My Debts

ev8

Something that came to mind was that the SOA was completely inaccurate (I know it wasn't really as no debts have been recorded).

But if you really do not spend that much month to month, it makes little sense how even on just your partners wages there have been zero payments on rent for months and zero on council tax for well over a year.

I'm not really understanding where this is coming from, so forgive me if I'm overlooking something. But not paying rent results in eviction, and council tax is serious to miss too, so why have those been completely ignored? And there's nothing owing to gas/electric, where there is a slight bit of leeway, also water rates, they don't really cut people off, especially with a young baby.

I think there may still be a huge element of denial, not including your debts makes it clear, that's the whole point of it, laying out the debts, not putting 0 in it's place.

EssexHebridean

Annie35 wrote: »

I'm just going to say it, you sound like you're having some sort of manic episode! As a wife of a 'superhero/I can fix it all' now 1 month into bankruptcy let me tell you, YOU CANT FIX IT*

"It matters not if ballifs come".. err does she not mind then? Your kids not mind when bailiffs want to size up the PlayStation & won't leave the drive?? When you have 1 hour to gather your stuff or they change the locks?? What about when they take attachment of earnings & take your choice away, honestly how long do you think you can keep running? She'll be ok scrimping then watching you "have a blow out"? Yeah she's gonna love that!

Serious consider bankruptcy, the relief of stopping running is **** amazing! You will get your buzz & it'll be over in 3 years) let it go, start again.

Your wife can service her own (not terrible amount of) debts on her income, she can fix herself, you telling her she doesn't need to you'll fix it all while your possessions are chunked on the street 'can't pay we'll take it away stylee' won't cut it.

It is fixable Annie - but if it's not going to result in ever huger amounts of interest than are already going to be paid, the risk of multiple CCJ's for both the OP and his partner, utterly trashed credit histories for the foreseeable future for them both, and a strong likelihood that if they need to move home, they won't find a landlord to touch them, it needs fixing the right way. Bankruptcy can be a great answer for some people, and I'm really glad it's worked for you, but it's not a one-size fits all for everyone. Massive kudos to the OP for wanting to pay off what is - let's face it - a huge amount of debt on their income - he just needs to learn that there's a right way, and a very VERY wrong way, of dealing with it.

Madfool

ev8 wrote: »

Something that came to mind was that the SOA was completely inaccurate (I know it wasn't really as no debts have been recorded).

But if you really do not spend that much month to month, it makes little sense how even on just your partners wages there have been zero payments on rent for months and zero on council tax for well over a year.

I'm not really understanding where this is coming from, so forgive me if I'm overlooking something. But not paying rent results in eviction, and council tax is serious to miss too, so why have those been completely ignored? And there's nothing owing to gas/electric, where there is a slight bit of leeway, also water rates, they don't really cut people off, especially with a young baby.

I think there may still be a huge element of denial, not including your debts makes it clear, that's the whole point of it, laying out the debts, not putting 0 in it's place.

GAMBLING

I thought i had made that clear in my original post, sorry.

I have now at least 're-done' my SOA hopefully it's clearer now? I don't know. I have listed all the debts which i can re-call and are showing on my noddle account. The APR's are taken from the sites of the loan companies with my contractual monthly payments, which i have not been paying for at least 12 months+ all the other listed debts, the loans are so far in arrears they basically want full and final settlement paid TODAY! Everything else I have put a repayment of £1 as there are no repayment plans in place, and i'm not paying ANYTHING to them but if i was to contact them then i could probably enter a £1 agreement.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1699.41
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1324.76
Benefits................................ 192.4
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3216.57

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 725
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 118.78
Electricity............................. 80 (pre-payment meter, £20 a week, best tariff)
Gas..................................... 80 (pre-payment meter, £20 a week, best tariff)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 60 (payment card, £15 a week, best tariff)
Telephone (land line)................... 20 (TalkTalk, new contract)
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10 (TalkTalk, new contract)
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (£100, a week personally i think this is cheap. Includes all our Food needs, work lunches, school lunches etc)
Clothing................................ 25 (Again, this is completely random. I own 1 pair or jeans, 2 shirts, and 1 pair of trousers. I can't remember the last time i brought clothes lol)
Petrol/diesel........................... 120 (For the miles i do each week, this is extremely cheap!)
Road tax................................ 13.59
Car Insurance........................... 31.46
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 35 (This is a guess, i actually but NOTHING away but obviously should)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 60 (Pocket Money, £5 each per week. (5x3)x4=60
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6.68 (MoreThan, new policy)
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 41.66 (5 persons £100 each per yeah. £50 BDay, £50 XMas)
Haircuts................................ 300 (3 Boys, £10 each every 3 months. 2 Girls, £40 every 6 months)
Entertainment........................... 100 (Probably nowhere near this, but worth puttting something here)
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 200 (this is what i would like to put away each month starting Feb 2019)
Total monthly expenses.................. 2437.17


