New Debtfree Wannabe's SOA

madders69

Hi Guys, I'm Mandie, and I'm hoping to get out of debt as soon as possible, I am proud that I never miss a payment on any of my debts and never have- although it's a bit of a struggle sometimes! Any help I can get would be fabulous! :hello:

Here's my statement of affairs...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0 (It's a company car and I travel for work a LOT!)

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1518
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 150 (expenses so varies, but typically)
Total monthly income.................... 1668

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 700
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 98
Electricity............................. 79
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 10
Telephone (land line)................... 24
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 4.89
Groceries etc. ......................... 50
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel (company car) ............ 150
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1173.01


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................2021.01...46.53.....25.9
Mint...........................309.53....6.........21.94
Lloyds TSB.....................4225.34...81.14.....20.94
Overdraft......................1100......0.........12.95
Barclayloan....................1734.34...64.24.....24.9
Mint Loan......................3649.01...117.7.....14.51
Beneficial Finance.............2600......197.5.....26.2
Total unsecured debts..........15639.23..513.11....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,668
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,173.01
Available for debt repayments........... 494.99
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 513.11
Amount short for making debt repayments. -18.12

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,639.23
Net Assets.............................. -15,639.23

Created using the SOA calculator at makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Tixy

Hi Mandie and welcome the world of DFW :hello:

Well there is no suprise that you are struggling as your showing a small negative on the bottom. Whilst its great if you can make all your repayments each month (and at the same time protect your credit rating) you need to consider whether you are re-using credit each month just to keep afloat, so if you pay £30 off a card and are charged £10 interest, if you then spend £20 on the same card you are not getting anywhere.

It might be useful for you to compare you debt today £15639 to what it was 3months ago, and 6months ago and 12 months ago - if your debt is decreasing (even if only slightly) then thats good, if however its increasing over time then you definatley need a new course of action. (something to think about anyway)

Okay looking at your SOA.

Expenses income of approx £150 as you have included this, have you also excluded the costs out that you are being re-imbursed for? Is it all fuel costs? If there are meals, train tickets hotels etc in that figure then you need to also add in the cost of them going out for your SOA to be correct.

Your rent is a really high proportion of your income at nearly 50% and I guess in part this is why you are struggling. Could rent somewhere cheaper? Could you get a lodger/flat share to bring down the cost in your current place?

Council tax - are you getting the 25% single person discount? have you done the online check to see if you are in the correct band (see red reclaim tab at the top of the page).

Electricity - is all your heating elec as well as no gas or oil costs? Elec is expensive for heating. Have you checked you are with the cheapest supplier for your usage and do you make sure you give them actual readings each quarter? Do you try to use minimise your elec use? Always put on jumpers and slippers before deciding you need heating. If you have an imersion heater for hot water make sure its not left on constantly, a couple of hours a day should be sufficent. Make sure things are switched off when not in use.

All your other costs seem low (in fact they are almost too low) - great if you can manage on these amounts and if you are definately not spending more than this. It might be worth keeping a spending diary for a couple of months where you write down everything you spend (even just 50p spends). This will make sure you haven't underestimated any costs.

With regards to your debts what was the money spent on? has is been just gradual overspending for years or has there been any major purchases in that?

Do you have any items you could sell to pay off some of your debts? You could try ebay, amazon, car boots, gumtree etc to clear clothes books cds, dvds.

Do you have any way you could increase your income? Can your work paid overtime in your current job? could you get a second part time job?

Your APRs are pretty high and I assume that you have been unable to get better rates (probably due to the level of debt compared to income).

I think one option for you might be a Debt management plan - which would mean you would be paying back less than the minimums but often means that creditors agree to freeze interest for a time. This does have a serious impact on your credit score for a number of years so you need to take professional advice on this.

The people to speak to for free debt advice are on this list - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help and they would talk through your options or run a DMP for you should you decide to go that route.

Good luck

madders69

Thanks for the advice Tixy- a lot of it I've already started working on.

I've actually managed to get my debt down considerably thanks to money back from PPIs, but that's all finished now, so it's how to start paying off what's left.

My expenses is usually 100% fuel, so that's what I've included- both in the income and expenditure, so it shows correctly.

Rent is set, and I'm in a 12 month contract- frankly I'm happy here anyway and don't want to move, as it's just too damn perfect for what I need- I have a 6 month break clause, so if I absolutely have to, I'll revisit it then.

Council tax is correct, I've already checked it, and I do claim the 25% discount.

My power is all electricity, and I'm in the process of getting my DD revised- when I moved in I didn't have one set up and couldn't afford to pay the first bill, so they lumped it in with my DD payment, pushing that up a fair amount. However I paid off the last bill in full, and have asked them to revise the amount. Technically I am not allowed to change suppliers, but if I speak to the agents I'm hopeful that this can be sorted, so long as I tell them who I change to- so I'm looking at that option also.

