opinions needed

Persolv0

Hello
I ve posted on the BR forum and got some great advice from there, thought id post here for more viewpoints and hopefully help with a way forward.

thanks

ORIGINAL POST...
Well eventually ive plucked up the courage to post my SOA and it feels like walking naked down the highstreet(not that ive ever done that but id imagine the feeling would be the same:o)

Ok a very brief background...i think we are quite typical of the debtors that take out a smallish loan when young and somewhere or other before we knew it we were in a terrible mess and the classic mistakes of consolidation and borrowing more to get out of one mess after another lead us to the horrendious debt figure below and no doubting some very poor and naive money management on our part.
We have little or no assets,live in rented accomodation and the car is a company car so i only pay for petrol

The way I see it is we have a few options
1)A debt arrangement plan which if interest was frozen would take 4.25 years to pay off with current salaries based on surplus being used for pay off)
2)A Scottish trust deed(any advice applicable to an IVA is easily translated for a trust deed so any thoughts from an IVA perspective are very welcome)
3)BR...under current Scottish laws and if ive accounted for everything in my SOA i dont think the AIB would award sequestration)??
4)Go over to the main board and give it a go on my own but i dont think id get agreements from the companies im behind with)
5)Ask you guys for advice and anything im overlooking(preferred option )...Is there anything missing from My SOA what can be reduced realistically......which of the above options would you choose or if none of the above all suggestions welcome)

Oh gawd i ve got to hit the submit thread button now....ok count of three 1...2...eyes closed..........................................

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1789(very likely to come down soon
Partners monthly income after tax....... 753
Benefits................................ 41(child allowance)
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2583

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 240(Includes agreement for arrears with Sheriffs officers
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 40
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 302(CCS figure)
Clothing................................ 43
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 40
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 17
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 13
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 15
Tobacco................................. 130(untrue as is higher but CCS advised this is the max i could put in...we both smoke
Total monthly expenses.................. 1813

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

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts(I need to look out APRs)
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Cahoot Overdraft...............500.......25........0(not paid in some time)
Cahoot personal loan...........6000......63........0(As above)
Capital One (OH)...............293.......25........0(As above)
Vnquis card....................338.......25........0
Tsb Overdraft two..............500.......25........0
Tsb overdraft..................978.......49........0
Tsb credit card Two............1075......60........0
Tsb credit card................1502......50........0
Tsb loan four(Joint)...........14517.....360.......0
Tsb loan three.................1067......65........0
Tsb loan two...................1003......65........0
Tsb loan one...................1769......77........0
Provident......................1500......80....... .0
Intelligent finance............6500......143.......0(Recently defaulted)
Great Universal................128.......20........0
Capital One (Me)...............1600......60........0(Recently defaulted)
Total unsecured debts..........39270.....1192......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,583
Expenses (including secure debts)....... 1,813
Available for debt repayments........... 770
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,192
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -422

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 300
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -39,270
Personal net worth...................... -38,970

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

======== Enter any other useful information below ========

Wol2

Hi Persolv

Sorry but at this time of night (and after the day I've had today) it;s too much info to digest.

So tonight...didn;t want to log off without saying..
Big hugs, good luck, will be thinking of you...and look forward to seeing other peepys posts for you tomorrow when I return.


Wol2
xxx

Bismarck

Hi...well done for posting...haven't got long as I should be in bed but:

are you not eligible for tax credits?

don't you have anything that you can sell on Ebay or Amazon...it's not too hard to do...I can do it and ?I was very nervous about it....

anyway...the good folks with fresh minds will be a long tomorrow...

sleep well

poodlehorse

okay so I am no expert on BR or IVA type things but I had a quick look at your original thread on BR as I wanted to see how many people this was for and a clue on your job and now I know I am going to be repeating some of the things they said which were great but...
Sky - a luxury in anyone's book, got to go
Mobile - is this needed? I know you work away so maybe that is the cheapest option for phoning home. Look into an all in one package for phone/mobile/net - and I know you say in your orig post that the net is used a lot by you and your wife but you can access it for free at the local library so bear this in mind.
Groceries - for three people? And you aren't at home for a lot of the time? I bet if you get on over to the Old Style board this can be cut.
Entertainment - what does this cover? Holiday - sorry but you can't afford this, Tobacco - 130+, this has to be reduced to zero preferably but get yourself and your wife to the GP and see what support you can get. The medical expenses, are these prescriptions or dental insurance type things? I know when I moved to my new dentist I had already been paying out dental insurance for years and he advised me not to bother as I had good teeth and it would be cheaper long term for me, he said my parents who were always needing things done were better with the insurance however. Just a thought in case that is what it is. Pet insurance, ditto might it be better to not insure the pets and insure your contents instead? What are the APRs on your debts so you can snowball them. What do you own that isn't tied down that you can Ebay? And finally since you are a chef and are not managing to get home much anyway have you thought about working as a chef offshore? Not sure what they get paid but my mum's cousin did this until he retired through ill health a couple of years ago and he certainly seemed to be making plenty, he worked on boats and also did some work on the ferries before that. You might already have discounted it but at least you get home for a month even if you have to work away for a month and you might be able to do something in the month you are home, round here there are a lot of offshore guys who drive a taxi when they are home or whatever else they can pick up. AND you get paid to go to work if you are offshore so there will be no travel expenses for you at all. Just a thought.

Persolv0

Wol2 wrote: »

Hi Persolv

Sorry but at this time of night (and after the day I've had today) it;s too much info to digest.

So tonight...didn;t want to log off without saying..
Big hugs, good luck, will be thinking of you...and look forward to seeing other peepys posts for you tomorrow when I return.


