Help please

twinmum07

We have just re-done our SOA and i can't believe how different it is from the one we posted 7/8 months ago.

We can still make some extra savings but i can't quite believe we were £920 short each month and we now have £758 extra for debt-busting

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1078.76
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2771.61
Benefits................................ 200
Other income............................ 200
Total monthly income.................... 4250.37
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1234
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 375
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 149
Electricity............................. 109
Gas..................................... 54
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 27
Telephone (land line)................... 42
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 24
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 300
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 98
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 30
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 35
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 21
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2878

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 14000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 189000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 232000...(1234).....4.99
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4880.....(375)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 236880....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclays.......................3683.82...60........3
Joint Overdraft................700.......8.........17
J Overdraft....................1500......18........17
J Tesco........................3236......65........18.3
B Halifax......................3500......45........12.9
J Old Overdraft................1589......25........16
B Virgin.......................4715......110.......26.9
J HSBC.........................6490......165.......25.9
B Overdraft....................1780......50........19
B HSBC.........................4250......68........17.9
Total unsecured debts..........31443.82..614.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,250.37
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,878
Available for debt repayments........... 1,372.37
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 614
Amount left after debt repayments....... 758.37
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 189,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -236,880
Total Unsecured debt.................... -31,443.82
Net Assets.............................. -79,323.82
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

rugbychick81

Congratulations on the turn around!

MatyMoo

That is a great achievement, well done you :T:j:T

[Deleted User]

Hi, well done!

Justto say once you have paid the minimum off all debts - make your overpayments to those with the highest APR's (i.e. the ones that are costing you the most)

Domino9

NeverAgain_2

You have managed to increase your income by £1,350 since your last statement, but your debts have also increased by £6,000 - nearly £1,000 every month.

Expenses have come down by only £200, which is not much, given that you are dealing with big numbers.

Things should improve as the figures on the new statement kick in.

But as you say, you still need to concentrate on reducing expenses.

I would also want to satisfy myself the increase in debt did not point to an underlying problem somewhere else.

twinmum07

NeverAgain wrote: »

You have managed to increase your income by £1,350 since your last statement, but your debts have also increased by £6,000 - nearly £1,000 every month.

Expenses have come down by only £200, which is not much, given that you are dealing with big numbers.

Things should improve as the figures on the new statement kick in.

But as you say, you still need to concentrate on reducing expenses.

I would also want to satisfy myself the increase in debt did not point to an underlying problem somewhere else.

Thank you for your comments.

The extra £6000 debt is mostly made up of 4 overdrafts which make up £5700 and were not included in the first SOA. i think in all honesty we just saw the overdrafts as a way of life rather than a debt but we have got our heads sorted on those now and they are a debt but the APRs put them in the middle of the list. My overdraft is being reduced by £20 a month by the bank so is very, very gradually shrinking. When we did our initial SOA we just couldn't make all of the monthly payments so at the start of the debt journey things went up a little, not through spending but through missing payments and cards where minimum payments didn't cover the monthly interest. There are no major underlying problems but we still have tweaking to do on our habits.

We have spent a lot of time working on the credit cards and negotiating temporary rate changes, which have made a huge difference to us but it has meant we haven't had chance to really work through our expenses. Being back at work has meant an increase in fuel expenses as I work 30 minutes away so we had cut our fuel bill by being a lot more careful about car use but it has gone back up due to the commute to work and back. Now I am back at work and into the swing of things we can put our full efforts into blasting the expenses too.

Thank you for the expenses related kick up the bottom!

twinmum07

Domino9 wrote: »

Hi, well done!

Justto say once you have paid the minimum off all debts - make your overpayments to those with the highest APR's (i.e. the ones that are costing you the most)

Domino9

Thank you - I used to pay more than the minimum on all my cards, which was silly as I have a huge difference in APRs. Now everything is on direct debit for the minimum payment and every extra penny goes on the 'big beast'!

NeverAgain_2

...Thank you for the expenses related kick up the bottom!...

I can see it must have taken a lot of time and effort to knock things into their current shape.

No mean feat given you also have children and a day job to attend to.

You now have a monthly surplus, the budget will come right in the end, so no need to beat yourself up too much over expenses.

Most gain for the least pain might come from your telephone/mobile and internet, £107 seems a lot, even for a family.

If your are with Sky, putting the telephone and internet in with your subscription could be worthwhile.

MFWannabe

twinmum07 wrote: »

We have just re-done our SOA and i can't believe how different it is from the one we posted 7/8 months ago.

We can still make some extra savings but i can't quite believe we were £920 short each month and we now have £758 extra for debt-busting

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1078.76
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2771.61
Benefits................................ 200
Other income............................ 200
Total monthly income.................... 4250.37
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1234
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 375
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 149
Electricity............................. 109 - This is huge; does this include arrears? If not check comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper
Gas..................................... 54
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 27
Telephone (land line)................... 42 - See comment below in satellite tv
Mobile phone............................ 50 - is this for two? Drop to lowest tarrifs
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 24 - Combining landline and interenet with this should be a lot cheaper
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 300
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 98
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - you need to put something in here
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 30
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 35
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 21
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 - you need to put something in here
Haircuts................................ 0 - Never?
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2878

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 14000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 189000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 232000...(1234).....4.99
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4880.....(375)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 236880....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclays.......................3683.82...60........3
Joint Overdraft................700.......8.........17
J Overdraft....................1500......18........17
J Tesco........................3236......65........18.3
B Halifax......................3500......45........12.9
J Old Overdraft................1589......25........16
B Virgin.......................4715......110.......26.9
J HSBC.........................6490......165.......25.9
B Overdraft....................1780......50........19
B HSBC.........................4250......68........17.9
Total unsecured debts..........31443.82..614.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,250.37
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,878
Available for debt repayments........... 1,372.37
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 614
Amount left after debt repayments....... 758.37
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 189,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -236,880
Total Unsecured debt.................... -31,443.82
Net Assets.............................. -79,323.82
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Hi
I've made some comments above where you could make some further cutbacks. You also need to put something in your soa for christmas and birthdays; that way it's budgeted for and doesn't come out of one months wage. Put say £50 per month into a savings account for this. It's amazing how much better you will feel doing this and knowing christmas will be covered
You also need to put something aside for cars mot's and services; new tyres ets. Put another approx £50 per month aside for this.
With the remainder of your excess i would put £500 towards your highest debt and put the remaining £150 in another savings account for emergencies; then you won't feel that you have nothing for these and end up putting them on a credit card.