Advice needed, please

[NeedMoneyAdvice]

DH and I have just found out we are about to lose £500 a month income.

I had started another thread, but I was advised to come here for some advice. We don't know what we are going to do and I wondered if anyone could help us. Name changed because lots of these details would out us.

We have just taken on an 18 month lease with a letting agent. We have spoken to them this morning, and we cannot break this. We could simply not pay, but we would lose our deposit, and would struggle to find a landlord that would take us on if we did this.

We currently earn about £30k between us, take home about £23k.

Rent is £1000
Council Tax is £200
Gas and Electricity is £190
Phone/Broadband is £50
Childcare is (currently) £350
Car insurance is £60
Car payment is £140
Petrol around £80
Home insurance is £20
Gym membership is £75

Think that is everything. Obviously, this leaves us over budget. I genuinely don't know what we will do without this money?

We aren't entitled to any benefits, including WTC and CTC.

I genuinely don't know what to do.

So is the 500 loss really the loss of the (undeclared) gift or the tax credits?

You need specialist advice on straightening things out/ proving your innocence to HMRC so that you can start claiming tax credits to which you are entitled.

Surely me saying we arent entitled should be enough.

Obviously not, it's fine, it's done.

sleb we stopped getting TC's 18 months ago.

Oh my good lord. You don't have to declare it on your tax return. You DO have to declare it for benefits and tax credits.

I'm walking away now.

We've done that. We got legal advice at the time, the lawyer helped us draft the letter (and the subsequent appeal) but ultimately, we lost.

They also put us in touch with the financial advisor.

I am here for some more practical help.

I've had some already, many, many thanks, and I have already managed to save us some money on the car insurance by removing DH. That was instant, and a good feeling.

I will phone the G&E and tell them I have turned the heating on less now and can they reduce my DD.

there is an awful lot of cant's in your posts... you don't want to change anything it seems more like. You want a magic solution so you can maintain what you're accustomed too.

I have a huge 4 bed end house and my gas/electric isn't what you're paying. Something isn't right there and needs looking into.

when your contract for mobiles is up.. go onto a sim only contract rather than getting an upgrade.. it's something like 8 quid odd a month. You have to contact them though, it isn't automatic.

Ask the gym to suspend your membership for the minute.

you need to sort out your TCs.. somethings not right there.. they can't just stop them even if you owe them money.

fedeline for the benefits and TC's we did add the £500 in, yes.

And yes, we have done new 'quotes' without it. Didn't seem to make any difference? I don't know why.

Sorry I thought you were asking if we had to declare it as in self assessment.

OP, you need to give yourself a good shake and tell the truth if you want people to help.

Yesterday you had 3 jobs and earned £22k in total- today you have two jobs and earn £10k.

Yesterday your husband earned £11k and today he earns £20k.

Yesterday your rent was £1,350, today it is £1,000.

Wtf do you expect from starting this thread if your figures are plucked from thin air and you are not prepared to take any of the advice you are being given?

People aren't trying to be unkind, OP. But if you want help then it's probably best to lay cards totally out on the table. It's an anonymous forum. Personally i just don't know why you signed a tenancy for such a very expensive house when your income is pretty modest.

Really? They stopped them over 18 months ago and have told us we aren't eligible now because we owe them for previous years?

If I can claim again, I absolutely will.

I thought your rent was more than 1000 a month? But I am not going tk re read your other thread to double check.

Tbh I am not sure why you have started this thread - you won't listen to any advice anyway.

You are 8m pregnant, life has handed you a curveball and I seriously think you may be depressed. Because as lousy as this situation is it won't get better by blaming it on anyone else. As a lot of kind sensible people on this thread have said it will only get better if you cut your outgoings or increase your incomings either through work or benefits. The solutions are simple if you feel robust, energetic and can-do. But overwhelming if you feel dispirited, exhausted etc.

Work
You said on the other thread you already work 2 jobs and p/t at weekends and you are about to have a baby. You cannot take on any more work. DO NOT BE BLOODY DAFT. Write this on a post-it note, stick it to your forehead and every time you think 'Oh the only answer is getting more work' go and take a look in the fucking mirror. It is a depressive's solution because you secretly know it is unachievable but so you can keep hurting yourself with the false belief that you are creating/perpetuating this situation by not working enough. You are not.

If the question is 'Well should we just claim benefits then?' sometimes the answer may be yes.

But it may not be necessary...
Gym membership
You can definitely lose this and must - speak to the manager again and explain your circumstances have changed asap. The put it in writing to their head office - as someone has already said upthread after the OFT investigation last year they will be hot on this one and I think this should be sortable. Just because you've been knocked back once does not mean you will be again. The Consumer Action Group has excellent advice forums for advice on this sort of thing.

Phone and broadband
Again you need to speak to Vodafone - cheaper contracts certainly exist. Even if there is a termination clause it may be cheaper to pay this and get the cheapest deal on phone and internet access elsewhere (assuming your circumstances are not a valid reason for cancelling the contract) than continue paying this much for the next 12m.

Gas and electricity
It does not matter what your neighbours consider normal for heating a flat the size of yours, your situation is no longer normal. It must be possible to bring that figure down.

Housing
You have a scuzzy letting agent who is bullying you. It may be reasonable for you to meet the costs of vetting a new prospective tenant, but those will be less than the cost of your deposit. Get on Facebook and Gumtree advertising for a tenant and so long as you find someone with a decent credit record it is perfectly reasonable to ask them to take over the tenancy. The LL can refuse, but if you then stop being able to pay the rent and they go after you for a CCJ it won't look good in court.

Jon well, we probably shouldn't have but we have. We thought, wrongly, that the £500 a month we were getting would continue.

I will call the benefits agency again.

starfish Eh?

I've had lots of great advice. I've taken it, I have made a saving ALREADY whilst on this thread, on the back of a suggestion.

I will ask DH to look into childcare vouchers at his work.
I will call the G&E and ask them to reduce my DD as I am turning the heating off for longer.
I will try vodafone again and ask them if I can downgrade our contracts.

Maybe your DH should ask for another £9k payrise, like the one he received overnight. After all he was only earning £9k yesterday. And thank God your rent has fallen £350 per month compared to yesterday's thread.

I can understand why others are getting frustrated, you are coming across as very defeatist and batting off all sensible advice...
Also you said the local school was poor Ofsted ? I may be wrong but in Scotland we dont have Ofsted as such, schools are inspected by HME? Just seemed strange thing to focus on in Scottish school?
If it was a choice between keeping a roof over my head through transport savings then , yes , I would move my sons school.

Your circumstances have changed so much in 24 hours OP.

Your DP was only earning £11k yesterday, now £20k.

And you had three jobs not two.

And I thought it was a common colloquialism to call your rent your 'mortgage'?

I use OFSTED because people never know what I am talking about on MN if I say HME learned over the years.

It really is a scummy school, the local one. And he is in such a good school now, really. I would be devastated to change it.

But yeah, I guess maybe we have to

Please start fresh claims today for everything.

Then as soon as the baby is born you can phone up and have a change of circumstance and everything can be updated quickly/instantly - worth doing.

Read the lease very very carefully - worth taking it to CAB, there may be a clause that after x months you can just give 2 months notice or something despite it being an 18 months lease.

Can SIL really not afford to give you a loan if you explain how desperate your circumstances are - have you indeed actually told her how bad they are?

Seriously OP, can you confirm which facts are actually the truth, yesterday's or today's as it is fundamental to any advice you receive?

I am doing an online calculator for benefits now.

Can you cycle to work with ds? I know it can be horrific with the roads but if it keeps him in a great school and means you can get rid of the car?