Invitation to scrutinise my SOA!

Siouxsie32

Hi MSEs,

Below is my SOA which is actually less frightening than I thought it would be! I currently, temporarily, am living with a friend rent free and need to be able to give her some rent money as soon as I'm able. My transport costs look high but can't be cut down as that's only commuting costs. My salary also varies, sometimes it's a bit more and it's rarely less then the £1800 I've put down. I've also not included car insurance and tax etc as that's been paid annually recently and I'm looking for both a short and long term solution.

There's a shortfall every month and I've been getting by by doing things like mystery shopping, working as an extra, car boot sales to sell my unwanted stuff etc. I've not included this in my monthly income figure as it varies so much and also because it's unreliable.

My Nationwide loan end in December this year and the Egg loan ends in December of next year.

Looking forward to any advice anyone can offer me.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1800
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1800
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 400
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 13
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 653

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Nationwide Loan................3081......342.4.....6.9
Egg Loan.......................4042......224.4.....6.67
Cahoot Loan....................5000......120.......19.9
Citibank Mastercard............6000......205.......26.9
MBNA Visa......................500.......25.89.....19.9
Virgin Mastercard..............2200......55........29.9
Capital One Visa...............2250......66........30.28
Marriott Visa..................10800.....250.......20.9
Egg Visa.......................4000......122.5.....29.9
Egg Mastercard.................3400......100.......16.9
Total unsecured debts..........41273.....1511.19...-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,800
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 653
Available for debt repayments........... 1,147
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,511.19
Amount short for making debt repayments. -364.19
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -41,273
Net Assets.............................. -40,273
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

barbarawright

£470 a month on travel :eek: But no other costs associated with the car? And £70 a month for mobile phones? :eek: again. Surely these can be cut? I know you're living rent-free but wouldn't it be cheaper to pay rent somewhere nearer your work?

Tixy

Hi

Even with so few outgoings (and I would say that these are not sustainable at this level as you will need car insurance and tax and to pay rent etc) you are a long way from meeting your monthly repayments simply because they are so high.

Have you so far managed to keep up with your minimum payments on your debts? do you have any defaults/late payment markers etc?

I notice you are selling things at car boots etc. £41k is a huge amount to have spent primarily on credit cards - what did you spend it all on? was it on any large tangible items you could sell or was it just living well beyond your means?

Looking at the costs you have listed - if the other travel is commuting do you need the car? could you sell to raise cash from the sale and save the petrol, insurance, tax, servicing costs etc?

Mobile phone is very high - are you in contract, if not you should be able to get this down to £25 max. If you are in contract phone and ask if they will reduce you to a lower tariff.

Groceries could possibly be reduced a little with meal planning and buying basic brands (perhaps aim for £70).

Have you spken to any of the debt charities at all? Is your salary likely to increase anytime soon? even if you could meet minumum payments (using your extra income etc) its going to be really tough to pay off £40k on that salary.

Siouxsie32

Thanks for the reply Barbara. It would look that way but no. Moving isn't an option just now and reducing those costs also isn't an option. Likewise with the mobile phone bill. Some of those costs are work related which is factored into my wages. I rarely make personal phone calls but I do send a lot of texts - that could be cut down. Not much of a saving though. On my last 3 phone bills the costs of going over my texting allowance was around £10. Keeping it under the allowance could save me £10. It all helps.

In terms of car costs, I suppose there's an MOT once a year and any associated costs but that's not much. On a monthly basis it's only petrol I pay for.

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi and welcome to the boards, im stuck as to what to offer or where to start .... but il give you some hugs... what are the other travel costs if you have teh car ? how are you maintaining the shortfall ? it may be wise to speak with cccs or citizens advice you have alot of debt that you dont seem to be able to manage and the shortfall against the minimum outgoings is huge ... :S x

Siouxsie32

While some of the debt is from living beyond my means in the past, the vast majority of it is from a business venture that hit the credit crunch wall that a lot of business ventures hit so no, there's nothing tangible to sell.

