Brief Story and SOA

VeryInTheRed

Hi all,

I have been reading lots and appreciate all the knowledge I have gained from the marvelous contributors here.

I am up to the income / expenses part of my online application.

My debt started when the ex-wife and I divorced 4 1/2 years ago. I am now remarried (2 months ago, very cheap wedding funded by family).

The divorce was expensive.

I had never been involved with the money with my previous wife, she controlled every penny.

With financial freedom I spent a lot - far to much. Yes I needed a home to have my children stay in and I needed to furnish/equip it - but in hindsight I was far to extravagant (£2500 TV etc!!).

The debt piled up quickly and started to scare me.

I then got into a bit of a gambling challenge with friends in the pub - a £1 to £10,000 challenge on safe low odd bets. This failed, so I kept starting it again, but upping the starting stake to speed it up. Still failed.

I then started to chase the losses, staking more and more. I have not gambled for 18 Months.

Interest was just compounding the figure and I could no longer move around onto 0% cards as had a card with everyone.

Now defaulted on all accounts and paying £1.00 pcm.

SOA:

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5 (Aged: 17 at college, 9,9,8,2)
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 758
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 120 CSA for Stepson
Total monthly income.................... 4128

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 825
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 135
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 51
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 70 £20 for mine £35 for wife's £20 for oldest daughter's
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 600
Clothing................................ 120
Petrol/diesel........................... 350 I do between 400 and 600 miles per week in a 7 seater
Road tax................................ 40
Car Insurance........................... 110
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 60
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 25
Childcare/nursery....................... 200
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 35
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 9
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 75
Entertainment........................... 60 kids at cricket, football and youth club every week
Holiday................................. 75
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Savings (Ideally)....................... 50
Dry Cleaning............................ 30
School Trips............................ 30
Cigarettes for 2 (Was £600 but cut down) 200
Pet Food (1 Dog & 3 Cats)............... 35
Work Meals for 2........................ 100
School Meals............................ 90
Ex Wife Maintenance..................... 850
Total monthly expenses.................. 4527


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Cards...................52500.....0.........0
Overdrafts.....................2500......0.........0
Loans (Unsecired)..............10000.....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........65000.....0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,128
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 4,527
Available for debt repayments........... -399
Monthly Unsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -399

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -65,000
Net Assets.............................. -62,000

Feel free to be critical, including against me and my foolish choices!!

Thanks all. :beer:

VeryInTheRed

Another thing requiring advice:

The car:

Worth about £3000 to £4500

7 seater which we need, in good running condition but has some external damage reducing its value.

I do a lot of driving to and from work, varies but currently doing 550 miles just commuting.

The car also gets my wife to work on an evening currently as her car needs a gearbox which we can't afford to pay for. Probably going to get scrapped.

On top of this I have a daughter at the local college, 2 daughters with my ex wife at a school 3.5 miles away, a step son at the village school and a daughter who gets dropped at my parents frequently. We pay my parents £200 pcm for childcare as much cheaper than nursery (they have currently agreed to take no payment so I can save my BR fee).

So the car is essential and I am certain I could not get a 7 seater up to the work it does for £1000.

Looking through the insolvency technical manual some sections point towards me having a case for it to be classed as exempt. What do you all think?

Thanks!

KeepOnKnitting

I am not going to judge you, I am way too exhausted. What I am going to say is that your budget doesn't work. You are still spending £400 per month more than you earn. You have to find more places to cut this, as otherwise the bankruptcy won't change anything. I can make recommendations, but ultimately it is your life and your budget and you have to live with it.

VeryInTheRed

Hi Keeponknitting,

Thanks for your reply : )

I know it does not work - a lot of the day to day stuff is being sacrificed so that we make it to the end of the month. Every month.

For example, I have stopped having lunch at work. We are not eating as well on an evening - beans on toast is frequent (good job we all like it).

