no debts on the account, iv just changed supplier to get a cheaper rate. we live in a very open plan 3 bedroom house and iv turned radiators off in some rooms we dont use to save money and iv just bought an electric heater to try and save some gas money, but unfortunately - this is the price of our gas - over £100 a month and electricity is between 80-100 a month. we are on meters, no debts. i know its so high, and im very thrifty with energy bills and energy saving so i try everything to keep costs down. we hvaent even put the heating on for 3 nights in a row and we have drafts in our bedroom windows so are freezing! all in the cause to save money

I know you are under contract with your mobile but most providers will let you drop to a lower tariff if you are having financial problems - speak to them. the problem i have then is that i will use the phone, because it's my only form of telephone at home and all of my family and friends also have mobiles etc especially my parents who are on PAYG mobile phones so i call them to stay in touch (we live 200 miles apart as do most of my best friends), and then rack up a bill anyway which will be alot more than £30 a month - i know orange wont lower my tariff in the first 12 months because of the phone i got - and i have asked. this has always been the cheapest option of mobile communication for me. plus i use it as my sat nav for work so i didnt have to pay £100 for one so i need my phone to have unlimited internet usage on it as well.

Same with Sky, if you can drop to freesat, if not drop to the cheapest possible package and cancel at the end of the contract. the virgin we have is at the cheapest option for broadband and tv - i work from home sometimes so have to have a releatively good broadband. £40 per month for both isn't too bad is it? plus we dont do ANTYHING socially because i never have any money so the TV is pretty much our source of socialising and entertainment. the TV is the only luxury we have now, especially as i had to cancel my gym membership - i played badminton 4 times a week and now i cant play and thats so upsetting.

Your car insurance looks very very high - why? Your car is worth less than a year's insurance - that is mad! Could you drop to third party cover to save money? Or increase your excess? Does your partner need to run a car too or could you save money by only running one between you? Yep, you're telling me! Im 25 and have 3 points and 5 years NCB ... and i shopped around ALOT but thats the cheapest I got. it's very depressing. Im on the highest excess of £400 AND it's only 3rd party as well ... my partner needs a car for her work so it would be impossible for us to have one car between us as we dont work anywhere near each other and both need cars for being out and about at work. nice thinking though.

With just £150 a month short I'd be looking to make the ends meet one way or another rather than going bankrupt. Could you get another job? i work all hours god sends at my current job - i leave the house at 7am and dont get home until gone 8pm some nights and go straight to bed - my partner does the same so a 2nd job would just be asking for a nervous breakdown. Could your partner get a second job? Could you do a few car boots and sell some stuff to help you get back on track? iv done that this motnh just to be able to afford to pay my bank charges - i havent got much left to sell i can tell u that. I asked for a new digital camera from my mum for xmas, and iv had to put it on ebay to make some money and i cant bear to tell her that iv done that as i know she will be heartbroken but it's one of the last things left with value i could sell to make ends meet and put petrol in my car to get to work. i used all my annual leave up in december because i couldnt afford to get to work :-(
Can you save any other costs? iv saved everywhere i can, Could you pay back the debt to your partner more slowly? its on her credit card so it's not her choice really - its the credit cards and she cant pay it! Could you move to a cheaper place? we are in one of the cheapest places for our area, we live in a bargain house compared to our friends - and 4 months into a 1 year tenancy. moving is the last thing i want to do, we have had to move 4 times in 18 months because of various reasons and none of them to do with our finances and it's just been terrible and finally we are settled - i couldnt think of anything worse than moving :-(

woody24

thanks iris blue for taking the time to reply agian xxx

Iris_Blue wrote: »

Maybe first of all if you're unsure about BR right now is to be honest with yourself and put the correct figures down including your partners. Although you say finances are to some degree separate there are still joint. yes they are joint but they are halved so we each pay our own contributions - theres no point me putting my partners down because they have absolutely no affect on me or my income/outgoigns whatsoever. if that makes sense.


For example the CT is £100 pm - does your partner not pay towards this at all? our council tax is £226 per month until June and then it goes down because they mucked up our bills and we thought we paid when we hadnt so we are behind a little. in june that goes back down to £180.

Have you tried jotting down everything you spend in a dairy, a true grocery budget , a true petrol allowance..I know your figures ( to you and on paper) look bad but from what you say they are guestimates. It may not be as bad as you think. the fact i have no money in my bank tells me im pretty screwed lol.

It sounds hard and harsh of me but you could cut back by £150 if you really wanted to. i wish it was that simple, i certainly wouldnt be here crying about going BR if it was :-( trust me, i do EVERYTHING to avoid spending money. to the point where i have just gone on a total food replacement diet which costs £30 a week and i cant eat anything except these milkshakes or drink water. yes i do need to loose a couple of stone anyway but it seemed to be the absolutely cheapest way i could eat and still be healthy (its pharmacy controlled) because i cant eat any other foods or drink anything except water, so the only thing literally i spend is £30 per week.

HappyMJ

There is no way the gas and electric bills will be £2,400 per year if you are out of the house from 7am till 8pm (some nights) and have the heating on only on some evenings and on low whilst in bed. It's impossible and the OR will not believe the figures you have put. You need to put the monthly figures and not the winter bill only. I have a 3 bed house and am very frugal with it and the whole bill is only £30 per month and I use the heating more than you claim.

woody24

okay so do i put "other income" down as her contribution and then i put down all household bills in full? she pays half contribution so the SOA totals will still all be the same

dojoman wrote: »

When filling an SOA out for BR you should put down what the the household bills are in full, then you put down what expenses are individual to you, ie haircuts, medical etc. Your partner will be expected to pay a contribution the the general household bills, this will be whatever percentage she contributes to the running of the house, you do not have to put down her full income.

dojoman

woody24 wrote: »

okay so do i put "other income" down as her contribution and then i put down all household bills in full? she pays half contribution so the SOA totals will still all be the same

If those are the full figures, then yes that is what you should do, BTW I was allowed £120 a month on my SOA for gas and electricity.