www.iva.co.uk

I am at the end of my first year of the iva and have just sent back my review which unfortunatley due to a change in circumstances the payments have had to be reduced.Payplan seem fine with that but obviously the plan may be extended......can anybody plz help with budgeting correctly because we are still finding it hard to accept that we do need to just budget.and any surplus we have which the IP has put down for our housekeeping car tax etc etc seems to just stay in the bank account and with two young children money still seems to go...we never know the right time to transfer that money away from everyday use can anybody please with all your experience and knowledge give me some good advice thanks

I am not in any debt solution plan, but on a very tight budget nevertheless. To help me budget I have done a spreadsheet listing all my normal monthly outgoings x 12. At the bottom I have added annual things such as subs to my professional body, car tax, water rates (which I pay in one go) an annual estimate for car repairs, clothes, christmas, birthdays, school trips anything I could think off. I divided the total annual amount by 12, deducted it from my annual income, then divided the remaining amount by 52.1428 to give me the weekly amount available for shopping and treats. I take that amount in cash, do the food shop first, then keep the rest in my purse and when it is gone, it is gone.
It works fairly well.

I did, however, start this after I paid my annuals which occur in jan,feb and april, so I had a full year to accumulate the funds

Hi tom50

Can I recommend James Falla's excellent book on IVAs and Bankruptcy which has a couple of chapters on budgeting and household finance which I think you would find really helpful.

It is written in laymens terms and even I have learnt a few good tips.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

thank you all for your tips I will try to get hold of that book.........We really want things to work

Until you get the book, you could also use the CCCS template to draw up a simple monthly budget. It is useful, because it has headings for all normal expenditure and may remind you to include items you would not otherwise think off.

Hi Tom50
I found that the best thing that I ever did was to open a "Think" bank account.Your salary is paid into the account and then the money is kept in this account for all your direct debits and standing orders[you can not access this money],the remainder is transfered to a second account that you can access by a debit card.The good thing about this is that all your bills are paid and what you have left is for food and travel etc.
If you want further details let me know.
regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson and site manager
(aka Neverending)

Please check out my blog: http://andydavie.blogs.iva.co.uk

View my profile here:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

Andy, What is "Think" banking? This sounds like it could be really useful for me. Can you apply on the net?[:D]

Yes and no. You can apply on the net (google think banking) but you do not get an immediate answer, they ring you afterwards. I got that particular call within 24 hours. They don't do credit checks, it is literally for everyone but there is a monthly fee of £12.50 for managing your account. The beauty for me is that you will not get overdraft fees, because you cannot get overdrawn

thank you all so much we like the idea of the think account.....it will make the next 4 years easier and help us look at the unnessary spending we still do............

andy - could you give me more information on this "think" banking plz - I currently have a debit card current account with nationwide which is run really well but i dont suppose they will open a second basic account running next to it si i can follow this on the internet.

hello tom50 and welcome to the forum. I have a Thinkbanking account. It's great. I have had no problems with using the card anywhere. It's worth the £12.50 a month managing fee. The telephone number is:0800 074 7772
The website is:http://www.thinkbanking.co.uk

Take care

All I have left is my humour.

View my blog http://www.debtdummybankruwoman.blogs.iva.co.uk.

Hi
I hope that you have all the info you need.
They will be introducing an online service soon and are backed by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Regards


Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson and site manager
(aka Neverending)

Please check out my blog: http://andydavie.blogs.iva.co.uk

View my profile here:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

Tom Tom
Just to re affirm the above comments I too am with think banking and have found them great, and as Andy does I will continue to bank with them post iva.

Ang

thank you for all your comments - finally is there a facility with that account to pay cheques in...and accept credits like tax credit/child benefit...I get paid on the last working day by bacs but my wifes income is made by cheques only...

Hi Tom
Yes the bacs would go straight in and they text you to let you know. The only thing with cheques is they take time to clear, the best thing to do is ring them as I know someone who was paid by salary cheque and it went in the same as with a bank but I oaid in a personal cheque from someone and they told me 8 working days to clear. If you ring them they will give you all the info on the phone. Tax credits etc just the same as any other bank they are paid into. You can pay cheques in at RBOS or nat west and I posted one the other day to them and it went in the next day. I posted as I could not get to the bank for a couple of days, seemed the easier option actually.

Hopr this helps.

Ang