Please have a look at my SOA

Wkdwill

Hi
Ive been here a few times in the past regarding debts and my SOA, never done anything about it since the kids were born (done IVA in the past, DH got ill, I was pregnant, failed due to not making payments). We have been struggling to pay things lately and now DH's pay is taking a nose dive and Tax credits have gone down, there is no way we can pay everything.

A lot of things ive never saved for, birthdays, christmas, holidays, car tax, breakdown etc as we have just paid them as and when they are due, although i know we will have to account for them if we are to do a DMP or IVA.

Also water rates included in rent, gas will go up in winter (prepay meters), Tax credits and Child Benefit I put under benefits.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1170
Benefits................................ 567
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1737

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 413
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 86
Electricity............................. 43
Gas..................................... 21
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 346
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 130
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 93
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
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..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1225


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 700
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 700

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Provident......................1600......0.........0
Greenwoods.....................512.......0.........0
Provident (DH).................587.......0.........0
Legal Debt Recoveries..........3294......0.........0
Fairfax (Old Barclays..........12000.....0.........0
Wescot (old gas bill)..........375.......0.........0
Next...........................1648......0.........0
Provident (DH).................1520......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........21536.....0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,737
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,225
Available for debt repayments........... 512
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 512

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,536
Net Assets.............................. -20,836

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

CH27

Have you stopped paying all your debts?

What should the payments be?

You car insurance is high.

Keep a spending diary for a month detailing every penny you spend & you will soon see where cash is being frittered away.

Wkdwill

CH27 wrote: »

Have you stopped paying all your debts? Ive been on the phone to CCCS and they have told me to start paying token payments

What should the payments be? I will update my SOA with these

You car insurance is high. DH had a bump 2 weeks before renewal and lost 3 years no claims, this was the cheapest we could get.

Keep a spending diary for a month detailing every penny you spend & you will soon see where cash is being frittered away. Thanks ill do this

Thanks for your reply

Wkdwill

Updated with min monthly debt repayments

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1170
Benefits................................ 567
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1737

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 413
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 86
Electricity............................. 43
Gas..................................... 21
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 346
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 130
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 93
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
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..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1225


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 700
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 700

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Provident......................1600......69........0
Greenwoods.....................512.......69........0
Provident (DH).................587.......99........0
Legal Debt Recoveries..........3294......0.........0 not paid anything onto this since IVA but its on my credit file so im assuming it will be accounted for
Fairfax (Old Barclays..........12000.....53........0 this is from my old IVA, made an arangement with fairfax to pay £53 a month
Wescot (old gas bill)..........375.......21........0
Next...........................1648......130.......0
Provident (DH).................1520......69........0
Total unsecured debts..........21536.....510.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,737
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,225
Available for debt repayments........... 512
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 510
Amount left after debt repayments....... 2

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,536
Net Assets.............................. -20,836

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Pollycat

For 2 adults & 2 children, your grocery bill of £346 per month is high.

No income in for you so I assume you're a SAHM, do you cook from scratch? Meal plan? Cook in bulk and freeze?
Check out the OldStyle board for great ideas on cutting this down.

No road tax? Do you really need a car?
Nothing in for clothes? What about school clothes?

As you say, you really need to include everything in your SOA otherwise it won't make sense.

ETA:
Are you actually paying the £510 per month towards your debts?
What are the interest rates?

Hovel_lady

Hello, one thing you should be able to cut down on is groceries. Have a look at the OS (old style) board for help with making your pennies stretch.
You need to include something for MOT's and car tax.
Do you not have buildings/contents insurance?
Nothing spent on presents/haircuts/entertainment at all?
Do you know the APR's/minimum payments for the debts? Can you make the minimum payments?
Sorry, that's a lot of questions.

Wkdwill

Pollycat wrote: »

For 2 adults & 2 children, your grocery bill of £346 per month is high. - ive been trying to cut it down but DH likes a drink and we spend about £30 every week just on alcohol, ive tried my damn hardest to get him to cut down and he does every so often but he expects a drink when he gets home everyday.

