New Year, New Start (incl SOA)

TengoNoDinero

Hello, I'm back again, after a number of tumultuous years. My divorce is now finalised, and I have come out of that with a 50% share of my ex-husband's pension and an undertaking from him that he will continue to pay the monthly premium for our joint life policy (payable on death) covering our mortgage shortfall from the former matrimonial home. That was bought by the local Council through the Government's Mortgage Rescue Scheme, and is rented back to me.

As part of our Consent Order, it was agreed that exH would take on 70% of the mortgage shortfall, and myself 30%. However, despite running this past my solicitor at the time, it has turned out that this was never run past the Mortgage company, and they will not accept this split, deeming us 100% jointly and severally liable. I am not sure whether I can get any come back on my former solicitor or need to take it back to Court for clarification (but have nothing spare financially to pay costs). This also, of course, keeps me financially linked to exH for credit reference purposes.

I have now been working full-time for two years, doing shift work and able to pick up some overtime each month, which has made a huge difference to me. My bank are really pleased with me as I have now managed to stay in credit since October 2009. They apparently now consider me a "good bet".

So now for the bad bit... Unfortunately, I was off work from November 2012 to March 2013, having damaged my back at work (ongoing claim with this). This led to me being on SSP and Housing Benefit for that duration. The Council then deemed that I had been overpaid Housing Benefit. At the same time I totally misread a letter from HMRC regarding Tax Credits, whereby they had said I was no longer entitled to any, but "because it might cause me financial hardship" they would continue paying, and I had missed this! Just shows how closely you need to read these things... all I "saw" was the payments they were going to be making. Anyhow, lesson learned, I now read everything doubly closely, but it has meant I also have a Tax Credits Overpayment. I have been "snowballing" with overtime received and cleared a lot of the Housing Benefit overpayment already.

So my debts at today's date are:-
Housing Benefit Overpayment - £162
Tax Credit Overpayment - £1,135.49, and
Mortgage Shortfall - £37,059.58.

I have already got payment arrangements in place for the HB and Mortgage of £1 a month, and am still trying to get the Tax Credit amount reduced, and an arrangement in place with them. The HB should be paid off by May 2014 and then I can concentrate on the two others. ExH pays £100 per month towards the mortgage shortfall.

Right, so I have patted myself on the back to some extent, having cleared all credit card debts and got my spends reduced and bank account in good control, but at same time kicking myself royally for misreading the HMRC letter and landing myself with an unneccessary debt. The Housing Benefit overpayment arose over a misunderstanding about my phased return to work, so maybe I could have avoided that too. But, with a view to further sorting out my situation, especially wanting to be totally separate to my exH, I approached the CAB. As soon as I gave the figure for the Mortgage Shortfall, they just said "bankruptcy".

I then have taken advice from a Debt Counselling group through my work. They suggested an IVA, but promptly changed all the figures I had supplied (as per the SOA below) and are saying I can pay an unrealistic amount per month, which would be legally tied in, and I feel unsustainable. I cannot guarantee overtime - sometimes there is some available and sometimes not. A lot also appeared to be going in their fees, which are included in the monthly payment to them, rather than upfront, but it has still left me feeling uneasy.

Bankruptcy would, I understand, leave me fresh to make a complete fresh start after a very difficult year, be on my credit file for 6 years, although again I understand some keep it there for up to 21 years.

An IVA again would, I understand, mean that all debt would be written off after 5 years, if I can maintain the unrealistic payments for that length of time, and again be on my credit file for 6 years.

And to complicate matters, in a way, I am also in a new relationship (well we've been together almost 3 years), and I spend a lot of time at my boyfriend's. He is very worried about the financial implications to him should we set up together (he's currently in his own private rented place), and of the options I'd been given, felt that bankruptcy was the best one as it would mean drawing a line under my previous relationship and debt. But I don't know how an Official Receiver would view our situation, where I'm spending a lot of time with my boyfriend and, as he contributes towards the car and food sometimes, whether an OR would also take his income/expenditure into account? I can, however, understand his view of putting the past behind me.

