Not as bad as som, but help really welcomed

tinymcfc

Hi there, as the title suggests, I know my situation is minute compared to others and for that I apologise for posting asking for help when there are others in more need than I.

Having said that I still get the same feelings, I feel a little lost, confused, worried, annoyed and angry with myself. The situation is basically that my partner and I lived on our own for a while, lived way above our means and were stupid. Luckily we have a good family so we returned home, she to her parents and me to mine.

My partners father lent us £5,000.00 to clear some debts and rent arrears and we are now paying him back with around £2600 left to go at £400pm (this cannot be altered). We still have bank accounts outstanding from when we lived in the apartment and are now receiving letters for these for which we actually forgot about (ignored on some level?), and we have a debt with Eon for electricity. We have tried to arrange to pay these back but for some reason keep falling flat on our faces.

With our income together we should be able to save comfortably for a mortgage but we ere stupid and I/we are determined to get this sorted and move on with our lives.

With the above said can you give me the best advice you can to get these debts paid? Anything at all would be fantastic. Apologies if the SOA seems lame, or if I have missed anything. (we pay small amount of rent, we pay for food ourselves)

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................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2600
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 173
Rent.................................... 220
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 100
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 330
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 110
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 63
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
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 ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1016

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5500.....(173)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 5500......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Partners father................2600......400.......0
barclaycard....................260.......5.........29.9
vanquia........................480.......6.........39.9
natwest........................480.......0.........0
eon............................400.......0.........0
barclays.......................400.......95........0
alliance and leiceste..........450.......0.........0
alliance and leiceste..........525.......0.........0
asda card......................1000......29........21.9
Total unsecured debts..........6595......535.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,600
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,016
Available for debt repayments........... 1,584
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 535
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,049
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -5,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,595
Net Assets.............................. -7,095
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Nargleblast

Hello and welcome - no need to apologise for anything, no-one here has the right to judge you, lots of us have made similiar mistakes and are now trying to sort out our debt situations.

According to your SOA you have over a thousand pounds left after paying all bills and the minimum debt repayments? Are you sure? I think a spending diary could help - write down every single penny you spend over a month, then see where the money goes. If you do have a large surplus, then pay minimum payments on all debts except the one with the highest APR. On that one you pay as much as you can possibly afford, to get it paid off quicker. Once paid off, you turn your attention to the one with the next highest APR and so on. I am sure others will help with more suggestions.

Mrs_Jojo

tinymcfc wrote: »

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................ 1400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2600
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 173
Rent.................................... 220
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0 Nothing?
Electricity............................. 0Nothing?
Gas..................................... 0Nothing?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0Nothing?
Telephone (land line)................... 0Nothing?
Mobile phone............................ 100 High - reduce?
TV Licence.............................. 0 No TV - really?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 330
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 110
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 63
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20 What other travel if you both drive?
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 ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1016

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5500.....(173)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 5500......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Partners father................2600......400.......0
barclaycard....................260.......5.........29.9
vanquia........................480.......6.........39.9
natwest........................480.......0.........0
eon............................400.......0.........0
barclays.......................400.......95........0
alliance and leiceste..........450.......0.........0
alliance and leiceste..........525.......0.........0
asda card......................1000......29........21.9
Total unsecured debts..........6595......535.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,600
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,016
Available for debt repayments........... 1,584
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 535
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,049
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -5,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,595
Net Assets.............................. -7,095
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

I have to admit that I am a complete newbie at this myself, but I do think a spending diary for both of you would help see where the money is going, because it looks like you should have the deposit for a house within a year - but if you don't know where the money is going, you won't!

tinymcfc

Hi thanks for the replies.

Theres no electricity/gas/tv licence etc as we're not longer living on our own, unfortunately, were back at the parents. I pa y £100pm and she pays £120.

According to that I do have a £1000 surplus but thats because I'm not currently paying the debts I have outstanding and dont really know where to start to be honest. Should I pay each one something? Concentrate on one and get that paid off and move to another? Just all confused.

tealady

Hi
If you use the snowballer it would give you an idea of how to clear your debts quickly.
Basically you make the minimum payment to all except the one with the highest APR. That one you give them every penny you can spare. Keep going till iti s cleared.
Then repeat with the one with the next lowest APR.
Theres a link somewhere (think its makesenseof cards but someone on this site will know)
Good luck

MatyMoo

Well done for posting You have as much right on here as anyone, a debt is a debt regardless of size and we all need a little help sometimes and where better to get it than here :T

If you start as people have already suggested with minimum payments to all debts and throw and spare cash at the highest interest rates you will be on the right track.

But do you really have £1000+ free a month? If not, you have to work out where that is going so a spending diary is a must.

I suspect it is going on things not included in your SOA - Clothing, haircuts, entertainment, presents and road tax. We all seem to fritter money away until we really start looking in to where it goes. Once you know exactly where it goes you can work out what are essential spends and what aren't. I would also recommend updating your SOA Or keep a budget) as you go along as it helps to focus the mind and can become addictive!

In 7 months you will have paid off your Girlfriends father and will have that extra amount to throw at your debt too.

