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Soa

Hi,

Can you help, where should I start saving money first?


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,150.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.83
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,150.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758.50


Comments

  • thewinkshow
    thewinkshow Posts: 333 Forumite
    my debt info is the following:

    Barlclay card - 6.3% life of balance - 6450 debt
    Capital one- 15% interest variable - 5000 debt
    Halifax card - 5.9% life of balance - 3500 debt
    tv on finance - 30%, 4 year repayment - 500 debt
    overdraft - 31 pound a month - 1250 debt
    mbna - 19.9% - 3500 debt
    american express - 18% 600 debt
    natwest - 8.9 life of balance - 1600 debt


    where would you start first? most of the cards are maxed so I cannot shuffle the debt around to cheaper cards.
    I also am unable to get more cards
    mobile phone is 34 a month
    car insurance 40 a month 21% interest, could maybe pay the 400 upfront??avoid interest?

    thank you
  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    Hi winkshow. Well done on posting your SoA. Firstly it shows that you have quite a large surplus each month. Is this right? and if so what have you been spending it on?
    Hi,

    Can you help, where should I start saving money first?


    Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

    Monthly Income Details
    Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,150.00


    Monthly Expense Details

    In Your Home
    Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.00
    Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.00 is this interest cost or daily charges?
    Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 is this board - do you live with your parents?

    Motoring & Public Transport
    Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
    Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.83
    Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
    Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33 is this enough to cover MOT, servicing, tyres etc?

    Debt Repayments
    Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445.00 are these the minimums?
    Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00 the tv?
    Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Entertainment

    Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 this is good (are you sure this is all you spend?)

    Clothes, Health & Beauty

    Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
    Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 ?
    New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 do you not buy any new clothes?

    Odds & Sods
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,150.00


    Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758.50

    my debt info is the following:

    Barlclay card - 6.3% life of balance - 6450 debt
    Capital one- 15% interest variable - 5000 debt
    Halifax card - 5.9% life of balance - 3500 debt
    tv on finance - 30%, 4 year repayment - 500 debt
    overdraft - 31 pound a month - 1250 debt
    mbna - 19.9% - 3500 debt
    american express - 18% 600 debt
    natwest - 8.9 life of balance - 1600 debt


    where would you start first? most of the cards are maxed so I cannot shuffle the debt around to cheaper cards.
    I also am unable to get more cards
    mobile phone is 34 a month
    car insurance 40 a month 21% interest, could maybe pay the 400 upfront??avoid interest?

    thank you

    Okay the main thing is whether you have £390 spare each month? If you do what has it be spent on in the past? If not then you need to work out where its being spent - a spending diary is the best tip for this - have a month where you write down everything you spend, even little bits like a lottery ticket, a can of pop or a newspaper. Also you might want to look through last months statements to see how much you withdrew in cash and think where that was spent.

    With regards to your debts - if you have the £391 spare then you could pretty much afford the car insurance when its next due just from that one month's surplus. In the meantime until it is due I would focus on paying off the MBNA card first as it seems to be your highest APR (after the TV) - or you could look into whether the TV can be overpaid to save interest.
    Once the MBNA card is clear (around 8months) you will be in much better position and may be able to get a 0% deal to move some other debts on to that card.

    Your APRs in general are not that bad, you just need to focus on the slog of repaying debts until you are in a better position.

    Good luck
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • niccatw
    niccatw Posts: 3,096 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I agree with Tixy. A spending diary is essential if you should ahve a surplus each month but you never see any of it; I found mine a real eye-opener! Here's a link if you'd prefer things to be online http://www.spendingdiary.com/

    If you feel you need a psychological boost by getting rid of one creditor from the list, then I'd go for the TV loan, then MBNA. Otherwise, always tackle the highest interest rate first. Have a play about with the snowball calculator to see the difference overpaymen ts can make http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

    Good luck - and well done on taking the first steps :)
    Jan10: 28,315.81 Jan11: 18,015.32 Jan12: 7,682.58 Jan13: 2,987.73 Current debt: 1,225.55
    HFC [STRIKE]1896.10. [/STRIKE] 225.55 SLC2 [STRIKE]5123.34[/STRIKE] 0 Others [STRIKE]2085[/STRIKE] 1000 Bcard [STRIKE]1172.60[/STRIKE] 0

    Mike's Mob
  • savingmummy
    savingmummy Posts: 2,915 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud!

    Hi and welcome :)

    It would be clearer and easier to read if you use the MSE soa http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
    This one includes all debts evenly and calculates easily to have a better understanding!x
    DebtFree FEB 2010!
    Slight blip in 2013 - Debtfree Aug 2014 :j

    Savings £132/£1000.
  • Hi,

    What are your minimum payments on each of your cards? Usually around 3% of the balance.

    We need to see what you have left once your minimum payments are thrown into the mix.

    Also it maybe worth opening a BASIC account with somewhere you don't owe money to (co-op Cashminder is meant to be good) and having your wages paid into that. They have no overdraft so it's starting a-fresh. This also means you don't need a good credit rating to get one.

    Maybe if you try to get your current overdraft just within its limit and treat it like a separate debt then you'll save £30 a month in fees. ALSO once you've got a new bank account set up you could claim any overdraft fees back from your old bank - this may help knock a bit off your overdraft. (only if they are bank charges though not if it's just simple interest)

    Post up the card minimums and we'll be happy to work out what order to pay them off and find out your debt-free date!!!
  • thewinkshow
    thewinkshow Posts: 333 Forumite
    edited 3 March 2010 at 7:12PM
    Hello,

    Many thanks for the replies, appreciated

    I am within my overdraft limit, the charged are due to Halifax and the 1 pound a day charge for being in it

    my minimum payments are as follows:

    Barlclay card - 6.3% life of balance - 6450 debt - 150 pound a month
    Capital one- 15% interest variable - 5000 debt - 140 a month
    Halifax card - 5.9% life of balance - 3500 debt - 35 pound a month
    tv on finance - 30%, 4 year repayment - 500 debt - 27 pound a month
    overdraft - 31 pound a month - 1250 debt - pound a day
    mbna - 19.9% - 3500 debt - 64 pound a month
    american express - 18% 600 debt - 20 pound a month
    natwest - 8.9 life of balance - 1600 debt - 35 pound a month

    Also my credit rating shows as being 901 out of 1000 and 5 stars, I have never missed any payments or anything - the problem is the capital one and MBNA have now come to the end of their 0% deal and due to my high debt and recession i am unable to get accepted for the another 0% card to move it on, i used to always move it, im not as concerned about the life of the balance deals.


    thanks
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 36,543 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    i am confused?

    You appear to be making no contributions to the household you live in?

    You have £400 spare per month with which to tackle you debt. Do you actually have that much left?

    Cap1 and MBNA might be at the end of their 0% deals but you are paying a lot more than that on the overdraft - about 28% so that is what you need to clear first.

    Can you re-pay the TV early without penalty. If so do that as well as the debt is more costly than your cards.

    Then sort out MBNA.
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
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