What's the way out? :o(

WinnieJ

:embarasse Dear all

I am embarrassed writing this but we have got ourselves into a right mess and what was manageable is getting harder and harder as husbands job changed reducing his income by about £20k a year and now we can't see a way out. We moved in Feb right at the peak of this credit crunch mess then everything went wrong, car, washing machine, vet bills of £2k (despite insurance!). Can anyone pls offer support and advice?

Joint salary = £88,821 Per year (£4,973 per month)
Mortgage £1961.73 (NR soon to end fixed rate, quoted change £2,057 if extend mortgage 10 more years :-( (includes 95% mortgage of abt £285K + 30K loan)

Here comes the bad bit......

We owe £17,332 on credit cards, £40,726 on loans (excluding NR loan). We have reduced our outgoings by as much as possible. We can't move now as would cost us more as will no doubt be in neg equity. We reckon we can sell about £2k worth of furniture and bits and bobs but that won't really help.

Anyone got any ideas please? We are :eek: :eek: :eek: !

Winnie :embarasse:embarasse:embarasse:embarasse:embarasse

Burlesque_Babe

hi there and welcome winnie.

Don't be embarrassed. We've all been there, done that, got the t-shirt (in fact some of us have so many t-shirts, that's the reason we got into debt! :rotfl: )

the best thing to do is to pop up a statement of affairs. This is a great place to do an SOA

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

it will create one which you can post on MSE and we can help you from there.

MissKJ

Winnie, you can sort that out. We owe more,and earn less.Do your SOA so you can see the woods not just the trees.

WinnieJ

Hi again

Here is my Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
I don't have all the loan and CC rates to hand but CC's are 0% wherever we can. Also somehting like TV/phone etc come as a package so have split them as best I can.....

Thanks for your support so far. At least I know we are not alone! Looks scary on here tho!

Winnie

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2873
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4973

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1961
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 15
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 34
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 35
Buildings insurance..................... 14
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 67
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 19
Total monthly expenses.................. 3094

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 300000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 305000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 284015...(1961).....7.49
Total secured debts........... 284015....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Northern Rock..................30061.....568.......7.49
Cahoot 1 Loan..................7273......186.......0
Cahoot 2 Loan..................11770.....286.......0
Lloyds TSB.....................12569.....200.......0
Natwest CC.....................3427......300.......0
MBNA CC........................10569.....200.......0
Lloyds TSB loan................21683.....483.......0
Total unsecured debts..........97352.....2223......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,973
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 3,094
Available for debt repayments........... 1,879
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,223
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -344

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 305,000
Total Secured debt...................... -284,015
Total Unsecured debt.................... -97,352
Net Assets.............................. -76,367

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.

petrafyde

Hey Winnie,

Hope you're feeling a bit better now. No need for embarassment here. Your deficit isn't that high in comparison to your wages etc and there are ways to cut spending per month still

Are council tax and water paid over 12 months? Get it done if you can - will help in the long run.

Can you get buildings AND contents insurance from the same provider to save cash?

Mobile phone - are you in contract? Could you go over to PAYG or at least downgrade the package.

How many in the house? A family of five can manage on less than £250 for groceries, so you should be able to cut it down. From leading brands to stores own or value brand if you can. If you shop online, register at Quidco - its a cashback cooperative and providing they deal with the retailer you just click through to their website and save money. Also there's a forum dedicated to moneysaving etc in shops with LOADS of online voucher codes to get money off shopping. I shop online at Tesco now to stop me overspending. Simple things like using soap instead of shower gel for bathing make a large difference etc.

Tiscali offer broadband, phone AND tv for less than £20. Thats a saving, other companies have deals like that too (Quidco offer HUGE cashback savings for these so I strongly recommend having a look!)

Good luck!

saffronflowers

Hi there and welcome

Here are some thoughts on your SOA

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1961
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 50 If poss change to PAYG or check out changing tariff to the lowest possible
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 15 Freeview check freecycle for boxes if not can be bought v cheaply
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 You could probably cut £75 off for this and still eat very well
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 250 This is increadibly high what mileage are you doing, car share etc
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 34
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 35 How many animals and what age are they - we have two border collies insured for £20
Buildings insurance..................... 14
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 67This is VITAL but is the best possible deal
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 19 What does this go towards

As it has been said your deficit is not horrendous, and with some tweals etc you should be able to cover the costs etc. Good luck

Sfx

poorandindenial

WinnieJ wrote: »

Hi again

Here is my Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
I don't have all the loan and CC rates to hand but CC's are 0% wherever we can. Also somehting like TV/phone etc come as a package so have split them as best I can.....

Thanks for your support so far. At least I know we are not alone! Looks scary on here tho!

