SOA Advice

Reeseh

Hi


I am seriously considering bankruptcy with around £30k of debt, my wife will not be going bankrupt. Could I please get some guidence/advice with my SOA?


Thanks


**EDITED AS SUGGESTED**



Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1 (I financed car on behalf of wife when she passed test, as I am higher earner. V5 was in my name until recently, she has been making finance payments for it and she is insured as main driver - I have always had company vehicles)
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1750
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 148
Total monthly income.................... 4098
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 950
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 124
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 100
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 67
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 90
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 56
Internet Services....................... 56
Groceries etc. ......................... 565
Clothing................................ 70
Petrol/diesel........................... 310
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 300
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 40
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 16
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 22
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 40
Wife's personal financial commitments... 400 (I am assuming she can continue with her commitments as she is not going bankrupt)
Dry Cleaning............................ 20
Pocket Money............................ 24
Swimming Lessons........................ 44
School Lunches.......................... 40
Work lunch (x 2 @ £3 per day)........... 120
Total monthly expenses.................. 3843

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Multiple debts, totalling approx £30k
Total unsecured debts..........30000

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,098
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,843
Available for debt repayments........... 255
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,000
Net Assets.............................. -30,000

Willing2Learn

You spend a HUGE amount on groceries. Maybe change to shopping at Lidl or Aldi.

Where is the bottom of form, the listing debts, assets, income less outgoings less debt equals £XXXX to pay off debt??

Smellyonion

What are your debts?


Your Gas, Elec, mobiles, Sky, groceries, presents, school/work meals are all very excessive.

Reeseh

Our weekly shop is around £125/130


We pay British Gas around £200 per month for combined gas and electric


Not much we can do about our mobiles, got them in April as upgrade so tied in £45 each (including device cost of about 30 and airtime of 15)


School meals are £10 per week, work lunches are £3 each per day = £40 per week




I am after genuine advice from someone experienced as to whether or not this would be accepted?


I have numerous unsecured debts totalling around £30k

DCFC79

OP

Just fill out the form, click on the 'format for MSE' button at the bottom and post it up here (thanks to Willing2Learn for the quote)



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

Craig1981

IMHO, you need more budgeting advice and how to save money on normal day to day living

£200 gas and electric is excess, nearly double to normal family of 4
lunches at £160 a month - what ever happened to a packed lunch?
what mobile devices are they? may be done as assets based on their values - you are not allow to play favourites with your creditors, and this type of mobile contract, i believe, is just that

as all have said, post up list of your debts and balances and someone will be better equipped to give you an answer

IMHO, i do not believe that this will be accepted as a lot of your expenses are high, but, you need to speak to Stepchange or Payplan to definitive answers

Mnd

You should cancel sky now. Tell them you can't afford it

Read last line of smelly onions advice and take that on board

Read some of the threads of the DFW and DFD boards, they are people in far worse positions than you who are tackling their debts without bankruptcy.

However, you need to find out why you got to this position and make the necessary changes to your lifestyle to stop it happening again

Good luck

Mnd

Couple of other thoughts, although we have no children , we couldn't spend £100 a week on groceries if we tried.. £40 and we say that was a lot this week
What are you heating with your power bills..we pay £65 a month gas and electric combined.

If you posted on the debt free wannabe board you will get much more advice

madvicker

Reeseh wrote: »

Hi

**EDITED AS SUGGESTED**



Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1 (I financed car on behalf of wife when she passed test, as I am higher earner. V5 was in my name until recently, she has been making finance payments for it and she is insured as main driver - I have always had company vehicles)
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1750
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 148
Total monthly income.................... 4098
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 950
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 124
Electricity............................. 100 How much?? You shouldn't need to spend more than £50 each for Gas and Electricity, unless you're in debt with suppplier
Gas..................................... 100
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 67 Again, how much?? I pay £13 a month between 2 adults (one who enjoys several baths) Have you got a water meter installed?
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 90 Excessive - especially if you are considering bankruptcy
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 56 Is this combined with internet or do you pay £112 for tv and internet? Again, excessive
Internet Services....................... 56
Groceries etc. ......................... 565 Have you tried cutting this down? Shop at Aldi or Lidl if you need. Further, put your lunches in here and start making packed lunches as others have suggested
Clothing................................ 70
Petrol/diesel........................... 310
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 75 High. When was the last time you did a comparison on this?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 300
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 40
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 16
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 22
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 40
Wife's personal financial commitments... 400 (I am assuming she can continue with her commitments as she is not going bankrupt)
Dry Cleaning............................ 20
Pocket Money............................ 24
Swimming Lessons........................ 44
School Lunches.......................... 40 See comments about lunches above
Work lunch (x 2 @ £3 per day)........... 120 See comments about lunches above
Total monthly expenses.................. 3843

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Multiple debts, totalling approx £30k
Total unsecured debts..........30000
You need to list each of your debts here one after the other
Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,098
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,843
Available for debt repayments........... 255
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,000
Net Assets.............................. -30,000

Your debt pile is certainly not unmanageable. I don't see you being able to get bankruptcy - a Debt Management Plan potentially.. You could easily free up around £500 a month as a conservative estimate if you knuckled down on your spending.

Willing2Learn

You are having real problems budgeting responsibly. Take a look at the MSE Article: The Budget Planner - How to manage your money. Pay particular attention to the free budget planner spreadsheet. Budgeting effectively could really change things around for you.

TheGardener

Although there are some great suggestions for better budgeting (and boy do you need them OP..!) The OR wants an SOA that reflects current spending - its part of how they understand how the BR came about.

Based on what both of you earn the OR will probably expect you to pay around 55% of all the expenditure and your wife around 45% - unfortunately the OR will not be concerned about your wife's debts.

Your rent is very high so can we assume you live in the south east/London? If not and the rent is very high for your area (round my way you could get a 5 bed mansions for that kind of rent) then the OR may challenge the cost.

Even in London water doesn't cost that much unless you have a water meter and a massive leak or you are filling a swimming pool - the OR will be surprised.
If however, you have historical debt with any of your utilities - and the extortionate amount you pay for water, gas and electric suggests you do -then these debts will fall into the BR if they are in your name - if they are in your wifes name then you are stuck with them.

Try and do the maths on what 55% of the household expenditure looks like and if you have any 'surplus' on your salary then the OR will look to claim this in an IPA. If you are not paying into a works pension - and you do have a surplus on paper - now is the time to join the works pensions scheme.