Help and Advice Needed Please (SOA incl)

TengoNoDinero

Hi, we're M & F and are in serious :eek: with our finances.

That's the easy bit - we've been putting off confronting - and more importantly, doing something about our financial situation. It's scared the *&%* out of us doing the SOA this evening (see below), and highlighted the fact that we are not even sure we have buildings and contents insurance in place!

We've had so many problems from so many different sources in the last few years, that it's rather overwhelmed us, but this cannot go on.

We both have health problems. F has a chronic medical condition resulting in constant pain, with knock-on effects on strength and concentration and earning potential. M has been recently diagnosed with diabetes, but this is hopefully under control by diet. Nevertheless both conditions are aggravated by the constant stress of the financial situation and three teenage children.

OK, here goes (with a few explanations)

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1835.71
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 variable due to health/temporary work
Benefits................................ 230.51
Other income............................ 500assessed as £750 by CSA but ex in financial straits himself - better than nothing
Total monthly income.................... 2566.22

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 673.45 should be £1,050 but agreed to pay interest only for min 6 month from April 08
Secured loan repayments................. 0 included in mortgage
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 96 Band A so can't go any lower
Electricity............................. 39
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35.12
Telephone (land line)................... 67.03 includes internet (currently BT)
Mobile phone............................ 32.99 on £25 month contract with Orange, but only use half capacity
TV Licence.............................. 18.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 buy reduced/BOGOF where possible
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 1.25 £15 per year for Prius
Car Insurance........................... 39.53
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 85.2 M takes train to work
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 90
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15.75 F has pre-payment card
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0 need to check on this
Contents insurance...................... 0 need to check on this
Life assurance ......................... 51.47
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 currently minimal off Ebay
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1715.16[/b]

Assets
Cash.................................... 12.08 laughable amount in savings account
House value (Gross)..................... 125000 though may be lower realistically and needs work
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 17500 guesstimate for 06 low-mileage Prius
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 142512.08

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 103086...(673.45)...6.09
Secured Debt.................. 15554....(0)........6.09The payment is included in the mortgage amount
Total secured debts........... 118640....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Cahoots loan...................7049......175.......0
Barclaycard....................4515.16...292.......14.9
Halifax One ...................824.15....119.......19.95
Timeshare maintenance..........367.......367.......2
School fee arrears.............2200......50........0
Car Loan.......................20358.....424.......0
Total unsecured debts..........35313.31..1427......- doesn't include F's student loan

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,566.22
Expenses (including secure debts)....... 1,715.16
Available for debt repayments........... 851.06
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,427
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -575.94

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 142,512.08
Total Secured debt...................... -118,640
Total Unsecured debt.................... -35,313.31
Personal net worth...................... -11,441.23

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission. You own a home but are not paying for building insurance? We think this may have lapsed, but have two unidentified direct debits, which need to be looked into.
* You have included petrol but have missed other car related expenses. At present the car is under warranty and covered by a service plan (which we think is one of the unidentified D/Ds).

* Enter a 12th of your annual birthday/christmas present spend. We have been clutter busting and selling on Ebay, so presents have come out of sales proceeds.

* Please include a 12th of your annual clothing spend. Trying to work this out - for such a long time we've made do with what we already have, bought out of charity shops only when item needed, and bought job lots off Ebay with sales proceeds.

* At least one of your debts shows an annual interest rate of less than 3%. Please check that you have not entered the monthly figure. F won a timeshare in the UK in a competition, which has provided family holidays for the last 3 years. However, we cannot currently afford the annual maintenance charge and are warned that a 2% interest charge will be added monthly onto the outstanding sum.
We have negotiated with Northern Rock (our mortgagors) to pay interest only for a minimum 6 months from April 08. The mortgage is fixed term until Jan 2012, but we're worried what will happen after then as our credit rating is poor at present. We have missed a number of payments on the credit cards, but so far have managed to pay the car loan and Cahoots account each month. The Cahoots is a loan in the form of current with overdraft and we need to establish the interest rate on that.

So far as the children are concerned, they seem incapable of understanding that money is tight. The eldest is 19 and studying, but works part-time and pays for all her own food, and spends most of her time living at her boyfriend's. The middle one was privately educated on a small bursary and is now at a non fee-paying 6th form college. He gets bus fare paid, but buys his own lunches from the money he earned from a part-time temporary Christmas job, but this is fast running out and he is resistant to working again! The youngest is almost 14, has lunch money and walks to school. They have no interests other than computer games (at least that's the way it appears right now).

We have four cats who keep us sane.

When F is able to work, it has been for around £7 per hour, but it is increasingly clear that this must be no more than 20 hours a week, and ideally with little travel. The car may appear to be a luxury, but this time last year we seriously thought F would be in a wheelchair before long. Thankfully this has not been necessary, but mobility (when condition at its worst) is limited and few cars were accessible on a major tour of all local vendors. The Prius has reduced car tax, is in warranty and so has limited costs other than the loan amount. We've had cheap-n-cheerful (except they never turned out that way) in the past and with F being unable to walk consistently to the railway station or bus stops is probably a necessity, although F will be looking into work from home options.

As much as possible is being sold on Ebay at present. Some of this has brought in considerably more than anticipated, but is obviously not a reliable nor constant source of income.

