Here Goes

Miss_Redd

Hello everyone - I hope that you can give me some help. First here is my SOA

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 320
Total monthly income.................... 1720
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 637
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 268
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158
Electricity............................. 70
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 17
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 18
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 35
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 22
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 1700

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 195000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 199000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 16000....(637)......0
Secured Debt.................. 30000....(268)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 46000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Capital One....................8000......165.......0
First Direct...................8400......210.......0
Virgin.........................372.......25........0
Northern Rock Loan.............18200.....263.......0
Tesco..........................3200......63........0
HSBC...........................1500......45........0
Total unsecured debts..........39672.....771.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,720
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,700
Available for debt repayments........... 20
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 771
Amount short for making debt repayments. -751
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 199,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -46,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -39,672
Net Assets.............................. 113,328

I am in a terrible mess at the moment. My husband, the main income provider, had a bad fall on New years day resulting in a severe head injury (subdural haematoma evacuation). He has been in hospital ever since. Whilst he is recovering it is going to take months for him to get beack to some semblance of himself. His income is normally £35k per annum. I received an email on Friday evening informing me that his firm are prepared to only pay him SSP from February onwards. As you can see this has left me in dire straits.

I have consulted CCCS and on their advice I have offered the credit card Companies £1 per month. I have also had the mortgage put on interest only, which is the figure shown, for another year and have written to the second mortgage company who is Nemo to ask if they will do the same. The unsecured loan is with our mortgage lender and I have asked if they will also either defer payments or put it on interest only for a year.

I need the car for my employment and this has been bought out of its finance agreement for me by a generous family member although it is in my husband's name.

Has anyone got any other advice to give to me. It will be greatly appreciated as all this is making me feel ill. I am backwards and forwards to the hospital every day with this over my head too :-(
I can not contemplate bankruptcy because of my job.

I look forward to receiving some excellent advice and thank you in advance.

sarahs999

Hi Miss Redd, what an awful story. Really hope your husband makes a full recovery soon. One thing I'd say is that your gas/electric looks very high with only two of you in the house. Is that covering arrears?

Also you might be able to shave a bit off the grocery bill if there's only one of you in the house at the moment, but really you're short by so much that I think a more drastic solution is needed.

well done for being so pro-active through all this. Someone else will be able to advise on what to do about the shortfall.

Tixy

Hi Miss Redd and welcome

Sorry to hear about your husband's accident and your financial problems since.

Sounds like you have taken some sensible steps so far with offering the £1 payments and changing the mortgage.

Did OH have any PPI with any of the debts? or the mortgage? have you looked to see if you can put in a claim for anything?

QUOTE=Miss Redd;discussion/3040120]Hello everyone - I hope that you can give me some help. First here is my SOA

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 320
Total monthly income.................... 1720
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 637
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 268
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158 have you done the 5min online check to see you are in the correct band? do you pay over 10months? if so from next year ask if you can pay over 12 which will help your cashflow a little
Electricity............................. 70 your elec looks very high - are you paying off arrears? have you looked at your usage to see if it is very high for any reason? have you looked for a cheaper supplier/better tariff.
Gas..................................... 65 Also looks a little high.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48 is this unmeasured? for 2 people you would probably save almost half this by going onto a water meter.
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 17
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 18
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 20 I know this isn't a lot but can you cut it out altogether for the next few months?
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 35 is this right? £420 a year?
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 22
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 1700

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 195000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 199000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 16000....(637)......0 is this the new figure for interest only?
Secured Debt.................. 30000....(268)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 46000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Capital One....................8000......165.......0
First Direct...................8400......210.......0
Virgin.........................372.......25........0
Northern Rock Loan.............18200.....263.......0
Tesco..........................3200......63........0
HSBC...........................1500......45........0
Total unsecured debts..........39672.....771.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,720
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,700
Available for debt repayments........... 20
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 771
Amount short for making debt repayments. -751
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 199,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -46,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -39,672
Net Assets.............................. 113,328

[/QUOTE]

Who do you bank with? is it anyone who you also owe money to on a credit card or loan? if so did CCCS advise you to open a new bank account for your wages before sending out the token payment letters (so that they cannot offset any money you need for higher priority items).
[STRIKE]
Aside from the NR loan are those debts all credit cards? Did you also offer NR a reduced payment for the loan? (is your mortgage also with NR?)
[/STRIKE]
To me it looks like your elec, gas and water might be the places to look first to see if you can reduce costs.