My Bank has advised me against bankruptcy as, in their view, I am maintaining my account very well and have, at last, got my budget balanced. And despite the above, the Credit Counselor has said I would still need to have a basic bank account for the IVA, which I really don't understand as I have never used the overdraft facility on my account (£200 limit), but do benefit from the mobile phone insurance, travel insurance (my Mum lives abroad and has been very seriously ill this last year), and online credit reference monitoring. As I have no savings to speak of, I keep the overdraft facility in case I need to fly to my Mum at short notice.

Regarding the SOA below, the spend on Meals at Work is pretty high due to my job - shift work and we only have a 1/2 hour break, plus the antisocial hours means this is bumped up. There is nowhere to store food safely, so taking my own meals, eg sandwiches, is not possible. And due to my age, and ongoing health issues, I have my hair coloured and cannot do this at home, but I go to a training school which has cut costs (look half dead if I don't and as in public eye, don't feel I can cut this any further). I have also not included my contributions to work pension (4.4%) or paying back my student loan as they both go out direct from my salary, so income figure is after these have gone out.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,472.66
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Overtime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.54
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.24
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.50
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.69
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447.68
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.83
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64.76
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Housing Benefit Overpayment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00
Tax Credit Overpayment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00
Mortgage Shortfall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Emergency Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.30
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Prescriptions/Dentist/Supplements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,532.66


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,503.04




So, over to you guys to advise what I should do.

Should I:
1. Carry on as at present and continue the snowballing, in the anticipation that my exH is in bad health (almost 60, me early 50s) and therefore, the life insurance may pay off the mortgage shortfall sooner rather than later?
2. Renegotiate the IVA to a more affordable monthly sum?
3. Go for bankruptcy.

And what will be the implications for my boyfriend? I believe his income/expenditure would be brought in to the IVA once we set up together. It would also affect my arrangements with the other debts as I have to submit regular income/expenditure details with them.

tallyhoh

Just on my way out but your grocery/household bill leaps out: £350 is a lot for just one person or even two if you are feeding boyfriend

TengoNoDinero

Grocery/household is £260. I forgot to add that my eldest son is living at home, but is currently unemployed with some student debt of his own so at present is unable to contribute towards expenses.

asparagus1968

i'd suggest speaking to a debt charity that don't charge fees-stepchange or national debtline are just 2.

nothing for electricity?
water rate is very high for one person, check meter/reduce usage/any leaky taps etc
satellite tv/internet/landline/mobile should (need to be) cheaper than this.
groceries+meals at work+drinkls out+cleaning products+petfood+laundry= £405, very high!
prescriptions-would a pre-payment work out cheaper?

what are your assets? car value, house-any equity?

well done so far, hope you get sorted!

TengoNoDinero

Argh! Just re-checked and realised I'd added some values into separate sections, which should have been included in the £260 food/household. Those were the cleaning/laundry and cleaning products. Hollow-legged sons don't help. The younger one is at university but still comes home on occasion.

Also, for some reason, the electricity of £55 wasn't showing.

I have now gone through and done the SOA again. This time should be correct, as I also realise I hadn't put correct values in a couple of other places, as eg I'd not allowed for contribution to fuel from boyfriend.

Water rates - no choice. I live in a 4-bed house and this is the rate the Council worked out when they took over the house, but the rent I pay is less than if it was privately rented.

House maintenance I have left at £5 as the house needed a lot of work on it, and has recently had some major plaster reskimming. Council do not redecorate, so that is down to me, hence the cost (they did send me £170 but that is already spent). At present it is being done on a room by room basis. As and when more holes are found, they will come in again and fix those, but it is a long and messy process.

Mobile is on contract, and cheaper than previously. Still looking how I can reduce others/contracts.

I am trying to rehouse at least one of my three cats, so that may also reduce.

