Personal finance

A beneficial owner of property is the person that holds the 'real' value of it. This 'real' value of the property is called the Beneficial interest.

This means that, for example, the beneficial owner of a home has the right to live in and use it, and receive any income that might come from it. A beneficial owner of a bank account is the person entitled to the money in the account, whether or not the account is in their name.

Use this document to give away or sell your beneficial ownership to another person, several people or a corporation. You can use it for any kind of property: e.g. a house or flat, money held in a bank account, shares in a company, a painting, or a car.

Some situations where you might use an assignment, rather than a legal transfer, include:

• when a home is mortgaged and you need give the right to enjoy the benefits of the home to new beneficiaries, while avoiding the need to settle the mortgage;
• when joint owners want to use an assignment to share the income from property to be more tax efficient; or
• when planning for inheritance-tax.

You can only use this document if the property is held on trust. However, check that your beneficial interest is not held under either a protective trust or a discretionary trust - a beneficial interest can't be assigned under either of these.

Your credit rating matters- and you should take careful steps to safeguard it, and repair it if you feel it does not fairly represent your circumstances. This pack contains documents for you to start the repair process, and to report to credit card companies if you feel your account has been accessed without your permission.
See the individual information associated with each document in this pack for a full description of their use.

Use this document to record your income from all sources and total expenditure, and to record what your debts are and where (if applicable) you have fallen into arrears with such debts.  The document will then calculate what surplus income (if any) you have.  With this information, you can review and make decisions about whether you need to reduce your expenditure, and if so, where you might make savings; and about how best to use any surplus income that you have.

If you are having, or know that you are about to have, difficulties making your mortgage payments, use this document to explain the problem to your mortgage lender. This document will help you outline the steps you will be taking and what assistance you would like from your mortgage lender.

You can use this document whether or not you are already in arrears with your mortgage account. It is best to tackle any problem or anticipated problem with your mortgage payments before it becomes unmanageable. This document may be used in conjunction with the document 'Income and expenditure statement'.

After you have completed a review of your financial circumstances using the document 'Income and expenditure statement', use this document to make a proposal to your creditor for your debt, supported by your completed income and expenditure statement. This document can be used whether the debt to this creditor is a priority debt or a non-priority debt. Although a creditor does not have to accept your proposal, this document will improve your chances by guiding you towards making a fair proposal that is backed up by full and frank disclosure of your financial circumstances.

This letter is for situations where a person or business has said that you owe them money in relation to goods or services and you're in dispute over it. You can use it to try and settle the matter by compromising in order to prevent the matter going to court.

If you make a reasonable offer that's rejected and the issue goes to court, you'll have a better chance of any ruling about who pays the legal costs going in your favour.

You can use it if you've received a formal letter of claim, or in relation to an informal allegation or dispute about a debt. There are options to include details of any counterclaim you might have against the other party.

Use this document to generate a promissory note, which is a written promise that you – the ‘maker’ - will pay a fixed sum of money to the payee either on demand or on the date specified in the note. The maker can be a limited company, partnership or individual, and the payee may be either a named person or the bearer of the note on the date it becomes payable. Note that no provision is made for interest on the loan.

Use this document to generate a promissory note, which is a written promise that you – the ‘maker’ - will pay a fixed sum of money by way of instalments on specified dates. The maker can be a limited company, partnership or individual, and the payee may be either a named person or the bearer of the note on the date it becomes payable. The note allows for interest to be paid on the loan.

This is a personal loan agreement between individuals. It is appropriate for use between several individuals on either side of the contract. It is also appropriate for a fixed-sum cash loan which is granted outside of the course of business of the lender. This agreement provides options for instalment payments and interest charges. This agreement cannot be used where the lender requires security over the loan. This loan agreement is designed for use in England and Wales only.