Help wit my Debts please

hotpinkstar

I got married last year and me and my hubby are in debts already, My Husband was already a bad debtor when i met him and i thought i could help him out but instead of me helping him out, he pulled me into it and i have ran up debts which i want cleared as i hate the hassle , worrying and everything.
My SOA is

Income

My Benefits- £360 per month
DLA- £128.28 per month

His benefits- £80 per month
DLA- £162.20 per month

Total= £730.48
Expentuire

Personal Loan - £55.55
Mobile Mine - £20 per month DD
Mobile his - £10 per month PAYG
Electric meter - £10 per week
Gas- £30 Paid quarterly
BT phone- £60 quarterly
Internet - £15.99 per month DD
House Ins - £15.49 per month DD
Tv Licence- £10.49 per month DD
Council Tax- £23 per month
Rent -Nil as housing benefit
College for Him- £80 per month which will stop in summer
Food - £80.00 per month
Halifax CC His- £10.00 per month with £490 remaining but £7 to £8 interest per month
Next - £10 per month

Total - 430.52

What is left over from the bills, my Oh spend up to £50 on his hobbies, and the rest just flrittered away on little things like newspaper/magazines, junk food. My OH used to have a seriously gambling problem with Fruit machines which i managed to get him to stop but he still have temptation for it. We both are deaf and are having difficulty finding jobs based on our deafness u would be surprised at how negative people are in work force that why we are on benefits but end of month i always skint and the one who stay at home while my Husband goes out and do his hobbies which not fair on me as i look after money etc.
Help please..
I know it my fault but need help to see where i am going wrong. i have started saving all the 1p,5p,2ps in tin to put into a savings account and i have started £2 pounds too.

Thanks so much..

hotpinkstar

Forgot to mention that i have Overdraft of £350 which i always at limit with and my OH have £2,000 Overdraft Wit Bank of Scotland which need to be paid back soon.

Amanda65

Hello - really sorry to learn of your situation. You have done well to get your husband to stop gambling but I wondered what he spends his £50 on now? Is it possible to get him to agree to limit his spending until the debts are paid up? Would be agree to perhaps drop his spending by £25 a month for a few months just to show willing? And perhaps most importantly, does he realised how much the debt situation is upsetting you?

hotpinkstar

he spent 50 pounds per month on
Monday- 5 pounds for dominoes league game
Tuesday used to be afternoon at deafclub but he stopped that
Wednesday -5 pounds for dominoes league game
Thursday- Bingo at deaf club up to 14 pounds depending how much money we have at the time.
Friday usually stay home
Saturday - away to a voluntary work meeting or event
Sunday £3 to 5 for another dominoes league game.

I forgot to mention that my personal loan is now at £1,500 remaining with 2 years left to pay on it, 55.55 is the amount i pay back per month.

briona

Hi Hotpinkstar

Welcome to MSE! Firstly having looked at the figures, you aren't overspending. After the debts/bills etc have been paid you have almost £300pm left over. You need to be clear about where this money is going. When you get your benefits, if you would like to save money, take some out as soon as you receive it and put it in a separate savings account straight away.

SUGGESTIONS ON CUTTING BACK

Mobiles:
I was told by my mobile phone contractor that if you have a lot of minutes or texts left over each month, you are on the wrong tarriff. Do you use all your minutes/texts each month? If not, have you considered either getting a PAYG? Or how about T-Mobile's U-Fix Plan? Their cheapest plan is £15pm which gives you 50 minutes and 25 texts. Once you've used these you can top up like a PAYG. On this tarriff you would save yourself £5/£60pa.

Electricity:
I've never lived in a house with a meter before, but this seems quite high [£10pw/£40pm/£120 per quarter]. I share a house with FOUR other tenants and we pay around £100 per quarter between the five of us! There are only two of you in your house!

Gas:
The gas isn't too bad [our last bill was £40 per quarter]. But by turning the heating down a couple of degrees or to the next level – depending on type of heating controls you have – you can save a bit more.

BT:
This can definitely be cut down by using a call discounter such as 18185 or 1899 [see Martin's articles on this]. Basically you dial an access number before the number you want to call and you get massive discounts on the call. I have managed to cut my international calls down from £19pm to just £2.50pm!

Food:
At £80pm this isn't too bad, but you can still make svings. take advantage of Buy One Get One Free [BOGOF] offers in places like Tesco, Iceland etc. Make sure you know what things cost before you pay for them. Consider buying slightly cheaper brands, e.g., there really isn't much difference [except in price] between Andrex toilet roll and Tesco luxury soft toilet roll, or between Tropicana and Tesco orange juice.