Winnie

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2873
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4973

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1961 (Can you go interest only for a few months until you get the payments down on some of your other debts?)
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158 (It won't make a huge dent but if you haven't already, try to get this spread over 12 months rather than 10 so that you have a slightly lower monthly payment)
Electricity............................. 40* (below)
Gas..................................... 40* (*this isn't huge - depending on the size of your house - but do make sure you do things like turning off lights when you aren't in the room, turning off TV etc at the socket rather than levaing on standby, no heating unless you need it)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 25 (with TV and internet you are paying £55 per month, ditch all your extra packages and go right down to the basics, you should be able to get that lot for about £30 with off peak calls thrown in)
Mobile phone............................ 50 (how many is this for, if you are on contract do you use all your minutes? check out some of the PAYG tarrifs and see if you could be better off)
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 15 (see above - land line)
Internet Services....................... 15 (see above - land line)
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 (how many is this for? you can probably get this down by at least £50 per month with a bit of shopping around and meal planning)
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 250 (are you paying to run a bus?? is there any way that you could cut this down by walking short journeys/using public transport a bit more/car sharing)
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 34
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 35
Buildings insurance..................... 14
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 67 (shop around for all of these through sites such as moneysupermarket and do it all through quidco to get cashback)
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 19 (how much is in this fund?)
Total monthly expenses.................. 3094

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 300000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 305000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 284015...(1961).....7.49
Total secured debts........... 284015....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Northern Rock..................30061.....568.......7.49
Cahoot 1 Loan..................7273......186.......0
Cahoot 2 Loan..................11770.....286.......0
Lloyds TSB.....................12569.....200.......0
Natwest CC.....................3427......300.......0 (this looks like a high minimum payment, is there a reason?)
MBNA CC........................10569.....200.......0
Lloyds TSB loan................21683.....483.......0
Total unsecured debts..........97352.....2223......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,973
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 3,094
Available for debt repayments........... 1,879
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,223
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -344 (put bluntly you are spending more than you have, your debt will go up each month if you don't find ways of making those savings)

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 305,000
Total Secured debt...................... -284,015
Total Unsecured debt.................... -97,352
Net Assets.............................. -76,367

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.

Hi there

Please don't think I have been harsh up there ^^^^, as you have a monthly deficit you do need to get a handle on this ASAP and I do genuinely want to help you spot areas you can make savings on.

Have a look and see if you think you can make the changes above then see if that puts you anywhere near even. If not then you need to start thinking about other options, do you have stuff that you can sell to clear some of the smaller debts to ease off the monthly pressure?

If you can't get to the point where you break even then you may need to think about seeking professional advice - see this list here: [http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help] as you may need to consider a DMP. CCCS onthe list have a tool called debtremedy which you can complete online and it will give you an indication of your options straight away although I have every faith that you will be able to make the savings and sort this out yourself as you are high earners and the deficit isn't huge

penguin83

Hi Winnie - welcome to DFW. Im rubbish at SOA's so will let the experts give you advice there!

Just wanted to say dont be embarrassed. It took me ages to post because we had a really good income and felt like we should be able to budget but everyone here is very helpful and supportive.

Take care x x

WinnieJ

Thank you all for your replies and advise. Sorry didn't reply last night, DH was trying to get some overtime in!!!

I think I may have confused the issue by combining some items to ensure each box was filled, e.g. tv/phone/internet is a package and also buildings and contents too....

Anyway here are some replies...

Poorandindenial -
Checked council tax and it os over 10 months so will ring them. That's good news!
We have been offered int only for about £1900 a month so we may do that for a year and see where we are.
Electr is a nightmare. We have a hot tub which ws in the house when we moved in and have found that it has a fault so that's been costing us hundreds since we moved in. It is being fixed tom but that will cost us £225 to fix but should save in the long term.
We have reduced TV etc down from £88 so without removing V+ etc then thats the lowest but I think we will have to do it.
£50 is 2 mobiles. I found I paid more on PAYG as ran out of credit. But agree need to speak to Vodaphone as rarely use my free mins.
Ref fuel bills, DH commutes a long way but is trying to get some work form home maybe 1-2 days a week which would help.
Life !!! - won't actually cover mortgage at the mo as we can't afford ot increase it but as we took it a long time ago it covers a massive amount so have been advised to keep it running as most new covers don't offer so much.
£19 emergency is boiler cover. I'd drop it but boiler is 9 years old so.....
Credit card minimum is our minimum really as we are trying to get them down. Actual min is about £75. SHould I change that on the statement thingy?

Saffronflowers
Shopping is for 2 of us!! But we based calc on Asda bills on banck statment over 3 months and this is average. Am sure it is lower than this. It certainly is now since I discovered 17p squash etc!! We have been much more careful with this so think it is prob lower now. We don't eat or drink to excess so maybe in those 3 months I had bought stuff for the new house....will check again.
We have 3 cats, 2 are 12 and 1 is 4 so can't cut bills down now as most won't take on older cats. :mad:

We dropped the ASU payment as it was £60 but hope we won't need it!!!

Thank you everyone else for kind comments. I am prob more ashamed than embarrassed that we are in this situation. I hate sitting at work listening to people say how they clear their visa every month and only have 5 years left on their mortgage. :mad: :mad: :mad: I know it's our own fault tho. We have just had IVF on NHS which failed but can't even afford to try again as need £5k so basically our debt may have cost us our family. Our depression made us spend I suppose. OMG now I am really depressed!!!!

Winnie (

WinnieJ

PS
I just put in actual minimum payments on credit cards rather than our target mins and surlplus is not negative anymore. Is this what you guys are referring to as our deficit?

Total monthly income.................... 4,973
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 3,094
Available for debt repayments........... 1,879
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,725
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 154

pepe2008

Hi Winnie,

it can all seem horribly mind-boggling trying to sort EVERYTHING out in your head in these opening few days after your LBM but it does get a lot easier.
Stay calm, good luck.
Pepe. £60k with CCCS 12 years to salvation.