In shock - please advise...

mandleberry

This is my first post - I look at the site and have used some of the tips, but think I now need some major help.

I knew that OH had been hitting his credit cards, but didn't realise to what extent. We have been living above our means for a long time now, and OH gets defensive and won't talk constuctively about it - thinks we'll win the lottery and everything will be sorted. What's that flying pig I see through my window?

Monthly outgoings:
Mortgage £523
Elec £50
Council tax £123
water £37
broadband £25
Denplan £18
BUPA £138
House ins £32
Sky £36
car ins £24
other car ins £20
phone £22

I have discovered the borrowings on OHs ccs:
Nat West £2237
Marbles £719
Trustcard £1573
Barclaycard £115
Capital One £944
and I can't find a statement for the Egg card....

We have an O/D on our current account of £7824
His business O/D is £8629
and he has another partnership business O/D where his share is £4250.

Last year his business made a loss of £1350
I earn approx £640 per month, and have 1 credit card that I pay off every month.

As you can see I have not included anything for food, petrol, clothes... I can't get my head around it all at the moment and feel so confused. We are selling things on Ebay but it's a drop in the ocean. I know that people will say that the BUPA payment is an indulgence, but it was advised by a financial advisor some years ago when OH went self employed, and he has had a life threatening illness which has been treated several times under BUPA, saving months of waiting on the NHS and the intendant difficulties of working and earning money when you're unwell - sick pay from the state is derisory!

Having written this down I feel better in one way but angry, ashamed and still very confused.

What can I do? How can I begin to put this right?

CLAPTON

a question first

you say his business lost 1,350....is this after he has taken money out to live on (how much) or before any withdrawl from the business?

CLAPTON

sorry second question ...what is the house worth and what is the mortgage

lil'H

Welcome Mandleberry!

What is the BUPA payments for, how good a cover does that give you as it seems quite a hefty outgoing?

also whats DENplan (me being curious!)

Broadband can definately be got for cheaper, someone else will come along and tell you the best rate i'm sure!

How necesarry is your sky, would freeview channels be enough?

Also anyway of securing more income, overtime etc? How is OH business doing so far this year?

What may also help is to find out what the interest rates are on each of the cards, best to move the highest interest rate balances to the lower ones, so that you aren't adding more than needed in interest.

Sure people will be able to help, sorry i'm not much more use brain shutting down for the night! You've done the right thing and are facing the issue, you'll sort it, it will get better from here.


lil'H
x

mandleberry

That's after money taken out to live on...

Forgot to say - we use 18185 for phone calls, and did a uswitch comparison and swap a couple of months ago. Also get a payment from Tax Credits - which varies, and I don't understand their working out at all. Am awaiting possible change after sending latest financial info to them (but not banking on it....)

EagerLearner

Hi Mandleberry - thanks for your post & for being brave enough to sit down and talk about it. There are lots of experienced and helpful people on here who will help you - be prepared to start making some changes though as it won't be easy.

It sounds as if you manage your finances well but your OH doesn't do so well - has he admitted to this? Have you sat down and had a (calm) talk about trying to resolve it? Maybe call your local Citizens Advice Bureau to see about financial companies that can help - the type that are not there to make money from you.

My 2 cents would be:

Monthly outgoings:
Mortgage £523 - When is this up for renewal? Can you get a better rate?
Elec £50 - Turn things off rather than standby mode for now - then as per Martins e-mail - check for best elec companies in the next month or so to see if you could save cash with a different provider
Council tax £123 - Not much you can do about this one, it's expensive though!
water £37 - Can you move to metered? I have just had a meter installed and expect to save £5 a month - not much but adds up
broadband £25 - Better deals to be had when your contract ends - Martin recommends several - see his advice. I went for Madasafish as that's £10.99 for 6 months then £16.99 for the remaining 6 months.
Denplan £18 - Is this really needed?
BUPA £138 - Maybe this is essential, but can you get a better quote from AXA PPP or someone?
House ins £32 - Can you shop around and get better rate?
Sky £36 - Can you cancel this? Get Freeview - Film4 is now free.
car ins £24 - Can you reduce this by shopping around?
other car ins £20 - Other car...? You know what folks are going to say...
phone £22 - First change to another supplier like OneTel who say they beat BT line rental cost - also check Martin's article on how to save money on home calls. You can also use VoipCheap.com - use your broadband and make it work for you - free calls to the UK landlines and all over the world via the pc - takes minutes to set up and you'll be making free calls instantly if you have a headset for phone calls.

Other folks will be more knowledgeable about the loans/credit cards etc.

My final tip would be to join quidco.com - I have earned £198 in the last 3 months for nothing - they are great if you are going to open a new bank account (get £50 Quidco cashback for opening an A&L account), £30 for opening a Cahoot savings account, reserve a hotel (get £10 back from hotels.com), getting travel insurance (I got £12 back), house insurance, Tesco shopping - it all adds up and there are hundreds of well known high street names on Quidco just waiting for you to click through and take up their product - then just watch the cash back pile up - it's real money that goes into your bank account each month, normally as soon as the supplier hais paid Quidco the money.

Good luck & keep your chin up!

mandleberry

{What is the BUPA payments for, how good a cover does that give you as it seems quite a hefty outgoing?

also whats DENplan (me being curious!)}

Bupa covers him for heart and I don't think it's something I could get him to stop.

Denplan is dental insurance - no NHS dentists here and that covers us both. Probably costs slightly more than if we paid for things as needed but this way there are no nasty surprises!

CLAPTON

how much does he take out of the business then?

mandleberry

Clapton - the house is worth around £380,000 and the mortgage is £87.000. I know we should sell the house and clear our debts, but it's not that easy as OH runs business from home and needs the worksho and studio space that this house gives us.

mandleberry

CLAPTON wrote:

how much does he take out of the business then?

no fixed amount - just cash when he needs it.

elizw

you dont say how old you are but it might be possible to remortgage depending on OH health and as long as your credit rating has remained ok - never get behind with the repayments to keep it good

- to get rid of all the debts except the other business overdraft (they total about 22000 may put up to 150 on the mortgage at a guess - but better than all that worry over credit cards -

another job at weekends or evenings may be necessary - rent out any spare rooms to anyone - write down every penny you spend - give up sky definitely - dont buy newspapers biscuits sweets etc - also things like fabric conditioner once a week total over £1000 over 20 years

and another look at his business outgoings - what sort of business is it