Scary! My SOA

PigginSkint

Hi All! Well, here goes, this is my SOA. I already have an idea of some changes I can make but would be grateful for any advice.


State of affairs
Date: 3/8/06

Monthly income:
Salary £923.87 (incs deduction for travel pass)
Tax credit £191.47
Child benefit £69.80
Maintenance from ex £100.00
Avon sales £50.00 (approximate)
Partner's contribution £500.00 (approximate - variable)
Total £1,835.14

Monthly outgoings:
Mortgage £297.18 (inc.s buildings and contents ins)
MPPI £20.63 (could be reduced by shopping around)
Halifax homeowner loan £86.83 (secured loan)
LTSB personal loan £182.83
Council tax £83.00
Gas £40.00 (need to phone through meter reading)
Electric £31.00
Water £15.45
Phone £27.00 (have moved this - will reduce to £23)
TV licence £11.37
Broadband £21.99
Finance for windows £45.70
Account charges £10.00
OD interest £60.00 (will be less - upgraded acc.)
Egg card £10.00
Amex credit card £41.00
BA Amex credit card £76.00
Capital one credit card £70.00
Tesco credit card £34.00
Halifax credit card £50.00
Sainsburys credit card £89.00
Virgin credit card £0.00
Amazon credit card £39.00
Intelligent Finance credit card £50.00
LTSB credit card £109.00 (approximate)
Kays catalogue £25.00 (will be 0 soon)
Littlewoods catalogue £150.00 (big at the moment but about to drop)
Food £150.00 (approximate)
Total £1,825.98

we are just about breaking even! :eek:

Debts :eek:
Mortgage – Halifax £31,000.00 SVR 6.5%
(outstanding balance = approximate)
Halifax Homeowner loan £9,000.00 (approximate) SVR 6.5%
I think of this one as an extension of my mortgage because effectively it is
Lloyds loan £9,746.76
Total for loans 18,746.76

Egg card £489.68 APR 17.9%
Amex credit card £1,370.00 APR 4.9% life of balance
BA Amex credit card £2,574.34 APR 4.9% life of balance
Capital one credit card £2,310.86 APR 5.9% life of balance
Tesco credit card £1,135.14 APR 6.05%
Halifax credit card £2,919.58 APR 20.65% purchases
22.95% cash Just done a B.T. to Virgin
Sainsburys credit card £2,954.08 APR 5.9% APR life of balance
Virgin credit card £0.00 0% till April 07
Amazon credit card £1,948.72 APR 12.94%
just done B.T. to Virgin
Intelligent Finance c.c. £2,497.68 APR 4.95 life of balance
LTSB credit card £5446.14 APR 1.9% until March 07
Total for credit cards £23,646.22_pale_

Kays catalogue £54.88 0%
Littlewoods catalogue £1,006.04 0% - part of balance not due for payment yet
Total for catalogues £1,060.92

Overdraft £5,000.00 (this is the limit which I shall be up to again just before payday! Currently £3600)

I think that's everything! (I hope so!!)

Johnhowell

PigginSkint wrote:

Monthly outgoings:
Mortgage £297.18 (inc.s buildings and contents ins)
MPPI £20.63 (could be reduced by shopping around)

Just a couple of things, others will be along to advice on other items.
Remove the insurance elements from your mortgage - should get them cheaper as stand alone items. See https://www.moneysupermarket.co.uk
Also, cancel this PPI. There are have been lots of posts regarding the failings of such cover.

John

**purpleprincess**

Hiya! :wave:................... Well done for posting!!!.............Scary bit over now!!! ..................... Could you get a better deal on the broadband? ........................What are the account charges for? ........................ How many people is the food amount for? This could be reduced, take a look at the Old Style board for ideas ............................. Any chance of transferring the cards to a 0% balance one??