Debts:
Without knowing the APR rates on these, it's difficult to advise you on these. However if you are only paying back the minimum payments it will cost you a lot more and take you longer to pay off. I notice at the bottom you are paying Next £10pm. Next's interest rate is around 29% which is very high. This means that for every hundred pounds you owe them, you are paying an extra £29 back – almost a third! If you could put some extra money towards paying them back each month, you would save yourself a lot in interest.

Re. the Halifax credit card, it doesn't make sense to pay off just £10pm if the interest is £7. At this rate it will take you three times as long to clear the balance.

With the £300 pm that you have left over, even if £50 goes on your husband's hobbies, you could still afford to put an extra £100 towards your debts [and have some money left over]. This would clear your debts quicker, and as you'd be used to not having this £100 each month, once the debts were cleared you could save it instead.

Re. jobs. Talk to your job centre. Many companies have the "positive about disabled" standard and would welcome people with disabilities. In the company where I work, we actually have one person here who is deaf. The other option [and it won't affect your benefits] is to volunteer. The reason for doing this is that you get some work experience, a chance to meet other people from all walks of life and it's something to do as opposed to sitting at home while your husband is out doing his thing! Again your local job centre or social services may be able to put you in touch with an organisation where you can volunteer.

That's it for now.

Let us know how you get on!

Briona

CLAPTON

Its a bit confusing.
You seem to have £300 to throw at your debts but you say OH spend £50 and the other £250 is just spent.
You must draw up a proper budget that include ALL your spending otherwise you can't control it. You should keep a spending diary on a daily basis so you know exactly where you money is going.

Then reformat you SoA in the following format and clarifying the debts
If you browse the bulletin board you will see examples but the general format is

: statement of income:

: statement of expenditure
this should be quite detailed but excluding debt repayment
: a subtotal to save us all having to add it up

: statement of all debts including
outstanding amount, monthly repayment , APR
a subtotal to save us having to add it up

also add a brief details of you situation, partner, any children, rent or own property, value of house and mortgage, any special circumstances that are relevant

MrsTinks

I am sure the others here will be able to advice you better than me on the issue of most things but as for finding work then it amazes me that people will not emply you But instead of me going into a rant over that then maybe it's worth looking at other things you can do to try and better your income? Is there any help to be gained through the various charities associated with deaf people? Are there any other things that would prevent you from getting a job other than your hearing? Sorry if this is a little personal but obviously it might have an impact on who else out there might be able to help you

The only really obvious thing I spotted on the list of expenditures was the halifax CC. Have you tried to apply for a 0%apr for 9 months etc card? I think Mint, Virgin and Egg all are doign deals at the moment? If you moved the balance there that would mean that the £10 you pay in each month would go towards the debt and not £7-8 towards APR and only a couple of £ towards the actual debt if that makes sense.

Anyway chin up I am sure that amongst all these nice people here we'll find something to help you break the back fo this debt

hotpinkstar

me and my OH dont know how we manage to spend 250 to 300 that is left over from paying everything, For me it is annoying cos i know it can be spent on better things like paying more on Halifax CC or paying off BoS Overdraft but just at the minute, we seem not have a control on the money. :mad:
We only go out with mates once a month or once every 2 or 3 months depending on what is on.

In response to Brione i think's post about Mobiles

I am on £20 per month for 3,000 texts a month no talk minutes as i am deaf cant talk on mobiles anyway, I use up to 500 to 600 as when my OH's credit runs out he has PAYG 02 300 free texts for £10 so when he runs out he use mine so in the end it is useful for both of us.

and erm. I didnt know about Next having high Interest at all. i am on flexible account just now.

i did consider transfer Halifax CC to some card that is 0% but not know how to do this.

Thanks for posting and hopefuly i will sort this out. I do use Bogof offers at Tesco i have clubcard points which i use. I am not bothered about eating value stuff but my OH is, i have pointed out it taste exactly the same but lower in price.

MrsTinks

To transfer your amount on the Halifax (and in fact the next account too) then apply on one of the sites for the above mentioned. I went with Egg because they have a good deal at the moment and I found their online banking thing VERY easy to use and they are quick in helping me with any queries etc so I would recommend them. Once you get your details through if you are approved then Egg has a button that says "transfer" and you just tell it how much and to where. Fairly easy
Do be aware that most card providers charge you to do a balance transfer but if you are paying 29.9% on one account and I think about 15-18% judging on the figures you have given on the Halifax cc then it would still be cheaper

black-saturn

Are you sure you have to pay council tax? I thought you got CT benefit if you were living on benefits?

Amanda65

With regard to not knowing where your money is going each month, we have started an expenditure sheet to analyse exacty that. I have various columns for food shopping, mags and papers, birhtday pressies, train fares etc etc and have broken down our monthly spend. Not only is it a good indicator of how money gets eaten up, it also makes me think before spending :-}