Scared witless

cragrate2

Really don't know what to do. In lots of debt which has accumulated over the years. A few poor decisions taken in desperation and accumulated debt of about 60K. Help!!

Nargleblast

Welcome to the club. Lots of us have been there. If you post a Statement of Affairs on here (you will find how to do it on a "sticky" at the top of the forum) we will be able to suggest some ways of cutting costs and maybe increasing income. You will also need the percentage rates you are being charged on your loans/credit card debts as well as your regular household bills figures. You can estimate things you are not sure of for now, it is just to give us all an idea of where you stand at present. Don't worry if it does not make pretty reading, I am sure we have seen worse!

katsu

Martin says he's nver seen a debt which can't be solved, so please be reassured you can resolve this.

Some knowledgeable people will be along soon. You may want to think of doing a Statement of Affairs to list what you spend money on (links in other posts or someone will come and post it).

Do you have all the details for your debts - amounts, rates, payments etc? If not find the papers.

You can visit CAB, or call CCCS or Payplan (free charities who help), don't add to your debt by paying a debt management co.

You will get out of this - it will just take some time and effort. Good luck.

cragrate2

Thanks, will get to work on statement of affairs asap. This is all very humiliating and I never thought I would have to do it so bare with me please

cragrate2

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1860
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1230
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 611
Total monthly income.................... 3781
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 712
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 370.6400000000001
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 93
Electricity............................. 61
Gas..................................... 63
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 82
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 28.57
Groceries etc. ......................... 800
Clothing................................ 60
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 160
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35.5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 14.76
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 57.63
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 40
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2935.22

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 143000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 104000...(712)......5.65
Secured Debt.................. 36000....(330)......10
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1200.....(40.64)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 141200....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................8400......161.......8.2
credit card....................2900......66........7.9
bank loan......................5300......181.......6.2
Total unsecured debts..........16600.....408.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,781
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,935.22
Available for debt repayments........... 845.78
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 408
Amount left after debt repayments....... 437.78
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 143,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -141,200
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,600
Net Assets.............................. -14,800

Nargleblast

A few ideas to start with ......

Electric & gas seem high, look around for cheaper supplier or see if you can reduce usage slightly.

Water rates - is this really a monthly figure or is it the quarterly amount?

Mobile phone - try going pay as you go or see if you can get a better deal on a contract.

Clothing - don't buy any clothes for next few months, you must surely have plenty in your wardrobes already. Obviously still buy school shoes etc if necessary. Try charity shops - you can get some good stuff amongst the tat if you look carefully.

Groceries - that can definitely be reduced. Look on Old style moneysaving board for ideas on meal planning and reducing food wastage.

If any of these amounts includes cigarettes then the smoker(s) seriously should give up as it is no longer a habit that can be afforded. Your GP surgery should be able to help with this.

See if you can trim the budget realistically to free up some cash for the debts. I am sure others will be on here for some more ideas.

doobiesis_2

How many cars do you have? from what your monthly figures are it looks like you do, maybe you could do with one, which will cut your car costs in half, and give you some money to pay some bills off...

The first step is realizing and dealing, which you have already done.. So well done for that and good luck

Burlesque_Babe

Groceries - £800.:eek::eek::eek: For 3 adults this can come down to £250, pop over to Old Style and start reading up on batch cooking, use of slow cookers, cooking from scratch, meal planning etc etc. Join the supermarket challenge to reduce your outgoings on groceries each month - you have a HUGE saving there to be made.

Also - haircuts - again, this can be reduced hugely. Change to having cuts every 2 months (3 preferably) and speak to your local training college. The learners are supervised and often better than stylists who have been cutting for years. A cut and blow dry where I work (adult learning centre) is £4.50 and they are excellent - you can often be the 'model' for the tutor when they demonstrate a new style.

car insurance is a huge amount per month- use confused.com comparethemarket.com etc to look at reducing your monthly premium.

You have no contents insurance?

Tixy

Hi and welcome

There are 2 good things about your SoA - that you are showing a surplus of £437 per month and that there are definatley a lot of areas where you can cut back.

Firstly the surplus £437 - do you have this each month? are you making extra payments off your debt with it? if not what are you spending it on? if you don't know where the money goes then something on your SoA is underestimated. A good way to track down the money is to keep a spending diary of everything you spend - you may find its going on newspapers, takeaways, meals out, coffees, ottery tickets etc.

The biggest area where you can make cutbacks is groceries. You could easily halve this amount, and actually get it down to nearer £250 or so.

Water rates are really high - is this meter or unmeasured? if metered check whether you have a leak or make sure everyone starts being sensible (not leaving taps running etc).

Car insurance is a huge amount - especially on 2 cars worth only £3k. Is this for 2 of you or 3? Have you checked if you can get cheaper on the comparison sites?

Life insurance also looks high - shop around and you be able to save.

You have budgeted nothing for entertainment - is this where the surplus goes?

Who is the 3rd adult? is this a grown up child? Is the other income board from them? If not what is other income?

In your first post you mentioned debt of £60k but your unsecured debt is shown as £16k? Was the rest the secured debt of £36k? What does this £36k relate to? is it a previous debt consolidation? Is it secured on the house?

There is no need to feel ashamed - we have all been or still are in debt. However there is a need to reign in your spending to make sure your debts don't increase.

Good luck.

LandyAndy

Tixy wrote: »

Hi and welcome

There are 2 good things about your SoA - that you are showing a surplus of £437 per month and that there are definatley a lot of areas where you can cut back.

Firstly the surplus £437 - do you have this each month? are you making extra payments off your debt with it? if not what are you spending it on? if you don't know where the money goes then something on your SoA is underestimated. A good way to track down the money is to keep a spending diary of everything you spend - you may find its going on newspapers, takeaways, meals out, coffees, ottery tickets etc.

The biggest area where you can make cutbacks is groceries. You could easily halve this amount, and actually get it down to nearer £250 or so.

.

This is very important.

I presume you do not have a surplus of £400+ per month.

Therefore your SoA is clearly incomplete. Don't worry, most we see here are:rolleyes:.

It is this 'invisible' drain on your resources that you have to evaluate and, as suggested, a spending diary is the best way to do it.

It is very important, at this stage, to identify everywhere your money is going. Once you know this you may be able to allocate a certain amount a week to 'sundry' and not bother to identify it separately. I do this with £50 per week now but then i don't have any debts any more.:cool:

I agree groceries is high although it isn't much more than we spend as a family of 4. It ought to be reasonably easy to cut £2-300 off of it and no doubt some people here will tell you you should be able to get it down to about £200 (I sometimes wonder what they eat).

Good luck anyway.

LA

cragrate2

Thanks for that. Groceries are high but that includes wine/beer etc. You will notice from SOA that we dont go out, we dont smoke so that is our only vice. Car insurance is high because my son is 18 and just passed his test. £100 p.m is his insurance but he has just started work and will be paying that himself now. Back with groceries, we are essentially 4 adults who are very active and eat a lot. 2 cars is a must cos I work 32 miles away from home! Secured debt is against the house and the product of previous consolidation. A really bad move in hind sight and boy, do I wish i didn't have it.....but I do! I took first steps in changing my utilities last night which, according to web site will save me £365 p.a. We will see! I thought i was with the cheapest (utilities warehouse), it would seem not