Page 1 Your personal budget Before you can decide what is the best way to deal with your debts, you will need to work out a personal budget. The options you have will depend on how much money you have left over after taking account of your essential outgoings. There is lots of guidance in Dealing with your debts to help you. This includes help on what it is reasonable to spend on things like housekeeping and clothing. Remember: do not send this personal budget to your creditors All they need to see is your You should only start to fill in the budget summary once you have finished your personal budget. Working out your personal budget on pages 14 to 22. If you need to complete a budget summary If you are going to negotiate with your creditors yourself, use the information you have gathered in this personal budget to fill in your You can then send the summary to your creditors. Some boxes in your personal budget are numbered to help you fill in your Where you see a box with a number, figure into Keep your personal budget safe and up-to-date Keep a copy of your personal budget to help keep track of how you spend your money. Make sure you keep it up-to-date and fill in a new budget sheet if your circumstances change. Contact us if you need another copy of our budget sheets. Information: you might prefer to prepare your budget online If you think you will find it easier to fill in your budget online, visit our website: www.nationaldebtline.org. See our fact sheet: Budgeting and saving. You can also print off copies from our website: www.nationaldebtline.org. Your income Include all types of income coming into your household. For hints and tips on how to list your household income: Working out your income on page 16. Salary and wages Include normal take-home pay. This means wages and salary after tax, National Insurance and pension contributions. Only include overtime payments if you receive these regularly. Your salary or wages (take home) Your partner s salary or wages (take home) Other salary or wages Other salary or wages Total salary or wages Box 1
Page 2 Other types of income you might have Child maintenance Rent from boarders or lodgers Non-dependants contributions Student loans and grants Other income Total other income Box 2 Your benefits and tax credits Jobseeker s Allowance (income based) Jobseeker s Allowance (contribution based) Income Support Working Tax Credit Child Tax Credit Child Benefit Universal Credit Employment and Support Allowance or Statutory Sick Pay Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance or Personal Independence Payment Carer s Allowance Housing Benefit or Local Housing Allowance Council Tax Benefit or Council Tax Reduction Other (for example maternity benefits) Other benefits or tax credits Total benefits Box 3 Your pensions State pensions Private or work pensions Pension Credit Other pensions Total pensions Box 4 Boxes 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = Total income Box 5 Your assets Assets are things like savings or the value of property, such as your home or car. When you complete your you will need to confirm to your creditors that you have considered whether you have any assets that you can sell to make lump-sum payments off your debts. Your assets I have no assets that I can use to make lump-sum payments Tick box 3 Box 6
Page 3 Your outgoings Include all your household s outgoings. For hints and tips on how to list your outgoings, Working out your outgoings on page 16. Essential spending Mortgage Second mortgage or secured loan Rent Ground rent and service charges (factor fees if you live in Scotland) Mortgage endowment and mortgage payment protection Building and contents insurance Pension and life insurance Council tax (including water charge if you live in Scotland) Gas Electricity Water (may not apply if you live in Scotland) Other utilities (coal, oil, calor gas) TV licence Magistrates or sheriff court fines Child maintenance Hire purchase or conditional sale Childcare costs Adult-care costs Total essential spending Box 7 Box 8 Box 9 Box 10 Box 11 Box 12 Box 13 Box 14 Box 15 Box 16 Box 17 Box 18 Box 19 Box 20 Box 21 Box 22 Box 23 Box 24 Box 25 Box 26 Box 27 Box 28 Phone Home phone Mobile phone Other phone costs Travel Public transport (work, school, shopping and so on) Other travel costs (such as taxis) Car insurance Road tax Fuel (petrol, diesel, oil) Total phone costs Continued > Box 29
Page 4 Travel (continued) MOT and car maintenance Breakdown or recovery Parking charges or toll-road charges Total travel costs Box 30 Housekeeping Food and milk Cleaning and toiletries Newspapers and magazines Cigarettes, tobacco and sweets Alcohol Laundry and dry cleaning Clothing and footwear Nappies and baby items Pet food Total housekeeping costs Box 31 Other spending Health costs (dentist, glasses, prescriptions, health insurance) Repairs, house maintenance, window cleaning and maintenance contracts Hairdressing or haircuts Cable, satellite and internet TV, video and other appliance rental School meals and meals at work Pocket money and school trips Lottery, pools and so on Hobbies, leisure or sport (including pub, outings and gym) Gifts (Christmas, birthdays, charity and so on) Vet bills and pet insurance List other spending not included elsewhere do not include debt payments Total other spending Box 32 Boxes 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 = Total outgoings Box 33
Page 5 How much do I have left to pay my creditors? Total income Total outgoings Total money for all creditors Box 5 - take away Box 33 Box 34 Extra advice: money for creditors To find out how much you can offer to pay your creditors, take away your total outgoings from your total income. If you have priority creditors, the next step is to work out how much you can pay off these debts. Do this before you work out what you can offer your non-priority creditors. Your priority debts List any priority debts that you have and payments that you have agreed to make. For advice about how to deal with priority debts: Dealing with your priority debts on page 23. Total you owe Agreed monthly repayment Mortgage arrears Second mortgage or secured loan arrears Rent arrears Magistrates or sheriff court fine arrears Council tax arrears (including water charge arrears if you live in Scotland) Child maintenance arrears Gas arrears Electricity arrears Other utilities arrears (coal, oil, calor gas) Hire purchase or conditional sale arrears Write other priority debt you are paying here: Write other priority debt you are paying here: Write other priority debt you are paying here: Box 35 Box 36 Box 37 Box 38 Box 39 Box 40 Box 41 Box 42 Box 43 Box 44 Box 45 Box 46 Box 47 Total priority debt repayments Box 48 If you have no money left to pay your priority creditors, contact us for advice. How much money do you have left for your non-priority debts? Total money for all creditors Total priority debt repayments Total money for non-priority debts Box 34 - take away Box 48 Box 49 Information: what are my options? If you have little or no money left over to pay your non-priority debts, Working out offers of payment to non-priority creditors on page 19 to work out what options you have.
Page 6 Your non-priority debts List your non-priority creditors (continue on another piece of paper if necessary). If you are creating a copy over this list of non-priority debts. Total you owe Working out offers of payment to non-priority creditors on page 19 for information on how to work out offers of payment. Monthly repayment offers Total owed to non-priority creditors Total repayments Box 50 Box 51 Extra advice: making reduced payments If you have enough money left over to make reduced payments to your creditors and you want to make the offers yourself, you will need to divide it fairly among them. This is called a pro-rata distribution. Working out offers of payment to non-priority creditors on page 19 for information on how to work out your payment offers. There is a sample letter on page 51 you can use to write to your creditors. Extra advice: making token offers or no payments If you do not have enough money to make reduced payments, you can offer your creditors token payments, for example 1 a month. Working out offers of payment to non-priority creditors on page 19 for information on how to make no payments or token payments. There is a sample letter on page 52 you can use to write to your creditors. Your next step fill in your budget summary If you are going to negotiate with your creditors yourself, you will need a Use the information you have collected in your personal budget to help you fill in the