The fact that the 2 loans will be up in a year and a half means I'm looking for both short and long term solutions. After December I'll be £342 better off a month and then a year later a further the £224 payments will stop. In an ideal world, those funds will be ploughed into the credit card debt to reduce them.

The car is needed as living in the sticks just now with no public transport links so need to use it to get to my commute starting point. The petrol is only for that with the odd run around for pleasure.

I'll definitely look into the phone - it's a new contract for £35 a month so there's still about a year left to run on it but I'll look at where the extra charges are and see what I can do about that.

You're right, the food bill could be cut a bit, and often is. Could probably easily cut it to £80 and maybe even a bit more.

This is all good stuff....I'm grateful.

**confuzzled**

Susie is that your basic contractual payment?????? If not could you speak to your Mobile phone provider(assuming you're on contract) and ask for a new tariff to suit your needs i.e more texts included, even if it bumps up your monthly payment from say £35 to £45 it'll still be a saving on the £70 your currently saving! If it's not on contract look at getting text 'bolt ons' to help keep cost down.

Do you REALLY need the life assurance???? If you do, can you find a better deal elsewhere?

The other travel costs, what are these?? Are there any discount cards/passes you can get to help with these costs? Might be worth looking into?
whats your credit rating like? Could you transfer some of the existing balances onto a 0% card to help you pay the balance rather than just the interest?????

RAS

susie-sue wrote: »

In terms of car costs, I suppose there's an MOT once a year and any associated costs but that's not much. On a monthly basis it's only petrol I pay for.

Hi

That is probably the sort of magic thinking that got you into this situation.

How do you pay for the MOT, car tax, insurance and any other maintenance? Whack it on the credit card and avoid adding it to your monthly budget?

My guess is that this costs you anything up to £1500 per year, depending on repairs.

The money has to be paid out and is a normal expense so you have to budget for it.

Tixy

That sort of makes more sense knowing how the debt occurred.

If you can make enough money from extras to keep going until nationwide is paid off I agree you'll stand a much better chance of keeping things going. My concern is that you will have to incur more costs at some point (such as the rent and the additional car costs, plus you have nothing for entertainment/haircuts/presents etc which in the long temr you will need).

Its not ideal but have you considered taking a repayment holiday of say 6m on the egg loan, which will allow you a bit of breathing space until the nationwide is paid off. If you do consider it do talk to them about the extra cost/interest implications etc.

Is your signature extra money you have earned? if so and you can keep going at that sort of level then it may work out okay, still a hard slog of course but doable.

Good luck

Siouxsie32

My credit rating is quite ropey. I assume it's because of the amount of unsecured debt I have versus my income. I wouldnt think I could get a loan or another credit card although I am a member of a credit union so maybe they could help?

I hadn't considered cutting the life insurance. It's only £13 a month so I suppose I just overlooked it and concentrated on the bigger figures.

The transport figures are what they are. I know it's high but there's no way of cutting them down any more.

The shortfall is being maintained by the odd extra jobs that I do on my days off, car boot sale revenue and I've done a bit of 'buy a bargain, sell for a profit' recently too. It all mounts up and definitely keeps my head above the water. The figures in my signature are the extra income I've generated in recent months to do this. You're right Tixy, it is a hard slog but I'm fine with that. It's more or less sustainable which is why I'm not in as much of a panic as your average person would be with a shortfall of £400ish each month.

I've also discovered the beauty of cheap beauty products and DIY hair dyes! Not very glamourous but hey, can't go for the swanky hairdos that I'd like to right now. A quick cut and colour every 4 months'll do. I'll just have to do it in a good month when I know I'll get paid for extra jobs etc.

The credit card payments are what's caused the problems. I'm really at their mercy. My interest rates have all gone up and I reckon my minimum payments have doubled in the last 18 months. Even in the last month a minimum payment on a card which was £180 last month is £230 this month. Spread that across all my cards and suddenly my wages aren't enough.

RAS

Hi

You know that as long as you have not spent anymore on a card, you can insist on paying it off at the old rate and then close the account?