I need help please - financial crisis

b0nz0

BeingMe wrote: »

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\f0\fs22 \cf2 \cb3 \expnd0\expndtw0\kerning0
\outl0\strokewidth0 \strokec2 Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet\
\
Household Information\
Number of adults in household........... 1\
Number of children in household......... 3\
Number of cars owned.................... 1\
\
Monthly Income Details\
Monthly income after tax................ 747\
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0\
Benefits................................ 570\
Other income............................ 0\
Total monthly income.................... 1317\
\
Monthly Expense Details\
Mortgage................................ 0\
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0\
Rent.................................... 500\
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0\
Council tax............................. 104\
Electricity............................. 35\ if this is correct well done you as it's very low!
Gas..................................... 0\
Oil..................................... 0\
Water rates............................. 20\
Telephone (land line)................... 35\
Mobile phone............................ 0\
TV Licence.............................. 12.12\
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0\
Internet Services....................... 0\
Groceries etc. ......................... 400\ this could be cut by at least £50 without you really realising. Just a bit more planning and bargain hunting
Clothing................................ 100\ could you half this? Maybe look in charity shops or local selling pages. You'd be surprised how many people sell brand new things for next to nothing!
Petrol/diesel........................... 120\
Road tax................................ 0\ do you have a mega efficient car or have you forgotten about this?
Car Insurance........................... 35\
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 8\ is this enough to cover everything?
Car parking............................. 0\
Other travel............................ 0\
Childcare/nursery....................... 10\
Other child related expenses............ 0\
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0\
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0\
Buildings insurance..................... 0\
Contents insurance...................... 0\
Life assurance ......................... 0\
Other insurance......................... 0\
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 1000\ even at £80 it's quite high could you maybe cut it back to £40 or £50 and try and shop the sales when they appear throughout the year and stash things away.
Haircuts................................ 120\ far too much right now. Try local colleges or ask hairdressers if they have any trainee students. Don't worry they won't let you get butchered!
Entertainment........................... 50\
Holiday................................. 0\
Emergency fund.......................... 0\ try and put something here so you don't have to rely on credit in future
Total monthly expenses.................. 2549.12\
\
\
Assets\
Cash.................................... 0\
House value (Gross)..................... 0\
Shares and bonds........................ 0\
Car(s).................................. 1500\
Other assets............................ 0\
Total Assets............................ 1500\
\
No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts\
\
Unsecured Debts\
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR\
Store account..................1500......130.......25\
Credit card....................2000......100.......30\
Credit card....................800.......17........30\
Store cards....................700.......25........30\
Catalogue .....................1100......110.......0\
Store card.....................1800......35........30\
Total unsecured debts..........7900......417.......- \
\
\
Monthly Budget Summary\
Total monthly income.................... 1,317\
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,549.12\
Available for debt repayments........... -1,232.12\
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 417\
Amount short for making debt repayments. -1,649.12\
\
Personal Balance Sheet Summary\
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500\
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0\
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,900\
Net Assets.............................. -6,400\
\

Have out a few comments in for you. Sounds like you're going through a lot at the moment. Have you been in touch with CAB or step change? They will be able to give you great advice and hopefully ease your worries. Best of luck

Tixy

Thanks for posting that up. Even with the presents mistake (and maybe haircuts?) it does look like you still have a significant shortfall each month.

I think it probably will be a good idea to talk to one of the debt advice charities for them to help advise you. As it looks like you can afford your day to day costs and rents and have a small amount to put towards your debts.

The debt charities should be able to advise you on what options might be best e.g. perhaps a DMP (debt management plan) or maybe a DRO.

See here IMPORTANT - Where to seek professional impartial advice about your debts.

Presumably you have checked that the new figures from housing benefit and tax credits are correct? Is there any chance of getting maintenance for the children from your ex (or their father)?

Poppops

BeingMe wrote: »

Thank you for the further replies. I can see I've made many errors.

I have my hair cut twice a year and the children are the same except my son needs more regular haircuts.

I found it difficult to estimate for clothing but I very rarely buy clothes for myself.

My direct debit for gas and electricity is currently £35 a month but may change after the next meter reading.

