New Financial Statement - Living Together

StephenSimmons · 11 April 2018 at 4:19PM

Hello everyone,

I previously posted a question and had some great help and advise regards to potentially moving in with my partner, although I have £25.000 of debt in the form of loans and credit cards which are currently being paid via £1.00 payments each, due to only working part time and the Citizens Advise Bureau working out my financial statement.

Having decided that I want to move in with my partner and now that I have come clean about my debts, she is happy for me to move in but for us to have no joint financial arrangements re credit or accounts etc.

What I need help with, is having calculated child tax credits, working tax credits, council tax supplements etc she has given me a bill that would need to be settled which is £850 a month. This would include rent, council tax, her loss of credits, gas, electric, water, phone, internet, car insurance, car breakdown cover.

How do I evidence this to my creditors at the next review ? Is it even possible ?

I am very worried that this is not going to be possible. Please can anyone help who might have been here before.

I have no CCJ's, no priority debts and I communicated with my creditors before I became ill and have never missed a payment ever, I have just not been able to pay what they desire. I do all my correspondence with creditors via the Citizens Advice Bureau due to my mental health problems.

National_Debtline · 11 April 2018 at 4:58PM

Hi Stephen

If you are getting help from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) it's very likely you could get an appointment with them and they would help you work out your new budget sheet, if you would find that easier.

From a creditor's point of view they want to know you and your partner are splitting your household bills fairly. Generally the person with the higher income should pay a higher share of the bills. That's why they prefer to see a joint budget sheet so they know how much income you each have and how much your outgoings are. However they shouldn't ask your partner to contribute towards your debts as she is not liable. You can work out how much of the joint household surplus is yours personally and then use that as your offer towards your debts. The CAB or another free advice agency can help you work that out.

Alternatively you could complete a sole budget sheet only showing your income and outgoings. It would be tricky for your creditors to work out if £850 per month was a reasonable outgoing if you list it as one single figure. It may be better to break that down as a contribution towards each household bill. Good luck with the move.

Susie
@natdebtline

Sncjw · 11 April 2018 at 7:04PM

Is she paying anything at all?

a_silver_lining · 11 April 2018 at 7:24PM

£850 is loads. How much is she paying? How much do you pay now?

reason2 · 12 April 2018 at 11:29AM

Why would you have to pay her loss of credits...

They are a benefit, not a bill you should have to pay surely?
the likelihood is she is losing them due to your contributions to the living costs, ie shared rent / utilities.

if it was me id be removing the loss of credits... but maybe i am wrong

System · 12 April 2018 at 2:18PM

She isn't entitled to be compensated for the tax credits she'll lose. You are going to be contributing to the bills so the food, the rent, the water, the gas, the electric, all the bills for stuff for the house are all going to cost her less than when she was living on her own.

indesisiv · 12 April 2018 at 2:39PM

StephenSimmons wrote: »

What I need help with, is having calculated child tax credits, working tax credits, council tax supplements etc she has given me a bill that would need to be settled which is £850 a month. This would include rent, council tax, her loss of credits, gas, electric, water, phone, internet, car insurance, car breakdown cover.

How do I evidence this to my creditors at the next review ? Is it even possible ?

I don't see how you can evidence this. You could evidence your relative share of the rent, council tax, gas, electric, water, phone, internet, car insurance, car breakdown cover

But not the Tax Credits.

cms-help · 12 April 2018 at 5:10PM

This makes no sense, to me anyway.

Your partner currently supports their household and their family with a salary. They receive credits as a benefit to assist with that.

You move in and start paying towards the rent and bills etc. You replace the income that the credits previously provided.

So you shouldn't be paying towards the rent/bills and the loss of credits. You pay for one or the other - otherwise they are double-dipping and making a "profit" from the situation so to speak. That hardly seems fair. Perhaps they haven't appreciated this and have just considered the loss rather than the gain.

HampshireH · 12 April 2018 at 6:42PM

I may have missed something so I apologise.

Is your partner saying you can move in if you pay £850 A month?

So her current outgoings on bill is 1700 a month?

Ask for a complete breakdown. Why will you be paying for her car insurance and breakdown will you be driving it 50% too?

For you does this add up to reasonable costs?

MEM62 · 13 April 2018 at 9:49AM

Reading between the lines I suspect that the OP's other half has approached it from the viewpoint that 'this is what you moving in will cost me and this is the figure I need to break even'. If her budget is tight and she is supporting a family this might not be unreasonable.

Whether the OP accepts that or not is there choice.

StephenSimmons · 14 April 2018 at 12:46PM

Hello everyone,

Many thanks for all the different responses. I will try to explain a little more.

My partner is divorced and has 2 children. She sold the family home and now she lives alone as a single mother working part time and bringing up her 2 children.

The last response was very accurate. She has calculated the costs of me moving in. Given I come with serious debt baggage and possible risks, the last thing she also wishes to impact is her monies. She only works part time, lives pretty much hand to mouth and me moving in means that I would need to contribute £850 for her to be in the exact same financial situation other than she no longer gets 25% off council tax and no longer receives child tax/working credits.

This includes rent contribution, council tax contribution, gas, electric, water, bt, internet, food, the child tax credits she would loose from me moving in and finally car insurance, car tax, car recovery (these last 3 exist as I sold my car panicking my creditors would take it in the future, so she bought a second car which I use but belongs to her on the log book and all other documents).

I hope this helps.

Does anyone know the legal technicalities of this type of situation when creditors want to scrutinize your financial situation. I think someone said it has to be proportional of you and your partners income. For example, if she earned 10k a year and you earned 5k a year, creditors would expect on your financial statement for her to pay 50% more than you. i,e mortgage cost is £600, she pays £400 and you pay £200.

I just want to try and ensure at my next review I am proceeding in the correct way.

New Financial Statement - Living Together

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free