Desperate for Advice

spendy

Hello everyone

I've made many many bad decision which have left me with a mountain of debt.

Collectively, I'm looking at over 100k and that doesn't include my mortgage.

I am desperate to try to set things right, but I can't image where to start.

I've not reached a point where I am defaulting on payments, but my outgoings are now more than I make, and I've depleted my credit cards by trying to shuffle money around.

I'm thinking of perhaps getting a second job, but it will have to be outside of my regular working hours of 8.30 - 17.00.

Can anyone please give me some advise on this?

Thanks
Spendy

whitewing

Hi Spendy,

An SOA (statement of affairs) will be helpful - see the sticky on the debt free wannabe board.

10past6

A good place to start spendy would be to click here and complete your SOA (Statement of Affairs)

Jesthar

Hi spendy,

Welcome to the forum!

Given the time of night it may be starting to get quieter around here, but I'll get the ball rolling - can you please post up a full Statement of Affairs using the following link:

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

If you use the 'MSE' button in the 'Format results for discussion board' section neat the botton, you'll be able to copy and paste it straight into a post here. Then the lovely people on the forum can take a good look and give you some advice

~Jes

spendy

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I have done an SOA, but unfortunately, my circumstances are ... different ... my other half pays certain bills, and those haven't been included.

As you can see my outgoings exceed my incomings, but annual expenses are usually dealt with as and when they come up.

Please let me know if I've done something wrong.

Thanks again
________________________________________________________________

Monthly income after tax................ 1550
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 75
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1625

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 340
Secured loan repayments................. 880
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 35
Mobile phone............................ 45
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 20
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 9
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 100
Other child related expenses............ 40
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 17
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1646

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

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(340)......0
Secured Debt.................. 85000....(880)......9
Total secured debts........... 85000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................7700......172.......0
Credit Card....................4200......130.......0
Store Card.....................140.......12........0
Total unsecured debts..........12040.....314.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,625
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,646
Available for debt repayments........... -21
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 314
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -335

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total Secured debt...................... -85,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,040
Net Assets.............................. -96,040

Jesthar

Thanks, spendy!

Let's have a look...

spendy wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I have done an SOA, but unfortunately, my circumstances are ... different ... my other half pays certain bills, and those haven't been included.

As you can see my outgoings exceed my incomings, but annual expenses are usually dealt with as and when they come up.

Please let me know if I've done something wrong.

Thanks again
________________________________________________________________

Monthly income after tax................ 1550
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 75
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1625

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 340
Secured loan repayments................. 880 Ouch! :eek: This is the one causing the damage, that's over half your income!
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 35 This seems high, can you reduce it?
Mobile phone............................ 45 This is also high, can you swich tarrifs/cut down usage?
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 You need to consider getting rid of this or lowering it as much as you can, sorry
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 20
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 9
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 100
Other child related expenses............ 40 Can you give more info on this?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 17 Can this be lowered?
Contents insurance...................... 15 Can this be lowered?
Life assurance ......................... 15 Can this be lowered? You may need to consider cancelling it
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1646

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

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(340)......0
Secured Debt.................. 85000....(880)......9
Total secured debts........... 85000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................7700......172.......0
Credit Card....................4200......130.......0
Store Card.....................140.......12........0This needs to be paid off first, I think
Total unsecured debts..........12040.....314.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,625
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,646
Available for debt repayments........... -21
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 314
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -335

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total Secured debt...................... -85,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,040
Net Assets.............................. -96,040

As you can see, you may be able to make a few savings here and there, but that loan is crippling you. You don't even have enough to begin to pay your other debts at the moment after monthly expenses, and you don't need anyone to tell you that's not good.

Not really sure what to suggest, except you need to get some expert help ASAP...

Sorry I can't be more help.

~Jes

MyLastFiver

Spendy, you haven't included the value of your house in the assets section.

GeorgeUK

Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Are utility bills dealt with by OH?

Mobile phone............................ 45
PAYG?

Telephone (land line)................... 35
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 12
Can you combine in a package?

Groceries etc. ......................... 20
Is this per week or per month??


Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
again, dealt with by OH?

That secured debt is definately trouble - especially with a fairly high APR for that amount.
The shortfall is quite worrying as there doesn't seem to be any bills you can cut back on enough to make a difference. Have you tried getting 0% creditcards to transsfer some of the other card debt to? Are these at 0% or do you just not know them right now? If possible, i'd try to get a Virgin credit card as it is not only 0% for 16 months, but the minimum monthly payment is quite low too (£25 after 1st month).

cantcope

Hi Spendy, not much advice i'm afradi i just wanted to give you a welcome to the boards and a well done for posting your SOA.
I'd start with your mobile and satellite services.

With Christmas coming up could you get a saturday job? Even if its just for the run up to Christmas if you could earn say an extra £50 a week it could slay some of your debt which would in turn make your outgoings less next year..

Is there a shopping centre nearby that would be recruiting for the Christmas period? Or maybe try being an Avon representative? You could fit both of these around your existing hours.

How about asking for a payrise? Even if you think the answer will be no, it cant hurt to ask.
Also try a bootsale to clear out any kids toys that are no longer played with before Christmas. Not only will you make some money but you'll have more space in the house.

Good luck

Jesthar

cantcope wrote: »

With Christmas coming up could you get a saturday job? Even if its just for the run up to Christmas if you could earn say an extra £50 a week it could slay some of your debt which would in turn make your outgoings less next year..

Is there a shopping centre nearby that would be recruiting for the Christmas period? Or maybe try being an Avon representative? You could fit both of these around your existing hours.

From the look of it, you're right - it's going to take both a Saturday/evening job and the cutbacks to get his undr way. Unless there is a way of renegotiating that loan to a lower APR/repayment somehow. But I have no knowledge about those kind of things.

Some friends of mine used to do delivering catalogues/phone books from time to time to earn some extra money. And, of course, there's cashback sites and daily clicking for a little extra free cash and cashback on purchases, paid surveys etc. - though all those will take a while to build up and come through, of course. Could be a few good wins with changing life/buildings/contests insurance, though, if a cheaper deal can be found.

Oh, one other thought - have you had any bank or credit card charges in the last six years you could reclaim, Spendy? That could at least knock something off one of your cards.

Also, have you discussed this with your OH? If not, I think you really need to - you're going to need to tackle this debt together for the best chance of beating it.

~Jes

jaygrunt

Not toput a downer on you but are you sure you only spend £30 a month on groceries?
Thats seems like a little amount to me