My SOA - Please help

ann_marie77 · 10 August 2008 at 11:22PM

I posted a few weeks back about my debt problems, it has taken a while but I have finally completed a SOA, could you please help.

I live with my parents so I don't pay any gas/electric/council tax etc as it is tied into my board, although I do buy additional grocceries for myself as my parents will only buy basics (I've added my toiletries into this as well).

I don't tend to go out much, only occassionally to the cinema (orange wednesdays). Although I do attend Slimming World as I am tying to lose weight and like the socialising with people in the same position and I attend the gym as well. Don't really want to cancel this as I know I would not do any other type of exercise, like the idea of having to attend so I don't waste money.

Any advice would be grateful. Thanks in advance.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1200

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 250
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 100
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 25
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Slimming World.......................... 25
Gym..................................... 32.5
Total monthly expenses.................. 662.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Skycard CC.....................3791.73...131.......30.35
Virgin CC......................2510.98...82.47.....30.35
Halifax CC.....................513.66....10........27.95
Overdraft......................900.......50........18.9
Choice.........................274.83....45........0
Next...........................871.21....85........26.49
SimplyBe.......................936.77....45........29.4
Lloyds TSB Loan................10595.5...288.4.....6.4
Barclaycard CC.................292.33....10........22.9
Lloyds TSB CC..................467.07....12.46.....26.5
Total unsecured debts..........21154.08..759.33....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,200
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 662.5
Available for debt repayments........... 537.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 759.33
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -221.83

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,154.08
Net Assets.............................. -21,154.08

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

======== Enter any other useful information below ========

e.g. the number of adults & children in the household, the number

of cars included in the SOA or anything else that may be useful.

rubydoiwannabee · 10 August 2008 at 11:31PM

Hi and welcome to the boards. It is tough getting everything in order so as to be able to post it on here, so well done for taking this first important step.

I'm sure lots of people will offer you loads of good advice and support, the one thing that jumps out for me is the fact that you are paying some whooping great interest rates on your cards, are you in a position to apply for a 0% cc and do some balance transfers?

Best of luck with your journey to being debt free.

ann_marie77 · 10 August 2008 at 11:55PM

Hi rubydoiwannabee, thanks for the reply.

Have basically maxed out my current credit cards and I have tried to apply for 0% balance transfers, but have been turned down. I think this is probably to with the amount of different creditors I have. 5 credit cards, 1 loan, overdraft and 3 catalogues.

Started missing payments a couple of months back (a couple of tight months) so I'm now getting chased by my creditors. Received a couple of letters this week from my creditors threatening action to recover debt owed.
SimplyBe stated that if I did not pay the arrears in 48 hours they were going to start action to recover the debt
Skycard stated that "we will have no option but to conclude that you do not intend to settle your debt and we will be forced to take whatever action we deem necessary to recover the overdue amount".

Would love to pay back the amount owed but I'm now in arrears to the amount of £451.20 across my different creditors.

This month especially is a bad month, as my lovely bank (Lloyds TSB) have reduced my overdraft from £1500 to £900, so basically I am unable to pay any of my creditors this month, apart from that Lloyds TSB loan which is paid via DD (typical). Tried to get a payment holiday with my loan but them nice people at Lloyds didn't want to know, even though I have never missed a payment with them.

So I have set-up a new bank account for next months salary to go into.

I am in the process of writing to each of my creditors to expain my situation and to ask for reduced payments and to try and get the interest frozen, if possible. Any help would be appreciated.

chevalier · 11 August 2008 at 2:50AM

To be honest the main problem is you have too little money coming in. Can you get a better paying job, or another job where the money could be used for debt repayments. How about signing up with mystery shopping sites if you can't fit in regular extra hours. Sorry to be nosey but what was the money spent on. If you have lots of 'stuff' now, you could sell it on ebay, amazon, greenmetropolis.com, carboot etc to raise some extra money.

Would your parents be willing to stop the rent payments for 6 months? This would mean you could pay off the Halifax, Lloyds and Barclays credit card, which will free up some money to pay back the other, but also reduce how much credit you have access to which in turn will improve your credit score.

regards
chev

ms_london · 11 August 2008 at 3:24AM

Hi ann marie.

