# "Reasonable Living Guidelines" to be issued by the Personal Insolvency Service (PIS)



## Booter (21 Mar 2013)

Some of today's newspapers are carrying articles referring to guidelines on reasonable living expenses (which purport to rule out Sky Sports, 2nd Cars, foreign holidays etc) or those seeking debt write down deals with their banks.

They don't cite any source for this information, nor can I find any such published guidelines myself. I don't think the insolvency service has a website up yet. Is anyone aware of the source of these reports?


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## Jim Stafford (21 Mar 2013)

The stories are based on the news that the Insolvency Service of Ireland is expected to announce its guidelines on reasonable living expenses next Wednesday.

Jim Stafford


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## Time (31 Mar 2013)

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/debt-deals-leave-just-5-per-day-for-food-29163749.html


> CHARLIE WESTON PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR – 30 MARCH 2013
> 
> HOMEOWNERS with mortgages they cannot pay face giving up their homes to get a debt deal.
> 
> ...



It gets better:




> 31 MARCH 2013
> 
> THE Insolvency Service of Ireland's guidelines on a reasonable standard of living and reasonable living expenses:
> 
> ...



Enjoy your soap.


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## glic83 (31 Mar 2013)

• €28.61 a month to cover household waste charges, an annual boiler service and having the chimney swept.

So thats 343.32 per year
Bins where i live cost €25 pm = 300
Oil boiler service = roughly €90
Chimney sweep 40 quid?
so thats 430 and i dont think any of those prices are high and yet there are only allowing 343?


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## advice pls (31 Mar 2013)

And yet nearly €30 euro per week for social participation??


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## glic83 (1 Apr 2013)

If the option is open to the person in question they would have to be mad not to go the uk route


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## Time (1 Apr 2013)

Indeed. This will do nothing to stop those going to the UK.

1 year in the UK or up to 7 years of hell in Ireland? I knows what I would do.


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## ajapale (1 Apr 2013)

Title changed from: A life of penal servitude awaits
to "Reasonable Living Guidelines" to be issued by the Personal Insolvency Service (PIS)


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## ajapale (1 Apr 2013)

I heard a Mr Culloty head of Mabs on the RTE news at one. He was not to happy with the leaks and press coverage.

He said (and I paraphrase) that it would be a foolish creditor who would force an individual to give up long term employment for short term gain.

His other point was that this type of budgeting needed to be done on an annual basis in the first instance and that it should be broken down to monthly/weekly basis on an individual basis.


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## T&R (9 Apr 2013)

These are guidelines not law. Its the media driving a news story as usual.


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## sunsolaris (17 Apr 2013)

Some of the guidelines do not seem reasonable for people in certain circumstances. For example if you have Diabetes or celiac disease etc you cannot eat the same diet as everyone else and in my experience the food can be a lot more expensive. The same applies to the Health expenses. I'm assuming (possibly incorrectly) that people will not be dealt with in a black and white fashion as currently happens with the banks staff.
What I find most disheartening about the Irish situation is the attitude of staff in  the banks and the way they deal with people in debt. As if they are criminals. I know some people working in the mortgage arrears section of one of our Banks and their attitude to the people they are dealing with is appalling with no appreciation of the stress they are under. Its particularly bad if they have no big debts such as mortgages themselves. These are human beings in the banks and they speak of the people they are dealing with as if they are all trying to pull a fast one and they must not believe anything they tell them. That may be true of a few but certainly not of the majority. 

Its very much an irish attitude that has prevailed in this country for decades. That's why the uk is so attractive for many people - their attitude is far more mature, healthier and more realistic and people working in the financial institutions do not make it a personal thing like they do here.


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## Delboy (17 Apr 2013)

You should listen to Joe Duffy the past few days....himself and Ben Dunne are running a UK tourism guide! No dissenting callers allowed!!!


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## ajapale (17 Apr 2013)

Have these guidelines been published yet or do we have to rely on leaks distorted by the lens of lazy journos and broadcast talk show hosts?


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## munchy (17 Apr 2013)

I have friends who live on welfare and benefits who have much more disposable income than this! This kind of very restricted expenditure is not going to help the country get back on track as no-one will be able to shop or spend anywhere. 

This makes no allowances for someone who has close family in another country and would need to travel for a medical emergency or funeral etc

I wonder, if someone had a bit of cash and put it into studying for a course, before going insolvent, if they would have to force the institution to refund them? 

So many questions and hopefully it will get resolved properly


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