Mortgage payment difficulty advice

incogni2

ILW wrote: »

This all seems very well, but to me it seems you are currently up to your waist in the Doo Doo and getting deeper every day. I think you could do with addressing some issues before it gets to your neck. Only my opinion for what it,s worth.

Well, maybe I'm only up to my knees and I don't accept that debt is "do do". In fact, to go by most posts, it is more like "don't, don't".

PasturesNew

What is it exactly that you do?
You start by saying you were in IT and seem to have an air of somebody earning good money, yet £15k/year isn't good money.

So what's the real story here?

You're operating as a Ltd company and say you can't work without that. Have you investigated umbrella companies? Or are you relying soley on a Ltd company enabling you to flex IR35 to your tax advantage?

What is it that you do/did, that you now can't find any work for?

I'm asking from the position of somebody who has: been an IT contractor (at £50k/year), operated under a Ltd company and would next choose to go under an umbrella, has worked solely from home self-employed and I currently am self-supporting dabbling about with a website online (that I've not really touched since last October but has brought me in about £1200 this month).

So what IS it that you do .... perhaps we can find something slightly different for you to do to earn money from using your skills.

P.S. Sky and aquarium ... are they really worth the stress?

delboypass

incogni2 wrote: »

I am not self-employed. I am employed by the limited company of which I am the major shareholder. (And I am the only employee.)

I require the limited company in order to do my job (when I'm doing it that is).

The link still applies, however. The business is currently about £400 in debt (credit card). This is without including the amount which I am personally subbing each month.

How much money is in your limited company..!!
I fail to believe an IT professional working contracts would bring in £15,000 a year..
Yes if you are running through a salary to yourself and taking teh rest in dividends...

Soo...how much if left in the copany to take as dividends..

£15,0000 is min wage £6 an hour...

incogni2

This alone tells me you are a 24 carat pratt. You are not working, your wife is, and you expect her to fund this when you are incapable of doing so and you are whining about not being able to afford anything..

This alone? I would have thought I'd provided plenty of other ammunition. Frankly, this (but not alone) has told me all I need to know about you. Yes, clearly my wife currently funds it but she does not fund it solely for me. If she wanted to cut it then she would, but she won't because she loves the beautiful game too much.

Vote with your eyes: if you don't like what you're reading then avert your gaze.

Sky is not essential, it is a luxury, so is broadband..

I'm sorry, who gave your the authority to define "essential" exactly?

Whilst cutting boradband would save me from having to respond to crap like this (so it has its plus sides); it would also fatally impair my chances of continuing to practise what I do. Also, how would I get all this great advice from so many lovely people? (I mean this last bit - even if I don't agree, I appreciate all the posts and good wishes.)

I hope for your sake you get a sense of persepective, cut your cloth, and hope your wife does not get tired of living with a freeloading sponger.

Tough love indeed. Hate the debt, not the debtor. That's my new mantra.

incogni2

delboypass wrote: »

How much money is in your limited company..!!
I fail to believe an IT professional working contracts would bring in £15,000 a year..
Yes if you are running through a salary to yourself and taking teh rest in dividends...

Soo...how much if left in the copany to take as dividends..

£15,0000 is min wage £6 an hour...

The figure you've picked up on was the gross profit for 2006-2007. For 2007-2008 it was £28K. For this year, though I've only been in work for two months of it (so far, out of work for 3), it is £14K. All this was stated above. Some of those years may have involved significant capital expenditure which, as you know, is not contained in the profit figure.

In the end we didn't get near it but the danger was significant enough that we registered for VAT in January 2007. So we must have believed that we had a chance of hitting £61K (which was the limit then).

Finally, my day rate in August 2006 was only 42% of that in July 2007. I took a contract (a project for a government agency, though they were only the paymasters) which I personally believed in at a rather low rate (the startup didn't have much money). A chance to do some good, eh?

In January 2001, when I took my first contract, I made only £1000 (gross).

Spartacus_Mills

incogni2 wrote: »

This alone? I would have thought I'd provided plenty of other ammunition. Frankly, this (but not alone) has told me all I need to know about you. Yes, clearly my wife currently funds it but she does not fund it solely for me. If she wanted to cut it then she would, but she won't because she loves the beautiful game too much.

Vote with your eyes: if you don't like what you're reading then avert your gaze.



I'm sorry, who gave your the authority to define "essential" exactly?