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 300
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 300

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Rent Arrears...................2555......200.......0
Council Tax Arrears............2374.38...150.......0
Credit Card 1 PARTNER..........4846......3.........0
Bamboo.........................3000......146.......49.7
Merligen Investments...........600.......1.........0
Ferratum.......................357.......1.........0
DJS LTD........................357.......1.........0
Arrow Global LTD...............300.......1.........0
Active Securities..............273.......1.........0
Natwest........................236.......1.........0
Lowell.........................1095......1.........0
Anglian Water..................687.......1.........0
George Banco...................8268......188.......45.7
Amigo..........................7896......187.......49.9
UK Credit......................2865......132.......31.9
Credit Card 4 SCOTT............3047......1.........0
Credit Card 3 HALIFAX..........3078......1.........0
Credit Card 2 LLOYDS...........2974......1.........0
Total unsecured debts..........44808.38..1017......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,216.57
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,437.17
Available for debt repayments........... 779.4
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,017
Amount short for making debt repayments. -237.6

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -44,808.38
Net Assets.............................. -44,508.38

comeandgo

Your haircuts figure is incorrect, it's not 300 per month.

Madfool

Annie35 wrote: »

I'm just going to say it, you sound like you're having some sort of manic episode! As a wife of a 'superhero/I can fix it all' now 1 month into bankruptcy let me tell you, YOU CANT FIX IT*

"It matters not if ballifs come".. err does she not mind then? Your kids not mind when bailiffs want to size up the PlayStation & won't leave the drive?? When you have 1 hour to gather your stuff or they change the locks?? What about when they take attachment of earnings & take your choice away, honestly how long do you think you can keep running? She'll be ok scrimping then watching you "have a blow out"? Yeah she's gonna love that!

Serious consider bankruptcy, the relief of stopping running is **** amazing! You will get your buzz & it'll be over in 3 years) let it go, start again.

Your wife can service her own (not terrible amount of) debts on her income, she can fix herself, you telling her she doesn't need to you'll fix it all while your possessions are chunked on the street 'can't pay we'll take it away stylee' won't cut it.

We are not concerned about Baliff's. The baliff for the council tax was round last year, very nice chap I allowed him into the house as i knew i had nothing of value. He even confirmed they wouldn't be interested in the Playstation 4 (which does belong to my step son) or the TV as they are not going to help pay the debt, and it doesn't belong to myself or my partner. He was more interested in knowing if we had 50" TV's in every room etc. He could see straight away we lead a very boring life, no luxury gifts or holidays, no expensive cars etc

So NO i'm not bothered by the Baliffs, and 'Can't pay, were take it away stylee' just isnt going to happen, because we have nothing to take away.

The house is privately rented, from a family friend, as long as the arrears do not increase which they have not in the last 12 months, and we continue to pay the rent on time and pay a little off the arrears when we can then no eviction is going to happen.

Attachment of earnings do not bother me, i even asked the council to go ahead and get an order for one as it's so much easier. They get paid i don't have to worry about it.

I'm looking at bankruptcy but after the rent, council tax, and partners cards are cleared. Yes she could 'service' the cards herself, but i ran them up in her name. They are MY responsibility.

Madfool

comeandgo wrote: »

Your haircuts figure is incorrect, it's not 300 per month.

LOL! What an idiot! Updated.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1699.41
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1324.76
Benefits................................ 192.4
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3216.57

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 725
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 118.78
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 80
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 60
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 13.59
Car Insurance........................... 31.46
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 35
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 60
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6.68
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 41.66
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 200
Total monthly expenses.................. 2162.17


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 300
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 300

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Rent Arrears...................2555......200.......0
Council Tax Arrears............2374.38...150.......0
Credit Card 1 PARTNER..........4846......3.........0
Bamboo.........................3000......146.......49.7
Merligen Investments...........600.......1.........0
Ferratum.......................357.......1.........0
DJS LTD........................357.......1.........0
Arrow Global LTD...............300.......1.........0
Active Securities..............273.......1.........0
Natwest........................236.......1.........0
Lowell.........................1095......1.........0
Anglian Water..................687.......1.........0
George Banco...................8268......188.......45.7
Amigo..........................7896......187.......49.9
UK Credit......................2865......132.......31.9
Credit Card 4 SCOTT............3047......1.........0
Credit Card 3 HALIFAX..........3078......1.........0
Credit Card 2 LLOYDS...........2974......1.........0
Total unsecured debts..........44808.38..1017......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,216.57
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,162.17
Available for debt repayments........... 1,054.4
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,017
Amount left after debt repayments....... 37.4

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -44,808.38
Net Assets.............................. -44,508.38

Sanctioned_Parts_List

Madfool wrote: »

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Bamboo.........................3000......146.......49.7
George Banco...................8268......188.......45.7
Amigo..........................7896......187.......49.9
UK Credit......................2865......132.......31.9
[/b]

These four are guarantor loans. Who's the guarantor, and have you spoken with them recently?

