Please Help

Desperate_Deb

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 100
Total monthly income.................... 2900

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 957
Secured loan repayments................. 401
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130
Electricity............................. 70
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 65
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 320
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 21
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 21
Contents insurance...................... 16
Life assurance ......................... 46
Other insurance......................... 16
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 80
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2537

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 170000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 172000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 107000...(957)......0
Secured Debt.................. 42000....(401)......0
Total secured debts........... 149000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Personnel Loan.................9000......220.......0
Personnel Loan.................7000......177.......0
Personnel Loan.................10000.....350.......0
Total unsecured debts..........26000.....747.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,900
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,537
Available for debt repayments........... 363
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 747
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -384

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 172,000
Total Secured debt...................... -149,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,000
Net Assets.............................. -3,000

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.

peb

I'm not particulary good at this but didn't want you to drop to the second page! I'll post this my way of a bump then look to see if I can help.

Horace

Hi and welcome.

Your grocery bill seems high at £320 - go over onto the Moneysaving Oldstyle board in this forum for tips on meal planning and grocery challenges. Before you go shopping look through cupboards, fridge and freezer to see what you have and what you need - only buy what you need that you have run out out. Shop in supermarkets like Lidl.

Cut out the entertainment budget and the holiday budget for a while and sling that money at your debts paying off the loan with the highest interest rate first.

Have a clear out and sell stuff that you no longer use on ebay or at a carboot.

Your landline bill is high - see if you can change it so that say you get free weekend calls.

Please explain what the other income is - is it benefits or what? Use that towards your debt too.

Can't think of anything else off hand but others will be along with more advice soon.

peb

ok; first thoughts:-

* you should have nearly £350 per month to through at the debts. DO you? if not do you know where this money is goung? you maybe need to look at a spending diary so that you can work it out.


* what is other insurance? Is it necessary?

* the grocery bill can probably be pruned - how many is it for? Try looking on hte oldstyle board - they are fantastic at making things stretch. (just don't lok on flylady - it makes me ill!)

* HOliday - can you really afford this? Your user name suggests that you are worried and I would suggest that you look into a holiday that will cost less than £1200. Ditto entertainment - I appreciate £20 a week isn't much but you don't really have it.

* this seems a lot to me. I pave a PAYG and £5 lasts me about three months; the landline is about £50/60 a quarter.

* the electric seems high and the gas seems low but this will of course depend on what cookers/hearing etc you have. I had my first over £100 gas bill and was in shock - but I don't ever have the gas fire on and only have the Central heating on when there is a december in the month!

* You need to check out the interest rates on your cards so that you can look at the best way of paying them off; the usual rule is highest interest first unless there is a psycological advantage to doing it another way.

I don't want to pry but obviously there has been some serious overspending in the past (unless you have both got recent pay rises) as you should be ok on your budget - do you know where this money has gone so that you don't make the same mistakes again?

HTH

Hopefully hte experts will be here soon

msmicawber

Hi, and well done for making a start.

I agree with the points peb and Horace have made, but also think your insurances look high - there are quite a few deals out there for combined buildings & contents insurance, so I think you could get this down quite a bit. Have a look at Martin's article. Also, if you're paying by monthly DD/SO, I'd recommend paying the premium in full for the year as it's much cheaper. Your bank may also do you a special rate, so it's worth checking. Also, if you have a Tesco clubcard, there may be some insurance deals that you could get for a minimal spend or just using points.

Life insurance also looks high - is that in addition to any policy that you have for your mortgage? If not, the above applies here too.

What is 'other insurance'? If it's for appliances, it's usually cheaper to put the money in a saving account so that you can pay for repairs or replacements if/when the worst happens.

