CORRECT BUDGET??

[emmaxpete]

Hi,

I wonder if anybody can offer any advice! Me and my hubby are currently trying (fingers crossed) to obtain an IVA! e are with Thomas Charles and have sent them all the paerwork they require - so things are moving along! We have gone through a statemnet of affairs and budget sheet of our monthly expenditure, but now I'm a bit worried! After all our expenses, there is a surplus of £440 per month to pay the Credits!
The reason why I m worried is that I'm not sure the budget ill actually cover our expense's - the main ones being:

£600 for Housekeeping (food Toiletries) - we are a household of 3 adults and 3 children (1 being an infant - so have to buy nappies with this as well) - Does anybody no eather they think this is an acceptable amount, or does it seem a bit low for the number of people?

£70 Petrol - I think we have definately underestimated this, as thinking about it propally, we fill up at least 3 times a month and it cost £40 each time!

£200 childcare - my mum minds my 2 children - my baby full time, and my elder child after school until 7 o'clock and all through the school holidays! I have only been able to afford to pay her £200 per month (due to the amount of debt we are in), but would love to give her more, as if we had the children minded privately, it would cost us a lot more! ould I beable to speak to Thomas Charles at this stage and see if I could amend the amount!

We are going through getting our eldest sone diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (a mild form of autism), and worry that as he gets older, my mum will struggle to bring him home from school (it is a bus ride away), so will have to pay for taxi's - do you think we would be able to put in an expenditure for this?

FYI - we have debt's of around £60,000, have an income of £3008 and, under the current budget, have a surplus of £440!

Any advice whatsover is really welcome!

We are really worried that if we do amend it, Thomas Charles will say that we have no hope of getting our IVA accepted!!

[hara]

By how much do you think you have underestimated your expenditure?

It may depend on how much in the pound you may be able t pay.At least 25p in the pound is probably required fo a realistic chance of IVA being accepted

hara

[emmaxpete]

I'm not sure - I was really just wondering what was acceptable amounts for the different expenditure!
Also, I'm not sure how much in the pound we are offering!! £440 per month surplas, £60K debt?? Not sure of the IP fees amount!!!

If we did offer the £440, would that be paid to the creditors and the IP for there Fees??

[kandh]

I worked out (approximately) 60 payments of £440 would mean you would be paying £26,400 in total. Take off fees etc (varies from IP to IP but lets say for arguments sake, £6000). This leaves £20,600 available for your creditors which would be a 34 p in £ dividend (obviously give or take dependant on fees etc and whether you own your house - 4th year equity release etc). Who are your creditors?

Are you able to list them at all and the rough amounts you owe to each?

[kandh]

I think the reason Hara (and me) were asking about your creditors etc etc is at the moment you would be offering roughly 34 p back. But if you increase your expenditure, then your disposable income will decrease and you would then be offering less dividend to your creditors. And as Hara mentioned, there is a minimum of 25 p.

FYI, we pay £600 per month for food/cleaning/toiletries etc for 2 adults and 4 children. Out of this, we have to include nappies and school dinners etc. I have on occassions done a weekly shop for £45 when needs must.

We have 2 cars and have a budget of £80 for the 2 for petrol.

Not sure what would happen with childcare though. Although if you were paying a registered childminder you could then be entitled to extra child tax credits etc? Also if your son is diagnosed with Aspergers, would you then be entitled to other benefits? Again unsure on this one but needs consideration?

[hara]

May be there is scope to include some of the expenditure you think underestimated or left out.

May be including extra expenditure and offering some where around 27 to 30 p may have chance.

Put all cards on table and ask your IP for advice.

What you do not do is accept unrealistic payments and see that you are struggling a few monts afterwards.Once you are in IVA it is very difficult to to arrange to pay less.

Each IVA is different.

You have to get it the first time right than struggle later.

Have a good chat with your IP.

If you are not stisfied and have not agreed to anything binding you can always seek a second opinion from a differentIP

Good luck.
hara

[emmaxpete]

Thanks, guys, for your responses!! Our creditors are:

Sainsburys: 18k
Egg: 9.5k
Natwest: 19k
Capital One: 4K
Cahoot: 8.5K

We have looked into the tax credits thing, in relation to childcare, but we would be worse of as we would not be entitled to much (if any)! also, it takes all my time getting my son to breakfast club in the morning (and that's only for an hour before school) - so don't think he would handle going to a Childminder!
We've not looked into any benefits for our son, yet, as he's not been formally diagnosed - this might actually take quite a long time to happen - although the general view amongst his school etc. is that he does have aspergers!!

I'm afraid of 2 things - 1, offering an amount too low that it'll have no chance of being accepted, and 2, having too tight a budget to live on, and getting into a mess a few months down the line!

I know we have to be realistic and really rein in our spending - as we are fairly new at this, it's not an automatic thing to do - but we are trying!

[Adam Davies]

Hi
Do not amend your expenditure to fit an IVA because you will not make it through the five years.
25p dividend is the general guide for minimum dividends but there have been IVAs accepted on this forum for less.
Your creditors will look sympathetically at your sons Aspergers Syndrome and this is a recognised disability,I believe,so the quicker that you have it recognised the sooner you may get financial help.
There have been many cases of IVAs failing because the living expenses were under estimated.
regards


Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp