# Completing Standard Financial Statement



## dubinamerica (25 Oct 2012)

Hi 
I am currently in MARP and looking at completing the Standard Financial Statement. Was hoping to post some queries in a thread here as I go through this and see what people's thoughts are. If anyone has any questions on this also, would be interested to see how people are approaching this...


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## dubinamerica (25 Oct 2012)

*Query - Section B, B3, monthly social welfare benefits*
- do you include fuel allowance in this payment ? Say this month there would be extra 80 euro? exclude altogether or divide the total payment received by 12 ? 

Also, I've been cut off One parent Family Payment, for one child but she should be back on as she had a form completed by college, do I include the figures which include her payment ?


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## lorrainet (25 Oct 2012)

Going through the same and did not include fuel allowance. Also would hold back on adding in your other childs allowance until it is in your account unless they can see it on your last few months bank statements.


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## dubinamerica (25 Oct 2012)

Grand thanks. I put down the current amount and just mentioned that it should increase.. Just in case it takes a few weeks to sort out. 

Should the back to school allowance be put down on this? Whatever I got last year will be more than the coming year as one child is no longer eligible I believe.. or just leave this out ? 

Want to get this as accurate as I can but with payments like that it's hard to know if they might get pulled at some point so hard to say how much..


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## mathepac (26 Oct 2012)

lorrainet said:


> Going through the same and did not include fuel allowance. ...


Sorry to butt in here, but is either of you receiving assistance from a MABS (or other) financial advisor?

The people in the banks / financial institutions are not (usually) stupid and will know what allowances you are entitled to; lying by omission about your income and allowances is probably the worst possible start you could make to the new relationship you are trying to establish with them. IMHO.

The Standard Financial Statement requires either a weekly or monthly statement of income and expenditure. For the Fuel Allowance this is usually expressed as either €10/week or €43.33/month (€20/week for 26 weeks or €520/annum in total) HTH


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## Bronte (26 Oct 2012)

I second the suggestion of MABS for filling out these forms.  People can actually forget to put in items of expenditure, particularly those that annual.  Maybe the MABS website has a standard form with a list of what's income and expenditure.


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## wbbs (26 Oct 2012)

I would be more inclined to try your local Citizens Info office for help with the form,  unless you are a client of MABS for the debt problems you are having as such then you are unlikely to just get help filling this form, you could try but I imagine you will have a hell of a long wait for that appointment.   The MABS helpline would be a better bet if you want to ask a few questions about the form.

The SFS forms while complicated looking cover most usual areas of household expenditure, if in doubt I would always suggest adding a cover letter.


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## dubinamerica (26 Oct 2012)

great thanks. I rang the bank that I'm dealing with and they said to put in the payment i'm receiving now and note that the fuel allowance is there as well.. I put that in at 20 per week with a note saying that it's only temporary and not sure if it should be included.. So should i put in the lower figure instead? This is my first time getting fuel allowance from start so I will need to check how long this runs for. 
Also for back to school allowance, is this to be included? Will an estimate for the coming year be what is required? 

And say outgoings for a college student. My daughter just sat leaving cert in june and was living at home and home during the summer etc. She's now moved out.. What sort of expenses should I cover for her? Should I estimate out for a year? During college year she'll have the grant to cover here as basically I won't be able to supplement her, but over the summer I'll have to try and provide for her to some degree, as she's not entitled to any dole payment. 

Really appreciate any help with this. I've been onto MABS as well and they've sent out a brochure about filling in this form. They also advised me over the phone to see if I could get an overdraft rolled into a loan. Didn't realize that was a possibility but have been onto bank about that..


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## wbbs (26 Oct 2012)

Fuel allowance is paid for 26 weeks so add 43 pm to income.   Average support to your daughter the same way, if for example you have to give her 50 a week for 10 weeks of summer then add 42 to monthly costs.  Make sure you put in something for house maintenance as well, an average of 40pm is usually acceptable.   Also the section for gift, birthdays etc, (can't remember exactly what the heading is) put in something there, everyone has to buy kids birthday presents etc, allow a small amount but allow something, the category is there as it is expected to be used.

Average everything out and make them into monthly figures, all these details will be input by your lender into whatever computer programme they are using to determine how much you can afford to pay.  Doesn't always work though!

Check the totals yourself when it is done before you submit it, if you are showing a minus in monthly income excluding the mortgage payment then it gets awkward as they cannot offer any kind of solution if your figures show you can't afford anything.  Ideally if you want interest only or reduced payments then your monthly surplus should indicate that you can pay that amount, not saying to be untruthful with the figures, just be realistic.  No point agreeing to paying something you cannot maintain, better to agree to a realistic figure and stick to it.


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## dubinamerica (26 Oct 2012)

Great thanks for the feedback wbbs, have pretty much covered utilites now and income but it's the other stuff that fluctuates that I'm going through.. say grocery shop, presents etc and need to break that down and make sure I don't leave anything out. Feel a bit better that I have at least started this and have some sections completed but it's going to take a bit of time to get through it all. Really appreciate the feedback


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