Statement of affairs

danno_4

Hi Everyone;
I have been asked by storm after having dialogue with him to post a thread on here for debate.
When people post a thread and are looking for advice on there debt problems nearly everone asks them to post a SOA.What in we should be asking them for there income & expenditure,People seem to think that they are both the same.Absolutely not.A SOA is a very detailed report on one.Only a OR/IP should be privaliged to such information.Some financal institutions do try it on some times for this reason we need to give the person seeking advice the right information.If we leed them to belive that an SOA is the way to go then we are giving wrong advice,Always ask for income and expenditure in future.I work in the insolvency industry so i meet this all the time.Can i have everone's response please to this post.
Kindest Regards
Danno

chevalier

The reason why we ask for a statement of affairs is because we can the point them to southernscousers sticky at the top of the forum. If fill in the information in this format, then it is in a form that people who help on here already know. It makes it easier to read etc.

The advice on here is informal, and it is up to the people concerned whether they want to provide the information. Some people still get helped when they don't do an SOA but from my point of view it makes it harder, because we can't target the advice so well. Eg if they don't have sky and we suggest that they cut it then that is a bit pointless.

A good SOA does two things. It gives the person a real total of their debt, something they may genuinely not know before they do it. Secondly it gives the people they want to help the information they need to help.

But it is voluntary, just as coming on here at all and asking for help is voluntary. There are many instances of people mentioning that they have been using the site without posting at all. It is only then when they come up against something they can't do on their own that they post. Also when someone posts an SOA on here it is anonymous. This is sometimes the only place that a poster can ask for help, because of the anonymity.

regards
chev

Storm

Can I just point out that I'm a woman!!!

Why does everyone think I'm a bloke???

Storm

And so you can see the original conversation that happened via pm:

Danno wrote:
Hi Storm,
Ihave read a few of your threads and they are very helpfull to people with debts,However when you advise people to post there debts by the way of a statement of affairs this really is wrong advice,What you should be asking is to post a income & excpenditure list,This is totaly different to a SOA,Please don.t think i'm trying to be a know it all i.m just trying to help.I work in the insolvency industry.Please drop me a line mate for a full explination.
kindest regards
Danno

I replied:
To be fair Danno, SoA/Statement of Affairs are the phrases in common usage on the DFW board, and is not just income & expenditure as we're also asking people to list all their debts with aprs (not just minimum payments) and often to give some background too.

I've never pretended to give full insovency or financial advise, and merely follow the general standard that this board uses. If you think this is misleading to new posters then can I suggest you firstly start a new thread for discussion of the topic, and then possibly contact SouthernScouser about amending the terminology in the guide to new DFWs post if the general consensus agrees with you.

And finally, from Danno:
Hi Storm,
Thanks for that reply mate,I understand where you are coming from,The point that i am trying to make is a lot of people think that a SOA is the same as income and expenditue it is totaly different and yes mate it does need someone to speak to southern scousers,You see every banking institution normaly asks for a income and expenditure form to be compleated if any of my clients are asked for a SOA i will always recomend them not to do so.I will explain further.Legally only the OR/IP should ask for that information as it is a very detalied and very personal information about one self.Where as an income and expenditure form is basically what it says.Hope that i have not complicated things mate.Any more info write back.
kindest regards
danno

lynzpower

what is a SOA then danno?

david_hellier

It doesn't matter what you call it as long as it's anonymous and contains sufficient information to determine people's financial position. Anonymity is the key feature of this forum.

bandraoi

never trust that the internet is anonymous, ever.

Aside from that, danno's advice is valid but only if you're talking to a financial institution. This isn't about talking to a financial institution, this is about basic personal budgeting.

southernscouser

But a SOA is needed if we are gonna offer as accurate and correct information as possible.

When asking for a SOA we aren't just using it as an oppurtunity to advise cutbacks. It's all so we can gather a picture of debts, APR's, savings, mortgage etc etc.

I don't understand what the issue is here to be honest. If there is a genuine reason that I don't know about why we shouldn't use the term SOA or even be asking for this information then by all means let me know, and publicly. If you have serious greivances then I'm sure Martin won't object to a PM from yourself.

This is the format that has been used since before I joined this site and it's not only essential but very effective.

southernscouser

lynzpower wrote: »

what is a SOA then danno?

Oh and danno, it's courteous to reply. So you tell me anyway! :rolleyes:

flaura

david_hellier wrote: »

It doesn't matter what you call it as long as it's anonymous and contains sufficient information to determine people's financial position. Anonymity is the key feature of this forum.

I agree so what is the issue really !! people are actually trying to help people here and successfully do so ! and why is it that every now and then someone has to get a little bit lairy and just start a thread to wind up everyone on here ...

wannasavemoney

Most of us are not in the financial industry and the SOA i have only ever come across on this forum, it is a way of people on this forum to list their income and expenditure, call it whatever you like, most of us are just giving a little info not hard and fast advice. For proper advice usually they are refered to cccs or payplan.