Experts needed please - new person's SOA.

deliciosa

Hello!

Experts needed - I am on my way now but a friend needs help - Please can you have a look at her SOA:

Income:

£660 wages
£90 other income (fairly regular, every month)

Outgoings:

£360 rent
£6 son pocket money
£55 bus pass (monthly)
£40 vodafone bill (contract, can't change for next 12 months)

Total left: 289

I don't know how much she spends on food each months, probably all of this - she can only eat funny gluten free food… ehh.

Debts:

Credit card 1: £1624 at 19.9%, limit: 1500 (in arrears)
Credit card 2: £1035 at 17.9%, limit: 1000 (in arrears)
Overdraft: £595 plus charges due £50 (limit £600) so when they apply the charges, it will incur further charges… )
Rent arrears: £260 (council rent but they are not chasing yet)

Further owed: £79 to me (deliciosa) at 0% (not urgent but eventually she will need to pay it back)
£20 for acupuncture therapy - needs to pay within a month.

That's it, any help would be appreciated!!!

Many thanks in advance!!

D x x

immoral_angeluk

What are the minimum payments on her debts etc? you need to find out exactly how much she spends on food etc so we can see exactly what is left or what she's overspending by.

deliciosa

The minimum payment is 5% on her cards. She just told me she spends all her leftover money on food !!!!! And she has been ignoring the credit card companies chasing letters for threee months now…

Sus1e

I think she needs to do a spending diary to quantify exactly what she spends the rest on. I know Gluten free food is expensive but she could cook from scratch and buy Gluten Free Flour to make her own bread with etc which would work out cheaper than buying it ready made.

deliciosa

she's just started the sepending diary as per my recommendation - on day three now. But those cards need paying!!

oh I forgot to say that I got her to open a new current account at natwest with no overdrsft so she will get her next months salary there and she will have a positive balance... hope this was a good advice??

Idiophreak

has she tried applying for a 0% card?
sounds like she isn't going to have a great credit score, but it's worth a go...

Seaxwyn

HI deliciosa

She has a son - is she getting child benefit, and does the father pay any maintenance?

Is she getting tax credits? It seems with her low income she'd be entitled to something.

deliciosa

Idiophreak wrote: »

has she tried applying for a 0% card?
sounds like she isn't going to have a great credit score, but it's worth a go...

Hello

yes, we tried it together. It has been turned down.

deliciosa

Seaxwyn wrote: »

HI deliciosa

She has a son - is she getting child benefit, and does the father pay any maintenance?

Is she getting tax credits? It seems with her low income she'd be entitled to something.

The father is getting child benefit (they have separate finances) and he is also paying the bills, nothing else.

Tax credits - she is not getting it, how do we find out whether she is entitled?

CLAPTON

her income is very low

can she increase her income?
is she claiming all the benefits she is entitled to ? WTC, Housing benefits, does she pay council tax etc.

try this calculator
http://www.entitledto.co.uk/default.aspx
and
http://www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/qualify/DIQHousehold.aspx

your advice to open a new bank a/c and have her income paid in was excellent.

her first priority is to pay her rent; if necessary she simply can't pay the CCs

but get her to check out the benefits issue asap.

Seaxwyn

Phone the tax credits people on 0845 300 3900 - I've always found them really helpful.

If she is living with the father they will assess it based on their joint income.

She may be entitled to other benefits - I've seen people here mention a site called entitledto.co.uk (I think)