Wol2
xxx

|You took time out to reply after a hard day

appreciated and hope today shows up better for you

thanks

Persolv0

Bismarck wrote: »

Hi...well done for posting...haven't got long as I should be in bed but:

are you not eligible for tax credits?

don't you have anything that you can sell on Ebay or Amazon...it's not too hard to do...I can do it and ?I was very nervous about it....

anyway...the good folks with fresh minds will be a long tomorrow...

sleep well

Hello
Thanks for the suggestions ...ive sold on e by a fair bit and car boot sales also...if i had it id sell it!

thanks again

Persolv0

poodlehorse wrote: »

okay so I am no expert on BR or IVA type things but I had a quick look at your original thread on BR as I wanted to see how many people this was for and a clue on your job and now I know I am going to be repeating some of the things they said which were great but...
Sky - a luxury in anyone's book, got to go(agreed)
Mobile - is this needed? I know you work away so maybe that is the cheapest option for phoning home(it really is my communication line to my family). Look into an all in one package for phone/mobile/net(good idea) - and I know you say in your orig post that the net is used a lot by you and your wife but you can access it for free at the local library so bear this in mind.(I do honestly think its needed as my wife uses it loads for work ideas and when home i use it for my work also...works e mail...food costing programmes online...recipes...menus....etc etc)
Groceries - for three people? And you aren't at home for a lot of the time? I bet if you get on over to the Old Style board this can be cut.(I think in all honesty the figure is less but it was the figure that came through with CCS...but point taken )
Entertainment - what does this cover? Holiday - sorry but you can't afford this,(once again a CCS figure and we have nt had a holiday in three or fou years) Tobacco - 130+, this has to be reduced to zero preferably but get yourself and your wife to the GP and see what support you can get.(hard to stop but your absolutely right) The medical expenses, are these prescriptions or dental insurance type things? I know when I moved to my new dentist I had already been paying out dental insurance for years and he advised me not to bother as I had good teeth and it would be cheaper long term for me, he said my parents who were always needing things done were better with the insurance however. Just a thought in case that is what it is. Pet insurance, ditto might it be better to not insure the pets and insure your contents instead?(total possessions will be sub 1k ...one accident to the dog would create a financial nightmare..hes as much of the family as i am...) What are the APRs on your debts so you can snowball them(Im working through that point now ). What do you own that isn't tied down that you can Ebay?(ive ebayed everything but the kitchen sink!) And finally since you are a chef and are not managing to get home much anyway have you thought about working as a chef offshore? Not sure what they get paid but my mum's cousin did this until he retired through ill health a couple of years ago and he certainly seemed to be making plenty, he worked on boats and also did some work on the ferries before that. You might already have discounted it but at least you get home for a month even if you have to work away for a month and you might be able to do something in the month you are home, round here there are a lot of offshore guys who drive a taxi when they are home or whatever else they can pick up. AND you get paid to go to work if you are offshore so there will be no travel expenses for you at all. Just a thought(its a good idea and ive thought of it before but the big stumbling point is the safety certificates etc which id have to pay for myself.....but leading on from that i do think i need to come up with a better job .

Thanks very much for the feedback and its appreciated:beer:

cupid_s

Persolv0 wrote: »

Hello

Monthly Expense Details


Rent.................................... 550
Council tax............................. 240(Includes agreement for arrears with Sheriffs officers
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 40
Gas and elec seem quite high to me. Mine are £65 combined and I use a lot of electricity. See if you can switch to a cheaper provider and get cashback via uswitch/quidco if you do
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 40
This is very expensive - are you making a lot of international calls or something?
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 15
Can you get virgin media? We have internet, phone and tv for £20 a month
Groceries etc. ......................... 302(CCS figure)
This figure is probably overestimated. We spend £120 pm for 2 people - the old style board can help you make your grocery budget go further
Clothing................................ 43
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Other travel............................ 40
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Contents insurance...................... 0 do you not have this?
Other insurance......................... 17 what is this for?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 13
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 15
Tobacco................................. 130this needs to be reduced - if you can't quit all together can you smoke roll-ups?
Total monthly expenses.................. 1813

I've commented on a few things that struck me as being expensive

Also can you both sign up to paid survey sites. They completely paid for christmas for us last year.

Jacks_xxx

:wave: Hiya sweetie,

What this boils down to honey is not about the numbers..

The most important thing is what you want to do and what - realistically - you can do.

You owe enough to get an IVA or the scottish equivalent - but how much will it cost to set it up? What's the timescale? And what are the long term consequences? Why would your prefer it to a DMP?

You earn enough to pay your debts in a DMP. If you gave up smoking, cut back on the grocery bill, landline phone bill and found a better internet/ tv / phone deal then you could free up an extra £250+. and be debt free in about 3 years. But you have to want to do that.

Or you could go bankrupt - if you qualify. (not my area of expertise I'm afraid.)

Ask yourself which approach seems the most attractive to you and why - and that'll show you the way forward.

Listen to what CCCS are telling you cos they have a better success rate than you do right now.

We considered an IVA, Bankruptcy and a CCCS run DMP before deciding to run our own DMP because I have a problem with delegation.:o (Control freak moi?)

I thought the best way to make sure we never get into this much sh!te again is to be right in the thick of it every day until it's over. I wanted us both to really feel it.

If you're horrified by the very idea :eek: then you know a self run DMP isn't for you so you can cross that option off the list.

CCCS DMP?
[strike]Self run DMP?[/strike]
IVA?
Bankruptcy?

That's one option ruled out, then.

After that, an old fashioned Pros and Cons list works for me hon.

Love Jacks xxx

Persolv0

Some great stuff their guys and ill respond after work as now running late:eek:

System

Hi Persolv, contact CCCS/Payplan for further advice. All the best Lenn