Point of no return

saucery

My husband and I are sinking in debt and it's not getting any better

we have a 34k consolidated loan
a 9k loan
a 7k Loan
a 5k loan
4 credit cards between us amounting to 5k
plus a mortgage
Plus childcare (6 weeks to for pay shortly)
and our cars on its last legs

Why the debt, well my husband has constantly been in and out of work over the last few years, plus I keep coming up with the clever idea of consolidating and seem to do this once a year and never clear a debt in full, FOOLS I hear you all shouting, STOP:eek:

I want to get out of it now, our outgoing outway our incomings but an average of £20 a month I just want to cry

beanielou

Hi & welcome.
Can you pop up a SOA when you get a mo & we will see what we can do to help.
Someone will be along soon with a link.

Tixy

Hi

I'm sure there will be a way out (maybe not a quick way out but something you can do to improve things month on month).

Could you post up a statement of affairs so that people can see your full finances and see what suggestions they can make - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/107280

Mikeone

Hey Saucery

Have a look at my signature -see that Natwest one? That started as a £1500 student overdraft a decade ago. It's the way it is now because I kept consolidating it into loans which I could not pay (thanks Natwest!).

The point is, you are not the only one. There are people like me and you all over this forum, so don't despair -you are in good company here, and by posting you have made a step towards getting out of the situation. :T

Now, to the debt. There are several ways to deal with it. You can contact one of the debt charities (CCCS, National Debtline etc). Details available on this site. Don't consolidate again or go to a debt management company that charges you. This help comes for free.

You could also post a Statement of Affairs (SOA) on this thread, and other users will help you to sort out your finances to get a handle on this debt. I've posted the link below.

Chin up, things can get better for you from now on :j

SOA: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

churchrat

hello and welcome.
a few years ago we owed about what you do now. Its been tough but its all gone apart from the mortgage. It CAN be done. Psot the soa and the really clever people on here will help
good luck
churchrat

saucery

This is even worse then I thought

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1620
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1000
Benefits................................ 120
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2740
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 479
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 343
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 110
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 26
Telephone (land line)................... 33
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 16
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 45
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 36
Childcare/nursery....................... 207
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 22
Contents insurance...................... 17
Life assurance ......................... 16
Other insurance......................... 12
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 120
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2017

Assets
Cash.................................... 20
House value (Gross)..................... 69000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 69520

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 64000....(479)......0
Secured Debt.................. 34000....(343)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 98000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................9000......306.......0
loan...........................5500......122.......0
loan...........................7000......206.......0
credit cards...................5500......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........27000.....834.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,740
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,017
Available for debt repayments........... 723
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 834
Amount short for making debt repayments. -111
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 69,520
Total HP & Secured debt................. -98,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,000
Net Assets.............................. -55,480
Created using the SOA calculator

Tixy

Well done for posting (and so quickly)

I know its horrid to see it written down but really its a good starting step.

saucery wrote: »

This is even worse then I thought

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1620
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1000
Benefits................................ 120 are you getting all you can here? is this child benefit and child tax credit? would you be eligible for working tax credit at all? (if not sure look at www.entitledto.co.uk)
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2740
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 479
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 343
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 110 do you pay this over 10months? some councils allow you to pay over 12 which can help with budgeting each month .
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40 have you checked to see if gas & elec are with the cheapest suppliers? and the best tariffs? if you haven't switched for a while you might well be able to make a saving here.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 26
Telephone (land line)................... 33 have you looked to see if you might get a cheaper deal? landline & broadband combined packages start at under £20 (article under the utilities & phone tab at the top)
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 16 consider switching to freeview?
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240 Might be able to make some savings here by changing what you buy or which supermarkets you use. Do you find you waste a lot of food? or buy convience meals? try meal planning for a week before you shop and try supermarket own brands
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 45 when due for renewal? shop around at that time (use the tips from this site for earning cashback)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 45
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 36
Childcare/nursery....................... 207
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 22
Contents insurance...................... 17 B&C looks really high compared to house value, shop around for this (I would think you could get both for £20)
Life assurance ......................... 16
Other insurance......................... 12 whats this for?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 if you spend something you need to budget for it each month (so you don't buy on credit cards at xmas)
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 120 is this something specific or an estimate?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2017

Assets
Cash.................................... 20
House value (Gross)..................... 69000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 69520

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 64000....(479)......0
Secured Debt.................. 34000....(343)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 98000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................9000......306.......0
loan...........................5500......122.......0
loan...........................7000......206.......0
credit cards...................5500......200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........27000.....834.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,740
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,017
Available for debt repayments........... 723
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 834
Amount short for making debt repayments. -111
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 69,520
Total HP & Secured debt................. -98,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,000
Net Assets.............................. -55,480
Created using the SOA calculator

I've put in a few initial thoughts to see if any might help you.:)

saucery

Benefits................................ 120 are you getting all you can here? is this child benefit and child tax credit? would you be eligible for working tax credit at all? we can't get anything else, I've tried
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2740
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 479
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 343
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 110 do you pay this over 10months? some councils allow you to pay over 12 which can help with budgeting each month .I do pay over 10 months, but that helps us recover after my husbands been out of work in January (Daft as it sounds)
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40 have you checked to see if gas & elec are with the cheapest suppliers? and the best tariffs? if you haven't switched for a while you might well be able to make a saving here. I've just changed over, I'm on dual fuel with Eon
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 26
Telephone (land line)................... 33 have you looked to see if you might get a cheaper deal? landline & broadband combined packages start at under £20 (article under the utilities & phone tab at the top)This is a combi package with phone Broadband and Tv (yes I know why pay twice, I don't know, I'm going to cancel the sky tomorrow)
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 16 consider switching to freeview?I will look into this tomorrow as per the above
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240 Might be able to make some savings here by changing what you buy or which supermarkets you use. Do you find you waste a lot of food? or buy convience meals? try meal planning for a week before you shop and try supermarket own brands We don't get ready meals, we tend to opt for the budget lines on some areas but not all, we can bring this down I'm pretty confident
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 45 when due for renewal? shop around at that time (use the tips from this site for earning cashback)November, we will do, thank you
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 45
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 36
Childcare/nursery....................... 207
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 22
Contents insurance...................... 17 B&C looks really high compared to house value, shop around for this (I would think you could get both for £20)I've been very bad with this, the company keep bringing the renewal forward, I will look for a cheaper quote before renewal in august, Thank you
Life assurance ......................... 16
Other insurance......................... 12 whats this for?Redundancy, I only get £200 though
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 if you spend something you need to budget for it each month (so you don't buy on credit cards at xmas)I normally start in August so I left this empty, but on average we budget to £20 per head, however this year I'm growing and making gifts for family so that should help to save a little hopefully
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 120 is this something specific or an estimate? Booze and Weekend food, I know :-( Don't drink so much

saucery

I've just got B&C quote online and it's only £14 a month for both, thank you for the suggestion

t4mof

Can you or OH get childcare vouchers through work?? We started doing this in February and although it was hard to see my salary decrease, I had to keep reminding myself it was a bill paid directly out of my salary and I'm saving on tax and NI.

I have £197 deducted for after school club and OH has £165 deducted which covers the holidays.

You can pay your childcare provider online (providing they accept the vouchers) and it's quite nice going into the account and seeing the money there ready to pay and not feeling like it's coming out of the bank account. I don't even think about my childcare costs as something to budget for anymore.

saucery

I've signed up for the Childcare voucher scheme through work again, Thank you for the suggestion