**purpleprincess**

(loss of paragraphs I'm afraid!! )

Floss

Just one word of advice...don't count on always having your maintenance, even if it is through the CSA. If your ex comes out of work, or sick, they cannot pay & you will not get that £100. I know, because my ex lost his job a few years ago & it took 6 months before he got another (£2040 lost in total).

try & use this as "extra" to throw at the debts when you have it, but not as a vital part of the total income

dave318

You've started off well. transferring the highest rated to Virgin, (2% fee for BT though I think). There are still a few cards out there with no fee for BT.

Phone - You could get it down further. We have Line rental with BT at £11.50 per month and use Just Dial Saver (now part of Talktalk) for free evening and weekend calls, and Call1899 for 3p calls during the day. Pay virtually nothing to Just Dial (unless we forget the daytime rule) and spend about £2 max per month on 1899. BT won't let us pay any less than £15 per month mind you, but I am using that like a small savings account, at £3.50 per month.

Broadband - You can get much cheaper now. Or a bundle with phone. (Avoid TV package)

Gas - Quite expensive. can u switch.

Next, get rid of Egg card, current highest interest. If you still have Credit raitng to get Virgin Card, can you get another 0% BT card and get the rest on to that. Just pay minimum (Just, he says) to every other card except highest interest and get snowballing.

Good luck:money:

Debt_Free_Chick

Let me just reorganise this, so we can see what your normal outgoings are, without the loan repayments.

Monthly income:
Salary £923.87 (incs deduction for travel pass)
Tax credit £191.47
Child benefit £69.80
Maintenance from ex £100.00
Avon sales £50.00 (approximate)
Partner's contribution £500.00 (approximate - variable)
Total £1,835.14

Monthly outgoings:
Mortgage £297.18 (inc.s buildings and contents ins)
MPPI £20.63 (could be reduced by shopping around)
Council tax £83.00
Gas £40.00 (need to phone through meter reading)
Electric £31.00
Water £15.45
Phone £27.00 (have moved this - will reduce to £23)
TV licence £11.37
Broadband £21.99
Food £150.00 (approximate)
Account charges £10.00

Total £707.62

Surplus £1127.52

Credit repayments
Halifax homeowner £86.83 (secured loan) - Bal £9000 @6.5%
LTSB personal loan £182.83 - Bal £9746.76 @?%
Finance for windows £45.70 - Bal £? @ ?%
OD interest £60.00 - Bal £3600 @ ?%
Egg card £10.00 - Bal £489.68 @17.9%
Amex credit card £41.00 - Bal £1370 @ 4.9% LOB
BA Amex credit card £76.00 - Bal £2574.34 @ 4.9% LOB
Capital one credit card £70.00 - Bal £2310.86 @ 5.9% LOB
Tesco credit card £34.00 - Bal £1135.14 @ 6.05%
Halifax credit card £50.00 - Bal £2919.58 @ 20.65%
Sainsburys credit card £89.00 - Bal £2954.08 @ 5.9% LOB
Virgin credit card £0.00 - Bal £nil
Amazon credit card £39.00 - £1948.72 @ 12.94%
Intelligent Finance credit card £50.00 - Bal £2497.68 @4.95% LOB
LTSB credit card £109.00 (approximate) - Bal £5446.14 @1.7% until Mar07
Kays catalogue £25.00 (will be 0 soon) - Bal £54.88 @0%
Littlewoods catalogue £150.00 (big at the moment but about to drop) - Bal £1006.04 @ 0%

Total Repayments £1118.36 (Surplus £9.16)
Total Debt £47,053.90 (incl Homeowner loan but excl Window Finance)
Debt ignoring Homeowner loan £38,053.90

Your normal outgoings are "OK", but you might be able to shave a few quid off here & there.

You have enough money left over to pay the minimum payments, so you're not yet at crisis point. BUT the minimum payments are probably paying little off the balance and largely interest payments, so you MUST reign in your spending. Take a cold hard look at what you are buying on credit - the cards and the catalogues, in particular. I suspect that these are things which don't appear on your normal outgoings - clothes? personal grooming (hair cuts etc)? Holidays/Leisure/Kids activities? Hobbies?

