I want to stop drowning

enthusiasticsaver

You are unlikely to have £250 spare on categories which is why I don't think doing it through stepchange will help. You are prioritising the family debt understandably so a lot of creditors won't be happy with that. If you went self managed you would allow less than £650 to the creditors as you still have to find £250 for your family debt. Ideally you need to be aiming for around £500 to stepchange but haircuts, clothes etc is not going to come to £150 per month. Have you got the soa they agreed with you last time you queried it? Put figures in every category and maybe increase the groceries spends.

debtaghh

I'm not sure if I do, I'll have a look.

But £500 to creditors and £250 to family is not too far off what we pay now.

enthusiasticsaver

What are your essential outgoings (rent, bills etc), groceries and fuel, gifts etc and minimum debt repayments? A full soa is useful and you would need that for stepchange anyway?

debtaghh

I've always struggled doing an official soa ( it won't ever load properly) but I can do a similar made up one:

Rent £1300
Council tax £250
Gas and electricity £85
Water £60
Mobiles £75
Sky, internet and phone line £35
Car insurance for two cars £70
Fuel £200
Food £350
Mum and dad £170
Mum and dad cc £80
Credit cards minimums £720 ( more than I thought )

Total £3395

This is my current budget and doesn't include presents, entertainment, car maintenance etc

Income

Dh £2500 this is his basic
My new salaries £700
Child benefit £197

Total £3397

enthusiasticsaver

Yes that is not sustainable. You can certainly up the groceries for stepchange and perhaps the fuel. Stick down money for entertainment, gifts, car maintenance, haircuts and clothes and emergency fund. Maybe increase the utilities too as much as possible. Ideally you need to find £250 plus enough spare to make life bearable for you or there is no advantage to you in doing it. Read the DMP thread to see what is usually allowed for a family of 5.

enthusiasticsaver

I downloaded an allowable living expenses on a DMP and it suggests £335 for a couple per month plus £80 for each child. Given your daughter is almost an adult you could try for £600 groceries and toiletries. There is the £250 immediately for your family debt. It suggests £50 clothing per couple plus £18 per child so there is £100 immediately. It suggests £55 for entertainment, hobbies etc for family of 5 and hairdressers £10 each adult and £5 for a child so £40. Boost the fuel spends, utility spends and add in gifts, car maintenance and emergency savings to get the £720 down to a level you think you can live with. These are figures allowed for bankruptcy though but presumably they would not be massively different for a DMP.

On those figures you have to do something as there is no leeway at all if the cars breakdown or to buy your kids shoes, pay for swimming or whatever.

debtaghh

Thanks. If they do allocate that then that seems good. Won't a dmp take longer though as you have to pay all the debt back but paying smaller payments?

enthusiasticsaver

The advantage of a DMP is that the interest is often frozen. Sometimes you can get F and Fs which reduce the term, If you are looking to go down the IVA route then yes there is the advantage that the time is usually limited for paying it back but I think the soa is much tighter. See what stepchange recommend. What did they say last time?

debtaghh

I think they said an Iva wasn't an option for us

debtaghh

I would only really feel happy considering a dmp if we would financially benefit it each month. If we will only be paying £50-£100 less then I would rather carry on trying to pay it off. We had cleared over 4K since October and it's the unexpected move that has set us back.