Help needed

sugarpants_2

Hi guys

Heres our bills totals to date

barclaycard (husband) - £3477.95 OCT 2008
barclaycard (mine) - £477.50 OCT 2008
mastercard (mine) - £3894.37 OCT 2008
lloyds TSB loan (husband) - £1200.00 OCT 2008
littlewoods (mine) - £174.20 OCT 2008

WE need to pay them off ASAP. DO we hit one of them, if so which one, or all of them gradually?

WE cant consolidate as we get refused on loans and new credit cards.

We are both working overtime and hubby works 48 hour week too. Also have 2 children under 6 years too so times are hard

Please help:rolleyes:

sugarpants_2

And we private rent too so cant remortage as we dont have a house. A mortagage is a dream of ours to have. We have been trying 6 years to own our own home but debts have been stopping us.

Verbatim

Hi sugarpants,

The advice is to repay the debt with the highest APR (interest rate) first. Obviously continue to pay minimum payments to all the others but put every spare penny on the highest rate debt first. Once the highest is gone target the next highest and so on. This will get rid of the debts in the fastest time and with paying the least possible extra interest.

Have you thought of posting an SOA to help you budget and to get suggestions on how to reduce costs?

Good luck,
V

sugarpants_2

Thanks V

Will mention it to DH about paying highest APR off first and minums off others. He thinks we should pay off the 2 with the highest totals (Also have highest APRS and both at limits) Do you think thats right?

Jesthar

Hi sugar

A couple of useful links for you. First off, the Statement of Affairs (SOA) calculator:

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

If you fill that in with as much detail as possible, use the 'MSE' button in the 'format results' section near the bottom, and post the results here, the lovely people here will be able to help with suggestions on where you can save money and pay off more.

Secondly, the Snowball calculator:

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=us

If you put all your debts into that (including the interest rates) it will tell you which to pay off first and how much to pay with the money you have available.

And yes, you should definitely pay off the one with the highest APR first - but the snowballer will work all that out for you, too

~Jes

sugarpants_2

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 357
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1579
Benefits................................ 180
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2116

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 875
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130
Electricity............................. 15
Gas..................................... 15
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 28
Telephone (land line)................... 45
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 320
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 10
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1587

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
barclaycard....................3477.95...100.......22
barclaycard platinum...........477.5.....50........0
mastercard.....................3894......100.......22
TSB loan.......................1200......160.......6.8
littlewoods....................174.1.....10........0
Total unsecured debts..........9223.55...420.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,116
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,587
Available for debt repayments........... 529
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 420
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 109

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,223.55
Net Assets.............................. -8,223.55

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.

sugarpants_2

:j Bumping:j

Someone help me

misspoppy

Hi

a few things stand out, your gas and electric seem to be too low at just £15 each per month, while your telephone is really high and you could cut back on groceries.

One thing that also comes to mind is have you got christmas planned? have you put it on the cards or catalogue in the past because you won't want to do that again this year if you are going to reduce your debt

Travelqueen

Hi

First thing that jumped out on me was the phone bill - £45 a month is really high. Also, you have cable / satellite - can you not get a bundled deal? i.e. 2 for £20 or 3 for £30?

Your groceries bill is also high - does this include things other than food?

You should check out the OS board for ideas, and making a food planner to account for what you need to buy & cook each week would be good.

Batch cooking and a slow cooker are both great ways to ensure you always have food to hand and don't get tempted by the dreaded takeaway...!

You should also make a list of your 'stores' and try and use up food from that rather than always buying new..

If you can do this try and throw as much money as you can at the Barclaycard and Mastercard, with the highest APR until paid off, and so on until you finish.

Could you also try moving the mastercard to the barclaycard platinum at 0% and ask LTSB if you can put the other barclaycard onto their loan which is at a much lower level (you probably won't be able to move one barclaycard to another is my thought process here)

Good luck anyway, and well done for taking the 1st step.

TQ

Jesthar

Thanks, sugar!

Let's have a look:

sugarpants wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 357
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1579
Benefits................................ 180
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2116

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 875
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130
Electricity............................. 15 Seems very low - good if true, but can you check?
Gas..................................... 15 Seems very low - good if true, but can you check?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 28 Not too bad for a family of 4, but if you're metered you may be able to make a few savings here. I'll post suggestions if you want.
Telephone (land line)................... 45 Ouch - rather high! Any way you can reduce this?
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20 Can this be reduced or cancelled?
Internet Services....................... 0 No internet?
Groceries etc. ......................... 320 You should definitely be able to bring this down, check the Old Style Moneysaving section of the forum for help and ideas
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 0 No car insurance? Are you sure?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 10
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0 No insurance at all - are you sure?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1587

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
barclaycard....................3477.95...100.......22
barclaycard platinum...........477.5.....50........0 check the APR on this
mastercard.....................3894......100.......22
TSB loan.......................1200......160.......6.8
littlewoods....................174.1.....10........0 check the APR on this, it may well be quite high!
Total unsecured debts..........9223.55...420.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,116
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,587
Available for debt repayments........... 529
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 420
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 109 Well, this is good news if you haven't forgotten anything - you have a small amount of extra money a month already to pay extra off your debts.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,223.55
Net Assets.............................. -8,223.55

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.

Just a few things to check to see if you have missed - particularly car insurance. Your utilities seem pretty good, although you may be able to save a some money on your water bill. I can post some simple tips on that if you like.

Aside from that, your landline phone bill seems high, if you can ditch or reduce paid TV it would be a good idea (sorry!), and your grocery bill can be reduced quite significantly with a little work and planning, particularly if you ask the advice of the Old Style regulars!

Oh, and if you buy things online, cashback sites are your friend!

Hope that helps,

~Jes

sugarpants_2

Telephone includes broadband (BT)