Debt Management Advice

Peyton11

Hi all,

First post on this forum, have viewed many times and would really like some expert advice.

Below is the SOA of my family. We are currently in a spot of bother with backdated rent, council tax.

Our story is quite a long one but the end is the same as most people on here. Clear our debt and be able to live comfortably without worry.

Me and my wife got married last Sept. 3 months before our wedding we found out that we were going to have a baby. A wonderful surprise but not something that we expected.

We were living at home (with parents) until the baby was born as we couldn't afford to rent privatly and we tried to clear debts. When the baby was born we were forced to move out and went to our local council who put us up in a bedsit. We spent the first 3 months of our baby's live living in a basement bedsit. We were then offered a temporary accomodation in April (which we are currently in now).

The 2 bedroom flat we are in is nice, however our main problem lies with the high rent (£237 a week!). The council offer us no housing benefit as our pay is good but our debt is bad. With our monthly outgoings we could never afford to privatly rent (which is why we lived in a bedsit) and this rent costs more than private.

We have been waiting for the council to send our housing benefits out so we can appeal but this has not happened, our rent has now hit an oustanding figure of over £3k and we also just got a council tax bill for £900.

We are looking at eviction and apparently the council will not put us back in a bedsit as it's our fault for not being able to pay rent. We never expected the rent to be this high and when we found out we were told we could appeal our housing benefit, they also said they would take into account our debt but this now seems unlikely.

We are trying to find solutions to our problem and how we can afford our rent/bills etc.

I have seen posts about contacting CCCS or the citizens advice bureau, would this be the way forward? We can't see a way out and we could well be on the streets in 8-10 weeks.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 685
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2265
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 1027
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 82
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 12.25
Mobile phone............................ 90
TV Licence.............................. 29.1
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 21.5
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 25
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 12
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 18
Entertainment........................... 14.99
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Bank Charges............................ 6
Gym..................................... 18
Slimming................................ 20
Football................................ 28
Lotto................................... 4
Total monthly expenses.................. 1810.34

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
Littlewoods....................3928.99...305.......0
Barclays Loan..................8731.23...424.7.....0
Vokins.........................0.........66........0
Debtline.......................0.........100.......0
Next...........................300.......30........0
Very...........................839.91....65.7......0
Personal Loan..................3600......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........17400.13..1191.4....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,265
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,810.34
Available for debt repayments........... 454.66
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,191.4
Amount short for making debt repayments. -736.74
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,400.13
Net Assets.............................. -17,400.13

crazyguy

Hello Peyton11,

Yes you should contact CCCS, Take note do not use a fee paying Company for the debt management plan.

Also if not done already put your name down on the Housing list for future accomodation.

crazyguy

Whos debtline ? its not a debt management firm is it

crazyguy

If you become homeless due to eviction then I think you are entitled to be housed by them especialy with a baby, verify this first with CAB !

Peyton11

yes debtline is my wife's payment to a debt management plan, she has been paying this for a few years after she consolidated some debts.

~Beanie~

Peyton11 wrote: »

yes debtline is my wife's payment to a debt management plan, she has been paying this for a few years after she consolidated some debts.

So are all the other debts in your sole name? If not, it is likely that your wife has broken the terms of her DMP with Debtline by taking out further credit.

Rent is a priority along with council tax and you should be paying these before paying your other debts, you need to keep a roof over your head! Send token payments to your creditors and throw everything else towards your rent arrears otherwise you will be on the streets.

If the rent you are paying is higher than private rent then surely it would make more sense to find a private rental? You will then have more to pay towards your debts at least. The council won't take any debts into account when working out entitlement to housing benefit either unfortunately.

crazyguy

Well the debts listed above are they just in your name then , if so you need to get out of that other plan as you are probably paying lets say the £200.00 per month and I would reckon out of that at least £40.00 in fee's.

Be careful when you leave them as you dont want them trying it on and asking for a fee to finish up the service with, my suggestion is to total up everything owed contact cccs, and the let the next payment go through with Debtline, and then once paid cancel the DD, and check once all creditors are paid, ie: dd date 5th of the month / debtline pays creditors 10th of the month probably via a cheque, so give it 2 weeks from that and then tell them you are stopping the service.

Only do all of that once you have spoke to and organised a new plan with cccs.

Also as I said speak to CAB about the housing situation, I am pretty sure they have to home you as you have a baby.

Peyton11

That's correct, all the other debts listed are in my name. I agree rent is a priority but if I don't pay the other bills then this will incur missed payment charges and cause my debt to increase further.
Our main problem is that the council knew about our debt when we filled in our council application and then gave us a temporary accomodation which an amazingly high rent. We where then told we could get help paying it but this doesn't seem likely now. That's our point, why would live in a bedsit for months if we could private accomodation? I'd love to privatly rent but stumping up a deposit, agent fees and rent up front is not something we have to hand. Also if I was privately renting then the chances of getting a council place would never happen and we would still have the outstanding rent arrears to pay.

Thanks for the advice Crazyguy, I think I will contact the CCCS and also if it comes to it contact CAB if we are taken to Court.