Sanctioned_Parts_List

OK, some recommendations:

1) Eliminate or drastically cut your presents budget.
2) Eliminate the entertainment budget - it's hard, but you can't really afford to play right now
3) Cut your emergency fund savings from £200/mo to £100/mo

That will take your total available money for debt repayments to £279. Then you can bring the snowball effect into play very effectively.

Normal wisdom is to stabilise your living situation, i.e. to pay off your council tax and rent arrears ASAP. That said, if your council and family friend are reasonably amenable, you will spend far less overall to get those guarantor loans cleared out. First the Bamboo loan, paying £425/mo for 9 months, then the Amigo loan paying £612 for 18 months, then the George Banco loan paying £800/mo for 1 year and 1 month, then UK Credit for about 3 months. After that all of those other small loans and cards will fall like dominos.

Madfool

Sanctioned_Parts_List wrote: »

These four are guarantor loans. Who's the guarantor, and have you spoken with them recently?

Yep they are indeed all guaranteed loans. They were guaranteed by my best friend, who declared himself bankrupt about 18 months ago due to his own financially spending going haywire. So he plays no part in these loans now as he can not be chased for them.

Sanctioned_Parts_List wrote: »

OK, some recommendations:

1) Eliminate or drastically cut your presents budget.
2) Eliminate the entertainment budget - it's hard, but you can't really afford to play right now
3) Cut your emergency fund savings from £200/mo to £100/mo

That will take your total available money for debt repayments to £279. Then you can bring the snowball effect into play very effectively.

Normal wisdom is to stabilise your living situation, i.e. to pay off your council tax and rent arrears ASAP. That said, if your council and family friend are reasonably amenable, you will spend far less overall to get those guarantor loans cleared out. First the Bamboo loan, paying £425/mo for 9 months, then the Amigo loan paying £612 for 18 months, then the George Banco loan paying £800/mo for 1 year and 1 month, then UK Credit for about 3 months. After that all of those other small loans and cards will fall like dominos.

I would love to reduce the presents, but £50 each per Birthday and Christmas is already horrible. We can't even go out for dinner on a budget of £50 for mine or the partner's Birthday. The children receive £50 each in a card to spend on what they would like.

Again the entertainment budget is actually £0.00 we have not been out in months! and again it was a guess of how much i would like to put aside for entertainment.

The emergency fund can easily be reduced to £100 though this was just a guess amount of how much i think should be put away.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

Madfool wrote: »

Yep they are indeed all guaranteed loans. They were guaranteed by my best friend, who declared himself bankrupt about 18 months ago due to his own financially spending going haywire. So he plays no part in these loans now as he can not be chased for them.

OK. Question for the board is whether he actually can't be chased for them - the guarantor clauses only get activated if you run into difficulties, and your friend's presumably now been discharged, so would be able to obtain credit again. I don't know enough about these kinds of loans to know whether his being bankrupted after signing the agreement is enough to defend him if you have a wobble.

Anyway, if your SOA is accurate, from what I can tell it shouldn't matter and this will pass.

Madfool wrote: »

I would love to reduce the presents, but £50 each per Birthday and Christmas is already horrible. We can't even go out for dinner on a budget of £50 for mine or the partner's Birthday. The children receive £50 each in a card to spend on what they would like.

Three children, one Christmas and one birthday, £100/year - that's £25/mo.

Unfortunately, being unable to go out for dinner, or have the full Dickensian Christmas, or any kind of treat to relieve the boredom of repayment is a common experience for DFWs, and is always what new DFWs push back on.

The more disciplined you are, and the more on-board your family is, the more you can cut your living costs, the faster you'll be able to pay off the debts and the sooner you'll be free to enjoy the Christmases, birthdays and meals out without having to put any of it on plastic.

Madfool wrote: »

The emergency fund can easily be reduced to £100 though this was just a guess amount of how much i think should be put away.

You need some sort of fund. If you're genuinely able to save £200/mo, then actually I'm tempted to suggest you save at that rate for the next 2 - 3 months so you have £600 or so buffer, because you have no other room to manoeuvre; using your credit cards as the buffer is no longer an option.

Anyway, I played a little with the snowball calculator - with your current SOA, the snowball calculator prioritises Amigo Loans first, followed by Bamboo, then GB, then UK Credit in that order. In the meantime at your current rate of payment, your council tax arrears and rent arrears take care of themselves assuming your current rate of payment without any special treatment.

If you make no changes to the above, you're potentially debt-free in 66 months. Cutting back as I've suggested to free up another £200 - 250/month reduces this to 48 months.