I've already explained why my meals at work is so high, and can't see way of changing that - we're stuck with canteen prices/proximity of open eateries when that's closed. I've allowed £4.61 a day, which covers one meal and two drinks.

Drinks out? I no longer do any hobbies, gym, or other expensive things. I drink halves and this is my only social life, so I don't see a way to cut down on this.

Prescriptions/dentist/supplements - I am looking into the benevolent association through work reimbursing for Pre-payment Certificate. I try and have two dental checks a year, and I have a number of supplements which are helping to keep me in health. I had such a serious illness I was on DLA and bedridden for 3 months and still recuperating from that. I never want to go back to that situation ever again. If I don't have glucosamine, I seize up, for example. Guess it's age! I shop around for best value, but doubt I can cut this cost by much. The drugs I am on are likely to be indefinite.

The only asset I have is my second-hand car, which has a value of £800, and I need that to get to work/take boyfriend to his work. The house was sold to the Council through the Mortgage Rescue Scheme and is rented back to me. That saves me building insurance, but I still have to pay contents, and of course, we had negative equity which is where the mortgage shortfall has arisen.

If, as suspected, I am on contract with Sky for my internet/satellite/landline, how do I get out of that? I recently changed providers for my mobile so am on a 2-year contract for that.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,472.66
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Overtime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.54
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.24
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.50
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.69
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447.68
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.83
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64.76
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Housing Benefit Overpayment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00
Tax Credit Overpayment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00
Mortgage Shortfall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00

Savings & Investments

Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Emergency Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.30
Prescriptions/Dentist/Supplements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Clothing & Footwear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,532.66


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,538.04

When_the_going_gets_tough

My understanding is that an IVA is usually used where there is a property to protect but this is not the case for you. I would have thought it worth considering bankruptcy - you might like to visit National Debtline website - they can give you impartial free advice. Or try at CAB for a debt appointment.

heartbreak_star

Your car insurance looks high too - have you shopped about?

And why do you have a bank account with a fee?

Small savings, but they add up

HBS x

tallyhoh

TengoNoDinero wrote: »

Grocery/household is £260. I forgot to add that my eldest son is living at home, but is currently unemployed with some student debt of his own so at present is unable to contribute towards expenses.

Ah, didn't know about son but there is a £100 eating at work so its £360, still alot

LannieDuck

I think eldest son should be contributing, even if only a nominal amount. You say he has student debt - do you mean a student loan? That won't start to be paid back until he's earning a certain salary.

If he's unemployed and job hunting, is he getting JSA? Normally people would use that to feed themselves, but you're buying his food for him. I would suggest he needs to give you a small amount each week while he's availing himself of your hospitality.

(I might also suggest youngest son contribute during uni holidays if he gets a holiday job.)

Even if you do go bankrupt, you still need to balance your books. You should be able to reduce your mobile phone further (how many phones does that cover?), and def reduce the sky package.

asparagus1968

hi,

£26+ is a large amount for just contents insurance, please have a look on comparison sites

sky- once you are out of contract just phone and cancel, leave the box and card as they are and you then have "freeview" ready and waiting.they don't take the equipment back-it was the sky cancellation department that told me I could do this-cool eh?

if you are still in contract with sky, ring them and ask what they can do to lower your payments as you are struggling, they usually offer 50% off for 6 months or so.

landline/internet=£32 ,have a look at talktalk deals, much cheaper available,

agree with comments about your son, student loans won't be payable until he is earning quite a good wage, any income he gets from government is to support himself, he should be paying you something, you can't afford to keep him? apologies if he does not get any financial help at all.

mobiles- how many phones is this for?
again, it is always worth ringing the provider, they'd rather offer a discount and get something from you than no payment at all:)

is there a reason you have a £9.50 fee for your bank account?

any room for a lodger?

asparagus1968

I don't know that there would be implications if you and son were to move in with boyfriend, your bills would be less, the debts are in your name only so I don't see how he would suffer but think you could maybe ask CAB or one of the debt charities about that:)