No income in for you so I assume you're a SAHM, do you cook from scratch? Meal plan? Cook in bulk and freeze?
Check out the OldStyle board for great ideas on cutting this down. Yes im a SAHM, I am currently looking for work, but it has to fit in with DH's hours otherwise due to childcare costs we would actually be worse off. I try to cook meals from scratch, I used to a lot as DH is a butcher and used to bring home free meat every week, but work have put a stop to it because someone was stealing it as well as having it given so now I cant afford much meat and atm are relying on frozen foods.

No road tax? Do you really need a car? Yes we do otherwise DH cant get to work (starts at 4am), no work no income.
Nothing in for clothes? What about school clothes? Like I put in the OP, ive never budgetted for these things before, ive just got them as and when, sales at Next (hence the debt), but if someone could give me a rough idea as to what i should be putting aside each month it would help a lot.

As you say, you really need to include everything in your SOA otherwise it won't make sense.

ETA:
Are you actually paying the £510 per month towards your debts?
What are the interest rates?

The past few months I have been paying the minimum amount each week/month, but DH has had his hours reduced, Tax credits have reduced also (due to earning £4k more than we thought last year) and our rent has increased.

Wkdwill

Hovel_lady wrote: »

Hello, one thing you should be able to cut down on is groceries. Have a look at the OS (old style) board for help with making your pennies stretch.
You need to include something for MOT's and car tax.
Do you not have buildings/contents insurance?
Nothing spent on presents/haircuts/entertainment at all?
Do you know the APR's/minimum payments for the debts? Can you make the minimum payments?
Sorry, that's a lot of questions.

Thanks, ive been trying to reduce groceries these past few weeks, shopping in different shops to find the cheapest, but due to DH's drinking its hard to reduce it by much. Everything I buy is on offer or own brands.
No contents insurance, should I set this up before CCCS call me back? Dont need Buildings insurance as its council.
Mil gets the kids hair cut so that doesn't cost, last time I had mine done was March, not something I bother with unless I have spare money lying about, DH is probably £7 a month/2 months, what would be an acceptable amount to put for myself?
Ive entered the min amounts now.

determined_new_ms

Wkdwill wrote: »

The past few months I have been paying the minimum amount each week/month, but DH has had his hours reduced, Tax credits have reduced also (due to earning £4k more than we thought last year) and our rent has increased.

Hi just a thought but can you contact TC and ask them to reassess you on this year's income and enter into an agreement re the arrears to pay back over a longer period? Also can you apply for housing benefit? you may be able to get some or a discrectionary payment for 6 months due to financial hardship? I also would contact CCCS and possibly look at a DMP. Good luck x

Hovel_lady

We think having contents insurance is nessessary but everyone's different. Look online for the best deal. It shouldn't cost loads.
Just mentioned to my OH your OH's drinking and my OH suggested making your own. Wine/beer are easy to make, unfortunately it's illegel to distill your own spirits. £30 a week is a lot of money. My OH likes a drink too but we can't afford to buy any very often so it's tough. That sounds harsh maybe but we need to pay off our debts.
If you spend say £20 on haircuts for yourself every 2 months then allow £10 a month.
The best thing to do is to make your budget realistic or you won't be able to stick to it.
With regard to clothes for your childen - can you add up what you're spent in the last 3 months say and from that work out how much to put away? I don't have children so I'm a bit clueless on children's clothes prices.
Sounds like you're doing great with the food shopping x

Pollycat

wkdwill
£130 per month on alcohol (that's over a third of your grocery budget :eek:) is just not sustainable in your current financial situation.

I can appreciate that your OH might like a drink when he comes home from work - but that spend is too much when your SOA is showing just £2 per month left after paying your debts and you haven't included a number of things in there.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I think you need to put your foot down.

Your real food budget is actually £216 per month (£346 - £130 for the alcohol).
You're economising on buying food for you and the kids at the expense of buying alcohol.

Have you checked out the OldStyle board?

Re contents insurance - I agree with Hovel lady about it being necessary but it's really up to you.
You need to consider what you would do if you were burgled.
Or flooded. Or anything else that may happen.

Fair enough about needing the car - but you need to include all the necessary costs in your SOA (which I don't think you have).

Re budgetting for clothes etc - can you check back and see what you bought from Next (or anywhere else) and include that in your SOA?

Re the haircuts - worrk out how much you paid last time, how often you are going to go to the hairdressers over the year and average it out to a 'per month' figure.

Hope this helps.