No money for anything...where do I go first

Redfif68

Hi everyone, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I'm not sure where else to turn. The simple facts of my situation are my husband was made redundant over 12 months ago and after having mortgage cover for a year and JSA for 6 months we now receive nothing. He works freelance for an agency so occasionally gets 1/2 weeks work but then may get nothing for weeks. Our total income is £1050 per month and our outgoings BEFORE food etc is £1600 - this is just mortgage and bills. The bills do include 2 loans and 1 credit card as well as the usual bills. My question is, we obviously cant live like this and need to approach lenders and utility/mortgage suppliers - does anyone have any advice on which order to approach them or which it is essential not to get in arrears with? Thank you

taffy056

Why not place up an SOA so we can see where its all going to , and so can you. Also your Mortgage, secured loans, Elec/Gas and Council Tax payments are the priority. Make sure you are claiming all your Tax Credits and maybe Council tax benefits and so on.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

FireWyrm

Yes, we need an SOA to help. It's really hard to give advice on so little information. The good news is that often people don't realise that quite small changes or re-arrangement of lifestyle can yield surprising results.

Redfif68

Could you let me know what an SOA is then ill do my best. Thanks

Vikipollard

SOA = Statement of Affairs. It lists all your incomings/outgoings.

Click on the link in taffy's post hun (the makesenseofcards one). Once you've filled it in, format it for MSE using the tab on the bottom and copy it onto your thread here.

HTH

jamesd

The priority bills are council tax (a potential crime not to pay), mortgage, gas, electricity and water. No unsecured loans are priority. Subscriptions to TV services aren't essential expenditure and creditors will expect them to be canceled as soon as the contract terms allow it. Same for high price phone contracts.

Work out what you must spend on priority bills and food. That's the start of the basis for working out what you can afford. If that doesn't allow paying the unsecured borrowing, so be it and you need to tell those credit providers that you're unable to afford to pay them and what amount is affordable, if anything. The priority bills parts are also important if any of them threatens court action because a court will not order you to pay more than you can afford after eliminating non-essential spending.

If you're in arrears with any of the priority bill people do contact them, let them know about your situation and that you're working with unsecured creditors to free up the money to pay the priority bills and eventually catch up on any arrears as circumstances allow. It's OK to say you're still working on the details and that you can't yet say how much you'll be able to pay towards any arrears.

Redfif68

Thanks everyone Right, I've done that and I'll post the results below.
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b]

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 950
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1030

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 800
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 225
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130
Electricity............................. 89
Gas..................................... 26
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 53
Telephone (land line)................... 48
Mobile phone............................ 38
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 22
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 100
Buildings insurance..................... 27
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 17
Other insurance......................... 25
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1977


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 180000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1400
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 181400


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 122000...(800)......0
Secured Debt.................. 12000....(225)......6.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 134000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................2000......36........0
Total unsecured debts..........2000......36........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,030
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,977
Available for debt repayments........... -947
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 36
Amount short for making debt repayments. -983

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 181,400
Total HP & Secured debt................. -134,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,000
Net Assets.............................. 45,400

Redfif68

What a disaster :-(

kerri_gt

Hi there, folks will be along to better advise about arrangements with creditors and such, but a couple of thoughts regarding your SOA.

Do you need both cars? Selling one would bring in some additional cash and reduce car expense on a monthly basis.

Landline - this looks v.high for a month, for example landline costs with BT are £17.75 a month, and £12. 25 with Sky

Mobile phone - is this one, or two? Are the phones in contract, speak to the mobile providers and ask to move to a reduced cost plan or if you're out of contact could you manage on PAYG?

Sattelite TV - get rid of it if you're not in contract or as soon as, this is a luxury atm you can't afford - have Freeview instead.

Internet - again seems high - are you in contract? Shop around.

Pet Insurance - 100 a month? thats really high, do you have a lot of animals or is this specialist insurance?

Other Insurance - what is this and is it 100% necessary? (for example, if it's mobile insurance, ditch it and just don't lose your phone)

Can your husband get any other additional work in the meantime? Office cleaning, bar work, building work etc? It might not be what he wants to do but you need more cash coming into the house. Is there anything else you can sell? eBay, car boots, local ads etc? This would also bring in some additional funds.

Googlewhacker

Unless your OH is going to find a job sharpish you really need to look at selling the house and reducing the mortgage to a manageable rent.

Have you looked at https://www.entitledto.co.uk to make sure you are getting all the benefits you can?

rising_from_the_ashes

Sorry to hear things are so tough ..... few comments from me below on where some cuts may be possible

Redfif68 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b]

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2 See below

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 950
Partners monthly income after tax 0
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1030

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 800
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 225
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130
Electricity............................. 89 This is HUGE - does it incl arrears? If not, check your readings against bills to make sure they're accurate / check your usage (eg turn off heating in rooms when you're not in them) / check comparison sites etc
Gas..................................... 26
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 53 This is high too - can you get a meter?
Telephone (land line)................... 48 This is high - you can get for under £10 / month
Mobile phone............................ 38 When do the contracts end? Switch to PAYG & use for emergencies only
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 Sorry not essential atm - switch to FreeSat
Internet Services....................... 22 On the high side - shop around & then see if your current provider can do you a deal. If not, move
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 All essential journeys? Try to do things like shopping etc when you're near a store to save on trips
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10 Not enough for 2 cars ....
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 100 How many pets? Is this all their costs?
Buildings insurance..................... 27 Check comparison sites @ renewal time
Contents insurance...................... 0 Incl with buildings?
Life assurance ......................... 17
Other insurance......................... 25 What is this?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 0 Need something in here
Entertainment........................... 0 And here - even £10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 And here to cover things breaking down
Total monthly expenses.................. 1977


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 180000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1400
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 181400


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 122000...(800)......0
Secured Debt.................. 12000....(225)......6.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 134000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................2000......36........0
Total unsecured debts..........2000......36........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,030
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,977
Available for debt repayments........... -947
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 36
Amount short for making debt repayments. -983

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 181,400
Total HP & Secured debt................. -134,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,000
Net Assets.............................. 45,400

Few suggestions above but really it's going to be hard to make up that shortfall without a 2nd income.

Have you asked if you can put your mortgage to interest only?

Also, it's not (and I know how hard this can be) feasible to run 2 cars when you've not got the income to cover them both and you might seriously have to consider selling one of them.

Has your DH tried looking for work outside his area of expertise? Really it's a case of anything just now to try to up your income.

Best of luck