My husband has agreed to pay maintenance but has not done so as yet. He says he cannot afford to do this.

You can't afford for him not to right now.

So from what you say the £120 per month should be per year and so is £10 per month.

I think you should get that meter reading in fast. It feels really low to me. You don't need another shock.

BeingMe

I've tried again here
\
Household Information[/b]\
Number of adults in household........... 1\
Number of children in household......... 3\
Number of cars owned.................... 1\
\
Monthly Income Details\
Monthly income after tax................ 747.47\
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0\
Benefits................................ 570\
Other income............................ 0\
Total monthly income.................... 1317.47\
\
Monthly Expense Details\
Mortgage................................ 0\
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0\
Rent.................................... 500\
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0\
Council tax............................. 104\
Electricity............................. 35\
Gas..................................... 0\
Oil..................................... 0\
Water rates............................. 20\
Telephone (land line)................... 35\
Mobile phone............................ 0\
TV Licence.............................. 12.12\
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0\
Internet Services....................... 0\
Groceries etc. ......................... 400\
Clothing................................ 100\
Petrol/diesel........................... 120\
Road tax................................ 0\
Car Insurance........................... 35\
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0\
Car parking............................. 0\
Other travel............................ 0\
Childcare/nursery....................... 25\
Other child related expenses............ 0\
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0\
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0\
Buildings insurance..................... 0\
Contents insurance...................... 0\
Life assurance ......................... 0\
Other insurance......................... 0\
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 83\
Haircuts................................ 10\
Entertainment........................... 0\
Holiday................................. 0\
Emergency fund.......................... 0\
Total monthly expenses.................. 1479.12\
\
\
Assets\
Cash.................................... 0\
House value (Gross)..................... 0\
Shares and bonds........................ 0\
Car(s).................................. 1500\
Other assets............................ 0\
Total Assets............................ 1500\
\
No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts\
\
Unsecured Debts\
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR\
Store card.....................1300......130.......25\
Credit card....................2000......100.......30\
Credit card....................800.......17........30\
Store cards....................700.......25........30\
Catalogue......................1100......110.......0\
Store card.....................1800......30........30\
Total unsecured debts..........7700......412.......- \
\
\
Monthly Budget Summary\
Total monthly income.................... 1,317.47\
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,479.12\
Available for debt repayments........... -161.65\
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 412\
Amount short for making debt repayments. -573.65\
\
Personal Balance Sheet Summary\
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500\
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0\
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,700\
Net Assets.............................. -6,200\
\

Vikipollard

BeingMe wrote: »

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\
Household Information\
Number of adults in household........... 1\
Number of children in household......... 3\
Number of cars owned.................... 1\
\
Monthly Income Details\
Monthly income after tax................ 747\
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0\
Benefits................................ 570\
Other income............................ 0\ No child maintenance?
Total monthly income.................... 1317\
\
Monthly Expense Details\
Mortgage................................ 0\
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0\
Rent.................................... 500\
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0\
Council tax............................. 104\
Electricity............................. 35\
Gas..................................... 0\
Oil..................................... 0\
Water rates............................. 20\
Telephone (land line)................... 35\
Mobile phone............................ 0\
TV Licence.............................. 12.12\
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0\
Internet Services....................... 0\
Groceries etc. ......................... 400\ Seems a bit high for 4
Clothing................................ 100\ Cut this in half
Petrol/diesel........................... 120\
Road tax................................ 0\
Car Insurance........................... 35\
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 8\
Car parking............................. 0\
Other travel............................ 0\
Childcare/nursery....................... 10\
Other child related expenses............ 0\
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0\
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0\
Buildings insurance..................... 0\
Contents insurance...................... 0\ Need something here
Life assurance ......................... 0\
Other insurance......................... 0\
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 1000\ £80/month is too high - cut in half
Haircuts................................ 120\
Entertainment........................... 50\
Holiday................................. 0\
Emergency fund.......................... 0\
Total monthly expenses.................. 2549.12\
\
\
Assets\
Cash.................................... 0\
House value (Gross)..................... 0\
Shares and bonds........................ 0\
Car(s).................................. 1500\
Other assets............................ 0\
Total Assets............................ 1500\
\
No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts\
\
Unsecured Debts\
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR\
Store account..................1500......130.......25\
Credit card....................2000......100.......30\
Credit card....................800.......17........30\
Store cards....................700.......25........30\
Catalogue .....................1100......110.......0\
Store card.....................1800......35........30\
Total unsecured debts..........7900......417.......- \
\
\
Monthly Budget Summary\
Total monthly income.................... 1,317\
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,549.12\
Available for debt repayments........... -1,232.12\
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 417\
Amount short for making debt repayments. -1,649.12\
\
Personal Balance Sheet Summary\
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500\
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0\
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,900\
Net Assets.............................. -6,400\
\

