Large Debts £42k - I wasn't worried but I am now!

nickmack

CLAPTON wrote:

you are over spending by about £355
possible saving phone : reduce to BT at £10 plus 2x payasyougo and use call1899 for calls should save £60

I'm with TalkTalk at £10/month for line rental. Can't get rid of this or have it any lower AFAIK because I need it for Broadband for work.

life insurance seems very high for young people maybe save £30

I think the reason it's high is because it includes Critical Illness. I guess I could remove this cover and I think saving your figure would be realistic.

can you reduce petrol / car costs?

Although not a 'gas guzzler', I would sell the car and get something smaller, but I fear it would not make economic sense. My current car is probably worth about £800 but pretty reliable. If I picked up a small runaround for a couple of hundred quid, from my experience it would cost me more in repairs etc.

what is SH pension?

Stakeholder. Maybe I could suspend this, does anyone know if this is possible without having an adverse effect on the payout?

How much equity is there in the house? What is the mortgage? Is there scope to remortgage to a lower rate and so reduce the monthly payments ?

We're tied into the mortgage for 5 years at our rate of 5.49%. We're 2.5 years into that. The property is worth about £140k, our outstanding mortgage is £120k.

As I can't realistically see you can squeeze out £350 (unless you can get a cheaper mortgage

I kind of knew this, but it helps when someone else confirms. It's all the more worrying and without being dramatic, makes our situation seem worse that I've done a fair bit of scrimping already, but it makes little difference. We (I) really seem to have got in a right mess!

Your choices are really :

Increase income ..better jobs or evening / bar work?

My wife has just had a pay rise! Me getting more money is a possibility, but not £300 more a month I don't think, that would be over £5k more before tax by my calcs.

a. remortgage (if possible ) and cut up all your credit cards and never ever get another loan
b. talk to CCCS / payplan about IVA
c. bankrupty
d. or if there is sufficient equity in the house sell and rent for a while.

I don't want to dwell on the past or bug you with personal circumstances, but we've had a pretty hard time of things getting where we are. Getting the house was a huge and difficult achievement. It would probably send my wife bananas if we had to get rid of it and rent. I know though that I need to consider all options. Thanks for your reply.

woohoo_postingid

My wife has just had a pay rise! Me getting more money is a possibility, but not £300 more a month I don't think, that would be over £5k more before tax by my calcs.

Depends what you can do/know

I recently took an extra part-time job as a supply lecturer with a college and, although I only do 3 hours a week on a 10 week contract, they pay £27 per hour. It is a lovely little addition to my main salary.

jeff1969

Might be a silly comment here as I'm sure you've looked around, but have you looked at Norwich Union for life insurance, I'm with them and pay £8.10pm with a £100,000.00 payout, I'm 36 and it's fixed for 10 years :-)

Do you have mortgage protection insurance in your mortgage repayments? have you checked to see if you can get a better rate if you do have it?

Jeff

Spendalot_2

What about increasing your egg and cahoot loans to cover all the other debts?

Both are low rates, charge interest monthly, and you can overpay on either.

john_kent

You mention in your posts you need a mobile and broadband for work. Can you not tell your boss that you no longer have these , and if he/she wants you to have them , thne they need to pay for them.

That will save a few quid.

fatbelly

CLAPTON wrote:

a. remortgage (if possible ) and cut up all your credit cards and never ever get another loan
b. talk to CCCS / payplan about IVA
c. bankrupty
d. or if there is sufficient equity in the house sell and rent for a while.

How about

b talk to CCCS / payplan and see what they recommend?

I don't see why a debt management plan shouldn't work for you.

Please don't secure any more debt on your house

roswell

If your required to have broadband access and mobile phone for work your company should be paying these, they should also be paying you overtime for time used on these services. - If thats not acceptable to them the easy answer is to advise them you now have a Pay&Go mobile for personal use only and you have had broadband removed as its not used for personnal use :-)

Life insurance does seam very high, our company has resently restructured there benifits system my life insurance is going to be £7.95 a month max pay out 1000000.

Dont fall into the over insured trap, your pension will pay out on your death / retirement and you ahve life insurance as well ?? dont frget your paying for each policy.

Look into if you have payment protection on any debts if you do cancel them as there not secured debts you wont need the insurance.

scholt

Should be able to cut your food shopping down..

Me and my husband have a monthly shopping budget of £120. We set this about 1 month ago (shopping once weekly) and its been no problem. We fill up on veg at the local market and get a couple of bags full for aboput $7.00. Then just buy 'economy' dry goods (spaghetti/tinned tomatoes/lentils etc because their the same anyway). Usually have enough for a bottle of wine twice a month with that. I am veggie (the best money saver!) but once a week we buy husband a really nice piece of meat/fish too.

Instead of going to the pub go to friends houses/invite them round. Someone brings wine, someone else a board game, someone pudding etc and the person cooking makes the main course. Will probably cost everyone a max of a fiver and is a great laugh.

You earn more than me I can see that, but my student loan is £35 (on a take home after tax of £1085) so the difference doesn't seem quite right (is that your wifes as well?) if not see if you can reduce it or take a payment break.

Finally might be a good idea to get your wife invoved in the finances too even if she hasn't been before. Then you can work together on cutting down and give each other support.

Good luck and do let us know how you get on :money:

nickmack

jeff1969 wrote:

Might be a silly comment here as I'm sure you've looked around, but have you looked at Norwich Union for life insurance, I'm with them and pay £8.10pm with a £100,000.00 payout, I'm 36 and it's fixed for 10 years :-)

The reason the cost of mine is high, is because it includes Critical Illness. We would need £150,000 payout, so I reckon ditching the CI cover is a good idea and getting a policy like yours.

nickmack

scholt wrote:

Should be able to cut your food shopping down..

Me and my husband have a monthly shopping budget of £120. We set this about 1 month ago (shopping once weekly) and its been no problem. We fill up on veg at the local market and get a couple of bags full for aboput $7.00. Then just buy 'economy' dry goods (spaghetti/tinned tomatoes/lentils etc because their the same anyway). Usually have enough for a bottle of wine twice a month with that. I am veggie (the best money saver!) but once a week we buy husband a really nice piece of meat/fish too.

Last year, we would spend anything up to £80 a week on food for two of us. This has been now reduced to £50 and we've managed to stick to it. I do think maybe by using the local market, I could bring it down a little more.

Instead of going to the pub go to friends houses/invite them round. Someone brings wine, someone else a board game, someone pudding etc and the person cooking makes the main course. Will probably cost everyone a max of a fiver and is a great laugh.

I'm not too bothered about going out. Many of my friends still have a decent disposible income, so they go out and spend quite alot. They're not really interested in staying in, but that's fine, I don't go out, I don't spend money.

You earn more than me I can see that, but my student loan is £35 (on a take home after tax of £1085) so the difference doesn't seem quite right (is that your wifes as well?) if not see if you can reduce it or take a payment break.

I have 4 Student Loans as my course was four years. I'm probably on the old system as well, as I finished in 2000, so my minimum payments are higher.

Finally might be a good idea to get your wife invoved in the finances too even if she hasn't been before. Then you can work together on cutting down and give each other support.

Good luck and do let us know how you get on :money:

She is aware fully of the situation, so that's one thing. She's not great with money, hence why I 'manage' (don't laugh!) our finances. I'll see if I can get her involved more