not going to lurk anymore....

theskintfamily

As the title suggests, I have been a lurker of this site for a long time and have been inspired by all your stories.

we are in an enormous amount of debt - at it's worse (this time last year) it was over £50k :eek: . this includes a massive £25k consolodation loan, car loan, various CC's and store cards, DH is also on a DMP with payplan from before he met me. Today it is £45570. It would've been £3k less but our car 'died' and needed to be replaced. I feel that the last 12 month we have been laying the foundations, we havent had a late payment fee/overlimit fee since april 08, this is also when I managed to secure a 0% cc. so all payments are now either low lob or 0%

I will be 30 in 3 years time and am determined to be debt free before then,. Luckily my DH is fully on board and is equally determmined to get out of this mess.

A little bit about us - We have a 10 yr old DS & a 1 yr old DD. we both work, and also have a variety of part time jobs.. I also mystery shop and clean/iron etc. DH also has 2 part time jobs, neither of them regular but he usually manages to bring in an extra £100 a month. We also use quidco, do surveys and anything else basically that allows us to earn some extra pennies.

I will post a SOA later on (can somebody let me have the link please? )

I would be grateful for any comments/observations/criticism etc..

I am also going to join any challenges that I think will help me on our quest.

I really need the motivation to get us through the next 3 years, i feel the last few months we have started to cruise along, we're not spending or wasting money but think we could put in that little bit more effort so hopefully by writing it all down it will give us that extra push to get where we want to be so we can enjoy the rest of our lives together and not have to worry about money

oscar52

Welcome aboard.

I would post the link, but im not sure how:o

its on the first page somewhere, under the stickies.

Also, (as you dont mention it) have you already claimed your charges - bank or CC to reduce your debt.

Sure the experts will be along wiht more advice soon.

edinburgher

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

SOA for you

theskintfamily

thanks, will do the SOA later on this evening.

I have claimed back bank charges - had £1400 about 18 months ago, unfortunately this was pre LBM so just got spent on nothing in particular .

I havent attempted the credit cards yet, I know that I have charges on MBNA and Barclaycard but these cards are still active, MBNA is currently 0% & Barclaycard 6.9% lob so don't want to do anything that would jepordise them. If I did put in a claim are they likely to close my account?

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum, well done for coming out of lurkdom lol.

Sounds like you are already working hard to clear your debts.

Look forward to seeing your SOA when its done.

oscar52

theskintfamily wrote: »

thanks, will do the SOA later on this evening.

I have claimed back bank charges - had £1400 about 18 months ago, unfortunately this was pre LBM so just got spent on nothing in particular .

I havent attempted the credit cards yet, I know that I have charges on MBNA and Barclaycard but these cards are still active, MBNA is currently 0% & Barclaycard 6.9% lob so don't want to do anything that would jepordise them. If I did put in a claim are they likely to close my account?

When I claimed from barclaycard, they did restrict my card, but claimed this had nothing to do with it.

MBNA wont. With MBNA, dont put a specific amount in your letter, and unless you really want them, you dont need to ask for statements. If ou do want them, no need to send the £10 as they never cash it. MBNA will pay you all your charges PLUS compound contract interest if you dont mention a specific amount. Chances are though, unless its been open a while, you dont have any (given you have 0%) but if you do, they will take it off the debt.
I know all this to be correct, cos........... i work there

Deep_In_Debt

Wow. Thanks for Oscar. I have an MBNA credit card currently in my dmp and it's my largest debt so I will send them a letter as you suggest. I've had my MBNA card since 2002 so I think I have quite a few charges!

hypno06

Welcome out of lurkdom!!

theskintfamily

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 637
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1300 this varies, always higher than this
Benefits................................ 441.52 child benefit & tax credits
Other income............................ 685 £200 maintenace & income from buy to let property
Total monthly income.................... 3063.52
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 666 interest only
Secured loan repayments................. 257 this is mortgage on BTL property
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 93 paid over 12 months
Electricity............................. 100 paying arrears
Gas..................................... 72 paying arrears
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 60 paying arrears
Telephone (land line)................... 21.5
Mobile phone............................ 35 2 mobiles
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 9.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 150 for 2 adults & 2 children inc nappies
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 13 this is for 2 cars
Car Insurance........................... 50 as above
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 267
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 5
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 8 ins for BTL property
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2044.49

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 270000 this is value of the 2 houses
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 8000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 278000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 126000...(666)......0
Secured Debt.................. 101000...(257)......2.99
Total secured debts........... 227000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan 1.........................17767.5...421.......9.5
loan 2.........................9204......169.......10.1
payplan .......................4215......65........0
alliance & leicester ..........421.......25........0
mint...........................1589......25........3.9
barclaycard....................4307......110.......6.9
mbna...........................3300......25........0
car............................4787......179.......0
Total unsecured debts..........45590.5...1019......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,063.52
Expenses (including secured debts)...... 2,044.49
Available for debt repayments........... 1,019.03
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,019
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 0.03
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 278,000
Total Secured debt...................... -227,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -45,590.5
Net Assets.............................. 5,409.5
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

I also bring in extra money from mystery shopping, quidco, cleaning ironing, etc. Dh also usually brings in extra £100 for stewarding. His monthly pay is usually more than £1300 but we always budget to this and any extra goes towards the debt.

the arrears for gas and electric is due to NPower not sending me a bill for over 12 months. After months of chasing, they finally sent one and I am £500 in arrears so have increased my monthly payments by £100 a month :eek:. the water arrears are due to Dh reading the meter wrong so we were happily paying £20 a month until the meter was read again and they advised us we were in arrears . I am going to try and keep these payments as they are for the time being and review them in 6 months time.

ok hit me with it!

Numpty_Monkey

:kisses3: hit you with that

You've lurked and learned pretty well:T

Not much to shave off , you could go for a bundle package, landline and broadband, i pay £16 a month for both

The housey mortgagey things I haven't a clue about
Other income............................ 685 £200 maintenace & income from buy to let property ???? do you get £685 plus the £200 or minus the £200 ?

Do you get the childcare voucher things

Have you used the Snowball calc?
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

You have worked out a budget on the minimum:T the extra can be used to pay the debts off in the right order

Welcome out of lurkdom:hello:

theskintfamily

Thanks Numpty

This is £485 rent & £200 maintenance payment from my DS's dad.

I looked into using childcare vouchers but read on here somewhere that you can't use vouchers and claim tax credits? somebody please tell me i'm wrong!

I'm tied into landline & broadband contract until may 09 - but will definately change then.

And I am addicted to the snowball calculator :rolleyes: