Any advice please?

sueh6

Hello All....

I've lurked for several weeks after putting myself in one of the worst positions I've ever been in. Apart from the mortgage, secured debt and our cars I hid all of our debt from my husband. Being the main wage earner I thought I could cope but the pressure and guilt I was feeling was just too much and a week ago I sat down with him and told him everything.

He was obviously angry but we are now working together to resolve this. I've posted our SOA below and would ask if anyone has any tips to save money which we can throw at our debt. I've done the snowball and it advises that if we continue to pay as we are our unsecured debt will be cleared in 48 months - both hubby and I feel this is copable but will chuck everything we can at it. I also get an annual bonus from work which we will consider using for a holiday - I haven't included it on the soa as it's not guaranteed.

Any advise would be warmly welcomed.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2738
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1870
Benefits................................ 81
Other income............................ 180
Total monthly income.................... 4869
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 361
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 1038.5
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 157
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59
Telephone (land line)................... 17
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 67
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 325
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 140
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13.21
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 33
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2659.11

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 240000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 30000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 270000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 173300...(361)......2.5
Secured Debt.................. 41000....(591)......7.6
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 9000.....(117.5)....8.9<
Lease Car......................1630.....(330)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 224930....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
A&L Loan.......................6000......265.......5.9
Egg Loan.......................10000.....325.......11.9
Egg Money......................3000......81........21.9
egg............................2000......55........21.9
virgin.........................5000......115.......26.9
capital 1......................12875.....241.......10.45
Tesco..........................4000......82........16.9
Egg............................14500.....450.......26.9
Total unsecured debts..........57375.....1614......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,869
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,659.11
Available for debt repayments........... 2,209.89
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,614
Amount left after debt repayments....... 595.89
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 270,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -224,930
Total Unsecured debt.................... -57,375
Net Assets.............................. -12,305
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

RAS

High

You have 4 adults and only two incomes?

Will look at the SOA in a mo.

Tixy

Hi

Well done.
I bet it was tough telling him but really well don, I'm sure it will be the best option in the long run for you.

Glad it sounds like he is being supportive.

sueh6 wrote: »

Any advise would be warmly welcomed.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4 who are the other adults? are these grown up kids? do they work and do they contribute?
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2738
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1870
Benefits................................ 81
Other income............................ 180
Total monthly income.................... 4869
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 361
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 1038.5
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 157
Electricity............................. 100 this looks quite high, have you looked around to see if there is a cheaper supplier or better tariff which would save you on this? If so then start trying to reduce your usage where you can. Switch everything off not in use, minimise elec heating/tumble driers etc.
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59
Telephone (land line)................... 17
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 67 could drop this down to a lower package
Internet Services....................... 10 can you not get this incl free with satellite tv?
Groceries etc. ......................... 325 Not bad for 5 of you, might be possible to reduce a little more (another £50 or so?)
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 140
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 need to budget something aside for service, mot or tyres etc.
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13.21
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 33
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2659.11

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 240000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 30000 could you downgrade 1 or both cars?
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 270000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 173300...(361)......2.5
Secured Debt.................. 41000....(591)......7.6
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 9000.....(117.5)....8.9<
Lease Car......................1630.....(330)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 224930....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
A&L Loan.......................6000......265.......5.9
Egg Loan.......................10000.....325.......11.9
Egg Money......................3000......81........21.9
egg............................2000......55........21.9
virgin.........................5000......115.......26.9
capital 1......................12875.....241.......10.45
Tesco..........................4000......82........16.9
Egg............................14500.....450.......26.9
Total unsecured debts..........57375.....1614......-
Are all this £57k in just your name? do you have any overdrafts as well? if so do include them.

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,869
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,659.11
Available for debt repayments........... 2,209.89
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,614
Amount left after debt repayments....... 595.89 do you think you have this spare each month.
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 270,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -224,930
Total Unsecured debt.................... -57,375
Net Assets.............................. -12,305
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Your unsecured debts are high but your incomes are fairly high as well.
If you have the £595 spare every month then you should be able to make some serious inroads into that debt, starting with the card that has the highest APR first. Have a look at the snowball calculator (same site as SoA) to see how long it would take you to pay it off.

If you don't have that much spare each month then its a good idea to start a spending diary to keep track of everything you spend for a few months to track down the missing money.

Good luck with tackling things.

sueh6

Sorry, I should have been clearer.

The additional 2 adults are grown up children - 1 working and one at Uni - they contribute the additional £180 on the soa in rent.

Although I've split the phone, internet,tv etc this is actually on a package already.

Totally agree with the electricity and now turn everything off at the end of the day - hang washing out as opposed to tumble etc and have switched to a cheaper tariff in the last couple of days.

My lease car will be downgraded in December and we should save over £100 per month (part of my salary is a car allowance which has to be used for that).

This is all new to us and I have actually set aside things like birthdays, entertainment, haircuts etc in the soa which I wouldn't normally budget for and so I think the £595 is a figure which is achievable. I've started a spending diary today and will note everything that goes out.

Thanks

RAS

sueh6 wrote: »

Sorry, I should have been clearer.

The additional 2 adults are grown up children - 1 working and one at Uni - they contribute the additional £180 on the soa in rent.

I appreciate that your University student may not have a lot of money (fdo they live at home in the term-time) but your working adult is not paying anything like enough to cover their share of costs let alone anything towards food.

sueh6

My eldest works and brings home around £1400 per month - he currently pays £120 per month rent. What do you think is a reasonable amount as I agree that £30 week is next to nothing considering it includes his rent, utilities and food?

The Uni student lives at home (she is a student nurse) and does struggle to make ends meet.

WASHER

I think £300 per month is perfectly reasonable.

charliemonkeyface

£400 is reasonable, that leaves him £1000 over 4 weeks - more than enough

Marisco

Yes I agree £400 is reasonable, he wouldn't be able to get everything for £100pw if he had his own flat!!! And although your daughter is a student, I'd still take a token payment off her, maybe £20/25 month? I might be old fashioned;) but I think it teaches them the value of money. And if your son moans, then divide all bills into quarters i.e mortgage, gas , electric, food, laundry etc and present him with a bill for his quarter, I bet it'll be more than £100 a week;)