New user, SOA included

WASHER

julespickles wrote: »

I didn't ring them, just checked through the my account section of the website, offered me two plans that were £5 cheaper, but said it would extend my contract by a further 6 months. I hadn't thought of ringing to see if they could do better *looks dumb* Will give CS a ring tonight and see what they can do for me, cheers

Phone from your mobile its usually free.

http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=33617

A link to the vodafone forum where it tells you, you can reduce by £5 per month after 9 months.

miss_missy

julespickles wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I had a lightbulb moment a few weeks ago, when yet another month went by where I was out of cash 2 weeks before payday :mad:. Managed to get ourselves in to trouble by trying to keep up with friends with better paid jobs etc, and generally overspending. I can't believe I'd never done a budget until a few weeks ago, I feel like such an idiot!
Luckily we moved to a cheaper flat with much lower bills etc in September, and OH agrees that it's time we tackled our debts head on, so we've done an SOA (below), and found some extra money each month to snowball on the credit cards.
Any other suggestions would be extremely welcome though!

Few notes, sky subscription is for tv phone and broadband, and mobiles are up for renewal next month and will be moving to lowest possible tariffs, we know they're high atm. Petrol also high due to loooong commutes, will be moving closer to both our works in the autumn, when we should also be able to cut our rent by ~£200.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1470
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2870
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 675
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 47
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70 call your company and reduce now
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 reduce this i spend a little more for 2 adults and 2 children and it includes nappies
Clothing................................ 25 reduce and only buy if really needed
Petrol/diesel........................... 400 wow!!!
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 u need something here
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0 you must get your haircut sometime
Entertainment........................... 80
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 if your going to stop spending on the cards put alittle here incase of an emergency
Sofa loan............................... 12 this should be listed with debts
A&L Loan................................ 208 as above
RBS loan................................ 190 as above
Total monthly expenses.................. 2256.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 2500 use this to pay off cards youll be getting very little for it
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 8500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................4000......90........25.9
MBNA...........................3000......70........25.9
BBSRC .........................3100......100.......0
RBS............................500.......15........13
Mint...........................1800......35........20
Capital One....................5000......140.......9.6
Total unsecured debts..........17400.....450.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,870
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,256.5
Available for debt repayments........... 613.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Amount left after debt repayments....... 163.5 do you have this left at the end of the month??
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 8,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,400
Net Assets.............................. -8,900

a few notes above you would be far better using your savings to pay off your debts if you could manage to clear barclaycard or mbna you may beable to get an offer for LOB which would help you get your debts down

LittleMoog

Tixy wrote: »

Hi and welcome. Well done on facing up to things and for posting your SoA



The loans are also debts and if you have overdrafts don't forget to include them (and their APR) in your list of debts - so you can tackle your debts in the right order (for any overdrafts put in a typical amount of od the day before payday to give a true picture.

Are you going to be putting all your overpayments towards MBNA first? As its the highest APR that would make sense as a starting point, and once you have moved house you should free up plenty from reduced petrol & rent to start making real inroads.

Whats the limit on RBS? can you balance transfer an amount from one of your more expensive debts to this lower rate?

Good luck

Didn't include the loans in the debts section, as can't overpay them, so regard them more like bills. They're not due to finish until 2012 and 2013 though Sofa loan finishes in October though.

Yes, we'll be trying to clear barclaycard and MBNA first. Overdrafts (total £5000) have pretty low interest rates (~8% on mine), and will be tackled last.

miss_missy

WASHER wrote: »

How much are your loans, i ask because with the level of debt you have, you are probably going to have problems getting a mortgage even with a deposit, so i would suggest that the £2500 is used to repay MBNA and it would save you money in the long run as the interest is high, and you could put the £70 per month into an ISA and rebuild up the savings you were given. Does that make sense?

have to agree with washer here

gonzo127

julespickles wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I had a lightbulb moment a few weeks ago, when yet another month went by where I was out of cash 2 weeks before payday :mad:. Managed to get ourselves in to trouble by trying to keep up with friends with better paid jobs etc, and generally overspending. I can't believe I'd never done a budget until a few weeks ago, I feel like such an idiot!
Luckily we moved to a cheaper flat with much lower bills etc in September, and OH agrees that it's time we tackled our debts head on, so we've done an SOA (below), and found some extra money each month to snowball on the credit cards.
Any other suggestions would be extremely welcome though!

