Help! Don't know what to do next...

red10_3

Good news, I've had my lightbulb moment! :T Bad news, I'm in debt upto my eyeballs and am not sure what to do next. I've been reading a lot of the threads and am comforted to know that there are so many of us in the same boat (a very rocky one!) and the advice that's been given to people is so supportive and encouraging.

Ok, I'm going to go for it and give you my SOA:

Income 1031.97 + 240 from husband towards bills (total 1271.97)

Monthly Outgoings
7.24 CIS house insurance
14.32 water
13.81 gym (fixed contract until sept 07, have tried to cancel but they're not budging)
8.51 TV licence
350 Rent
25 Mobile
27 Telewest (phone/broadband)
78 council tax
102 train travel (monthly tkt)
160 food (inc lunch at work, toiletries etc)
40 electricity (card meter)
total 825.88

Debts
260.75 Egg loan (15153.79 @ 6.7%apr ends 25/2/2012)
155.32 Lloyds tsb loan (7600.86 @ 10.9%apr ends 25/6/2011)
188 Lloyds advance c/c (9162.82 @ 5.5% apr)
11 virgin c/c (458.42 @ 14.8%apr)
lloyds o/d 500 (limit 1500 @ 17.7%ear)
total each month 615.07

I've been just about managing each month, but only by doing my shopping on my c/c and I've just finished a repayment break on my egg loan. I've not fallen behind with any of my repayments yet on my debts but this month I will and I really need to take action but am not sure what the best thing to do is as my credit rating is not great. I pay insurance on my loans through the loan providers, is there an alternative? Any advice will be really appreciated as I'm fed up of constantly struggling and worrying.

tyllwyd

Hi, welcome to MSE! I added up the total on your monthly outgoings and it came to £825.88 - if I've managed to get it right, could you add it into your original post because it will help people see where you are starting from.

red10_3

Thanks, edited version is now on there with totals.

tyllwyd

Sorry to be a pain - but I looked at it again and got confused. Your husband is giving you £250 towards bills so I'm guessing that some of the items in your outgoings are joint and therefore you've written down half, but some are the full amount.

Could you let us know which are half (the ones that confused me are rent, broadband, food, electricity).

CLAPTON

your income sums to 1271
your monthly outgoings sum to 825
leaving £446 to pay debts

your debt payment sum to 615 while debts are over 35,000 in total

you need at least 169 more

presumably the train ticket is work related?

its unclear whether you are living with husband

options
increase income...extra overtime, part time job, more from hubby

and/or decrease expenditure ...by 169 which seems very difficult even through food is very high for one (or is it two) and mobile could be replaced by PAYG. However in other ways the SoA seems to lack a little like going out, andy optical/dental present/holidays etc

first through can you clarify if you and hubby are living together???

Chortle_2

tyllwyd wrote:

Sorry to be a pain - but I looked at it again and got confused. Your husband is giving you £250 towards bills so I'm guessing that some of the items in your outgoings are joint and therefore you've written down half, but some are the full amount.

Could you let us know which are half (the ones that confused me are rent, broadband, food, electricity).

I read it as those are the total amounts, as she has included the money from OH in her income? As if she pays it all, and he pays into her account towards it...

If that is the case, you're expenditure exceeds your income by approx £170 each month, which obviously needs addressing.

Your food bill seems a bit high, and obviously you could do without the train travel each month, but there doesn't seem to be a hell of a lot of manouvere in that SOA.

With regards to the loan insurances, cancel the PPI! If you are worried about it, you can either find a policy that will cover some or all of your debts much cheaper than you'll currently be paying, or you can set some money aside each month to cover it if the worst does come to the worst (that way, if you don't need it to pay the debt because of illness/unemployment, you can treat yourselves with it once you're debt free )

Yoga_Girl

Hi and welcome to MSE! Just wanted to say keep posting and reading the boards, you will get lots of support and advice here, also take a look at the Money Saving Old Style board for tons of good ideas on how to help cut back.

Noticed that your food bill includes lunch at work, is this buying food whilst you're at work? Lots of folk (including me) have found that by taking home-made stuff you can save at least £20 a month.

I'm sure lots of MSE'ers will post some good advice for you, good luck and try to keep positive! Keep reading the good news thread for inspiration!

red10_3

Thanks everyone for your responses so far, some handy hints there. Just to clarify on a few points mentioned: My husband and I do live together, his income is about 640 a month, we have no children. All the outgoings are for the full amount. My train travel is work related and I have thought about how I can increase my income but as I currently work full time leaving at 7 in the morning and not getting home til 7 in the evening, that doesn't leave a lot of extra time. I am currently looking for a job a bit closer to home. My mobile is on a contract which ends in July - I am then going to look for a cheaper option. The food bill is for the both of us, food is our one luxury as we both enjoy cooking and rarely go out as neither can afford and my husband works shifts in the eves and weekends. For lunches at work, I tend to buy some bread, cheese and fruit and keep in the cupboard at work and make up sandwiches there.

Thanks for the advice on ppi's, I'm going to look into that. As for struggling with repaying my debts, as well as budgeting should I look for better rates for my loans/credit cards or just try to apply for a payment plan from cccs or similar? Are there downsides to payment plans?

On a final note my husband knows I have some debts but not the extent of them and I don't want to tell him because it would just worry him too much.

:rolleyes:

Chortle_2

If your credit rating isn't too bad, it won't hurt to try to get your APRs down!

There are several 0% deals around, as well as low life of balances cards which would reduce your interest. Unless they charge a lower % per month as a min repayment though, it won't actually reduce the amount you need to find to cover it all.

One thing that you could consider is changing current accounts. Alliance and Leicester currently offer a current account that comes with a 0% overdraft, and subject to proof of your existing OD limit, they'll match it. You can also earn up to £145 for free, simply for opening the account. (You open the account via https://www.quidco.com for £50 cashback, then get someone with an A&L account already to 'refer' you for another £50. If you get someone on here to refer you, they'll generally give you up to £45 of their £50 for refering you too - making a grand total of £145 )

HTH

CLAPTON

i'm not being intrusive but obviously income is a crucial area. You say your husband earns 640 a monthwhich is a relatively low income. it seeems to be less than the minimum wage for a fulltime job...is there a particular reason for that?

BertieMeldrew

red10 wrote:

On a final note my husband knows I have some debts but not the extent of them and I don't want to tell him because it would just worry him too much.

Obviously you know your husband and how he will react... but will he? I remember the daughter of a friend of ours got pregnant and was scared stiff of telling her parents... but when she did they were so supportive that was what got her through it!

If he is just (sorry... don't wish to trivialise "worry") going to worry (as opposed to start throwing things :rolleyes: ) then after a short time, and with assistance from friends in this site, I feel sure that you would be better tackling this problem together!