Good luck

elsie52

Hi,

Just wanted to say well done for posting, and do not worry. Most of us have been there and some of us are still struggling to pay off our debts. We started with £74k, so believe me I know what I am talking about. Firstly, as someone has suggested, keep a spending diary, get to know where every single penny is going. Make a budget and stick to it, no using credit cards, only cash. I find the best thing to do is draw out the money that you have allowed yourself to spend for that week, and once its gone - its GONE. You will learn to budget eventually. Your grocery allowance can easily be reduced, there are just 2 of us, and when we first started budgeting, we allowed ourselves £160 per month, we have now increased it to £180, so you can easily save another £150 from your figure of £330. There are people on these boards feeding a family with children for around £200. Make sure that you are not overdrawing on your accounts and incurring extra charges, make sure you pay all your cards etc on time, again making sure you don't get late payment fees.
If personally would pay your partners father off sooner rather than later, and then it would release another £400 per month. Its only my way of doing things, but I would concentrate on then paying off the highest interest card in full, and then work down the list and pay them off one by one, meanwhile just paying minimum amounts on the others. Realistically, you only owe £6k, you could have that paid off by the end of the year if you put your minds to it.

Good luck, and don't be afraid to ask for help, you will get good advice from here.

Burlesque_Babe

Hi - some areas to cut back on:

mobile - £100 is a HUGE amount to pay, call the network and ask to go to a cheaper tariff. Go to PAYG as soon as you can

Food - £330 for 2 people is an enormous amount and can over a few months be halved. Pop over to Old Style and get involved with the Supermarket Challenge. Also batch cook, make meals from scratch, take a packed lunch.

car insurance - again, very high. Next time it is up for renewal, use the comparison websites (all of them as not everyone uses them all) and then go through a cashback site such as Quidco.

You need to put in a figure for haircuts/entertainment but for haircuts, book in with hairdressing students at the local college or adult learning provider. They are excellent, I go for cuts etc. Entertainment, needs to be as little as possible.

Good luck, it's better to ask for help now rather than when the debt has gone up more. I wish this site had been around 15 years ago as I would have been able to be in your position rather than the huge amount I ended up with and then paying off when I did discover MSE.

tinymcfc

Hi,

Again thanks for the replies, I didnt think I would get many.

Ok, haircuts - I shave my head myself, and the missus' sister is a hairdresser so we have no outlay for those (I did say we had a good family!). Entertainment - I didnt really know what to put in here really, we have decided to not go out til we're sorted which we're both absolutely fine with, DVD's, family nights etc so nothng for cinema (I hate it lol), meals out we can do without to be honest. Food - Yeah I'm sure we can cut down here, I thinks it's because we do a monthly shop for me, then a monthly shop for her and in some areas we seem to double up so maybe one shop and then split it between houses will work out cheaper - will look into this.

Fantastic idea about a spending diary, I would really love to know where all the spare cash goes to.

Road tax etc - I dont really include it here to be honest, my car is £120pa and that was paid last month so havent got to think about it again til next year so didnt include it to be honest. So by the looks of things, I should be concentrating on my Vanquis card which is 39.9% APR and then hit my Barclaycard and the her Asda card - doesnt feel right doing it like this as the Barclaycard is more then both of mine combined, but of course it does make sense it terms of APR so we'll do that.

The electricity bill we have with Eon is with Wescot debt recovery, now these things do not bother me in the sense of threats, its just one other thing I want to get cleared, I was actually thinking of asking for a settlement figure this month (which is £280.00) so clear it off, saving £120, would you do this?

Thanks again for the help, this will be the first month we pool our money together so we're going to really try to get these debts cleared, back into the black and get saving for that mortgage. I suppose if nothing else its a good life lesson!

tiny.

Numpty_Monkey

tinymcfc wrote: »

Hi,

Fantastic idea about a spending diary, I would really love to know where all the spare cash goes to.


Road tax etc - I dont really include it here to be honest, my car is £120pa and that was paid last month so havent got to think about it again til next year so didnt include it to be honest. So by the looks of things, I should be concentrating on my Vanquis card which is 39.9% APR and then hit my Barclaycard and the her Asda card - doesnt feel right doing it like this as the Barclaycard is more then both of mine combined, but of course it does make sense it terms of APR so we'll do that.

The electricity bill we have with Eon is with Wescot debt recovery, now these things do not bother me in the sense of threats, its just one other thing I want to get cleared, I was actually thinking of asking for a settlement figure this month (which is £280.00) so clear it off, saving £120, would you do this?


tiny.

The bit about roadtax is a classic example (and please don't take this the wrong way) about budgeting what happens next year when the road tax is due? you panic worry and then pay it on a credit card:o
Why not put £10 a month away in a different "bills acount" , then next year when its due you pay in cash, same with any yearly or quarterly bills :cool: have a look at Martins Budget Planner

As for the debt with Westcot nothing wrong with offering them a Full and Final settlement, just do it in writing, there are templete letters on http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#6
and help on the board to make sure you do it right