I have Economy 7 heating, and 95% of my usage occurs at night, so I can't do much more there!!!

I'm fanatical about what I spend money on, and keep a spreadsheet of all outgoings- I allow myself £10 a week to spend on non-essentials, but try not to spend that wherever possible. I'll see about listing those spendings as well, might find some more savings there!

The debts were built up over the last 6 years, mainly from credit cards and loans that I was given, even while only in a £16k job- I also lived at home with my mum, who was a serious financial drain on me, which helped rack the debt up even faster- in fact if I hazarded a guess, I'd say at least 50% of my debt is directly or indirectly attributable to her- although it's all my fault for allowing it to happen, so I'm not blaming her.

Unfortunately she's a classic emu with her head in the sand about her own debts, which are much worse than mine, so there's little to no prospect of seeing any of that back in the near future.

Having moved out of my mum's 3 bed house and into a flat there's a lot of surplus stuff, and every time I go home I sort through it- I'm planning to try out a carboot, and am also listing on amazon & ebay to try and make something back.

My job is flexi, so doesn't pay overtime as a rule, and because I travel so much and work odd hours, a second job isn't feasible, as I'm not home regular hours during the week, and am knackered at the weekends!

I'll look into a DMP- I've contacted Payplan, but unfortunately they then decided to call me 15 times in one day, despite the fact that I'd asked for an evening contact- when they did call me in the evening there was no one on the other end when I picked up, and then when I did finally get through I was so fed up of them, I asked them to not contact me ever again- if that's what they're like I'll go somewhere else.

I've got someone trying to get me to take up an IVA- but I've read this site enough to know that I'm not even going to consider that- and although they're offering a DMP, I'm assuming they'll be charging fees, so I won't take that up either.

My main drain is actually the over my overdraft fees- £22 per 5 days, and I usually get hit with £66 a month- if I wasn't paying that, I'd be much better off, so I'm aiming to get out of that trap first, and then go from there!!!

Thanks for taking the time to go through it all with me- it's been really helpful, and at least I can see I'm part way down the right track :T

Penelope_Penguin

What do you do for a living, madders? Havr you considered bankruptcy? As you have no home to protect, about £500 will clear your debts in 12 months; an IVA may take 5 years.

ETA - just looked at your SOA again - with that level of disposable income, you'll be "invited" to pay into a bankruptcy, but it's still likely to cost you less than an IVA.

Best of luck :beer:

Tixy

Hi Madders

One option with your bank account would be to set up a new basic bank account with another bank (one who you don't owe any money to). A basic account doesn't have an overdraft and so there is no credit check required.

Then you could have your wages paid into the new account and move across your DDs.
At that point, once you are no longer using the old current account it can become like a 'normal' debt. Then you work out what you can afford to repay each month and write a letter asking them to accept this and asking them to freeze interest & charges on the account (they may or may not do this but its worth asking). This should hopefully allow you better control of your money.

Also is the bank you have your current account/overdraft with one you also owe other money to (loans or cc's)? If so moving to a seperate bank will protect you from offsetting (where they take money from your current account to pay off your CC).

Good luck with Payplan (if you are not having much luck with them you could also consider CCCS). Whilst waiting to speak to them I would arrange to set up a new basic account anyway as this is likely to be one of the first things they suggest. (I'd hold off on writing your letter to the bank until you have spoken to Payplan though in case they advise something slightly different).

It might be worth you looking on the 'up your income' board here on MSE for some ideas on making money online. Common methods are by doing online surveys and reviews which either earn you cash or vouchers (I admit you won't earn a fortune but every bits helps and you can fit it around your long work hours).

madders69

Hi Tixy,

Funny enough, what I just did before logging on here was to apply for a new bank account- one of my loans and my bank account are with Barclays, and I'm paying about £70 p/m in fees and account charges to them, so by switching I'm immediately much better off.

I've also spoken to the electricity company about reducing my DD payment as I don't have an outstanding balance anymore (I paid it off in full last month), and therefore the DD payment is higher than it needs to be- if they kick up a fuss I will either look at switching and/or come off of monthly DD payments and go back to paying quarterly, putting the £50 a month away for when the bill lands on the mat!

I'm definitely looking at the ways to top up my income, as my debit amount isn't massive, so small changes make a big difference, and I'm pretty hopeful of getting somewhere. Payplan are due to call again tonight- I'll see how that goes, but seeing as they called me 15 times in one day between 8am and 7pm, even after I told them I couldn't answer the phone at work, I can't say I'm impressed with them all that much!!!

My preference is still to not enter into any DMP or IVA arrangements, but I think that's more me and wanting to protect my credit score rather than a realistic approach to things- logic will win out in the end I'm sure

Thanks again!


Mandie