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I am the first to admit I am to nervous to press the button.
I think as advised I need to post this, because I am avoiding bankruptcy, the stress is worse then the debt, I think I am just gonna go live in the woods.
Is there a living expense guideline? A lot of this is borderline, I would like to go out a lot more but I put £20 a month to try stay in some sort of range.
I'd bump your groceries to 220, put in a 20 emergency fund, 20 for holiday. That would leave your income and expenditure roughly the same and should avoid an IPA
I do have one more major problem, I have 3 months rent debt and my landlord is happy to let me stay in the house and pay the back rent along side my quarterly payment in September, as he knows I will have the funds paid to me in that month, I therefore owe £1200 with agreement to pay £2400 in September.
I did not take this amount off my yearly income which is £9,792, which would add a negative of £100 per month, if I had.
The problem is the OR might consider this as part of the bankrupt debt and write it off, and not allow me to add it t my yearly costs or at least deduct it from my £9,792 year, this would mean I get evicted.
It is the "MIGHT NOT" that is causing me all the stress and preventing me from going ahead,
I think you need to be able to demonstrate that the landlord would take action if it wasn’t repaid. There are a few threads on here which may help will dig out later but search rent arrears on the bankruptcy forum
Thanks mwarby, I have redone all the maths and reduced the above SOA and now have £196 left over per month, I feel it would be best to try get a DMP at this stage and am willing to cut back on living expense, I am a student and about to start year two, and hopefully will get a job asap, I just can't risk the OR forcing me to class the three month rent arrears as debt that has to be included in the bankruptcy, that would force eviction and mess up my year two.
I just hope the £196 is enough to offer between these lenders for now, and when I get a part time job I should be allowed to raise my living expense again hopefully.
At £196 that's 14 years of DMP. I'd consider not paying any of the lenders (except your landlord) clearing your rent arrears, then looking at bankruptcy. Although this is technically a preferential payment, it's not the sort generally which would cease you trouble. The OR would understand why you chose to pay priority debts first as this is common debt advice (pay the debts which keep a roof over your head first, ie rent, council tax and utility bills).
If you keep your income low(which will allow you to focus on studies) in year 2 and presumably 3 of your studies, you can avoid an IPA, and finish your studies free of debt (other than student loans)
My concern is becoming homeless and for that reason I feel DMP would fix this problem in the short term, and as it is not a legally binding contract just an agreement with all party's, I feel if things don't improve after year one I shall consider bankruptcy as an option again.
I also think only from reading online that some changes might happen, one that was suggested was raising DRO to £50k, that would be my preferred option.
If I knew 100% that the OR would allow me to to pay my 3 months rent debt and cause no fuss to my landlord I would have already applied for bankruptcy, this week, but after talking to step change I was told it could be classed as preferential payment and it all depends on the OR assigned to me, and I am not willing to roll the dice on that as it will destroy my second year at Uni.