Sorry but he has a responsibility to pay child maintenance whether he feels he can afford it or not. Even on benefits he should pay £5.


Groceries, presentsand clothing all seem very high. Perhaps slip over to the Old Style board for grocery tips to reduce your costs there. Clothing and presents need to be halved while you are sorting yourself. Not in any way meaning to be harsh there btw


Edited because we cross posted!!


Take heart hun, you will sort it

[Deleted User]

BeingMe wrote: »

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\
Household Information\
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1
\
Monthly Income Details\
Monthly income after tax................ 747 Any way to increase = overtime? second job?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0Is your ex husband paying anything towards the children?
Benefits................................ 570Is this the new correct amount?
Total monthly income.................... 1317[/b]

Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 500
Council tax............................. 104Is this over 10 or 12 months?
Electricity............................. 35Is this accurate, as you don't have gas, seems on the low side
Gas..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20Is this a standard payment or are you on a meter? (if meter, seems low)
Telephone (land line)................... 35What does this include, seems high just for home phone?
Mobile phone............................ 0Not even PAYG?
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Internet Services....................... 0Don't you have this? Or maybe included with home phone above - I think you can get home phone and BB combined for less than you are currently paying just for home phone
Groceries etc. ......................... 400Seems on the high side - try lidl/aldi, cooking from scratch, meal planning, batch cooking, dropping brands etc
Clothing................................ 100Seems on the high side
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 0You will need this
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 8Is this realistically enough?
Childcare/nursery....................... 10
Other child related expenses............ 0nothing? no pocket money? clubs? hobbies? etc
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0never?
Contents insurance...................... 0consider getting this?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 1000I presume this is per year - you need to re-do SOA and put this as per annum, not per month - and do you actually save this for when it's needed?
Haircuts................................ 120Again, I presume that this is not per month?
Entertainment........................... 50What does this cover? try and reduce a bit - see if you can use vouchers and deals etc
Emergency fund.......................... 0Perhaps also a good idea to start building this up - even just £5 per month now, as it will ultimately help you not reaching for cc if something breaks or repairs are needed for anything
Total monthly expenses.................. 2549.12Once you have re-calculated some of the above this will reduce considerably I would have thought


Assets
Cash.................................... 0emergency savings (hopefully, eventually), also non-monthly expenses like car tax etc
Car(s).................................. 1500
Total Assets............................ 1500[/b]


No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts\
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Store account..................1500......130.......25
Credit card....................2000......100.......30
Credit card....................800.......17........30
Store cards....................700.......25........30
Catalogue .....................1100......110.......0 Is this 0% for the duration of the debt?
Store card.....................1800......35........30
Total unsecured debts..........7900......417.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,317
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,549.12Again, this will reduce when you have corrected some of the items in your SOA
Available for debt repayments........... -1,232.12as will this
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 417
Amount short for making debt repayments. -1,649.12and this

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,900
Net Assets.............................. -6,400
\

Comments above - HTH,

D9

Poppops

BeingMe wrote: »

Hi everyone. This is my first post on the boards after being directed here by someone else. I'm hoping someone might be able to help me.

I left my husband 5 months ago and moved into a rental property with my 3 children. I work part time earning around £10,000 pa.

I was in a bit of debt before but I've had to totally furnish the new house and some of this has gone on credit.

