Such a mess!!

lilyb131

HI everyone

I have been looking at these boards for a couple of weeks and have finally plucked up the courage to do a SOA and it is not a pretty picture!! I feel very upset and angry with myself that I have let us get in such a mess.

I am 34 and live with mu husband and 2 small children we have fairly good jobs but all are wages are swallowed up by this debt and I know its all my fault. I am thinking we need to go to the CCCS and try and get a DMP plan sorted but would really appriciate your opinions.

Well here goes
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1257
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200 this can go up and down
Benefits................................ 184
Other income............................ 446
Total monthly income.................... 3087
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 640
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 368
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 113
Electricity............................. 26
Gas..................................... 35
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 47
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 48
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 220
Other child related expenses............ 120 This is maintanence to partners EX
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 17
Buildings insurance..................... 18
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2400

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 10000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 210000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 125000...(640)......0
Secured Debt.................. 48000....(368)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 173000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
tesco..........................5000......150.......0
Abbey Zero card ...............6300......140.......0
barclay card...................850.......15........0
car loan.......................6000......165.......0
car loan.......................4000......140.......0
additions .....................45........5.........0
monsoon .......................235.32....10........0
Next...........................600.......57........0
MBNA CC........................3800......65........0
Virgin CC......................1800......60........0
Royal Bank CC..................2900......80........0
Total unsecured debts..........31530.32..887.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,087
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,400
Available for debt repayments........... 687
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 887
Amount short for making debt repayments. -200
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 210,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -173,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -31,530.32
Net Assets.............................. 5,469.68

Thanks for looking

Dave101t

you need to get rid of your hp repayments, and i would of thought your mortgage would be reduced now, unless your on fixed rate.

at 3000/month income, id be really happy but i dont have the debt you have.

if one of you went part time or even left their job, you could use the childcare costs to pay the hp, or even sell one of the cars and pay off the hp.

Ama

Do you get any tax credits? If you get help with childcare costs and one of you stop work, you might loose it.

Can you try and cut down on groceries by £50-100 per month and cut out entertainment for while? It might also be worth changing your mobile phone tarrif.

lilyb131

Hi

Thanks for replys no don't get help with child care cost I only work mornings and my daughter is 3 so she attends a morning playgroup which I found is the cheapest form of childcare lot cheaper than a private nursery. Wish we could sell 1 of the cars but both need them for work as we work quite away from home.

I am working on the shopping budget have been looking on the OS money saving board for tips and planned shoppping and meals this week and reduced it by £40 a week so will keep on with that and yes you are right the £50 for entertainment etc will have to go. I have been online to CCCS and they have reccomended DMP but feel scared about it and would welcome any adice from anyone with experience of this.

Thanks for the advice

Little_Mis-spent

Hi & welcome :hello:

Sorry I haven't got any advice to add (still new to all this myself!) but I'm sure there will be lots of people along later who will help. Congratulations on taking the first step

xx

moo2moo

Its really not that bad an SOA in an its obvious what your weak spots are kind of way.

First you need a rethink of the way you buy things. I know its nice to have new everything but two car loans are cripling. When do they expire? Do they leave you owning the car at the end of the period or are they right to buy policies where you can hand the car back at the end of the term or take out another policy for the next vehicle?

Next you have a £50 clothing allowance only you don't as you've alreday spent it. Use your clothing allowance to clear whats outstanding with Additions, monsoon and next. No new clothes until these are gone and even then think long and hard. Whilst you're doing that bin your catalogues and cut up your store cards. You don't need them and they're all outrageously expensive places to shop anyway. Have a nose around Primark, you'll be pleasantly surprised, especially when you look at their childrens clothes.

Next you need an action plan. You need to address whatever has caused you to rack up 31K of assorted credit card debts and another 48K of secured debt. Until you've done this a DMP isn't going to help. You need to work out why you're overspending. A DMP won't do that. It will only help you to tackle the debts you've already acrued. Once you've got your head round that then a DMP is a very sensible way of dealing with debt repayment assuming you don't work in an industry where CCJs and defaults can affect your job status.

Can you reduce your mobile phone dependancy? Your child care bills? You can shave £100 off your grocery bill each month.

worried_jim

Hello lilyb. I would recommend contacting payplan http://www.payplan.com/ right now. Click request "debt help in 5minutes" and already you will have taken serious steps to getting this under control and sorted out. Good luck- you can do this its easier than you think.

lilyb131

Hi Moo2moo

Thanks for your reply

While I don't want to sound like I am making excuses we have had alot of bad situations in the last few years and I think this has something to do with the debt I was out of work for several years due to ill health and my husband was made redundant last year and it took 6 months for him to find another job so we did spend alot of this time living off credit cards stupid I know!!

It has really hit me this week and I know spending habits have to change. I am in the process of addressing all of this and we have this week started a spending diary so we can keep a track of spending. Childcare costs are the cheapest I can find I only work mornings so my youngest age 3 goes into morning playgroup cost me 11.50 a day nurserys cost 16.00 a day. Yes you are def right about our grocery money and we hope the spending diary will help with this. I am going to ring both are mobile companys and see about going on PAYG.

I am very concerned about something you said about DMP and it affecting your job status my husband works for a bank in a call centre and am now worried it may affect his job. this is something we will have to try and find
out.

Thanks again I am finding this board really helpful.

moo2moo

Don't wory about your OHs job being affected by a DMP but do look into his banks in house policies about it before you sign up. Plenty of people work for banks and have DMPs but its better if he tells them before he does it rather than them discovering it later in the day especially if any of your DMP managed debts will be with his employer. Its not the end of the world.

worried_jim

Most of his colleagues will already be on one !

mumto2monkeys_2

Have you looked at childcare vouchers - do an internet search. I pay into an e-account (an agreement entered into by my employer and the voucher provider) before tax and then transfer the money to my childminder's bank account. As long as they have an ofsted number they can register to receive payment. I pay £200 a month into my account and save £84 on this amount. There should be a calculator on a voucher site for you to work out what you could save. There's also incentives for employers to sign up if they haven't already. Good luck with it all. We're just starting out too, and it's going to be tough.