Self employed, loads of debt - help

tjak

deemy2004 wrote:

Your husband needs to pull his weight - tell him to get a part time job.

I presume you just missed the line about him being severely dyslexic. His course work takes 4 times longer than anyone else and he puts up with constant problems with tutors who don't know how to cope with it.

Part time job is not an option.

southernscouser

With your NTL, is it possible to go onto a cheaper package but keeping the sport. For example getting rid of movies?

Have you ebayed all your old stuff? Clothes, DVD's, CD's, kids toys, au pair? Seriously, you'll be amazed at what you can sell and how much money you can make from it! :snow_grin

tjak

With NTL we have the cheapest package - basic plus sports
I am a queen of ebay, both for buying what we need and selling everything we don't.
Also selling DVDs on Amazon (now all gone)

Thanks though !

southernscouser

tjak wrote:

Debts
15/11/2005 Amex Credit £175.00 8.90%
31/10/2005 Mint £1,683.69 13.90%
31/10/2005 Virgin £5,823.28 0%
31/10/2005 Cahoot £14,967.00 6.90%
31/10/2005 A&L Card £6,192.00 14.90%
Total £28,665.97

Can you give us the credit limits to these aswell tjak?

Also have you got last months balances at all?

tjak

Credit limits are
15/11/2005 Amex Credit £175.00 8.90% £3,000
31/10/2005 Mint £1,683.69 13.90% £10,000
31/10/2005 Virgin £5,823.28 0% £6000
31/10/2005 Cahoot £14,967.00 6.90% £15,000 flexible loan
31/10/2005 A&L Card £6,192.00 14.90% £6500

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi tjak,

Good to see you tacklinn the situation and looking at your financial options.

You mention the mortgae is 18&K but your monthly mortgae paymnets are only £719 or some thing evey month.

This seems very low ???? Is it interest only ???

What is the value of the house ???

what is your husband studying ?

How long till he qualifies / finishes the course ?

Sorry to be nosy just trying to get the overall picture.

southernscouser

tjak wrote:

Credit limits are
Amex CC = £175.00 - 8.90% (£3,000 limit)

Mint CC = £1,683.69 - 13.90% (£10,000 limit)

Virgin CC = £5,823.28 - 0% (£6,000 limit)

A&L CC = £6,192.00 - 14.90% (£6500 limit)

Cahoot flexi loan = £14,967.00 - 6.90% (£15,000 limit)

Wow, that was quick. :snow_grin

OK, first thing is that the highest balance oweing on CC's also has the highest APR. We need to change that so your highest balance is on the lowest APR.

The problem you have as you said is you can't get anymore cards so you need to phone the companies up and ask them what deals they can offer you!

I would ask Amex what deals they can offer. I know they were doing quite a low life for balance deal of around 4.9% I think. Ask them if this is available to you. If you get a good deal ask them to increase your limit aswell and transfer as much off the A&L card as you can.

Make sure you ask them however if they charge a balance transfer fee! If your not sure whether you are being offered a good deal then take all the details down, ask them how long this offer is available to you and post back here and we will help you out. :snow_grin

ms_london

The difficulty, as you have said, is knowing what your monthly income is. What do you earn on average each month? You need to use this figure, and then just see it as anything you get on top of X is a bonus and should either be thrown at your debts, or in a savings account. Forgive me, as I do not understand how commission works (I know what it is, doh!!). Are you guaranteed X each month? Or is that the lower figure of £1,000 per month?



How long does your hubby have left on his uni course? If it is the short term, then you may be able to get by, but any longer, then you might struggle, and he will need to get another job, or you may need to lose the au pair (but as you have said this is the lowest cost of childcare available to you)..



Does your hubby get any student grant or anything similar that could go towards paying his uni fees? Or at least towards the household?



How much are your Council Tax arrears? At least when you have repaid these, you will have a further £91 a month available to you, which will ease things up. The same as after your eye payments are paid, you will have an extra £90 a month.. So don’t despair, things will get better.!!



£68.44 seems a lot for cable, home phone & internet – could you shop around for a better deal?



£50.00 Trust fund. You can always start repaying this again in the future, but you need to think about the present time, it doesn’t make you any less of a parent for stopping these payments.



Healthcare & Norwich Union payments – could you not shop around for a better deal? Again, I do apologise, I don’t know how this works!!



£65-£70 on food a week is a LOT of money, even if there are 4 of you. Do you do a lot of homecooking? Where do you shop? Could this be cut down a bit? Do you take lunches into work?



You need to factor the petrol money & au pair money into your budget. Have everything in a spreadsheet in black and white of what leaves your account each month and what you have left after these payments are gone. Arrange it so that all payments leave your account on the same day.



Looking at your debts above, you need to be paying the biggest repayment to the debt with the highest APR, currently A&L, followed closely by MINT. When does the 0% run out on your Virgin card? What does the APR revert back to then? Could you find a “x% on the life of your balance” card??



Do you find you are struggling each month? Or just a simple case that you don’t know where your money goes?



Here is a copy of my spreadsheet:




DOH!! Didnt work!!


Very simple, but it works for me. It doesn’t have to be anything snazzy or in too much detail but you do need to know EVERYTHING that leaves your account and when.



What does your hubby do for money? Do you give him “pocket money”/ “housekeeping”? Is he aware of your financial troubles? Are they joint debts? In your name or his? Does he abide by the rules or is a spendaholic? If you have his backing then this is half your battle won, as a lot of people post on here saying they are doing x, y, z to control their spending, but their other half is just withdrawing money willy nilly and making it worse.



Rambling over, sorry!! :0) I hope it was of some help anyway, and let us know if you need to know anything else.



xx

tjak

MOrtgage is interest only to keep it low until he finishes in summer 2007.
House value is 235k

He is studying viticulture, and we are planning to move to New Zealand once he qualifies and we have saved up money. Hence the need to clear debts now!

ms_london

tjak wrote:

MOrtgage is interest only to keep it low until he finishes in summer 2007.
House value is 235k

He is studying viticulture, and we are planning to move to New Zealand once he qualifies and we have saved up money. Hence the need to clear debts now!

If you have saved up money, perhaps it is best to clear the debts with that (as you'll pay out more interest on your debts than what you are earning on your savings) and then save, save, save again. And can I come with you :0)