Is consolidation the answer?

dizzypink

Hi all,

Finally decided to do a SOA to get some help from the experts.

I've a husband who works full time, I currently work 12 hours a week and have 4 kids aged between 6 and 14.

Having looked at the SOA I'll be doubling my hours at work to give me £721 per month and getting rid of hubbys old banger (he can ride is pushbike to work!).

In addition I was thinking of a secured loan to clear all the cards and the overdrafts, this would be paid off in 12 years (seems a hell of a long time :eek: ) I looked at a low start debt management plan with CCCs and that lasted over 11 years.

I've also wondered about an IVA but hubby is dead against it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1988
Partners monthly income after tax....... 721
Benefits................................ 243
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2952

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1121
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 132
Electricity............................. 75
Gas..................................... 75
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 10.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 13
Internet Services....................... 13
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 140
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 25
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 65
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 2477.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 185000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 187500

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 153000...(1121).....6
Total secured debts........... 153000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco Card.....................7362......223.......17.5
Mint...........................4000......90........14
Barclaycard....................7640......159.......6.75
A&L Overdraft..................2000......0.........6
HSBC Overdraft.................3300......0.........18
M&S............................3821......95........18.9
Total unsecured debts..........28123.....567.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,952
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,477.5
Available for debt repayments........... 474.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 567
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -92.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 187,500
Total Secured debt...................... -153,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -28,123
Net Assets.............................. 6,377

~Beanie~

Hi

The one thing that immediately jumps out at me is Road Tax £140 - per month?? Is that correct?

Numpty_Monkey

Hi dizzypink:hello:

The general belief on here is
don't consolidate, and
don't change unsecured debt into secured debt
The clever lot wil have better explanations as to why,

A few things about your SOA . and well done on doing one:T

Gas and Electric, are you doing all you can to save money there, unplugging everything,nothing left ,on standby, change to low energy bulbs, heating and hot water on only when you need it,(with 4 kids i can appricate the problems)

You maybe able to shave a few quid off your food bill, have a look on
Money Saving Old Style board ,

welcome aboard:A

dizzypink

Oops,spot the deliberate mistake. Yes the car tax is yearly.Been lurking on OS for quite a while picking up tips. Having a talk with the kiddies tomorrow about being enviromentally friendly about using the electric.

dizzypink

Can anyone help us out with any advice on our SOA.Still trying to decide whether to go down the route of a secured loan or not.

amyandjon

hi me and my oh got a secured loan the biggest mistake of my life, they made us take it over 25 years so now im saving as much as poss to get rid of it.... if you can struggle without for a few months do that.... do not do a secured loan is there anyother way you can cut down ?? can you take a mortgage break my friends did that they have a 6 month payment break ,, you could wipe some debt off with that if you canhave a break... some other people may come along and offer better advice xx

OliveOyl_2

Firstly secured loans put your home at risk if circumstances change for you.
If things went really bad for you, ill-health or job loss, (sorry to be negative, but read some peoples stories here :eek: ) then you can defer payment to unsecured loans, but you can't if they're secured.....

Secondly, they are usually over a longer period, so although the payments may be smaller, there are far more of them and you end up paying a lot more.

RAS

And even if you are paying off your debts at a lower APR apparently, very often you end up paying more interest. Look at the snowball on www.whatsthecost.com.

And check with www.entitledto in case the increased number of hours changes the rules under which you are paid WTC?

dizzypink

This is what we are afraid of. The budget we have come up with leaves very little room for the price rises that are going to keep coming.
I will get hubby to check if we can get 3 smaller unsecured loans to see if that helps.
We cant take a pmt break on the mortgage so thats out.
I am really beginning to despair of solving this without loosing the house. Tke low start DMP we looked into kept talking about creditors maybe not accepting it, letters and proceedings carrying on. That was the one thing I have been trying to protect my kids from is that kind of hassle.

dizzypink

Well we have just been offered a secured loan at the breathtaking and soul destroying rate of............................13.1%:mad: Over 15 years....

RAS

dizzypink wrote: »

This is what we are afraid of. The budget we have come up with leaves very little room for the price rises that are going to keep coming.
I will get hubby to check if we can get 3 smaller unsecured loans to see if that helps.
We cant take a pmt break on the mortgage so thats out.
I am really beginning to despair of solving this without loosing the house. Tke low start DMP we looked into kept talking about creditors maybe not accepting it, letters and proceedings carrying on. That was the one thing I have been trying to protect my kids from is that kind of hassle.

Dizzy

Are you talking to CCCS or Payplan about a DMP or have you been sucked in by a fee paying company?