Few notes, sky subscription is for tv phone and broadband, and mobiles are up for renewal next month and will be moving to lowest possible tariffs, we know they're high atm. Petrol also high due to loooong commutes, will be moving closer to both our works in the autumn, when we should also be able to cut our rent by ~£200.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1470
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2870
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 675
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 47
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70 - as you said renewal is up soon make sure you check all networks for suitable tarrifs (ask your current network what your average useage has been in the last 12 months - they should tell you!
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 - could you drop the packages a bit, i know you have £11 for line rental and a minimum £18 for the TV however the broadband can be gotten for £5 for the mid package so you could save a little here
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 - this is high for 2 people i recommend you aim for £60 per person per month however some people can feed a family of 4 on £150 a month
Clothing................................ 25 - can you use what you have for the time being?
Petrol/diesel........................... 400
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
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...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 80 - what does this actually cover? am sure you can cut a little bit out here
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Sofa loan............................... 12
A&L Loan................................ 208
RBS loan................................ 190
Total monthly expenses.................. 2256.5

Assets
Cash.................................... 2500 - this could be used to nearly get rid of the MBNA debt which has one of the highest APR's ie costing you the most money
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 8500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................4000......90........25.9
MBNA...........................3000......70........25.9
BBSRC .........................3100......100.......0
RBS............................500.......15........13
Mint...........................1800......35........20
Capital One....................5000......140.......9.6
Total unsecured debts..........17400.....450.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,870
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,256.5
Available for debt repayments........... 613.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Amount left after debt repayments....... 163.5
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 8,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,400
Net Assets.............................. -8,900

i have added a few comments above which i hope will help

with the grocies the best bet is the drop a brand challenge, batch cooking (and freezing the leftovers) and actually planning your meals doing that should save you quite a bit!

on the mobile front with them being up for renewal soon (make sure you phone them to give your 30 days notice) make sure you ask them for your average usage over the last year was, this shoudl allow you to search for a tarrif which not only saves you money but has all the texts and mins you actually need! - currently looking at 3 they have a few phones on at £10 a month with 75 mins and 'unlimited' texts (usualy between 1000 and 3000) and 300 3 to 3 mins, so that might be worth while looking into and you never know your current companie might offer to price match it or do something simular!

i agree with the savings this probably could save you a lot of money in the long run if you put it all of the MBNA debt since that is currently at nearly 26% apr so you will be paying massive amounts of interest ~ i estimate between £60-70 a month of your minimum payment will be interest at this rate so you might only be paying a couple of pounds of the total amount each month

WASHER

Jules, how is your credit rating? Can you get a low APR/zero % card at all? You could transfer some of the highest balances onto that to save you interest. If you can get a low apr card use Quidco.com for cashback too.

LittleMoog

miss_missy wrote: »

have to agree with washer here

As I said before, I also agree, but it's a no-go area with OH, he feels bad enough about his dad giving us a deposit, without us diverting it to credit cards.

miss_missy

julespickles wrote: »

Didn't include the loans in the debts section, as can't overpay them, so regard them more like bills. They're not due to finish until 2012 and 2013 though Sofa loan finishes in October though.

Yes, we'll be trying to clear barclaycard and MBNA first. Overdrafts (total £5000) have pretty low interest rates (~8% on mine), and will be tackled last.

tixys right they should be in the debt as they are debt and are you sure you cant over pay on the loans? some allow this also depending on interest rates it sometimes better to reqrganise loans although the credit cards would be the thing you need to work at first due to the interest rates

LittleMoog

WASHER wrote: »

Jules, how is your credit rating? Can you get a low APR/zero % card at all? You could transfer some of the highest balances onto that to save you interest. If you can get a low apr card use Quidco.com for cashback too.

No missed payments in last 3 years, just no money left after them! I've applied for a 0% card, to see if I can transfer Barclaycard/MBNA which are my cards, just waiting to hear.

miss_missy

julespickles wrote: »

As I said before, I also agree, but it's a no-go area with OH, he feels bad enough about his dad giving us a deposit, without us diverting it to credit cards.

hi
can understand what your saying however maybe its worth showing your other have snowball calculator first without the 2500 paying off a debt then with it paying off one of the highest aprs

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

try it for yourself but i have to say it can be quite difficult to see what it comes back, however we will all be here to help