Initially the council wrote to me to tell me I would receive full housing benefit and 100% council tax reduction. However, they have written to me to say that they miscalculated and that actually I will now have to pay £200 towards my rent and £350 ish towards my council tax for the remainder of the tax year. I have also been over paid and they will be collecting this back from me at £31 pw from my housing benefit.

By coincidence, tax credits also wrote to me the same day to tell me that they have also over paid me. I rung them to discuss this and after going through my finances, they are looking into it as my outgoings far exceed my income.

I was just about managing before but having to find an additional £300 a month just for rent and council tax has left me panicking. Council tax won't allow me to pay by instalments either and want the full payment now. I don't have it.

I realise now that I urgently need to clear my debts but with nothing extra each month, I don't know how I can do this.

Can anyone advise me as to my next steps in dealing with this please? Many thanks in advance.

Also, I wanted to say, the fact that you use the word 'crisis' is upsetting because it indicates to me that you are panicking. Don't. It won't do you any good and if you are anything like me you will just end up making bad decisions.

My debt was so many times worse than yours because I let things get out of control and tried to be all things to all people. I tried to manage on my own when my husband left me and congratulate you on having more nouse than I did and seeking help soon.

It looks like you may well have to enter a debt management plan or a DRO but that's not the end of the world. Follow the link Tixy posted for you and get the advice and help you need.

BeingMe

Thank you for all the further replies.

My parents pay my road tax for me as a birthday present. I am salaried so do not get paid for over time. I already cook most meals from scratch. The groceries figure includes pet food and cleaning products. I am on a water meter so will check with them what I need to be paying. And the same for gas and electricity. My mobile phone is paid for by work. My phone costs include broadband.

I will go back over to see if I have missed anything.

I've already contacted Step Change but the email with the budget for me to fill out did not arrive in my inbox. Will I be better off calling them? Will a debt arrangement plan affect my credit rating?

My husband was financially abusive. Although he earned 3 times my salary, I was required to pay for everything for the children including all childcare costs despite the fact that we did not qualify for help with childcare due to his salary. I was forced to put everything we needed on credit. I don't know how I can make him pay child maintenance? The CSA have not been very good in my experience.

I will certainly take on all advice given and do my best to reduce my monthly outgoings.

I feel very low having to confront my financial problems.

Frugalsod

Your telephone is high. Do the kids make calls? If you are on certain benefits you could qualify for a BT Basic account. This will cut your line rental down to around £5 a month. You will also get around £1.50 of calls a month inclusive. You are still free to add an internet package from anyone and use that for communicating via email.

If you do not qualify then look for a call package with line rental and work out the sorts of calls you make. If all mobile to one network because friends and family are on it then consider dumping the landline for a mobile contract. You could drop to a PAYG mobile which will keep you connected but be much less especially if you can make calls from work.

You could make some savings on the groceries by making yourself. It can be hard at first, especially with kids. The MSE would suggest double or even triple dipping when it comes to groceries. You will save around 30% from each drop so could make big savings. So switch the expensive branded cereals for own brand. I found that even the value brand cereals are perfectly acceptable.

Though you may not be that extravagant to start with. What I did was look at the things that I bought and then looked at could I make it cheaper myself. For example a trifle will be a couple of pounds but you can make it quite easily with trifle sponges, jelly and tinned fruit or discount fruit and custard for a lot less and you usually get a lot more. That worked for me for a long time. Now I am going even further and making my own trifle bases from a 22p sponge mix from Tesco. I only need to add an egg and water. So I can make it for much less than the stores sell it for. In fact look at any ready meal in this way and you could find that you will make some big savings. I might suggest ploughing some of your savings into getting a food mixer so that you can do even more yourself. It will pay for itself even quicker. The frugal living threads have ideas for eliminating waste by using old veg in soups etc, and all you need for that is a £6 hand blender. I even make my own bread every couple of days and that saves me a packet at only 47p a loaf.

Frugalsod

I would add that you can save a bit by switching to old style cleaning techniques like clear vinegar for grease and cleaning glass. Bicarbonate of soda when you need to clean anything. A combination of these for toilets and they are greener than some of the alternatives.