We don't save, don't put money aside for a holiday, don't put money aside for car maintenance and MOT etc. We don't have an emergency pot etc.

My ex wife is currently and kindly accepting less, though I am legally tied to the full £850 by a stamped court consent order. No arrears are building whilst I pay her less.

The SOA is what I have put together as reasonable for a family of 7 and yes it needs to be edited down prior to my BR - what I was asking people for was exactly that, the best way to trim it down.

Thank you for your time : )

peterkay369

I'm sure I had a £300 or so deficit on my Income and Expenditure form, OR didn't even question it

Sambella

How old is this consent order as after 12 months you have the right to go to the Child maintenance Service for them to calculate maintenance thus rendering any court ordered child maintenance void.

Are you paying Spousal Maintennace as well?

VeryInTheRed

Hi Sambella,

I have what is called a "global order" - it is combined spousal and child maintenance. It cannot be overridden after 12 months.

Thanks for your thoughts though

TheGardener

So its just you who is going BR? I would suggest an appointment with gamblers anonymous.
The IPA and SOA guidance for the OR's has changed recently so its hard for us to work out how things will turn out but my thoughts are:
Cars: OR will need you to prove you need 2 cars as opposed to want. Cars over £1000 are usually sold but you could try and make a case of needing the large vehicle.
Petrol - why so many miles? If they are work miles then don't work pay mileage?
Where you are going to find the OR looking hard is:
entertainment - put youth club etc into the other child expenses - entertainment isn't usually allowed
Pet insurance - OR might have an issue with that
Savings and ciggies - not a chance the OR will accept those costs - the emergency fund is as much savings as you will be allowed. You need to give up smoking, tough I know (and I speak from experience)
Pet food - start weaning them onto cheaper brands

TBH - you do need to try and make the budget balance.

VeryInTheRed

TheGardener wrote: »

So its just you who is going BR? I would suggest an appointment with gamblers anonymous. I no longer have a gambling problem, it was a brief spell of desperate idiocy
The IPA and SOA guidance for the OR's has changed recently so its hard for us to work out how things will turn out but my thoughts are:
Cars: OR will need you to prove you need 2 cars as opposed to want. Cars over £1000 are usually sold but you could try and make a case of needing the large vehicle. The second car is beyond financially viable repair and will be getting scrapped
Petrol - why so many miles? If they are work miles then don't work pay mileage? I have just started with a new employer and am training in several locations, the cost of travel is my responsibility.
Where you are going to find the OR looking hard is:
entertainment - put youth club etc into the other child expenses - entertainment isn't usually allowed
Pet insurance - OR might have an issue with that
Savings and ciggies - not a chance the OR will accept those costs - the emergency fund is as much savings as you will be allowed. You need to give up smoking, tough I know (and I speak from experience)
Pet food - start weaning them onto cheaper brands They are all on Aldi Food, dog is £10 pcm and the 3 horrible cats £15 pcm

TBH - you do need to try and make the budget balance.

Thanks for your points : )

VeryInTheRed

Yes just me going BR - my wife has no debt of significance as all in my name from the early days post divorce.

TheGardener

..."the 3 horrible cats £15 pcm..." :rotfl: So if it was a toss up between getting rid of the cats and giving up smoking...?

Petrol - so those costs are not going to continue..?
Child Benefit and Tax credits? _ I'm no benefits expert but are you sure you are not entitled to claim anything here?
Wife needs a sim only phone - £35 is maddness

Despite your high income, the whole family are going to have to make some difficult decisions about expenditure - I know there are a lot of mouths to feed but £700 a month on food is a lot for a family on a tight budget - I've managed to feed a family of 5 well on far less than that without eating tree bark curry and using washing up liquid instead of shampoo.
The BR is about a clean slate - what you really need to focus on is how the family budget is going to work in the future and how the family will live debt free and within their means. Remember there will be no access to credit for a number of years.
The 17y old - time to start encouraging a Saturday job to pay their own phone bill (if they haven't already)