My SOA - Oh dear!

rachaelfleur

Ok so here's my state of affairs. I'm not sure if I've done it correctly though, seems to be worse than I thought. Although I don't live with my partner he does help me with food, gas and electric on occassion when I'm struggling. I guess you'll all be wondering why I have so much debt, well the majority of it was during my student days, I only graduated 2 years ago. I also have a student loan of over 21,000 but I don't include that as a debt at the moment. Payments for this are automatically taken from my wage every month and it's set at 9% so everytime my wage goes up, the payments go up. A couple of things I really don't and can't give up are my car as I work out of town with the worst transport links ever and I have a carpool rota with other people so that saves a bit. The other is my gym membership, it's the only luxury I have and I do alot of running events to raise money for charity. I'm currently training for the Great North Run and raising money for Beating Bowel Cancer.

Anyway here it goes:

Household Information
Number of adults in household - 1
Number of children in household - 0
Number of cars owned - 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax - 1689
Partners monthly income after tax - 0
Benefits - 0
Other income - 0
Total monthly income - 1689

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage - 0
Secured loan repayments - 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments - 200
Rent - 240 (currently £240 in arrears)
Management charge - 0
Council tax - 110 (currently £220 in arrears)
Electricity - 40 (both gas & electric can vary as shared with partner, I have pre pay meters installed)
Gas - 40
Oil - 0
Water rates - 0 (This is included in council tax)
Telephone (land line) - 40 (combined sky/phone/broadband)
Mobile phone - 20 (fixed)
TV Licence - 0 (father pays for this)
Satellite/Cable TV - 0 (combined package)
Internet Services - 0 (combined package)
Groceries etc - 200 (this can vary as shared with partner)
Clothing - 0 (buy and sell on ebay)
Petrol/diesel - 60
Road tax - 10
Car Insurance - 41 (up for renewal in march)
Car maintenance - 0 (car not 3 years old yet)
Car parking - 0
Other travel - 0
Childcare/nursery - 0
Other child related expenses - 0
Medical - 15 (Dental Insurance)
Pet insurance/vet bills - 0
Buildings insurance - 0
Contents insurance - 6
Life assurance - 0
Other insurance - 7 (sky repair plan)
Presents - 0
Haircuts - 60 (every 3 months)
Entertainment - 26 (gym membership)
Holiday - 0
Emergency fund - 0
Total monthly expenses - 1055

Assets
Cash - 0
House value (Gross) - 0
Shares and bonds - 0
Car(s) - 5000
Other assets - 0
Total Assets - 5000

Secured & HP Debts
Mortgage - 0
Hire Purchase (HP) - debt 6714 payments 178 @ 24% apr
Hire Purchase top up - debt 726 payments 22 @ 28% apr
Total secured & HP debts - 7440

Unsecured Debts
Barclay cc - debt 259.94 min payment 5 @ 24.9% apr
Vanquis cc - debt 531.11 min paymant 25 @ 39% apr (credit limit 500 so OD)
Capital One cc - debt 203.12 min payment 20 @ 25.9% (defaulted on this, reclaimed £525 in charges but still have a balance to pay)
HFCS - debt 503 min payments 250 @ 0% apr (DFSsofa only 2 payments left)
Lloyds TSB OD - 392 min payment 50 @ 0% apr (free as it is student account)
RBS OD - debt 2065.20 payment 20 @ 0% apr (this should be free however I'm currently over my limit of 1700 so accruing charges so debt is escalating)
PaydayUK - debt 525 min payment 525 (I'm not sure of apr but it's very high. I have to apply a loan of £400 every month to make ends meet and pay back 525, crazy I know)
Welcome Finance loan - debt 8274.42 min payment 197 @ 59.05% apr
Citifinancial loan - debt 9247.88 min paymant 239.40 @ 45.3% apr
Total unsecured debts - debt 22001.67 payments 1331.4

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income - 1,689
Expenses (including HP & secured debts) - 1,055
Available for debt repayments - 634
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments - 1,331.4
Amount short for making debt repayments - 697.4
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own) - 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt - 7,440
Total Unsecured debt - 22,001.67
Net Assets - -17,727.67

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

TotallyBroke

rachaelfleur wrote: »

