DMP 9 years post bankruptcy

2ndTimeAround

Disclaimer: Yes, I do know how absolutely stupid we have been to get in debt again. Clearly we didn't learn our lesson, and now we're suffering the consequences. We were desperately hoping hubby would get the big promotion everyone expected him (and therefore we'd have plenty to actually clear the debts) to get but he didnt, and we're getting further into debt trying to pay nearly £300 a month that we can't afford

We need to go on to a DMP 9 years after declaring bankruptcy. I have no idea where to start, where to do an SOA, what are counted as reasonable amounts nowadays.
Do we stop paying debts to start saving for an emergency fund?
Do we need to go to the CAB, or is stepchange ok?
Should we get a new current acct? (Currently credit card/loan debts are with the two banks we have accts with)

Rough situation as no SOA yet
2 adults (1 FT employed around £17-18k irregular shifts days/evenings, one self employed part time but not making a profit) 1 school age child, 1 dog, 2 cats. Total income inc benefits around £22k
Total debts £16.5k to 1 credit card and 1 loan


Thank you for your time

Gemsy81

I'm no expert, but I'm going to suggest that part of your problem is that you haven't done a detailed SOA - my partner and I thought we were fairly frugal, we did a SOA and were totally shocked at how much we were spending on various crap. The first step to getting out of this situation is to change your mindset - find out the details of where all your money is going and where you can save.

I've never done a DMP but lots of people on here seem to rate Stepchange.

2ndTimeAround

Where is best for SOA? I do try to budget each month but I seem to forget things

sourcrates

2ndTimeAround wrote: »

Where is best for SOA? I do try to budget each month but I seem to forget things

Normally we recommend this one :

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Don’t forget at the end, to click “format for MSE”.

2ndTimeAround

What do you do about bonuses? He commonly gets a yearly bonus, but it depends on the business' performance that year and worked out as a percentage, so we never know if he will get it or what he'd get
Also, as I'm self employed I get to claim my home office cost, some fuel, some phone/internet each month. Do I count that money as income in my SOA?
Thank you

2ndTimeAround

Also, at the mo we have no life assurance or contents or breakdown, and only one pet is insured. Should I do my SOA without those things or work out how much they would be and include them?

fatbelly

2ndTimeAround wrote: »

What do you do about bonuses? He commonly gets a yearly bonus, but it depends on the business' performance that year and worked out as a percentage, so we never know if he will get it or what he'd get
Also, as I'm self employed I get to claim my home office cost, some fuel, some phone/internet each month. Do I count that money as income in my SOA?
Thank you

For a dmp, the bonus is going to work nicely for full & final settlements - just add a note for us about roughly how much it will be.

Your monthly income is what you draw from the business (in dmp context)

2ndTimeAround wrote: »

Also, at the mo we have no life assurance or contents or breakdown, and only one pet is insured. Should I do my SOA without those things or work out how much they would be and include them?

I think you should probably have basic contents and breakdown policies, and probably basic pet insurance. There are mse guides for all these things.

As for life insurance, what are you trying to achieve there?

2ndTimeAround

To be sure that if we both (or one of us) were to die, we could afford funerals/money to help raise our son for whoever in the family would look after him