Newbie requiring urgent advice

debtfreewannabe15

Hi

I am new to this site and am really desperate for some help. I really don't know what to do or who to go to, so any advice would be very much appreciated.

Our situation is my Husband is self-employed and last year was a very difficult year for him with several months with no work. Fortuantely he is very busy so far this year.

I also gave birth to our first Child last year and am currently on maternity leave. I want to give our Daughter the best start in life so she doesn't make the same mistakes we have, but i just don't know where to start.

My Husband Salary varies but is around £2000 a month which he stil lneeds to take tax out of

My salary is £500 a month but should be around £600 once i return to work.

Our debts are as follows:

Personal loan £12000 (£256 p/m at 10%apr)
3 Credit cards £19100 (£350 p/m at around 16% apr)
HP for work van £5000 (£125 p/m around 10% apr)

we also pay

mortgage £781
gas/ electirc £90
caouncil tax £125
mobile phones £80
Landline £5
Tv Licence £12
Home insurance £30
Water rates £35
Life assurance £95
Sky + phone calls £60
Pet - health plan £47
Public liability £15
Food toiletries and household cleaning £360
Baby products nappies etc £50
Petrol £120


Our debts are costing us over £700 a month my card alone is charging us £100 a month interest, we are never going to pay things off and i jsut don't knwo what to do.

We are not in any arrears with any of our household bills or debts, but we jsut can't seem to get things paid off and I fear now I am goign back to work part time the problem will in fact get worse.

Please help what's the best option available to us?

Many thanks

Meg

Tixy

Hi and welcome

I think it might be useful if you split out business expenditure from personal expenditure, this will give a true picture of what OH brings in (after tax) and then show realistically your monthly shortfall for paying debt repayments.

From the info you have posted above it looks like there are some areas you could cut down on.


mortgage £781
gas/ electirc £90 seems high - are you in arrears? are you with the cheapest supplier? have you tried to reduce your usage?
caouncil tax £125
mobile phones £80 seems very high, if business related put in business statement, if personal try reducing to a lower tariff or using less.
Landline £5
Tv Licence £12
Home insurance £30
Water rates £35
Life assurance £95 sounds exceptionally high, try shopping around, workout if you have the right level of cover.
Sky + phone calls £60 try to reduce your package or switch to freeview and move calls to a cheaper provider
Pet - health plan £47 again this looks high - how many pets? are you getting the benefit.
Public liability £15 move to business statement
Food toiletries and household cleaning £360 is there just 2 of you and the baby? could easily be reduced to around £200 with meal planning and some more tips from the oldstyle site.
Baby products nappies etc £50 are you buying them when on offer? have you tried cheaper brands? (lidl apparently are very well thought of and cheap)
Petrol £120 business or personal?

You also seem to have missed out car insurance, car tax, car maintenance, servicing & tyres, entertainment, haircuts, clothing etc

Are you saving the tax each month? If not you really need to start doing this so that you have the money available when the bills arrive. Once you have a true picture of OHs income (after tax and all business costs) you can then look to see if you are entitled to tax credits or any other help.

I know this reply hasn't answered your question but these are things to think about before we can get a true picture and then advise on way forward.

gonzo127

hi first off please could you post all your details in the SOA (statement of affairs) calc http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html as this will put it in a easy to read format for people to help you with, it should also prompt you to put in things you might not have thought about but need to consider (hair cuts, brithday presents etc)

however a couple of things that have screamed at me on the above info is mobiles £80 a month + more for phone calls with Sky - this seems very excessive!

food and toiletrys - £360 for 3 people is once again a lot especially when you take out nappies from it!

anyway if you could please post the soa in the link and formatr it for MSE then post it that will be a great help for us and you

savingmummy

Personal loan £12000 (£256 p/m at 10%apr)
3 Credit cards £19100 (£350 p/m at around 16% apr)
HP for work van £5000 (£125 p/m around 10% apr)

we also pay

mortgage £781
gas/ electirc £90 you could try shopping around for cheaper
caouncil tax £125
mobile phones £80:eek: go payg
Landline £5
Tv Licence £12
Home insurance £30
Water rates £35 this seems high!
Life assurance £95 :eek:can you not get cheaper
Sky + phone calls £60 go freeview for now or reduce package
Pet - health plan £47 is this the cheapest you can get?
Public liability £15
Food toiletries and household cleaning £360:eek: halve this!!!
Baby products nappies etc £50 drop a brand if possible, i spent way too much on huggies and pampers only to find the lower brand were just as good! wipes bogof offers and also £ shops.
Petrol £120 can this be cut down it is VERY high!!

you need to do a FULL SOA! Include ALL incomings and OUTgoings.
Are you getting tax credits? child benefit?

debtfreewannabe15

Hi thank you for replying

Here's my break down

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1800
Benefits................................ 170
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2470
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 781
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 125
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 42
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 3.5
Mobile phone............................ 80
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60
Internet Services....................... 18
Groceries etc. ......................... 360
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 20
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 80
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 55
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 90
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2446.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 180000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 184000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 166000...(781)......7
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5000.....(125)......10
Total secured & HP debts...... 171000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................8800......170.......16
Barclaycard....................7000......150.......16
Virgin card....................3200......25........16
AA Loan........................12000.....256.......10
Total unsecured debts..........31000.....601.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,470
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,446.5
Available for debt repayments........... 23.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 601
Amount short for making debt repayments. -577.5
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 184,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -171,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -31,000
Net Assets.............................. -18,000

No we arn't in arrears with anything atall, we are in contracts with our gas and electric and mobile phones and so would be charged to find an alternative supplier. I did do a search in October last year and the price we are currently paying is the cheapest. I do ensure we switch things off etc when not in use.

Hope you can come up with some solutions

My Husband needs the mobile for business related calls and the van loan is a business expense. £100- £120 Per month for petrol again would probably be a business expense wouldn't it too?

thanks

Meg