Think we need help please

DODDY

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1047
Partners monthly income after tax....... 336
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1383

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 500
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 154
Electricity............................. 89
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 67
Telephone (land line)................... 35
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 6.99
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 14.16
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 36
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 8.66
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1405.81


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
sainsbury bank.................5400......225.......0
HSBC CC........................3800......95........18.9
HSBC CC........................1675......42........0
Total unsecured debts..........10875.....362.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,383
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,405.81
Available for debt repayments........... -22.81
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 362
Amount short for making debt repayments. -384.81

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,875
Net Assets.............................. -6,875

Been reading on here for a while think it's time to bite the bullet and get some advice please

We shut down our business a few months back as it was no longer viable I managed to get work straight away just min wage but a 40hr contract so can't complain the wife is applying but so far has only managed to get a few hours cleaning work.

The SOA
wife seems to think if we dont add anything to the debt we can just manage it she is pretty thrifty and hopeful to get work, she had a heart attack back in January she is ok now but i think that might be the issue to her finding work, so not so sure we can manage long term if she doesn't find proper work.

We rent off a distant family member so can't any claim housing benefit, water bill is high paid every quarter it's not astronomical for south west water but it is being investigated, we don't have a decent TV signal but do have netflix for the lad at home, and the phone bill has the broadband in it.
The lad is unable to contribute cash wise, he in higher education doesn't cost a lot really as he does pick up some work every now and again and buys his own clothes and toiletries and keeps his mother and me happy with doing the odd jobs around the place. other child care cost is my current CSA cost. I know the shopping cost just over £60 a week as the wife keep's the receipts each week the rest of the house keeping covers clothes, birthdays and whatever else women decide is needed.

Car costs should come down next year we moved from commercial insurance to normal so the full no claims wasn't transferable but this is paid up for the year and tax isn't due again till next summer both just had MOT, new tyres and pads on the wife's touch wood they are good for a while.

The debts
The sainsbury is a personal loan with 5.5% APR with two years left to run.
My HSBC Credit card and her balance transfer card that has 20 months left at 0%

she is robbing peter to pay paul at the moment and has the idea that if we can bring the balance down on my HSBC credit card we will be OK, but it all seems pretty bleak to me nothing been defaulted yet but i wonder if doing a dmp would be a better option.

[Deleted User]

is the son at college or uni?if at college you should still get c benefit,if at uni he should be getting loans/grants?

fatbelly

Hi

I had a few questions but your notes explained them (clothing costs, child expenses, other bits and pieces)

So it looks as if you will struggle to stop your debt increasing as things stand. Any idea how you are making the payments when you are -384? Are you eating into savings? Or is there an overdraft increasing somewhere?

1. My understanding is that renting from a family member does not disqualify you from HB unless it is a contrived tenancy. So you should first check (turn2us) whether you could get any help with benefits: HB, council tax support, working tax credit. Off the top of my head I don't know whether you can but every little helps.

2. SWW has high charges - are you on a meter?

3. If you can get significant surplus income then a dmp would be viable. Payplan or Stepchange.

4. If surplus <50 then it looks more like a DRO, though a 4k car will disqualify the owner and if that's you, and you have the 2 larger debts, then that's out for now.

DODDY

Rent been savings up to now but they pretty much gone, managed to stay out of the overdraft, we've just been paying things off as they come in/due. as much as I put down the car charges these have already been paid up for the year, I guess the wife has been raiding the house keeping to pay the smaller bills. Something is going on with the water (metered) hoping to get that sorted last quarter has been paid so it wont be in again till December. the 4k is two car's both needed for work would that make a difference. will look into Tax credits. housing benefit is most likely a none-starter lived here for 3 years but don't have an official tenancy, nothing dodgy there is no mortgage on the property and he has land-lord insurance, he's a spit and a handshake old boy it's cheap rent so don't really want to rock the boat as it would undo us if we have to find a deposit and advance rent somewhere else. Lad gets a small bursary and a funded bus pass he dose his bit I wont ask for more.

nkkingston

You could ask to change your council tax to 12 monthly payments (rather than the default 10) to give yourselves a bit more breathing space each month. While your wife is still looking for work, she might want to take up online surveys - you could pick up £20+ a month from that (and often get free stuff, like washing up liquid or shampoo to trial, which saves a smidgeon of the monthly budget too). Heck, the son might want to get on it too, since it'd give him a bit of spare spending money. Check the 'I can't believe I sold that' thread for ideas of things you could ebay around the house (or out of other people's skips!) and the daily thread of other ways to bring in pennies. It all adds up.

