Another SOA thread - please help!

CrazeeCurlee · 26 December 2018 at 2:51AM

Merry Christmas all!

I've posted on the board a few times before and got some good help and am hoping the good people here can help again.

I went Bankrupt beginning of June. I've been on a low income so no IPA.

I've been offered a new job to start next month for between 4 and 6 months (Jan - April / June) which pays significantly more, so I need to submit a new SOA and I suspect pay into an IPA.

This job is a fantastic opportunity career wise so I don't want to give up the opportunity as the experience will help me get higher paying jobs in the future.

I am going to do full time post graduate studies in September, and plan to spend July and August working part time and getting back into studying, therefore I will not be earning enough from July onwards for a whole year to pay into an IPA.

Can anyone help with:

Looking over my SOA below
Confirm what happens regarding an IPA and a temporary job?

SOA:

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1944
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1944

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 565
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 93 (from April)
Electricity............................. 75
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 50 (£25 a month but will be out of work in July after 6 months and starting studies in September so need to pay for this whilst working)
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 50 (bike parking)
Other travel............................ 160 (1 – 3 travel card)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 55 (dental insurance, contacts, anti depressants)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 35
Pet food ................. 35
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 20
House maintenance and repairs................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Meals at work........................... 20
Dry cleaning............................ 17
Gym……………………………50 (necessary due to health issues)
Disposable income………………20

Total monthly expenses.................. 1730
Amount for IPA: 210

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

Many thanks!

jackieblack · 26 December 2018 at 8:01AM

£300 groceries for one person is a lot... plus you also have £20 for meals at work
(I budget £120 a month, including toiletries and cleaning products, and eat well.)

Daniel1971 · 26 December 2018 at 11:07AM

I usually expect to see around £200 for one person’s groceries and a couple of other areas seem a little high.

Your gym membership is quite expensive, is there a cheaper option?

Are you really spending £25 per month in home repairs on a rental property?

As far as the job being temporary goes, you just need to let the OR know and your IPA will stop/reduce when your income goes down again.

I notice you’re rounding up your figures slightly, TV licence for example, is £12 and some pence.

I think you do have potential for a few uplifts in this budget so it’s worth looking again at where you could make cutbacks.

TheGardener · 26 December 2018 at 11:52AM

Great advice about saving money but please remember that SoA's for BRs are not about saving money as such but about ensuring the 'surplus' offered to the OR doesn't leave the OP short. Food at this is fine, in fact I would increase if ness. Include some contents insurance including you bike if you depend on it for transport.

luvchocolate · 26 December 2018 at 12:27PM

Totally agree with above ...nothing jumps out as high, and yes get some contents insurance to cover your bike and accidental damage.

debt_doctor · 26 December 2018 at 1:11PM

Hi,

I'm with the Gardener and Luvchocolate on this one - plus I would have £50 pm in there for entertainment.

DD

CrazeeCurlee · 26 December 2018 at 6:43PM

Thanks all, I have added £45 for food, £15 for contents insurance and £50 for entertainment, leaving £100 for an IPA. Appreciate the help!

[Deleted User] · 26 December 2018 at 8:26PM

Daniel1971 wrote: »

TV licence for example, is £12 and some pence.

I think you probably need to be very careful, with items that have a fixed (easily checked) cost, such as the TV Licence, which actually costs £12-93 pm.

You are over-costing it by £34-50 pa.

JCS1 · 27 December 2018 at 12:53PM

Have you got a note from your Dr to confirm the gym membership?

Also, you need to do as at now, so you can't include the Council Tax at the moment. Then when it is payable, you submit another SOA.

CrazeeCurlee · 18 July 2019 at 2:46AM

Realised I never came back to this to thank everyone - thank you! I left as is and the OR was happy with it, so that was great. I didn't need to submit a Dr's note regarding the gym membership (although would have been happy to do so), and was able to include the Council Tax straight away. They also didn't see too bothered about the £50 pa over estimation for the tv license, probably given how small that is (however it turns out that for a few months I was paying a higher cost for a tv license, not quite sure why that is). Just thought I would update incase it is helpful for anyone else if resubmitting an SOA.

luvchocolate · 18 July 2019 at 11:26AM

Thanks for coming back to us its always good to hear how it went.
Good luck in the future

Another SOA thread - please help!

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