Want to be debt free but can only just afford basic repayments?

jellybean09

I'm sure this is a story many people have on this board. my DF and I have managed to accumulate a lot of debt over the past 2 years or so, im actually ashamed at the amount and whilst some of it was needed as such, the majority was from being greedy and not working our finances through before taking them on.

The situation we are now in is we are paying off the repayments each month, although with things like a store card we have only the minimum is being paid.

I really am sick of it and everytime we are getting paid we are 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' by borrowing a bit from this account to pay X debt and then the next payday having to pay the original back etc etc, so although we are effectively keeping everyone happy we are by no means managing well.

Im at the point where I dont know what the best thing to do is to try and get these debts paid as quickly as possible when we dont have any spare income and are just managing.

A brief overview of our debts are (hangs head in shame):

• Unsecured personal loan 23k@ £141.22 Per month 6.49% APR (over 30 years alongside our mortgage)
• Secured personal loan 13K@193.13 per month 6.79% variable APR(with our mortgage company but over 9 years left)
• Car finance approx 8.5k@ £135 per month 17.4% APR (4 years left)
• Store Card £850 (minimum payments being made so not going down and 27% APR)
• Catalogue Bill £800 currently on buy now pay later (will be 44% APR)but trying to pay £20 a month to get it down a little
• Dell PC £1100 @£31 per month (not sure of APR) (3 years left)
• DFS £2000 buy now pay later @ £54 per month interest free(payments due in March 10 interest free, nothing being paid at present)
• Wickes £2175 @ £75.00 per month interest free (owing over 2 and a bit years)

So it works out around about £700 per month payments for debts alone, we take home about £2000 after tax between us and obviously have to pay mortgage, general bills etc as well.

I just dont know where to start in trying to get a clear plan on all of this, I am useless with money (cant you tell!) and really want to get back to having some standard of living and feeling comfortable with my financial situation.

fatbelly

Hi Jellybean

It may well be that your non-priority debt is unaffordable and you need a debt management plan but without seeing the whole picture no-one can advise properly.

If you want to post a statement of affairs

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

that would help. Otherwise try CCCS's debt remedy and then contact them with the result.

jellybean09

I just used the 'make sense' link and it shows im pretty much on my limit. I did also do the 'whats the cost' calculator thats posted on the sticky on the board but to be honest im not sure I can see how its working out the repayments because as far as I can see its not possible.

I get to this point where I start actively looking for help and then because its so darn complicated I feel myself giving up and just accepting how it is because it seems like too much work to go any further. Ridiculous really.

Maybe I could do with speaking to a debt organisation and going through everything with them, although I just feel like there is no way out if you know what I mean?

fatbelly

Jellybean - there's always a way forward. You'd need to cut and paste the statement of affairs (use mse format) if you want us to help you explore this.

Or do the CCCS thing and have a chat to them.

There's a lot of people on this board who have been in the position you are now in.

Don't give up.

jellybean09

Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 980
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1050
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2030
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 625.4
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 135
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 43
Telephone (land line)................... 31
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 9
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 16
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 13
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 7
Contents insurance...................... 7
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1548.4

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 95000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 100000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 88543....(625.4)....6.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8318.....(135)......17.4
Total secured & HP debts...... 96861.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Unsecured Loan.................23344.....141.2.....6.5
Wickes.........................2175......75........0
DFS............................2000......54........0
Next catalogue.................85........7.5.......NaN
Overdraft 2....................600.......0.........20
Overdraft......................250.......0.........20
Dell...........................1115......30........25.9
Additions......................1010......30........39.7
Argos..........................823.......35........27.9
Total unsecured debts..........31402.....372.7.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,030
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,548.4
Available for debt repayments........... 481.6
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 372.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 108.9
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 100,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -96,861
Total Unsecured debt.................... -31,402
Net Assets.............................. -19,945

jellybean09

Just a quick one to say although I have stated one child ( im actually pregnant so dont technically have a child yet, hence the no benefits etc)

Things like presents, birthdays etc I pro rata'd an estimated annual amount.

Looking at it it looks as though we have 'some'money, although because we are lending off everything each month to get by we never seem to get to the stage where we do have our actual monthly income in the bank to pay bills etc if that makes sense?

~Beanie~

jellybean09 wrote: »

Looking at it it looks as though we have 'some'money, although because we are lending off everything each month to get by we never seem to get to the stage where we do have our actual monthly income in the bank to pay bills etc if that makes sense?

Like you say, your SOA shows that you have enough to pay your bills, your debts and stil have a small surplus each month so you shouldn't be 'lending' off anything. You must have some things missing or are spending on stuff that you haven't included in the SOA.

Have you tried keeping a spending diary for a few months to see where is is going?

One thing I did notice is that you seem to have a car but haven't included anything for road tax?

jellybean09

I think I need to do a spending diary like you say to see exactly where our money is going!

I basically totalled up our annual, car insurance, MOT, Tax etc and pro ratered for the year, so it is included but between car maintenance and Insurance.

Yup it seems a diary is in order

fatbelly

Is the 13k secured loan in with the mortgage?

jellybean09

Yes it is, both the secured and unsecured loan runs alongside the mortgage, the unsecured is for the length of the mortgage on a fixed rate and the unsecured loan over 10 years on a variable rate.