Could do with a cunning plan

tbasterisk

Hello all,

I've been reading the forums for a while now and have picked up some very hand ideas. I've been trying to get out of debt for a couple of years now, although I've made some progress I keep getting set back by unforeseen expenses. Anyway, I thought by posting here I might transform this from a private vision into a public excercise, and therefore might get a public kicking-up-the-posterior when necessary.

My current debts:

• Egg card: £2000
• HSBC credit card: £400 (limit £500 - used to transfer some of egg balance at lower rate)
• Barclaycard: £0 (I'm currently using this for travel expenses so it gets paid off in full every month)
• Overdraft (HSBC): 800 (limit $1500, interest charged above £500)
• British Gas £2000-ish (Used estimated readings for far too long. They don't know I owe them this yet)
• Alliance & Leicester loan: £1500 remaining inc. interest, 12 months of repayments left
• AA loan: £10,000 inc. interest remaining, 4 years of repayments to go

• ---

• TOTAL DEBT: £16,700. Exclusing loans: £5,200

My monthly income is £1500: £1300 as salary and £200 from my girlfriend, who lives with me, to help with rent.

My monthly outgoings including repayments are currently £1650, so you see I have a mathematically difficult situation I'll post a full COA if it helps.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Kandipandi

Hi, yep if you can post a SOA some brill people will no doubt be along to help you. Other than your CC debt there may also be other areas you can make significant savings in.
x

tbasterisk

Hmmm... worse that I thought

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 200 (from GF)
Total monthly income.................... 1500

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 61
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 18
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 40 - will be able to cancel next month
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 30 - currently on expenses but will prob. have to pay myself from Oct.
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 300 it's a 45 mile drive to work
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 64
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10 - rest covered by expenses
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 25
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1363


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1000

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg............................2000......40........16.9
HSBC cc........................400.......10........0
Overdraft......................800.......0.........18.8
AA Loan........................10000.....222.......0
A&L Loan.......................1500......130.......0
British Gas....................2000......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........16700.....402.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,500
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,363
Available for debt repayments........... 137
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 402
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -265

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,700
Net Assets.............................. -15,700

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

WorkingHardDFW

well done for posting on the boards its the first step to getting debt free.

My comment on your SOA is that clearly you have to make ends meet.

Sorry to be cheeky but your girlfriends contribution seems low and doesn't really cover all the housing costs before food etc is taken into account. Perhaps upping your girlfriends rent would be a good way to bridge the gap between income and outgoings as a start?

Just a thought:o

tbasterisk

Thanks for the response.

The issue with my GF's contribution is that she's only willing to pay half of the rent as it was in 2006 (£400 back then). She doesn't want to live in the middle of Birmingham, particularly in the dodgy area we live in (it's the most I could afford). She says she's only liveing here for me and that otherwise she's be living rent-free with her mum and doesn't see why she should pay more to live somewhere she doesn't like.

She doesn't know how much in debt I am, because when she found out I had the smaller amount of debt on one credit card she went mad at me. So I transferred the balance so she would think I'd paid it off.

I've had some stress problems recently, partly caused by working too much (or so the doctor says) and partly through pressure my GF puts me under. I've explained that I'm completely broke and she says she understands but still expects me to pay out for everything. Meanwhile she's out buying designer handbags.

It's a difficult situation, but one that I've grown to live with.

slummymummyof3

Car insurance is very steep - are you young?

tbasterisk

slummymummyof3 wrote: »

Car insurance is very steep - are you young?

I like to think so

I'm 26 but I've only been driving since Jan 2007.

Thanks for looking in.

southernbelle

Entertainment is quite high, and holidays can be done without until you are out of debt.

I think car insurance is pretty good for the time you've been driving to be honest.

tbasterisk

southernbelle wrote: »

Entertainment is quite high, and holidays can be done without until you are out of debt.

I think car insurance is pretty good for the time you've been driving to be honest.

What I've classed as 'entertainment' here is really my monthly nicotine requirement

I agree about the holiday, I really wanted to wait at least another year but eventually gave in to OH. It's paid for now, but I'm sure as usual I'll be counting the cost of every footstep as I walk the streets of Italy.

uncommonadvice

Knock pet, fags, holidays, haircuts (get a set of shears from Argos) and mobile on the head for the short term. Start by finishing off the HSBC CC and then move onto the next smallest one and so on.

lyric_grace

Hi tbasterisk and welcome to MSE,
I was also going to say your entertainment is high, maybe you could cut back. Something like joing a DVD post club is great if you regularly go to the cinema. Or getting a supermarket bottle of wine and a ready meal instead of going out?
Also maybe you need to sit down and chat with your girlfriend, I know you said she went crazy about the debt she saw but surely it's better to be honest and get it out in the open and maybe then she will contribute more towards the house, after all it's her using gas/elec as well. £200 seems so small, I used to pay £200 to my parents each month before I moved out back in 2006 and that taught me well, bills etc had to be paid. I don't earn much either. Maybe getting it out in the open with each other will help bring your stress level down as I alwasy use the saying "A problam shared is a problem halved". It's great that you've come here though and hopefully we can help keep your stresses down as there are alot of very useful and helpful friendly people on here!