Do you have any idea of when OH might be able to come out of hospital?

Miss_Redd

No it isnt to cover arrears. Should I offer them less? All the radiators are switched off apart from living room and my bedroom.

Thanks.

Miss_Redd

Sorry the car tax is per annum its a little citroen C1. The Mortgage is the figure for interest only and yes it is with Northern Rock. Oh I forgot to put that I have asked NR if we are eligible for the home owners assistance scheme. Im waiting to hear back on that one. I have already applied for a Halifax Easycash account for my wages and I havent written to the companies which are connected with our Bank which is First Direct until I hear that it is. I dont spend on clothes monthly so I dont know why I put that figure in.

Regarding OH probably a couple of months. Do you think I can claim some council tax benefit or not? I wll offer gas and electric less a month since there is only me - what figure do you think is reasonable? The water is already on a meter.

Thanks - I am completely frantic!

GeorgieFTB

It might be worth call up your energy suppliers and finding out if you are in credit, if so you can have the money to use for other things and bring the DD for them both down.

Well done for coping so well, not sure how I would manage. If this is a temporary situation you would hope everyone will be patient.

I'm sending some internet hugs!

Tixy

If the water is already on a meter then would you say you are quite heavy users of water? if so have a look online for some tips on reducing the amount you use (water hippos in the cisterns, showers not baths, don't wash clothes until you have a full load, don't put on a dishwasher half full etc). If you think you don't use a lot then it might be worth doing a water leak check - instructions on your water company website. Average cost on a meter seems to be around £25 to £30 for 2 people.

Elec - you need to understand why this is high - even for 2 of you this is a lot to be spending. Do you get estimated bills or do you ensure they are always accurate? Look out a bill and see how much you are using and how much you are paying per unit, and check if you are in credit on the bill. Are you using any elec heating? do you use a lot of other elec hungry appliances such as tumble driers and electric showers? Do you switch off things not in use and use energy efficent bulbs etc?

I don't think you would be eligible for council tax benefit. I did half wonder if you might get the single occupier discount for when OH has been in hospital but I doubt you could (might be worth checking though).

Miss_Redd

Sorry - I ignored a question accidentally. Yes all the debts are credit cards apart from the NR loan. I should explain that the reason we are in such a mess is that I got made redundant in 2008. I was on a salary of £32k then now down to £12k plus a bonus if I meet targets. We had already cut down on things a lot and were getting back on track until my OH accident. Its horrible to see him how he is but everyone seems hopeful he will make a good recovery. He is waiting to go into rehab at present and hopefully it will be next week.

We have energy saving bulbs in most things. I will make sure I dont leave things on standby like the tv and stuff. We did have a tumble drier but its broken down and hasnt been in action for about a year. A dishwasher came with the house which I use - are these expensive to run? The shower is also powered - perhaps I should use the normal one over the bath? Any little ideas will help. We have pets but I reckon I can cut down on groceries - to be honest I dont feel much like eating anyway.

Thanks for your advice so far. Has anyone had success with getting on the home owners mortgage support scheme?

Miss_Redd

Oh thank you Georgie FTB for the hugs - I need them :-(

dancingfairy

I'm just wondering whether he would qualify for any more benefits - is SSP all you can get? it might be worth a visit to your local CAB (if they are still open), can he claim DLA or anything? perhaps council tax benefit while not working etc?
Why are work only paying him SSP from february? what about before this?
I hope he makes a speedy recovery.
df

Miss_Redd

I was thinking of contacting the benefits office but dont know if they will give me anything until he comes home worth a shot though I guess. His firm paid him as normal in January but only because they gave him holiday pay he was owed etc. They were very kind and generous in that they gave him 4 days extra pay! Dont get me going on that one because I was seething about it. Still I suppose policy is policy.

I am going to ring the elec/gas/water when I get home to see about the payment reductions and council tax.

I will let you know how I get on with the credit card companies - expecting some flack from them but will see.

Am I likely to get the Easycash account from experience?

Thank you.