Ok so here's my state of affairs. I'm not sure if I've done it correctly though, seems to be worse than I thought. Although I don't live with my partner he does help me with food, gas and electric on occassion when I'm struggling. I guess you'll all be wondering why I have so much debt, well the majority of it was during my student days, I only graduated 2 years ago. I also have a student loan of over 21,000 but I don't include that as a debt at the moment. Payments for this are automatically taken from my wage every month and it's set at 9% so everytime my wage goes up, the payments go up. A couple of things I really don't and can't give up are my car as I work out of town with the worst transport links ever and I have a carpool rota with other people so that saves a bit. The other is my gym membership, it's the only luxury I have and I do alot of running events to raise money for charity. I'm currently training for the Great North Run and raising money for Beating Bowel Cancer.

Anyway here it goes:

Household Information
Number of adults in household - 1
Number of children in household - 0
Number of cars owned - 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax - 1689
Partners monthly income after tax - 0
Benefits - 0
Other income - 0
Total monthly income - 1689

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage - 0
Secured loan repayments - 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments - 200
Rent - 240 (currently £240 in arrears)
Management charge - 0
Council tax - 110 (currently £220 in arrears) You need to bring this upto date before they take action
Electricity - 40 (both gas & electric can vary as shared with partner, I have pre pay meters installed) Try and cut these down. Turn everything off at the switch.
Gas - 40 Minimize when the heating comes on and goes off. If you go to bed at the same time each night. Switch the heating off an hour before going.
Oil - 0
Water rates - 0 (This is included in council tax)
Telephone (land line) - 40 (combined sky/phone/broadband) I pay £20per month for Sky tv, phone and broadband so this can be cut slightly check out the site and see what can be done
Mobile phone - 20 (fixed) Even though this is fixed see if this can be dropped down a package. Or give up the free upgrade, sometimes they will give £5off per month for not having upgrades
TV Licence - 0 (father pays for this)
Satellite/Cable TV - 0 (combined package)
Internet Services - 0 (combined package)
Groceries etc - 200 (this can vary as shared with partner) This can be cut dramatically. It's me and ds (2yo in nappies) and I spent £50 this month through careful planning of meals and buying cheaper cleaning products
Clothing - 0 (buy and sell on ebay)
Petrol/diesel - 60
Road tax - 10
Car Insurance - 41 (up for renewal in march) Sign up to cashback sites and price compare for a cheaper deal
Car maintenance - 0 (car not 3 years old yet)
Car parking - 0
Other travel - 0
Childcare/nursery - 0
Other child related expenses - 0
Medical - 15 (Dental Insurance)
Pet insurance/vet bills - 0
Buildings insurance - 0
Contents insurance - 6
Life assurance - 0
Other insurance - 7 (sky repair plan) Check to see if this can be got cheaper. Is it neccessary
Presents - 0
Haircuts - 60 (every 3 months) This is horrendous you need to cut this back. Try local colleges for cheaper.
Entertainment - 26 (gym membership)
Holiday - 0
Emergency fund - 0
Total monthly expenses - 1055

Assets
Cash - 0
House value (Gross) - 0
Shares and bonds - 0
Car(s) - 5000
Other assets - 0
Total Assets - 5000

Secured & HP Debts
Mortgage - 0
Hire Purchase (HP) - debt 6714 payments 178 @ 24% apr
Hire Purchase top up - debt 726 payments 22 @ 28% apr
Total secured & HP debts - 7440

Unsecured Debts
Barclay cc - debt 259.94 min payment 5 @ 24.9% apr
Vanquis cc - debt 531.11 min paymant 25 @ 39% apr (credit limit 500 so OD)
Capital One cc - debt 203.12 min payment 20 @ 25.9% (defaulted on this, reclaimed £525 in charges but still have a balance to pay)
HFCS - debt 503 min payments 250 @ 0% apr (DFSsofa only 2 payments left)
Lloyds TSB OD - 392 min payment 50 @ 0% apr (free as it is student account)
RBS OD - debt 2065.20 payment 20 @ 0% apr (this should be free however I'm currently over my limit of 1700 so accruing charges so debt is escalating)
PaydayUK - debt 525 min payment 525 (I'm not sure of apr but it's very high. I have to apply a loan of £400 every month to make ends meet and pay back 525, crazy I know) You need to concentrate on getting rid of these first
Welcome Finance loan - debt 8274.42 min payment 197 @ 59.05% apr Is this really 59.05% :eek:
Citifinancial loan - debt 9247.88 min paymant 239.40 @ 45.3% apr same :eek:
Total unsecured debts - debt 22001.67 payments 1331.4

