Debt problems - How to prepare a financial statement

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Each year, millions of individuals find themselves deeper in debt. Astonishingly the number of individuals and debts keep on increasing year over year. Debt problems can leave you in a miserable situation and burying your head in the sand is just not a viable option. When you study about finances, your paths will cross with secured and unsecured loans. Secured loans are loans against some secured property like your home. Unsecured loans are loans without any security. Interest rates on unsecured loans is generally higher compared to secured loans. When making a financial statement list your incomes and your expenses. Take a hard look at your expenses. You expenses for the month should be less than your income after tax for the month. This will ensure, you save some money for your golden years or use the money to pay off some previous debt.



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Debt problems - How to prepare a financial statement
Here is how to prepare a financial statement, for the purpose of negotiating reduced payments with your creditors.

Secured/Unsecured debts. Before we get into the substance of this, let's ensure we are clear about the significance of secured debts.

If the debt is secured, there is a risk that the item upon which the debt is secured could be re-possessed, if payments are not maintained. One of the most common forms of secured debt is the mortgage -- which also typically represents a very large debt and therefore a potentially very large problem.

There are two important points to note concerning secured/unsecured debts and attempting to reduce payments.

1. any creditor who is owed a secured debt has no reason to accept reduced payment. The creditor, in nearly all cases, would rather re-possess the item upon which the debt is secured

2. The borrower must be aware that, in the case of a secured debt, any change in the agreed payments carries a risk that the item upon which the debt is secured could be re-possessed, unless the creditor agrees in advance to accept the change. Thus, in most cases, it is only unsecured debts which offer the chance of a potential reduction in payments.

Right, on to the financial statement.

The following are the items you should list, where applicable, in order to present your total income and expenditure. You should calculate and enter a monthly figure for these items.

You might like to copy and paste the following items into your Word Processor/Spreadsheet/Text Editor for printing out.

INCOME

Wages Salary (after all deductions)........................

Partners or second salary (after all deductions)...........
Benefits
Unemployment...............................................
Maternity..................................................
Sickness/Invalidity........................................
Child/One Parent...........................................
Retirement.................................................
Income Support.............................................
Family Credit..............................................
Contributions
Maintenance................................................
Lodger/Dependants..........................................
TOTAL........................................................

EXPENDITURE
Rent/Mortgage................................................
Rent/Mortgage Arrears........................................
Second Mortgage..............................................
Endowment/Mortgage Protection................................
Child Maintenance............................................
Life/House Insurance.........................................
Council Tax..................................................
Water Rates..................................................
Gas..........................................................
Electric.....................................................
Telephone....................................................
Clothing.....................................................
TV Licence/Rental...........................................
. School Meals.................................................
Meals at Work................................................
Car Tax/Insurance............................................
Travelling Expenses..........................................
Spending Money...............................................
Total .......................................................

You should ensure that this total expenditure figure is sufficient for your needs, and that no items of expenditure can be considered excessive. Obviously, total expenditure cannot be MORE than total income.

Your income figures will need to be proven by a copy of a recent payslip.

Look out for How To Get Rid Of Debt Problems Step 3, where we look at 'How To Negotiate Reduced Payments With Creditors'

Rob Hawkins is the owner of Debt Consolidation UK. His company Chiltern Debt Management UK has helped more than 50,000 people to get rid of debt problems, and won the coveted 'Debt Counsellor of the Year 2004' award.

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Debt problems - How to negotiate reduced payments with creditors

First, make a list of your creditors (NOTE: you should only attempt to re-negotiate payments on your UNSECURED debts if you wish to avoid the risk that an item upon which a debt is secured could be re-possessed)

Add to this list the outstanding balance owed to each creditor. It is essential that you are accurate with this balance. You should find the balance on the most recent statement from each creditor on your list. If you cannot find a balance figure, call the creditor or write and ask for a current outstanding balance. Only when you have an accurate outstanding balance for each creditor on your list can you proceed to the next step.

From your financial statement (prepared in the last of this series), subtract the total of your outgoings from the total of your income. The resulting figure is your disposable income.

You need to divide the disposable income figure amongst your list of creditors in proportion to the outstanding balance owed to each. This is why you need an accurate balance before you start. Otherwise, your creditors will not accept your proposal.

When you have done this, write a letter to each creditor quoting your name, address and account number, offering to pay the amount you have calculated for that creditor.

You will need to include a copy of your financial statement with each letter, and you will need a valid explanation for your hardship, which now prevents you from paying the full amount agreed initially.

It is not difficult to see that the success of your proposal will depend on how well you have put together your financial statement. The amounts you have claimed for each item of expenditure will need to be acceptable to your creditors. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule I can give you for this. it is entirely dependent on the combination of your circumstances, which is unique for everybody.

If one or more of your creditors rejects your proposal, they will probably indicate why. It will then be necessary to re-jig your financial statement and re-send it to all creditors with a new letter. Certainly this can be time-consuming and tedious but there is no easy answer to this.

Rob Hawkins is the owner of Debt Consolidation UK. His company Chiltern Debt Management UK has helped more than 50,000 people to get rid of debt problems, and won the coveted 'Debt Counsellor of the Year 2004' award.


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Debt problems - How to prepare a financial statement
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