Water rates - depending on how many of you there are, this may be high and you may benefit from have a meter instead. (3 of us in house & I pay £15pm)

In order to advise on how best to approach paying back your debts, you really need to add details of the APRs and what the current balance is on each.

savingholmes

bump... any more advice out there?:money:

Cleosmum

Desperate_Deb wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 100
Total monthly income.................... 2900

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 957
Secured loan repayments................. 401
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130 Can you pay this over 12 months?
Electricity............................. 70 This is high, can you switch?
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 65 Very high, who are you with? You can at least halve this by being careful with calls. Poss save more by switching.
Mobile phone............................ 40 OUCH! How many phones is this for? Aim for about £10 pm per phone.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 320 Cut this back by visiting old style and gleaning lots of tips.
Clothing................................ 20 Can you cut this back until things are better?
Petrol/diesel........................... 80 Can you cut back? Walk? Cycle? Car share?
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 21
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 21
Contents insurance...................... 16
Life assurance ......................... 46
Other insurance......................... 16 Is this needed?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 80 This needs to be cut until things are better.
Holiday................................. 100 Cut this until things are better.
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2537

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 170000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 172000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 107000...(957)......0
Secured Debt.................. 42000....(401)......0
Total secured debts........... 149000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Personnel Loan.................9000......220.......0
Personnel Loan.................7000......177.......0
Personnel Loan.................10000.....350.......0
Total unsecured debts..........26000.....747.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,900
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,537
Available for debt repayments........... 363
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 747
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -384

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 172,000
Total Secured debt...................... -149,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,000
Net Assets.............................. -3,000

Created using the SOA calculator at 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.

I have included my comments in red

EDIT: Join up to cashback sites if you do decide to switch anything.

fatbelly

Hi Desperate Deb

At the risk of stating the obvious, you have an on-paper shortfall of £384 per month. Does that tie in with what is happening in practice? If so you need to evaluate fairly quickly whether you can close that gap by increasing income and/or reducing expenditure. Examine everything - lots of good ideas already. Maybe look at re-jigging your mortgage/sec loan and your unsecured loans. But please don't try converting unsecured to secured.

However, 384 per month is a big gap and I think you should take a decision fairly soon about whether this is do-able.

If it isn't then you will need advice (probably a dmp) from the usual people - CAB, Payplan or CCCS. All should be able to do a good job for you and do it free.

That seemed a well sorted SoA to me. Nice work.

Desperate_Deb

Hi,

What is a dmp, CAB Payplan or CCCS, and who would I go about doing this. As I am pretty desperate, don't even want to answer the phone anymore. Oh dear.

Thanks
Desperate Deb

Keeping_Positive

Debt management plan. CAB, CCCS or Payplan go through your budget and see what you can afford to pay each month and then offer pro rata payments to your creditors. CCCS have an online debt remedy questionaire that can help show whats best for you.

Take a look at their website. http://www.cccs.co.uk/

There is also a dmp support thread on here that might help you.

Rabbit-in-headlights

Hi Deb,

you will find more about the CCCS, CAB etc in the Debt-Free Wannabees resource bar, under "Non-profit Debt Counsellors List", here is an extract:

I am going through CCCS, their website is really easy to use and you can phone or email them for advice, whichever you feel happier with. My deficit is abbout 600/mth and I can only afford to pay about half of my unsecured debts each month! :eek: but CCCS have found a solution of a debt management plan should work, I am about to send of all my paperwork this week so fingers crossed!:o

There are loads of really helpful people on here so keep posting and you will get the support you need, whether practical or emotional - you're not alone!

Here's the quote from the resource bar, I hope you find it useful!


Rabbit


[Quote:]
The right people to go to</STRONG>
You need non-profit debt counselling help, in other words a one-on-one session with someone who is paid to help you, not to make money out of you. This is different to ‘free’: many commercial companies say they’re free as you’re not charged directly, but you’ll still pay somehow. The places I'd recommend:
Consumer Credit Counselling Service - Website: CCCS Telephone: 0800 138 1111
National Debtline - Website: National Debtline Telephone: 0808 808 4000
Citizens Advice Bureau - Website: Citizens Advice or visit your local CAB centre (find nearest
Community Legal Advice - Website: Community Legal Advice Telephone: 0845 345 4 345
These counsellors use a variety of techniques, you may be put on a debt management plan, where they negotiate with your creditors. You may be recommended an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) or even bankruptcy (not as scary as it sounds). They will certainly show you how to prioritise the most important debts to enable you to keep food on the table and roof over your head.
Most importantly they're not judgmental, they're not there to tell you off, they're just there to help you sort out the problem. The sooner you talk to them the better. It may help you sleep at night.
[End of quote]