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income - 1,689
Expenses (including HP & secured debts) - 1,055
Available for debt repayments - 634
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments - 1,331.4
Amount short for making debt repayments - 697.4
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own) - 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt - 7,440
Total Unsecured debt - 22,001.67
Net Assets - -17,727.67

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Well done for posting it can look very scary but if you have truly had your lb moment and want to solve this it can be done. Slowly but surely.
The best thing to do is speak to cccs and make an appointment with them asap.
Cutting the debt is going to be hard but you have to be committed.
Write to your creditors with a soa and explain that for the monent you can only afford to pay £1 off your debt each month. This will free up some cash for you and put you back to only spending what you can afford.
Open up another bank account with no overdraft facility. One that is not connected to any of your debts. Get your wages and household bills to go in and out of this account. Then use the spare cash you have to pay the token payments to each of the creditors. The rest to overpay on some of the debts. One at a time. Cancel all direct debits and standing orders.
You can easily save £100 on your soa right now so use this money in
March/April to pay Council tax - get this upto date
May/June Rent - get this upto date

It's normal to overpay on the highest interest debts first to save you money. But I think in your case you need to learn how to budget and how not to get into further debt. So paying off some of the middle level debts first will give you more of a feeling of accomplishment at seeing your debt reduce and motivate you to become debt free.

Your OH helps you with bills would it be possible to make a commitment and move in together full time allowing you to split the household bills and become debt free quicker.

tyllwyd

I think you need to talk to one of the debt advice charities asap. The biggest headache might be the payday loan, because I imagine they aren't very helpful when it comes to accepting debt management plans. I wonder if your dad/partner might be able to give you the money to get the payday loan people off your back so that you can try to move onto a debt management plan with the rest.

RAS

Hi

you may need a car but if you can give that one back without penalty and get a very cheap run about do so. You cannot afford the HP payments. Check your terms and conditions

rachaelfleur

Thanks so much for all that info. Here's a list of all the things I currently have to do and I'm doing it today.

1. Contacting council tax, definately don't want to get on the wrong side of them (my mother had her wages arrested for arrears)
2. Paying £50 towards my rent arrears as this is all I can afford
3. Check out gas & electric suppliers and compare prices
4. Calling my bank to try and set up a service account where all my bills are paid from so I can keep an eye on what's left
5. Get in touch with sky about my package
6. Check out car ins prices

My sister's friend, who's a hairdresser will come to my house and do it for alot cheaper I think £30, so that's a saving of £30 already. The payday loan is my current nightmare but I'm forced to take it every month but currently reducing it by £20 every time. I'm due to get a pay rise in April and hopefully a hefty bonus (but not relying on it) so I will use that to pay it off.

If I do get a bonus, it will be between £2000 - £3000, taxed of course. What would I be best using it for?

rachaelfleur

And yes my loan rates are correct, crazy I know! I can't believe I took them in the first place. Younger and stupid, hopefully a wee bit older and wiser now!

RAS

Hi

You need to double check the APrs on all those loans and see if you are allowed to overpay without penalty.

But this is much more serious than sorting out the bonus. You need proper advice from a debt charity because at those APRs EVEN if you pay the minum monthly payment, your debt will increase year on year.

rachaelfleur

Ok I'm currently on the CCCS website as we speak.

To be honest, I didn't really think my situation was that bad, I'm actually starting to panic now, feel like crying

RAS

Having debts of about one year's income is not that bad, if the APrs are reasonable.

Yours are very HIGH and most of the debts are in loans, so paying stuff off may not reduce your liability much.

rachaelfleur

Ok I've calmed down and realised I've made a few errors on my SOA. Firstly i've over estimated my groceries and hair. I've also made a big boo boo with the loans. I've actually put in the loan percentage, there is no apr on these loans, so I'll re do my SOA and post it again, hopefully it'll look a bit better!

RAS

Hi

Just hit the edit button and work it up rather than re-entering it. Make a note wthat it is revised.