I'm broke but just worked out I have £3500 in bank charges from HSBC - Can I claim?!

ladyasmo

Hi Premier, so should I also get him to fill in an expenditure form too? As his will be almost as bad as mine!

mellonicoley

I really think you should post your SOA: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

There might be ways of cutting your expenditure that you haven't thought of yet. If we can see your SOA, we can provide more tailored advice

ladyasmo

Oh Gosh, okay I did it, it's not nice reading. My partner has a loan but i dont know the APR etc, so I have included under 'other insurance £200'

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................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 90
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2390

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 740
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 75
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 300
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 90
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 395
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 200
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2437


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 800

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,390
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,437
Available for debt repayments........... -47
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -47

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 800
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 800

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

MFWannabe

ladyasmo wrote: »

Oh Gosh, okay I did it, it's not nice reading. My partner has a loan but i dont know the APR etc, so I have included under 'other insurance £200'

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................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 90
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2390

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 740 - this seems very high; would you be able to rent anywhere cheaper?
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130 - could you pay this over 12 months instead of 10?
Electricity............................. 60 - Check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper
Gas..................................... 60 - Check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 75 - This is huge; change to lower tarrifs or go payg
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 - do you really need this? See below also
Internet Services....................... 15 - could you get this cheaper combined with sat tv?
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 300 - Are you able to cut this in anyway? Is every journey necessary?
Road tax................................ 0 - You need something here
Car Insurance........................... 90 - Wow; this is huge!! check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - You need something here
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60 - What is this for?
Childcare/nursery....................... 395
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 200 - You need to find out how much the APR is on OH's loan and how many payments are left
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2437


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 800

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,390
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,437
Available for debt repayments........... -47
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -47

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 800
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 800

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

Hi
I've made some comments above where you could make some cutbacks to make up the curret shortfall; but there are also some figures missing. You need to find out how long your oh has left on his loan and the interest rate. You also need to see if you can rent somewhere cheaper as your rent is very high (but it might not be for your area; i don't know)

ladyasmo

Hi, Thanks for your comments! I've added some next to it!

Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 740 - this seems very high; would you be able to rent anywhere cheaper? I live in Oxfordshire, we had to move 10 miles outside of Oxford to be able to afford rent, our rent has also gone up £20 as of yesterday too.
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130 - could you pay this over 12 months instead of 10? This is over 12 months
Electricity............................. 60 - Check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper Our landlord doesnt allow us to change providers, but we did shop around and didn't find anything better based on the units on our last statement
Gas..................................... 60 - Check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 75 - This is huge; change to lower tarrifs or go payg - this is for 2 phones, but yes i should see if i can lower it again.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 - do you really need this? See below also - no, not really, although this was our treat seeing as how we have to stay in every weekend!
Internet Services....................... 15 - could you get this cheaper combined with sat tv?
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 300 - Are you able to cut this in anyway? Is every journey necessary? - we live 12 miles away from our workplaces so have no choice but to do this journey, we used to do a car share but because we now need to drop my son at nursery we can't
Road tax................................ 0 - You need something here
Car Insurance........................... 90 - Wow; this is huge!! check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper - i'm trying to learn to drive but cant afford lessons so i am on partners insurance, hence why its high
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - You need something here
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60 - What is this for? My bus fare to work on the days when I am in. £5 return 3 days a week
Childcare/nursery....................... 395
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 200 - You need to find out how much the APR is on OH's loan and how many payments are left
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2437

joedenise

If you have a dish then you can get FreeSat through your Sky box without having a contract (assuming you're not still in contract). This will give you loads of channels without the monthly payment.

If you are still in contract phone Sky and tell them that you can't afford the package and reduce it to the most basic package.

Denise

shrimpy_80

I am not 100% sure so someone may correct me here, but I have been told that your landlord/agency cannot dictate your energy provider, you pay therefore your choice. Although obviously it then becomes a question of whether you want to risk 'rocking the boat'. You aren't with Spark energy by any chance are you?

ladyasmo

Its funny you say that as that is what I thought, but our landlord owns our row of 4 houses and another tenant mentioned they didn't think he was allowed to do that either. I should check my contract really, if it's not in the contract then I guess we can. But again, I don't want to be making enemies with him!

shrimpy_80

Our letting agent gave us the strong impression that we had to stay with their chosen provider, but when I asked the energy company I wanted to move to they said that we were free to use whoever we chose, and that this particular energy company specialise in lets and pay comission to the agents/landlords! Which explains why they didn't want us to change, and why they were so flipping expensive!

With all my previous lets they haven't been interested at all, as long as you let them know at the end of the lease who the provider is so they can tie up any loose ends. Do you deal with your landlord direct, and do you get on with him? If so might be worth sounding it out, it may be just that he has said that to spare himself the hassle of tenants changing and moving out with unpaid bills etc?

Good luck with everything, I would also suggest a spending diary, it helped me massively in getting to grips with exactly where my money went and working out a realistic budget x