Downward Spiral...

BarringtonLevyFan

Advice needed urgently please!!!!

I have accumulated £22000 worth of credit card and overdraft debts.

I started off really well last year, I was comfortably paying bills, enjoying a social life with money to spend on occasional sprees in Primark! I have 2 properties one I live in and the other I rent out which I was making a little money on from the rent.
But this year, things took a downward spiral and everything happened to me at the same time, rates where changing drastically and when I wanted to change the mortgage on the flat, the best I could find meant I could only make enough to cover the mortgage and the service charges on the flat. At the same time things started breaking and I had to pay out for my boiler breaking, the flat needed a few repairs, car repairs then I had to change jobs because they were cutting the workforce and because I was on a rolling contract I didn’t get any redundancy pay and even now I’m temping until I find a permanent job.

I’m really struggling to make ends meet, I have stopped various direct debits, changed my lifestyle and cut my bills as much as I can, I don’t go out to pubs and clubs anymore and instead go to the cinema because I have an unlimited monthly pass. I had debts before all this happened but I was comfortably paying more than the minimum on credit card bills, but when everything happened at once I resorted to credit cards and loans to pay various bills, now I’ve been checking my finances, a good chunk of all my money goes to paying debts. It’s not a good time to sell either of the properties because I wouldn’t make enough money to clear my debts. This is affecting my health, my relationship with my boyfriend, I just feel so depressed and all I want to do is live a comfortable life as I was before. How can I get myself out of this?

Please help!

WorkingHardDFW

Hi and welcome

You've taken the hardest step in facing upto to your debt :j

You will need to post up and SOA (see sticky at the top of the thread) which lists all your income/outgoings for the good folks on here to see how they can help you cut back, eliminate etc

Good luck

lincsdan86

Hi BarringtonLevyFan,

Welcome to the site,

First things first, take a moment, make yourself a cuppa.

Once you have got your nice hot drink by your side the next step is to post your SOA. Some nice person will post the link soon, im sure

Once this is done all the lovely people on ere will be along to help ya out.

lincsdan86

lincsdan86

WorkingHardDFW wrote: »

Hi and welcome

You've taken the hardest step in facing upto to your debt :j

You will need to post up and SOA (see sticky at the top of the thread) which lists all your income/outgoings for the good folks on here to see how they can help you cut back, eliminate etc

Good luck

Beat me to it WorkingHardDFW

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

SOA Calc Link

BarringtonLevyFan

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1550
Partners monthly income after tax....... 340
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 996
Total monthly income.................... 2886

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 918
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 106
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23
Telephone (land line)................... 14.5
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 11.25
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 36
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 86
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 15.83
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 14.16
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 5
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 2.5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 28
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 8
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
cinema pass............................. 12
flat service charges.................... 62
mortgage repayment 2.................... 880
magazines............................... 2
mobile insurance ....................... 9
Total monthly expenses.................. 2613.24

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 198000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 200500

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 166000...(918)......5.9
Total secured debts........... 166000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
halifax........................5741......128.......27.95
barclaycard....................1733......39........27.95
capital one....................941.......47........30.59
barclays.......................300.......27.88.....0
halifax current................320.......1.........0
lloyds.........................380.......1.........0
argos..........................270.......20........27.9
a&l loan.......................8768......186.......6.3
Total unsecured debts..........18453.....449.88....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,886
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,613.24
Available for debt repayments........... 272.76
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 449.88
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -177.12

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 200,500
Total Secured debt...................... -166,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -18,453
Net Assets.............................. 16,047

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

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


Hi Guys

Thanks for the replies, I hope i have completed the SOA correctly?!I live with my boyfriend who pays rent, I have one car and no children.The SOA shows changes such as stopping health insurance, cutting down on petrol, clothes and going out. I don't know some of the interest rates on things because i literally just got credit cards & loans because I was desparate for the money. I have a second property because I bought it off my parents who are both ill and had to pay off their debts and it was an investment for me till recent mortgages rates, but now I'm not benefiting from it.Hope you guys can help me and I appreciate your help very much, please let me know if I need to add anything else.

Thanks again!

neverdespairgirl

Bumped - I think it must have slipped too far down the list of posts.

sammy115

This could be the story of my life except that I have two mortgages, my property and my mothers house that i bought. However, I have just sold my mothers house at a knock down price to rel
ieve myself of the mortgage.

I woud do the same here, in my honest opnion.....you don't need the stress.

Also you do need to go through all your credit card statements and see what the interest rates, min payments etc are and try the snowball calculator.

www.whatsthecost.co.uk

BarringtonLevyFan

I did think about that, but it's the wong time to sell and I wouldn't make that much. Plus don't you think it's an investment for the future, it could be part of my pension in the future?

My main concern is the credit cards, which is draining me of £450 for £19000, if that went down to £200, I would be a bit more comfortable. I think?

Will try the calculator. Thanks for the advice guys!

Horace

Do you have any stuff that you no longer use or wear? If so flog them on ebay or do a carboot sale to raise cash.

You could try getting a 0% balance transfer card but don't know if you will be able to get one as you already have so many cards. Throw spare money at the one with the highest interest which is the Capital One card and get rid of that one first, just pay minimums on the others and then go down the list one by one.

Cut them up and stop spending on them.

Do you need mobile insurance? Surely this would be covered by your contents insurance. Stop buying clothes for a while and cut down as much as you can - do you need a cinema pass? Check out the freebies board as they often have free cinema tickets listed on there. Join survey sites - look at the Up Your Income board, you can earn money or points - if you earn points then these can often be converted into vouchers such as cinema vouchers:D

Have you had the rented flat re-valued? It could be that it is undervalued rental wise and you could up the rent.

Keep a spending diary so that you know what you are frittering money on.

shelene

have you tried ringing each unsecured debtor and explaining you are struggling to meet your minimum payments and sorting out a payment plan/agreement with them on a temporary basis??? Usually they would rather have something than nothing!!! But be warned they will try to get as much as they can so sit down first and decide how much you are prepared to offer each of them.???

Hope this helps

trancebabe

Hi There!

Your SOA looks pretty lean in your actual spending and most of the things I would normally look at have been covered.

I don't want to appear judgemental at all... but your boyfriends income looks really low... are you sure his 'rent' is enough to cover his portion of all the bills which affect him? I'm not suggesting him take on your debt at all, but make sure you're not paying to keep him at your own expense hunny!

I think in your position I would try the 0% credit card transfer route, if that wasn't an option then try to sell the second property at enough of a profit to pay off my cards (which I know you don't want to do - but best do it before your debt drags you further down)

I'm sure I've missed something but I know someone else will pick it up!