My SOA.......please comment!

shrewandroo

Hi, I am a newbie on here but have been lurking for the last year and have finally plucked up the courage to post! My DH and I have a significant amount of unsecured debt.........around £100K now that our house has been repoed:o:o. I won't go into details about how we got into situation, but needless to say the usual living beyond means for years, paying minimum payments, taking more credit to pay back credit, and then crunch time, redundancy. We have 2 children under 4 so not at school yet, and don't have relatives nearby to help with childcare.........cost of nurseries is prohibitive at the moment. Hopefully once eldest goes to school next year, I will be able to secure a decent job...........

So to the point, we have taken lots of advice from CAB and CCCS and have been advised that BR is only the real option. (Have been paying token payments to creditors for the last 18 months). So should have saved up the fees in the next couple of months and will take the plunge:eek:.

Please can you experts check our SOA and let me know what you think? Thank you x

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.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1536
Benefits................................ 280
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1816
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 650
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 134
Electricity............................. 65
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 100
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1850

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,816
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,850
Available for debt repayments........... -34
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -34
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 0

McKneff

Grocery bill could drastically cut

Stop spending on clothes, £100 a month is ridiculous.

Ask the family to watch what gas and electicity they are using.

What is 'other travel'

shrewandroo

Thank you for replying, in answer to your questions, other travel is a monthly bus pass for my DH to get to work and a smaller amount allocated for me to use when I need to use the bus (2-3 times a week).
I'm a bit confused as when I've looked at other SOA's there is a pretty generous allowance for BR for clothing and food etc? We have been spending much less than the amounts stated but have been trying to save for the £1500 BR fees........once BR I thought the allowances were a bit more generous? If I've got this wrong, then I will amend the figures.......

Our gas/elec is high because we have just moved into this rented house, and its an old 1930's semi with a VERY old boiler! Think we have been set a high DD now so that come winter when we will be using the central heating we won't get into arrears. We arte very frugal when it comes to using elec and gas so hopefully once a couple of bills reflect this they may change our DD amount.

merlin68

Your gas is high, mine is £40 a month. I can also food shop for £120 a month if need be. clothes and holiday's you don't need.
If you go to a local college like we do you can get hair cuts really cheap, they are also good as they are supervised.

DCFC79

£30 for mobile monthly contract, you can get a cheaper 1 that, maybe ask your network to reduce the bill, is it payg or contract.

Food 500 yes definitely cut that down, you thought about trying martins downshift challenge or really looked at what you bought and thought do we really need that. You buy any whoopsies eg reduced food which you can get in the shops at maybe 7 or 8 but depends on the stores policy.

shrewandroo

DCFC79 wrote: »

£30 for mobile monthly contract, you can get a cheaper 1 that, maybe ask your network to reduce the bill, is it payg or contract.

Its for 2 £15 monthly contracts (me and DH)......we get unlimited texts and 500 mins so think its pretty reasonable? Was spending more on PAYG!

McKneff

What I was trying to do was to help you with your SOA so that if you can drastically and realistically cut things down yu
cold manage to Not go bankrupt, which is a bit of a drastic step and could affect you for years.
Is it worth thinking about...............

Just re read your post, if youve been spending a lot less than the amounts stated its not a true reflection of your SOA, I would suggest you re do it with thoughts of not going bankrupt.

DCFC79

shrewandroo wrote: »

Its for 2 £15 monthly contracts (me and DH)......we get unlimited texts and 500 mins so think its pretty reasonable? Was spending more on PAYG!

oh 2 X £15, what network, giffgaff do 250 UK minutes, unlimited UK texts for £10 a month but you may have to get the phone unlocked to be able to use it on giffgaff

capeverde

merlin68 wrote: »

Your gas is high, mine is £40 a month. I can also food shop for £120 a month if need be. clothes and holiday's you don't need.
If you go to a local college like we do you can get hair cuts really cheap, they are also good as they are supervised.

For a family of 4 !!! What do you eat, grass. Be interested to hear what you live on. Even if we're being frugal its 400 a month for two adults and two kids. When we're living normally its nearer 600 plus eating out.

shrewandroo

McKneff wrote: »

What I was trying to do was to help you with your SOA so that if you can drastically and realistically cut things down yu
cold manage to Not go bankrupt, which is a bit of a drastic step and could affect you for years.
Is it worth thinking about...............

Just re read your post, if youve been spending a lot less than the amounts stated its not a true reflection of your SOA, I would suggest you re do it with thoughts of not going bankrupt.

Oh I see, I would love not to have to go BR, but having been in this situation now for the last 2 years and the massive debt we have, I don't really see an alternative:(. Looked at a DMP and we would have been paying about £250 but for over 30 years:eek::eek:.....we would be in our 70's by then!! We have taken lots of advice believe me, as BR was and is a very scary prospect, but have come to realise that it is going to be the only way we can get our lives back. I suppose after the 6 years we can then start again and our kids will still be young enough to benefit from a fresh start. Thank you for your comments though:)

capeverde

shrewandroo wrote: »

Oh I see, I would love not to have to go BR, but having been in this situation now for the last 2 years and the massive debt we have, I don't really see an alternative:(. Looked at a DMP and we would have been paying about £250 but for over 30 years:eek::eek:.....we would be in our 70's by then!! We have taken lots of advice believe me, as BR was and is a very scary prospect, but have come to realise that it is going to be the only way we can get our lives back. I suppose after the 6 years we can then start again and our kids will still be young enough to benefit from a fresh start. Thank you for your comments though:)

you can start again after 1 year. Think a lot of people who have been bankrupt tend to wear a genital cuff for the foreseeable future. Its not a crime, its just life. The world certainly isnt going to stop turning, so stop worrying, make your figures read what they need to and get on with your life. Its too short to worry and there will be plenty of new opportunities as long as you pick yourselves up and make things happen.