SOA - updated (ish) - 15th july

Josie64

Hi , been posting here for a while but finally took my head out of the sand and started SOA...

Income
Hubby – 178 week wages 180 week - cancelled gym membership

Me – self-employed approx 21 – 83 a week (varies cos commission based but average is 54 wk)

current income - week ( hubby off sick)
[STRIKE]70.00 SSP[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]20.05 income support [/STRIKE]( no council tax to pay till back at work next month)


Weekly bills
mortgage - (443 a month)
gas & elec - 16 a wk
council tax - 16 a week
food – 50 ish a week
petrol - 25 - 30 a week
car tax 100 something a year ( but we try to budget for it every week)
car ins - 41 a month
internet bill - 14.99 a month on broadband (PlusNet)
phone bill - approx 67 a month with TalkTalk (would Talk 3 plan be cheaper?)
mobiles - 25 mth - contract , mine 5-10 month - PAYG
tv lic - 10.49 m
house/contents ins…………….. 17 mth
water rates…………………………. 22 ish a month
gas servicing (boiler/radiators)…………….…… ??? (mth)
water pipes thingy(sewerage) ………………………??? (mth)
[STRIKE]egg savings - 10 month [/STRIKE](should we could cancel it but withdrew 100 last month to help with the mortgage - its on DD so we don't spend it or miss paying it)cancelled
WTC 9.71 a month for overpayment
Nat Ins contribution – 2.10 a week
Overdraft charges ??? (mth)

Debts
TSB - (hubby) 5,000 – ..........pay back 10 mth
TSB ( me ) 8,000..........pay back 10 mth
Barclaycard - (me)5,000 ish..........pay back 10 mth
Capital one (hubby)- 2,000..........pay back 10 mth
alliance & leicester - (hubby)2,000..........pay 43 a mth
Capital one - (me)1,000 ..........pay approx 38 mth
overdraft (joint a/c).......... 1,500
TSB loan (hubby)- 2,000..........pay back 51 mth
La Redoute catalogue...........................pay back 10 mth
gone to CAB this week - offering creditors £1 month

any suggestions/criticisms very welcome

Jo

homersimpson_3

gas and electric - 64 per month (16x4 weeks) -too high. shop around
food- 200 per month (50x4 weeks) can be cut dramatiaclly
is car essential- why can't you use public transport?
phone bill too high and why are mobiles essntial? if not get rid of. if essential change to pay as you go if cheaper.

gas servicing (boiler/radiators)…………….…… ??? (mth)
water pipes thingy(sewerage) ………………………??? (mth)

the first rule of money saving is know all incomings and outgoings. who are you with? if you don't know find one- various providers offer more or less same thing so shop around for best deal

Overdraft charges ??? (mth)

- same point as above. what overdraft rate are you paying? if you don't know look on statement or contact bank. some banks offer interest free overdraft - may be worth changing.
use spare money to target debts- one with highest apr first and work down. what are interest rates on debts- look on statement or contact credit card co. have you tried to move debt to credit cards with lowest apr?

CLAPTON

what is your family situation? do you have children?

i ask because your basic problem is your low income. you only earn £54 a week..could you get a fulltime job even at the minimum wage you would earn say 200 at week gross.

you seem to have £25,000 of debt..is that correct? are you on a DMP of some sort?

Josie64

CLAPTON wrote:

what is your family situation? do you have children?

i ask because your basic problem is your low income. you only earn £54 a week..could you get a fulltime job even at the minimum wage you would earn say 200 at week gross.

you seem to have £25,000 of debt..is that correct? are you on a DMP of some sort?

yes, correct, contacted CCCS in January , not enough income to do DMP, hubby off work recovering from operation , income 90 a week ( includes income support)

Josie64

homersimpson wrote:

gas and electric - 64 per month (16x4 weeks) -too high. shop around
food- 200 per month (50x4 weeks) can be cut dramatiaclly
is car essential- why can't you use public transport?
phone bill too high and why are mobiles essntial? if not get rid of. if essential change to pay as you go if cheaper.

the first rule of money saving is know all incomings and outgoings. who are you with? if you don't know find one- various providers offer more or less same thing so shop around for best deal
- same point as above. what overdraft rate are you paying? if you don't know look on statement or contact bank. some banks offer interest free overdraft - may be worth changing.
use spare money to target debts- one with highest apr first and work down. what are interest rates on debts- look on statement or contact credit card co. have you tried to move debt to credit cards with lowest apr?

**********

Hi, we were in process of moving to Powergen , phoned Npower up and were told we were 34 in credit with elec and 99 in credit with gas , then got the bills through and somehow we suddenly owed 172 on gas and 39 on electric, just chnaged from PAYG ( hubby) he was spending 40 a month on top ups, so moved to contract 25 (virgin) , I never said mobiles were essential , just listing everything on SOA.

we would love to move banks/ chnage c/cards to 0% balance transfer etc but because paying reduced payments on Barclaycard ( 4 mths behind according to experian) its having effects on other things,

there is no spare money , income 90 a week , outgoings 300 a week, our bank account is with Lloyds TSB

in*the*red_6

Hi Josie

Have you called the tax credits helpline? I see you are paying them each month for overpayment, they should stop this if you let them know your revised circumstances, you should be due some extra for this period.

