Facing it and sorting it.Any advice?

climbgirl

40austin wrote: »

Hi all my £32,000 in debts are to 8 separate creditors,all interest is frozen on all of them.
Payplan helped me draw up a budget sheet.Income is £750 approx.pm
Expenditure (for me only) is:-
Mortgage 252.50
B&C ins.12.77
Council tax £64
Water £15.53
Elec. & Gas 43.40
Telephone £40
MOT £18
Car ins.£21.90
Child maintenance £30
Petrol £60
H/keep £180
Medical £15
Hair £8
Clothes £20
TV£11
Benefits £42
RAC £3.91
TOTAL £838.01
The benefits by the way are incapacity benefit that the BA over calculated when i was ill and frustratingly have to pay back as well.Hope this helps.Thanks.

Ok, there's scope to bring this down a bit. The water, elec and gas seem high, are you paying the lot or splitting them with your wife? If this is half, that's high! Check you're on the cheapest supplier around.

What's housekeeping for, food? How many people does it cover? Again, are you splitting this with your wife? You could probably bring this down a bit.

The clothes budget goes, survive on what you have for now. The telephone is very high, is this a mobile? It needs to be switched to PAYG, you can cope without it for a while.

To be honest, I can see why Payplan have said they can't help you much. You have debts of over £30,000 and you don't even have allowances within your monthly income to meet the minimum repayments, let alone throw anything substantial at these debts.

What's the possibility of getting a better paid job? What's the situation with the house, how big is the mortgage/equity? The reason I'm asking is that I think you might have to consider an IVA or bankruptcy here. A DMP just isn't an option when you can't even make the minimum repayments let alone anything else. And realistically, we can't shave off the required amount from your already tight budget. This is why Payplan have said they can't really help I suspect...

RAS

Agree as to why Payplan could not suggest a DMP, but you do not have the necessary spare income to make an IVA work.

Do you have to have a car? Are the house keeping, TV licence and utilities the full households amount or half? If they are halves, they could be cut substantially.

What is the £42 expenditure on benefits?

And have you been onto www.entitledto.com and inserted your househood income to check that you are getting everything

ltm07

Hi,i'm fairly new to here too. Don't know if this will be of any help,but you must pay for broadband somewhere in there. If so & it's with Virgin mobile,then give them a ring saying that you received a leaflet through your door that offers broadband to new customers for £10. I was paying £18,but i rang them up & they have reduced this to £10 for the next 12 months. I have also stopped buying newspapers which were costing me £26 a month in total. If i want to read one now i just go online. Good luck.

40austin

Hi,the budget is what Payplan helped me with although i have to say its not actual.Yes the Gas water & Electric are right,half the amounts.The housekeeping, clothes,hair is what payplan said are government guidelines or something.I hardly use my pay & go mobile and i've shopped around for cheapest services on utilities already.Yes i am looking for a better job but i guess it wouldn't make too much impact on the debt.Equity in the house is about £80,000,but we don't want to get pushed into releasing it,and i wouldn't know how to without paying more anyway.The sad part is that my wifes earnings are helping me to survive financially,but then we have a good marriage and she stuck with me through my illness.

40austin

Hi Ras the benefits are a debt i have with the BA which was a mistake on their part when i was ill.Payplan didn't suggest stopping it,and to be honest its not that much to repay.

RAS

OK could you revise your SOA to show what you are actually paying out, rather than the budget.

And if there are anythings like the benefit repayment, when this finishes.

And i know you do not like it but marriage is for better for worse, in sickness and in health etc.

What neither of you really want it to have a panic stuationif any of your debtors decides to go for the jugular and threatens the equity in your house, so let's see what could be saved where.

ltm07

If it's their mistake then you shouldn't have to repay it. £43 is alot of money in your circumstances & alot of money to most of us on here. I would phone them & get it sorted if i was you. Again good luck.

40austin

I tried in vain to get the benefit thing sorted and gave up.The rules changed and apparently it was up to me to tell them stuff,which i stupidly did over the phone and not by letter.The weird thing is that apparently i was able to work while i was on the operating table out cold for 6 and a half hours! I have to go for now,but hopefully people will keep posting here and i'll catch up/answer when i can.Is that how it works? Thanks again.

ltm07

Your welcome. I see what you're saying about the BA. I guess things can be a little complicated with them & it sounds like you have been banging your head against a brick wall with them. All the best & keep popping on here for advice & also post your own advice. Have a good evening.

rayday2

Its like tax credits the onus is now on you to make sure its correct, which considering half the staff who work with tax credits can't work it out how the hell can the average working man!