OK. We'll leave it there for tonight. Where on earth do we start?
:beer:

tallyhoh

Hi,

Just having a good look at your SOA. Will be back later:D

But you phone & internet charges look WAY high. I pay £65 a month for the whole sky package (including sport), land line & internet.

red_bertie

Welcome to the board. Some of the expert DFW's will be along to help, although it's quite late for them, if you don't get a response, don't worry your post will be picked and help will be with you tomorrow. From what I can see you've given these "guys" a fair bit of info to get their teeth into.

RB

floss2

:hello:

Ok, I've just had a quick look, and the following things are a few to look at.....

Council tax - can you pay this over 12m rather than 10? This would make it £80 pm.

Telephone - can you reduce the calls or look at a better value package?

Mobile - If you are in contract, look to changing to a tariff that suits, or go PAYG

Food - Start menu planning: make a list of everything in the cupboards / fridge / freezer, then plan as many meals as you can from that, only buying any small extra ingredients to use up things. Then carry on the plan to make a lost of groceries you actually need, not what you think you need. Also, use the internet, as it stops a lot of the impulse buys that can happen with teenagers.

Re the kids - I would suggest writing everything down as you have donw here, and sitting them down for a family meeting. Your middle son should look at claiming EMA to help with his bus fares (http://ema.direct.gov.uk/) and if he wants to eat at lunch, then he needs to look at getting another job. They can also help out by sorting out their stuff for Ebaying, even if they keep half of the proceeds it will help the family situation.

Good luck,

Floss x

RAS

Hiya

Would agree, check EMA. Id your partner entitled to DLA if she has mobility problems?

Also food and phones are the area where you could make savings. You need to explore the snowball on www.whatsthecost so you understand how to pay off the CCs most effectively, highest APR first. if you can get rid off the halifax and make serious inroads into the barclay card whilst your mortgage is reduced, it will help.

Sign up for www.freecycle.org - I would consider getting the teenagers to do so as well.

And have a look round http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money as well. It is not a lot but £30-50 per month would help.

TengoNoDinero

:hello:

Great suggestions - thanks.

I'll look into the phone and mobile charges. M has taken the BT bill to work as they were useless on the phone last night - just doing the usual call centre thing of passing round in a circle.

Will have a family meeting tonight, as suggested. They're all old enough to understand the position, and the boys' friend's family has just been repossessed, so they do know the consequences.

Unfortunately, neither of the eldest two qualify for EMA. M's salary is just over the threshold, and it is not split because there are two of them. We have established that daughter would be eligible to receive it (if income was lower) until her 20th birthday, but that's not much help. Surely this is a discrimination against multiple birth families?!

Will list current food. Looks like a lot of spag bog as we have loads of mince in the freezer. At the moment, in our disjointed, stressed state, we've not been shopping at all economically as we go to the supermarket every evening and grab what we need for that day. We accept we need to do far more to plan ahead/batch cook and freeze, which is something we could draft the kids in on as well.

We've already joined our local Freecycle and are disposing of things that don't sell on Ebay. So far, the only thing we have got from it has been some science magazines for eldest son and his A levels.

I had no idea Sky could be so cheap! We have actually been given a Sky box (with card) and have a Sky dish, although they are not connected. Isn't there a connection charge? I don't know if it would make a difference if we have the components already?

Other than that, I had further palpitations this morning when I realised we hadn't included my student loan account overdraft. This is currently in debt of £2,172.33, with a limit of £2,150, so they will need some money this month. It is with Barclays and they have been very good about it so far, but I cannot see that lasting.

From 2001 to 2005 (I deliberately split my 2nd year over two) I was a full-time student at university. I graduated with a good 2:1 in a complementary therapy, but at the moment have not got the financial backing to take on business rent/expenses and the only opening I have found is a 40 mile round trip. The guy there isn't as supportive as I'd like, so it looks like I need to find something more local. I am upset at not being able to practice what I have learned, but former secretarial skills are bringing in some intermittent money.

Thanks all.
F

TengoNoDinero

PS

Did put in a claim for DLA, but turned down as I can walk 50m and the mobility is not constantly affected - only when condition is at its worst. Will discuss with GP again when I go.

red_bertie

Just poking my nose in, I'm a DFW virgin, but could you practice your complementary therapy on an ad-hoc basis part time to supplement your other income? Bit like a travelling hairdresser. In your own home or visiting people in theirs. Just a thought.

RB

Keeping_Positive

Try for DLA again and always state the condition at its worst never best. Hopefully you have a supportive GP who can help.

Good luck you sound as if you are doing the right things already.

TengoNoDinero

Thanks for your suggestions.

Unfortunately, my complementary therapy needs registration with the local authority and premises have to be given the OK as it involves needles (which rather gives away what I do). I worked for a charity before who bought a couch and some other equipment for me, but they had a change of funding and took the equipment back for inventory and then cancelled all the SLAs. I would buy it off them, but cannot afford to at present and they don't answer letters!

I used to do home visits for the charity, but it's not the best therapy to do in people's homes where there may be pets and small children! However, I am doing a lot of lateral thinking about parts of acu treatment that I could do from home.

Wendy - I am going to raise the issue with my GP again, but I am hugely better to how I was this time last year when I put in for the DLA. I will try for it again if he is in support.

Thanks
F

RAS

Hi

Are you aware that a lot of Physiotherapy practices now use accupuncture? You mught get sessions at a practice?