Our SOA

MFWannabe

ChefBungle wrote: »

Hi Folks,

I've pasted our SOA below, any thoughts on it would be most welcome.

I've added a few comments below just to add some detail.

So as you can see, we are short of approx £191 per month for the debt repayments. What course of action do you think would be best? I'm not sure what we can really cut back on.

My girlfriend is due to get just over £3000 in a PPI reclaim, should come through any day now although it's Lloyds TSB!

I am due £5000 from my grandma's will once everything has settled. Again, should be any day now but I don't like to ask my Dad as it feels like I'm pestering him.

We've just moved in to an unfurnished house and some of the above money will be needed to buy furniture, but not all of it by any means.

Thanks,
Chef


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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2177
Partners monthly income after tax....... 550
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 150
Total monthly income.................... 2957

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 293 (this is my ex-wife and I's house, which has been on the market for 2 years, I want to rent it out, she refuses so far).
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 600
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 180
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 150 (we have a gas-fired rayburn in our house which is only on just now because of the cold weather, but the heating is only on for 2 hours per day).
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 35 - I assume this includes internet. Check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper
Mobile phone............................ 70 (2 x mobiles, still in contract) - Ring provider and say you are struggling and need to reduce tarrifs
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 - Should be able to cut this by £50. Drop a brand when shopping
Clothing................................ 50 - Wear what you have for now
Petrol/diesel........................... 260 (I have a 90-mile round trip each day to work just now, although get a travel allowance from work which is included in the income figures above).
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 374 (maintenance payment to my ex-wife)
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)...... 20 - Reduce by half for now until you are in a better financial position
Haircuts................................ 24 - This is high; use local colleges which are very cheap
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2478

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000 (estimated value of house in current market conditions)
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 123500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 115000...(293)......5
Total secured & HP debts...... 115000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin Mastercard..............11000.....240.......16.9 - Pay the remainder of the 8k off this card
RBS Credit Card................5200......110.......15
Car Loan.......................3500......130.......0
Loan...........................5000......150.......20 Pay this off with some of the 8k
Catalogue......................550.......40........20 Pay this off with some of the 8k
Total unsecured debts..........25250.....670.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,957
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,478
Available for debt repayments........... 479
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 670
Amount short for making debt repayments. -191

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 123,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -115,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -25,250
Net Assets.............................. -16,750

Hi
I've made some comments above on your soa where you could make some cutbacks. Once you have paid off some of the debts with the 8k and made some cutbacks things should look a little better,
With reference to your house; why not give it to your ex-wife? If you are not going to make any money out of the sale then there's no point keeping it. It's costing you more having to pay the mortgage on the property

MrsTinks

You might want to have a very frank conversation with your ex - without laywers... assuming that you from time to time must communicate if she has your children?
Explain to her that unless the pair of you can come some reasonable arrangement then you could be facing BR and then your share of the house would be included in the BR and she would end up solely responcible for the mortgage and payments... possibly pointing these extremes out to her will make her realise that having that house standing empty is pure stupidity!

ChefBungle

FREEZ wrote: »

Hi
I've made some comments above on your soa where you could make some cutbacks. Once you have paid off some of the debts with the 8k and made some cutbacks things should look a little better,
With reference to your house; why not give it to your ex-wife? If you are not going to make any money out of the sale then there's no point keeping it. It's costing you more having to pay the mortgage on the property

Thanks for that.

Have tried looking at the phone/broadband, this is the cheapest we can get as we live in the country so all the super-cheap deals don't apply to us unfortunately (I've already checked!).

Re the house - if I give her the house then it means she will have to pay the whole of the mortgage which is something she can't afford to do and therefore won't agree to.

ChefBungle

MrsTine wrote: »

You might want to have a very frank conversation with your ex - without laywers... assuming that you from time to time must communicate if she has your children?
Explain to her that unless the pair of you can come some reasonable arrangement then you could be facing BR and then your share of the house would be included in the BR and she would end up solely responcible for the mortgage and payments... possibly pointing these extremes out to her will make her realise that having that house standing empty is pure stupidity!

There is no communication between us at the moment, other than through lawyers. I have tried to initiate a conversation with her, but she just ignores it and then a few days later I'll get a letter from her lawyer saying that all comms must come through her instead.

I might be facing that possibility, and is certainly something I will have to raise with her if she doesn't reply favourably to my lawyer's last communication.

I'm certainly looking at going down the route of a DMP for the time being, so it looks like my credit rating is going to be trashed either way.

iris

I don't very often comment on this board, but with regard to your broadband and telephone I am presuming you are with BT.

If you are you can easily reduce this. We are with BT as we also live in the country and not much choice. However, we pay £15 per month. This includes a one off payment for phone line of £120 and £5 per month for option one broadband. Free weekend calls are included, if you want evening calls as well this is another £3 per month. You need to pay direct debit and also go paper free. This is a yearly contract

As you will see this is a lot cheaper than you are paying at the moment.

EKAndrew

who does all the debt belong to? you and your ex? or you and your new partner?
if you are currently renting, and have no intention to buy in the near to mid future. do you really care if your credit rating takes a hit?
can your new partner not look at earning more money p/m?
who / what is the £20 per month presents for? in the nicest way, i hope its not for your kids. You already pay a very large sum to your ex for them. You mentioned earlier that you get given an allowance due to the mileage you cover. Does the payment made to your ex take this into consideration when the calculation was made?

Tixy

ChefBungle wrote: »

I'm certainly looking at going down the route of a DMP for the time being, so it looks like my credit rating is going to be trashed either way.

If you can just make a few cutbacks on things like groceries to maintain payments until the £8k comes through and use the majority of that to clear some of the debt then you wouldn't need a DMP as you'd be able to just manage your minimum payments, which would mean you could protect your credit file to a large degree.

If you were going to need a DMP long term then that would be different, but it appears you main issue is only until you receive the funds that you are expecting.