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Finances, debts

Nm2bns
Posts: 13 Forumite
Ive just signed up and wrote a long page but my computer crashed so ive had to start again 
Im a student nurse with a child and a partner who works full time. We both have more than a few debts, but we do not know the exact figures until we receive our credit reports which will take a little longer than expected because they require proof of who we are.
I will try and provide a basic SOA
incomings -
partners wage - 850pounds
my student bursary - 600
child tax credits - 200
child benefit - 90
working tax credit - 45
student loan - 550 3 times per year... my first one of this academic year went on catching up with late child care fees.
my next student loan is in january, same amount, then my last one will be in april, again same amount.
outgoings -
rent - 525
council tax - 170 (this is with my student 25 percent deduction, but my partner owes from last financial years council tax bill so is paying that too)
electric - 70
gas - 60
tv license - 12
car insurance - 150
diesel - 150
food shopping - 150
sky tv - 60, he wont give up stupid sky sports channels
bt phone and internet - 50
child care - 250
my bus fare/train fare for placement and uni - 100
littlewoods - 130
sons lunches at school 25 pounds
water rates - 40
debts -
I owe approx 2000 pounds but to various creditors in little amounts.
partner owes 3000 lloyds credit card and loan, 500 store card, and 3000 for a HP car off welcome finance what he gave back after a couple of months as he couldnt afford the payments, so not got anything to show for it.
Ive just managed to get onto my hospitals nurse bank as a support worker until i qualify in august, so will do a shift per week, hopefully give me a bit more income each month. The only question ive got regarding this is how much will my student bursary and tax credits go down by?
im not saying this just so i can not work, as i need the experience.. nursing jobs in my area are hard to come by at the moment, so i want to get my foot in the door before i qualify, so that i can apply if they have vacancies nearer to the time, and at least they will know i work well.
Also what do you think of those deals where creditors write to you and offer a certain amount in full and final settlement? could i write to them and ask them to pay about 50 percent in full and final settlement?
thanks
forgot to say our car is only worth 200 lol.

Im a student nurse with a child and a partner who works full time. We both have more than a few debts, but we do not know the exact figures until we receive our credit reports which will take a little longer than expected because they require proof of who we are.
I will try and provide a basic SOA
incomings -
partners wage - 850pounds
my student bursary - 600
child tax credits - 200
child benefit - 90
working tax credit - 45
student loan - 550 3 times per year... my first one of this academic year went on catching up with late child care fees.
my next student loan is in january, same amount, then my last one will be in april, again same amount.
outgoings -
rent - 525
council tax - 170 (this is with my student 25 percent deduction, but my partner owes from last financial years council tax bill so is paying that too)
electric - 70
gas - 60
tv license - 12
car insurance - 150
diesel - 150
food shopping - 150
sky tv - 60, he wont give up stupid sky sports channels
bt phone and internet - 50
child care - 250
my bus fare/train fare for placement and uni - 100
littlewoods - 130
sons lunches at school 25 pounds
water rates - 40
debts -
I owe approx 2000 pounds but to various creditors in little amounts.
partner owes 3000 lloyds credit card and loan, 500 store card, and 3000 for a HP car off welcome finance what he gave back after a couple of months as he couldnt afford the payments, so not got anything to show for it.
Ive just managed to get onto my hospitals nurse bank as a support worker until i qualify in august, so will do a shift per week, hopefully give me a bit more income each month. The only question ive got regarding this is how much will my student bursary and tax credits go down by?
im not saying this just so i can not work, as i need the experience.. nursing jobs in my area are hard to come by at the moment, so i want to get my foot in the door before i qualify, so that i can apply if they have vacancies nearer to the time, and at least they will know i work well.
Also what do you think of those deals where creditors write to you and offer a certain amount in full and final settlement? could i write to them and ask them to pay about 50 percent in full and final settlement?
thanks
forgot to say our car is only worth 200 lol.
0
Comments
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Good luck with this. People with far more experience than me will be along to help you soon I'm sure.
Your BT and Sky costs are huge. I'm in the process of looking for a cheaper deal for phone and internet. My OH also refuses to give up Sky Sports etc, but the debt I am paying is my debt rather than ours. He doesn't have any debt - so he gets to keep £250 a month from his wages to do with what he likes. People may not agree with this, but he can afford it, and it's what he wants to spend it on. Fair enough. He pays £71 of that to Sky for all his sport.
Also your car and motoring costs are very high - can you manage without (I know I can't so it's a very tentative question).
As far as I'm aware your bursary wouldn't be affected by any additional work you do, but I'm not sure. I think a bursary is what it is. Your tax credits may be affected once you s.tart working, but you need to be doing at least 16 hours a week for them to consider you for working tax credits.
You'll find the people on here really helpful. I certainly do...Ninja Saving Turtle0 -
thanks
theres no way we could manage without the car, its a struggle with only 1 car to be honest. my partner uses it for work and his commute in the mornings and evenings are nearly an hour driving each way! plus my son has autism, and it wouldnt be fair making him catch the bus to breakfast club before my placement starts/ my partner drops him off before work as its the other end of town.. i do not want to change schools because hes settled where he is.0 -
I completely understand - I commute to work with one of my children in tow and the buses don't run early enough for me, so it's the only choice I have...