ITR

Josie64

in*the*red wrote:

Hi Josie

Have you called the tax credits helpline? I see you are paying them each month for overpayment, they should stop this if you let them know your revised circumstances, you should be due some extra for this period.

ITR

Due extra? how?

hubby works 27 hrs a week and I work five hrs, we don't get WTC any more because I thought the hours could only be added together if you had a child age 16 or under?

when our son left school 2 yrs ago , he went to college till october 2004 but decided he wanted to work instead so we lost out on WTC(50wk) / CTC(40)wk/EMA (30wk) and child benefit (16wk) and council tax benefit , since then debts have just snowballed to where they are now.....

tawnyowls

Josie64 wrote:

yes, correct, contacted CCCS in January , not enough income to do DMP, hubby off work recovering from operation , income 90 a week ( includes income support)

Not very helpful. Well, you'll probably have to do it yourself then. First, look at all your debts and how much you can spend on all of them, and allocate an amount to each. Contact all your creditors, explain situation, and get interest frozen, then agree the amount you've previously worked out.

The main thing, though, is you need more income - no getting away from it. At the moment, between the two of you, you're not even bringing in one full-time wage, so it'll take ages to get debt-free.

As you've got no kids (needing looking after) at home and you only work 5 hours/week, then unless you are unable to do so, you really need to look at doing more work. Supermarket shift work (especially on Sundays) can pay reasonably well.
If hubby's off sick, could he manage to get to the PC and use his time filling in surveys and getting money? Once he goes back to work, could he get more work?
If you have any kids at home, are they paying their share?

You say you've looked into getting cheaper loans, credit cards etc. Have you looked into getting back your bank charges. Some people on here are getting several thousands back. We need to know the interest rates on all your debts, including the catalogues, to help you properly. I suspect Capital One and the catalogue will be high.

Yes, you probably should cancel savings; your debts will be costing you more than the interest you're getting.

Checked you've got the cheapest utility suppliers? I'd definitely move from Npower - they are rubbish! I'd also get back to them and get them to re-check your bill - they made so many mistakes on my MIL's one that it took me over a year to sort out, but in the end they wrote it all off because they'd messed up so badly. Get them to check for anything in your name or your husband's, and check the meter reading they've given you.

As you're with TalkTalk, it might suit you to take advantage of the new deal they're offering and cut your phone and internet bills, and probably wouldn't need to pay the £30 connection charge (if they try, threaten to move). See Martin's article on it http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid109500303899872.

Thought about selling stuff on ebay?

If you don't have kids at home, your food bill is pretty high just for the two of you. Loads of advice on here about eating more cheaply.

Josie64

tawnyowls wrote:

Not very helpful. Well, you'll probably have to do it yourself then. First, look at all your debts and how much you can spend on all of them, and allocate an amount to each. Contact all your creditors, explain situation, and get interest frozen, then agree the amount you've previously worked out.
nothing left for creditors

The main thing, though, is you need more income - no getting away from it. At the moment, between the two of you, you're not even bringing in one full-time wage, so it'll take ages to get debt-free.

As you've got no kids (needing looking after) at home and you only work 5 hours/week, then unless you are unable to do so, you really need to look at doing more work. Supermarket shift work (especially on Sundays) can pay reasonably well.
If hubby's off sick, could he manage to get to the PC and use his time filling in surveys and getting money? Once he goes back to work, could he get more work?
If you have any kids at home, are they paying their share? no , not paying their share

You say you've looked into getting cheaper loans, credit cards etc. Have you looked into getting back your bank charges. Some people on here are getting several thousands back. We need to know the interest rates on all your debts, including the catalogues, to help you properly. I suspect Capital One and the catalogue will be high.capital one = 2.207%

Yes, you probably should cancel savings; your debts will be costing you more than the interest you're getting.

Checked you've got the cheapest utility suppliers? I'd definitely move from Npower - they are rubbish! I'd also get back to them and get them to re-check your bill - they made so many mistakes on my MIL's one that it took me over a year to sort out, but in the end they wrote it all off because they'd messed up so badly. Get them to check for anything in your name or your husband's, and check the meter reading they've given you.

As you're with TalkTalk, it might suit you to take advantage of the new deal they're offering and cut your phone and internet bills, and probably wouldn't need to pay the £30 connection charge (if they try, threaten to move). See Martin's article on it http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid109500303899872.

Thought about selling stuff on ebay?

If you don't have kids at home, your food bill is pretty high just for the two of you. Loads of advice on here about eating more cheaply.

yes, been selling lots of stuff (ebay/amazon/car boots) but bank account just keeps going more overdrawn, son still living at home so food bill is for 3 adults

beanielou

Basically at the mo you have no cash to pay creditors at all.
You need to get in touch with your creditors to tell them this.
You need to open a new bank account ASAP to get all your incoming money paid into- a basic account will be fine at the mo- so bank cant take any of your money when you have so little.
hope this helps

Josie64

tawnyowls wrote:

If hubby's off sick, could he manage to get to the PC and use his time filling in surveys and getting money? Once he goes back to work, could he get more work? .

filling in surveys and get paid? , do you have any more info!!