SOA Advice

Craig1981

TheGardener wrote: »

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.

not just london...I live in the southwest, and that is the going rent for a 3 bed place, if you lucky and water down here is nearly double what is in other areas

TheGardener

Craig1981 wrote: »

not just london...I live in the southwest, and that is the going rent for a 3 bed place, if you lucky and water down here is nearly double what is in other areas

Fair enough on the rents - but the most expensive water in the country (Wessex I believe?) isn't as much as the OP is paying, I think there is probably a historical debt on the account.

Craig1981

TheGardener wrote: »

Fair enough on the rents - but the most expensive water in the country (Wessex I believe?) isn't as much as the OP is paying, I think there is probably a historical debt on the account.

probably right, but, South west water i do believe is the most expensive - family of 4 on metered supply we pay upwards of £80 a month. High rent, high water, but mediocre wages!

TheGardener

Looking again at the SOA - to be fair the OP - if they made some big changes to their budget - and there is plenty of room to do so - then with their combined income, BR may not be best option - there is room for them to get out of this debt if they put a proper plan into action and I think its manageable within 6 years.

OP - have you tried using the online Stepchange Debt remedy tool as a guide to your starting point?

Smellyonion

TheGardener wrote: »

Looking again at the SOA - to be fair the OP - if they made some big changes to their budget - and there is plenty of room to do so - then with their combined income, BR may not be best option - there is room for them to get out of this debt if they put a proper plan into action and I think its manageable within 6 years.

OP - have you tried using the online Stepchange Debt remedy tool as a guide to your starting point?

This.


Based on the income, it seems fixable with some serious changes without going through the bankruptcy route. Combined income seems to be around 60k gross? Your total debt is 30K, 50% of gross income or 62% of net income. Those are not stark figures.


Your rent is high but less than 25% of takehome pay, so again - not a disaster. You need to ask yourself where this 3k after rent and council tax is going.

Mnd

The 3 bed semi next to us is 950 a month and we are a small town in Wiltshire

Reeseh

Thanks all


I got some of the figures from spreadsheets that we have used for tracking our bills, vast majority of them come out of my wife's account.


I will get some more figures, if I am wrong - although the water is definitely £67 per month as we apparently underpaid last year according to thir estimated cost (we are on a meter).


I live in Northampton and, to be honest was shocked at the rent myself. We were paying £725 a couple of years ago for a 3 bed house, moved to a "friend's" house for £650, he wasn't paying the mortgage so it got repossessed and all we could find was houses around this budget. It is become alot more popular for London communters to move here, guess that's why the prices have suddenly jumped.


I have been ringing round the companies I owe money to this morning to get accurate balances - I owe £36,470 and pay £1,134 per month towards them, £133 of that through Stepchange the rest being paid direct to lenders (credit card, family loan, overdrafts, payday loans).


I am well aware that I have budgeting issues, to be honest I have issues full stop that have made me bury my head in the sand but it is all getting too much for me now. I've managed to just about scrape through the last couple of months by selling things on ebay that I no longer need as I shut my business down to take a full time job (I am not earning as well but have the guarantees of full time work at a huge multinational company rather than contracting to other companies).

Craig1981

Reeseh wrote: »

I am well aware that I have budgeting issues, to be honest I have issues full stop that have made me bury my head in the sand but it is all getting too much for me now. I've managed to just about scrape through the last couple of months by selling things on ebay that I no longer need as I shut my business down to take a full time job (I am not earning as well but have the guarantees of full time work at a huge multinational company rather than contracting to other companies).

Well, you have taken first steps in trying to remedy that by doing an SOA (although high), and post and reply on this forum - it shows you want to sort things out, so keep at it

is your employment financial one? if so, you may have some issues with regarding bankruptcy or insolvency in general - would check up with your contract.

as you are dealing with Step change already, speak to them again to see regarding additional help with your other debtors...

iv'e been there, initially its hard work and seems like never ending, but keep at it and it and the hard work will pay off!

TheGardener

Great start Reeseh

Admitting and facing spiralling debt is often the worst bit - this is you climbing back into the driving seat. :T

BR will trash your credit rating for 6 years (and that's assuming squeaky clean financial management post BR) and with your income, you mayhave an IPA to pay for 3 years anyway so if you can make the changes and clear the debts - making some full and final offers etc in less than 6 years then BR isn't necessarily the best way forward. If you work in any part of the financial sector/police/teaching then you will need to make sure your employment won't be affected by bankrupcy.

So are all the utility bills in your wifes name or yours?