Hello again, I have just had my financial review paperwork back and I have a problem if you can help me please. On my original proposal I had the following expenditure, bearing in mind this is for me and my wife do these figures sound low:
1) Food & Household Goods - £260
2) Clothing (bearing in mind I regularly meet clients so have to be dressed in a professional manner and my wife is a nurse and has to buy certain shoes for work) - £50
3) Telephone £40
4) Personal Hygiene/Haircuts etc - £50
When I sent off my financial review I said that £60 per week was not enough for food and household goods and that without buying luxury items such as alcohol we regularly spend £80 to £100 a week, is this excessive? My IP has told me that they can not change what I originally put as £260 per month. Clothing of £50 I tried to increase to £130 but was again told I could not increase it from my original £50. Telephone expenditure is regularly £65 including both of us to have a mobile phone, is this acceptable? I was again told they could not increase my original £40. Not included on the original proposal was anything for our pets, we have four cats and never budgeted for food, insurance or vaccinations. I have been told that as they were not on the original proposal I can not budget for any costs associated with my cats. I also never budgeted for sky tv, I know this is a luxury but I reduced my subscrition from £44 per month to a basic package of £18, again I was told this could not be included as it was not on my original proposal. I am concerned that the amount they now want us to pay is too high and we will not be able to afford it, they are basing our new repayment on our basic salaries less our original budget and then asking for 50% of the difference but why can they not take account of the fact that my original budget was wrong? When they prepared the budget I wrote to them and said that it was not accurate but they told me not to worry about it, now they are telling me I can not change it and asking for an amount of money that I do not feel is acceptable given the outgoings we have detailed above. Any thoughts on what I should do next? I have spoken to my IP on the telephone and he has told me that there is nothing he can do about it, not the helpful response I was after, good job there is iva.co.uk to fall back on for some sound advice.
DM
DM