Welcome to MSE!

Your outgoings seem minimal, but a few comments.

- do you really need a land line & a mobile? Could you get a package that includes land/mobile & internet?
- do you really need sky? I would suggest you either keep this or your gym/slimming world, not both - as its a fair bit each month that could keep one of your creditors happy
- groceries etc? is this for misc spending? is it a fair amount or do you find it too restrictive?
- medical & vet bills, are these figures purely for budgeting purposes, or is this what you find yourself regularly spending. Perhaps open a number of ING accounts (or use envelopes with cash) to keep separate 'pots' of money for all of these different items, that way if you find yourself not using this money on a monthly basis as budgeted, you are also building up an emergency fund you can dip into when one arises.
- other travel? Whats this for? If public transport can you get a season ticket or a better deal?

I think your wages are more than sufficient, especially since you have low rent - but obviously your debt is eating most of it up. If you cant reduce your spending, could you get a 2nd job or additional income?

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Skycard CC.....................3791.73...131.......30.35
Virgin CC......................2510.98...82.47.....30.35
Halifax CC.....................513.66....10........27.95
Overdraft......................900.......50........18.9
Choice.........................274.83....45........0
Next...........................871.21....85........26.49
SimplyBe.......................936.77....45........29.4
Lloyds TSB Loan................10595.5...288.4.....6.4
Barclaycard CC.................292.33....10........22.9
Lloyds TSB CC..................467.07....12.46.....26.5
Total unsecured debts..........21154.08..759.33....-

Now you have worked out a budget, I would recommend calling each of your creditors and asking if your minimum monthly payment can be reduced because of your current financial situation and assuring them that if anything changes you will contact them. They will probably want a payment equivalent to the level of debt & interest rate you have with them, I am sure there is a calculator somewhere where you can put in your debt details (as you have above), the amount of money you can afford to repay each month (537.50), and it will spit out an amount each creditor should get pro-rata, again, taking into account the amount you owe each and the interest.

I think you have more flexbility negotiating all of your creditors, apart from the loans. I am not saying ignore these, but perhaps concentrate on the other ones first. Do you have any payment insurance on any of these dates? Most people recommend cancelling this, more often than not it is a waste of money - but have a read on this site for more information. Do you have any space on any of your CC to balance transfer? Is your credit rating ok and would it let you apply for a 0% credit card so you can balance transfer onto this? Try asking your current creditors if they can stop any interest & charges, or if they could reduce the interest. You might feel cheeky asking, but some creditors might do this (1 of mine, a credit card, completely stopped the interest, it made such a difference!).

Hope some of this helps, will pop in again :0)

ann_marie77 · 11 August 2008 at 10:25PM

Hi all, thanks for the advice above I really appreciate it. It's nice to get some advice without people being nasty. Feel really embrassed enough myself that I have gotten into such ridiculous debt.

In response to chev, there is no way my parents would allow me to live at home without paying board each week. So it would be a big no-no to even ask them. Although I haven't told my parents as my mam can be quite judgemental and would probably kick me out to just prove a point. Surprised I'm still at home actually.
As I've said above I feel really embrassed about my debt, as I have no-one to blame but myself. I'm basically an over-spender, as I haven't been very good at budgeting and I would just end up paying by the credit card. Even this month when I knew that I was going to be short of money, instead of budgeting before I spent any money, I ended up in the supermarket, spending money I didn't really have.

In response to ms_london, thanks for the advice, will definitely look into reducing my outgoings in respect to phone/mobile and sky. Had recently reduced my sky as I had the full package as I was finding that I wasn't watching the movies or some of the other channel mixes such as disney, but there is probably even more room for improvement.
Groceries budget - I have tried to include any additional food I need to buy such as lunches for work, etc, any toiletries and also any other purchases I may make during the month. I may have to do a diary to find how much I really spend.
Medical/Vets expenses - these are more as on emergency budget, haven't really been to the dentist for a while (silly I know) therefore thought if I can budget some money to put away for this, before I make any offers to my creditors. Also I have a rabbit (he's getting quite old now) and he has a problem with overgrown teeth although he hasn't been to the vets for a while, though at one point he was going every month for his teeth to be trimmed. So I could do with budget for that as well. Some of the money could be able to budget for his food, bedding and treats.
Other travel - this is for public transport, don't actually drive as I can't afford it. Although I do work out of town and therefore is quite a bit more expensive than the standard.