Imagine if you had no debt ... you would have over £1,000 to spend each month :eek:

At the moment, you can't afford to spend any more money on your cards. If you do, you'll get the stage whereby you can't manage the minimum repayments.

So ... firstly, we need to look at anything else you need to buy every month and see how that can be funded.

Can you analyse your spending and see if it's been "necessary" purchases or comfort shopping, treats or anything else you might have to manage without for a few months?

Can you also tell us a little about your circumstances - you have kids, yes?

Debt_Free_Chick

Put details of ALL your debts into this Snowball Calculator. You'll need details of the current balance and the min repayments - whether they are fixed or a percentage of the balance OS. This will show you how long it will take to pay off the current balances.

PigginSkint

Johnhowell wrote:

Also, cancel this PPI. There are have been lots of posts regarding the failings of such cover.

John

Really? that seems a bit scary! What are the problems with it?

PigginSkint

**purpleprincess** wrote:

Could you get a better deal on the broadband? ........................What are the account charges for? ........................ How many people is the food amount for? This could be reduced, take a look at the Old Style board for ideas ............................. Any chance of transferring the cards to a 0% balance one??

Re Broadband - I think I am still tied in. I definitely have a 12 month minimum contract (expires December) which is £14.99 but when I took it out I also opted for the Wireless and Talk option which was free for the 1st 6 months and then went up. I am not sure whether I can just cancel the wireless and talk option - this is something i need to investigate.

Account charges are for my overdraft. I saw my account manager on Saturday who said she could save me money by upgrading my current account so I pay less interest on my overdraft (11% I think instead of 17%) so obviously I agreed. What she omitted to mention was that my OD would be more - £10 per month instead of £7. Naughty! Not sure I have many options here though as my OD is £5K!

The food amount is for 3 people - me, OH and 11 year old son. I'm veggie so I eat cheaply:D but the others aren't. This amount is a guess. However I have got OH to agree to having fewer takeaways - usually chippy chips once a week and the occasional chinese or indian, got him to agree to chippy chips once a fortnight and nothing else!!

We 0% credit cards- it has taken me long enough to move the balances to low life of balance interest rates. The credit limits aren't big enough compared to the size of the balances. My aim is once the promotional APR rates expire to move the balances onto other low LOB APR cards.

Thanks for the all the advice though - much appreciated!!

PigginSkint

dave318 wrote:

Phone - You could get it down further.

Broadband - You can get much cheaper now. Or a bundle with phone. (Avoid TV package)

Gas - Quite expensive. can u switch.

Next, get rid of Egg card, current highest interest. If you still have Credit raitng to get Virgin Card, can you get another 0% BT card and get the rest on to that. Just pay minimum (Just, he says) to every other card except highest interest and get snowballing.

Good luck:money:

Thanks for this

Phone - Southern Electric are giving me £40 off my electric bill for just giving it a go for a month. No tie in! Sounds good to me - take the £40 then shop around again, so thanks for the ideas.

Gas - as I said I need to phone the meter reading through as it hasn't been read for a while. It should bring the bill down. I discovered some months ago that for some unknown reason the heating was coming on for 4 hours morning and night! :eek: No need in such a small house now with double glazing. Have altered timers so it is just an hour each morning and evening - obviously the heating is not on at all at the moment, just the water. This should bring it down substantially.

I have my gas and leccy with Southern Electric - a budget account with no standing charge. When I last compared the cost (a while ago now, admittedly) I looked at the actually unit costs and discovered I was still getting it cheaper than the best option. I agree though that it is something I need to check.

We are also practising energy saving - making sure lights are switched off, gradually swapping over to energy saving lightbulbs, not leaving things on standby.

Re Egg card - yes this is next on the list to move.

thanks very much for your advice