Have you thought of contacting citizens advice? They may help. Otherwise there are forums about benefits on here as well - may be worth posting over there.
As I say, good luckNinja Saving Turtle0 -
outgoings -
rent - 525
council tax - 170 (this is with my student 25 percent deduction, but my partner owes from last financial years council tax bill so is paying that too)
electric - 70 (1)
gas - 60 (2)
tv license - 12
car insurance - 150 (3)
diesel - 150 (4)
food shopping - 150
sky tv - 60, he wont give up stupid sky sports channels (5)
bt phone and internet - 50 (6)
child care - 250
my bus fare/train fare for placement and uni - 100
littlewoods - 130
sons lunches at school 25 pounds
water rates - 40
2. Gas - only heat the rooms you're in. Wear a jumper indoors and turn the thermostat down 2 degrees. There's a tenner a month. Could you time when the hot water is on better? Would closing the door of the room that you're in warm it up more? Or a draft excluder? Have you shopped around for a new provider for gas and electricity? uSwitch would be a starting point.
3. Car insurance - it sounds like an insane amount to me. I assume there's some claims in place. Shop around at renewal, use the comparison sites, and make sure driving style is dull and boring as this is what gets the cheapest insurance. Is there anybody who could car share the work run to split fuel costs? A decent no claims period and this bill can come down by £50 a month very quickly, combime it with a more competitive insurer and the savings will be bigger.
4. Fuel. Boring driving time. 55mph on the motorway. No revving the engine at junctions. Empty the junk out of the boot. I get my fuel bills down by 15% when I drive like that. Could he car share? Could he work longer hours for 9 days a fortnight instead and knock 10% off the fuel costs that way? Does he fill up with fuel at the cheapest places, such as supermarkets? Does he max out on loyalty points at his petrol station?
5 and 6. I pay £84 a month for full Sky, 2 extra boxes in other rooms, TV and internet. You're paying £110. Ask BT how much their package is with sport. I'm sure my sister just told me she's paying less than £50 for internet, phone, TV including the 5 sports channels and that's that.
Moral lecture: I think it's repugnant that you guys are considering asking for firms to write off some of your debts when you could probably cut back to Freeview and save £80 a month on these "services". I love my sport, but if I owed money I would do without it. I do think your other half needs to face in to his responsibilities here. End of moral lecture.
I think squaring the circle financially is easily within your own hands. Sensible driving habits, thinking about what rooms you heat, ditching the sport (or at the very least getting the costs down massively). There's well over £1,500 a year you could save on these things alone, probably a lot more.0 -
Yeah, full & final settlement deals are a distinct possibility. Your creditors will probably come out of the woodwork once Experian link all your addresses with the info you are giving them.
Factsheet | Full & Final Settlement offers
So trying to save some money now would be a good idea.0 -
Does your sons autism mean he is registered as disabled? If so you may be entitled to more assistance than you are receiving you should contact CAB for some advice.
Also, if you are a trainee nurse are you in the union? your union rep may be able to offer advice, there is also the civil service benevolent fund that you may be eligible to ask for assistance from and also the student union may be able to help if you.
Good luck with your studies I'm sure it will pay off once your qualified.0 -
Thanks for all your comments.
There is no way we can get the car insurance down, we've tried comparison sites, but tesco always come out cheapest, and that's even with only declaring mileage for work etc.
Yes my son is registered as disabled and has a statement of special educational needs with 1-1 support in a mainstream school. He has a free bus pass which he can use after 9:30am weekdays and anytime weekends. No one has mentioned anything about being entitled to benefits, only until I spent time with a children's learning disability nurse as part of my nurse training, she said I should apply for DLA for him, but I would not be eligible for carers allowance as I'm a full time student.0 -
It's not that we cannot afford to live, it's just I want advice on how to approach my creditors so I can pay off my debts.
I tried this last year, wrote to my creditors and sent them my SOA, broke my spare income between my creditors the way that the National Debt helpline told me to do, but one creditor said that my sons hospital appointment taxi fares were a luxury expense so I should readjust my SOA. I got really annoyed and didn't bother after that.0 -
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Thanks fatbelly, I will do that when I approach them again. I need to either get rid of sky, but cannot live without broadband as by the time I finish placement it's fairly late, and the only time I have to do uni essays are late evening/early mornings when my sons sleeping.
My first priority is obtaining all 3 credit reports from the 3 different agencies so then I will know exactly how much we owe and to whom. Maybe my first priority should be getting my monthly outgoings down, so that when I offer a payment to my creditors they will take me seriously.
So there's the electric and gas I could get down, it seems I use more electric when I use my washing machine and dryer. I will buy one of those clothes rails so I can dry clothes on that. Only wash clothes maybe once or twice a week, I'm usually doing it every couple of days.
Sky/ bt costs need to come down!0
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