I do work overtime but haven't included it in my budget money as I do not always get the same amount of overtime, I roughly get an additional £100 after tax each month. Recently got a pay rise but haven't got an updated payslip to know the full benefits. So I will get some extra income each month.
Also my mam requests my board to be paid each week on the thursday. She will not budge on this as I have approached the subject before and asked if I could get it paid directly into her bank, but she likes to get it each week to paid her milk/paper bills, etc. So my budget actually includes board and travel based on a 5 week month, because otherwise I might not actually have enough money left if I based it on a 4 week. This will give me an extra £70 on a 4 week month although I could probably do with some of it to budget for christmas, etc. How does everyone else budget this problem?

With regards to my credit cards, I basically maxed them out now so have no room to do a balance transfer. Tried to apply for another 0% card but have been rejected. Quite annoyed about my credit cards especially the Skycard and Virgin cards as they have basically banged up the APR in the last year and half. They were all 0% to begin with, and I tried to apply for some more to transfer balances across, but never got the balances I really needed to transfer, which is why I ended with a few of the smaller ones.

I suppose with missing payments over the last couple of months my rate is starting to suffer quite badly.

Anyway, thanks again for the help I appreciate it very much.

xxx

GeorgeUK · 11 August 2008 at 11:18PM

I'll probably be repeating some stuff - hope you don't mind. Just working through it all.

Telephone (land line)................... 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35
Internet Services....................... 10
Can you combine these in a package?

Mobile phone............................ 15
PAYG?

Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Look at the old style board for tips on mealplans and possibly moving down a brand.

Clothing................................ 20
Try to cut this back as much as possible.

Slimming World.......................... 25
Gym..................................... 32.5
Can't really afford this...

I would phone all your creditors and request a reduction in the interest rate.
And if you ever are able to pay extra, i would pay towards the barclaycard first so that it is clear, but don't close it, then the halifax card. Hopefully after a few months they may offer you a 0% or LOB incentive to use the card again.

fatbelly · 11 August 2008 at 11:57PM

In a previous thread a couple of us recommended a DMP with CCCS (or similar).

Did you talk to them?

How did it go?

Sue-UU · 12 August 2008 at 2:00AM

Hi ann marie, I'm so pleased you've started on the long road back to clearing your debts and it will happen in time. Please don't feel too embarrassed about it all, there are plenty more of us here in the same situation as you!

I quite agree with the mobile, sky and broadband, but can see you're trying to sort that out and the sooner you do the better. Making yourself lunches to take for work and DON'T buy lunches out, that based over a month will make a real difference and, as George says, cut back as much as possible on the clothing. If you can get all the above sorted out that alone will help you so much.

I can well see your point with Slimming World and I feel it's important for you to have the outlet, but I really don't think you can afford the Gym as well. The £32.5 saved makes a huge difference over a year. 'fatbelly's' thoughts of getting a Debt Management Plan would be a great help to you, is there any reason why you haven't done so yet?

When you start to get yourself sorted out (and you will!!) don't get tempted to buy things again, or as and when you do, make sure you can clear it off each month. Someone asked about the items you've purchased over the time and could any be sold via ebay, car boot sales etc to get you some money to pay your debts back?

All the very best Ann Marie and keep looking ahead to the future as it's the only way forward. One day - with time and patience - you'll be free from it all. Take care.

Sue PS. Plenty of carrots for your rabbit

tealady · 12 August 2008 at 5:58AM

Hi If your budget is for a 5 week month then for 8 out of 12 months you will have 1 weeks rent "spare". Make sure you pay that off the card with the highest APR as well as making other regular payments. It may be worth while setting a budget for food and toiletreies per wek/month and if you come in under budget throw that at your debts. Even if its a few quid as Mr T says "Every little helps"
Can you carboot/ebay/amazon or green metropolis anything?
There is a red/green slimming group on these boards as well, they will be able to help and support re meal ideas.
Good luck.

My SOA - Please help

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