MoneyMission2015

The problem is there is very little to cut back on as your SOA is already pretty tight, as you probably already know. You've already queried the water so hopefully something will get sorted with that. As an example, we are a family of 4 and on a water meter and we pay £36 per month. We've got a dishwasher that gets used every day and our washing machine is used most days or is on constantly over the weekend, we all have showers apart from youngest who still has baths and in the summer we fill up one of those huge inflatable pools in the garden. So you can see we are quite high users really but our monthly payment is nearly half of what you're paying.


I'd agree on the idea of getting your wife to do surveys. I have over £400 in vouchers to spend on Christmas presents mainly from doing surveys. Over the course of this year I've probably earned around £600 in vouchers, but some of those vouchers were from cashback websites etc too and I've spent some of them on birthday presents throughout the year. Make sure you/your wife are checking for cashback when you renew car insurance. Again, on TopCashback website I have been a member for around 3 years and to date I have earned nearly £800 from it. It all comes in handy for a bit of extra money to go towards Christmas, birthdays or just cashing out every so often and paying for groceries.


Definitely check out tax credits as you should be entitled to something. I hope your wife is able to find a job soon. Has she asked around for any Christmas jobs? A family member of ours got a Christmas job in Next last year and they kept her on after Christmas, so it is sometimes possible to get something permanent from the seasonal jobs.


Good luck

rockm87

Is there anyway you can get your income up? As we ramp up to christmas I'm sure there are shelf stackers, or additional shop workers needed?

or how about a few hours in the evening?

andyfromotley

Hmmmm. without an increase in income this isnt going to resplve itself. I can see that you are trying to increase it and this is your best course of action.

However if you cant do this soon then you must seek profesional advice as you are increasing your debt significantly every month. I suspect that debt relief may be the best way forward for you.

Call national debt line, step change or christians against poverty. These organisations will not charge you (NEVER pay for debt advice) and discuss things with them, either a DMP or bankruptcy may be suitable for your situation. There are pros and cons to each. Discuss it with them.

Good luck

poppasmurf_bewdley

Two cars on the household income you have does not seem sustainable.

Could you manage with one car, at least until your wife can get a full time job? Selling one could give your savings a boost.

DODDY

Thanks everyone wife's managed to get some temporary work in a local supermarket she has worked for them years ago and is hoping they may keep her on after the Christmas.

Extra work for me is a sore point she wont have it as I've been a bit stressed with it all and my diabetes isn't to good at the moment we make a right pair she worries about my health and I worry about her's, and we are both getting on a bit. she doesn't seem to worry about the money just keeps saying they can't have what we haven't got but they will get it. but I know she wants to sort a pre-paid funeral and worries about this since we lapsed the insurance.

Car's are all paid up for another year we live out in the sticks a bit and so's her cleaning job it clashes with my work hours so car share isn't an option, she only has a little smart car, I suppose I could trade hers down to broomstick.

we have another cleared credit card with 10k available, is it worth me seeing if I can get a deal and transfer my HSBC? wife doesn't want to touch it at the moment the Barclays is a higher APR then the HSBC and says it only works if you can pay it off before the deal ends and wants to wait to see if she get's kept on after Christmas and see what our situation is like then,but wouldn't it be worth paying less interest now? I did also think of consolidation to bring down the monthly payments but she gave me the I want a divorce look so I dropped that idea.

asparagus1968

Hi. I'd agree with your wife to not consolidating ,and with you on getting the debts all on to 0% interest I'm very fair..