Newbie needing SOA advice pls!

formershopaholic

Hi i am new to this. I had my light bulb moment today when i was reading the articles on this website. Do i need to contact the free debt management charities? or do you think i should just do a fixed amount on my repayments?



Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 850
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1075
Benefits................................ 280
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2205
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 375
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 75
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 16
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 7
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 280
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1510

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg............................1851......46........16.9
Egg............................567.......6.........0
Unison.........................1216.46...25........18.9
Virgin Loan....................5111.41...146.......8.4
Store card.....................110.......10........26.5
Mint...........................2517.2....60........0
Abbey..........................1182......35........15.7
Total unsecured debts..........12555.07..328.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,205
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,510
Available for debt repayments........... 695
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 328
Amount left after debt repayments....... 367
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,555.07
Net Assets.............................. -12,555.07
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

~Beanie~

Your SOA doesn't look too bad, it says that you have over £350 spare each month! You could repay the store card and still have over £200 left to throw at another debt.

If you find that you don't have £367 per month leftover, try keeping a spending diary and write down every single penny that you spend, it will soon show you what you are wasting your money on!

RAS

Hi

You are meeting the minimum payments so a DMP is npot appropriate for you.

What you do need to do is to understand how important it is to pay the most expensive debt first.

Do you have £328 left at the end of the month?

if so, pay off the store card and then cancel it. Then make an additoonal payment to the unison card.

What are the maximums on these cards?

Numpty_Monkey

Hi
your SOA dosen't look to badyou have a surplus so thats a good thing
with a bit of trimming you could get that surplus up
The groceries could get cut down to nearer £200, also the mobiles

Have a look at the snowball calc
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

Fire_Fox

You should be able to cut back on your grocery shopping and on gas and electricity and on mobile phone bills. Why are you paying for petrol and MOT if you don't have a car? Have you considered a spending diary so you know where the extra money is going?

formershopaholic

I am not sure what you mean by maximums? The credit limit on store card (Next) is £1500. The limit on Unison is £1800. I definately need to do a spending diary because it always seems like we have nothing to spend.

formershopaholic

The car is my mums but we have it permanently. She pays the finance and insurance. I pay mot and tax.

beanielou

Hi & welcome.
One of the things that really jumped out at me was £70~can you cut down at all?
You are actually in a good position in that you have money left over after you have paid your debts so that it good.
Why dont you keep a spending diary & see where it goes?

formershopaholic

Thanks everyone! I think the best thing for me is the spending diary. The mobile phone is for 2 contracts, mine and my partner's but i do recall orange texting me about 'best plan' so maybe i could decrease my bill! I will check now!

RAS

formershopaholic wrote: »

I am not sure what you mean by maximums? The credit limit on store card (Next) is £1500. The limit on Unison is £1800. I definately need to do a spending diary because it always seems like we have nothing to spend.

You defiantely do not need to add to either of these.
Have you tried ringing up and asking them to cut your limit?

They might might just decide to offer a lower APR.

formershopaholic

Thanks RAS i will try that!
i have just finished on the phone with Orange and it turns out they can reduce my contract by £10 a month just by switching me to a better plan!