Whilst cutting boradband would save me from having to respond to crap like this (so it has its plus sides); it would also fatally impair my chances of continuing to practise what I do. Also, how would I get all this great advice from so many lovely people? (I mean this last bit - even if I don't agree, I appreciate all the posts and good wishes.)



Tough love indeed. Hate the debt, not the debtor. That's my new mantra.

So people who are stupid enough to take on an unsustainable level of debt are worthy of love rather than our ire for helping put us in this awful situation we are now in ? Again had you not been in this position I doubt you would have given two hoots for a debtor.

So what is more important to you, paying for your broadband or paying for food, the mortgage, heating etc etc.

You can live without broadband. You can live without Sky. If you feel you cannot get off your !!!!, get a job and pay for it and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You think you need Broadband to practise what you do. What is that, sitting at home all day. You have not worked in ages. It is far harder to live without your home, food, heating and lighting. Still if you think you need Sky then go for it.

Clown.

incogni2

You're operating as a Ltd company and say you can't work without that. Have you investigated umbrella companies? Or are you relying soley on a Ltd company enabling you to flex IR35 to your tax advantage?

You are correct concerning what I do and you are also right that an umbrella company would be a possibility. Certainly we use IR35 to our advantage, there is nothing wrong with that since we (and not as disingenuously as some others) believe that we are not 'caught' by it.

You have certainly thrown up an idea that I had not considered. Perhaps a parasol to break the fall. Would I be able to control my insurance situation with an umbrella company? I like to vary the value of the Professional Indemnity from job to job in order to save money.

Rikki

Extending your mortgage to 35 years saving you £170 a month now when you need it most!

To be honest this is more important than the extra cost long term. You will have changed your mortgage before you'd ever get to the end of the 35 year term.

PasturesNew

incogni2 wrote: »

You are correct concerning what I do and you are also right that an umbrella company would be a possibility. Certainly we use IR35 to our advantage, there is nothing wrong with that since we (and not as disingenuously as some others) believe that we are not 'caught' by it.

You have certainly thrown up an idea that I had not considered. Perhaps a parasol to break the fall. Would I be able to control my insurance situation with an umbrella company? I like to vary the value of the Professional Indemnity from job to job in order to save money.

So far as I am concerned, their insurances would cover any eventualities. The benefit of a parasol is that you just go to work, hand in your time sheets and expense claims and you get a payslip. Then, when your contract finishes, you can get a P45 and sign on for JSA, or quickly move directly into employment if you so wish. There are no magical forms to be filled in by XYZ dates etc. You just get the contracts, then go to work and get a payslip. Much easier. No getting to the end of a contract and still having to deal with a Ltd company. It just seems to me easier to be in/out of work. That is why if/when I get my next contract I will definitely be using an umbrella.

You lose the tax advatage, but gain freedom. Also, my Ltd company was mucked up by my accountant and there was a big investigation and a potential Corporation Tax bill of £8k (which they hid from me) - all because, in the end, they ticked one box wrong. I couldn't close the Ltd for about 3 years until it was fixed. I want to keep things easy/flexible. I'm not in the game to minimise tax, I am a contractor to earn money. I don't want the overhead hassle/time of a Ltd company when all I am really do it for is so I have a job.

getmore4less

Come on guys no need to get nasty.

The facts(as we have them so far) only give a limited insite into someones life, you don't have to like what you read but we all make our own choices.

The stratagy was totaly dependant on being able to generate income so has come unstuck there was no contingency built into the plan.

The OP asked for some mortgage advise to save money, but as anyone who has been involved in debt management that is usualy the last resort you look for other cutbacks first.

From the limited info it is probably possible to cut back and break even based on one wage - but it does involve sacrifices and hard choices

To get to this point OP made choices to not earn as much as he could have done during the boom years and only work part time, this has resulted in debts much larger than they could have been, another £100k should have been easy if the work was really there, probably upwards of £200k over the years and even that would not have been full time equivilent working

I think the ground has been covered fairly well.

options, we seem to be looking at 2 extremes

1. Make the cutbacks don't get further into debt and survive as long as the wife keeps her job. this is the advice most debt management people would look to do.
2. carry on and hope for more work, a seriously risky stratagy which could get to the point that cutbacks are no longer sufficient and debt management is the only option then the choices get made for you.

I would hope that some lessons on looking further into the future have been learnt. perhaps earning more than spends to build up contingency funds a 6-12months buffer for example.

I do hope you will change you stratagy even if work comes in next week

Good luck with whatever plan you decide on.