What can one do......Stuck in the middle

OhNoNotAgain

Hi There

This is my 1st post.

Basically I am in what I consider to be a lot of debt – however when I try and attempt to get help I am not in enough trouble to require assistance.
Because I am earning and I can make the minimum payments I am considered OK.

However I owe enough money to be deemed a liability when applying for a consolidation loan.

I do not have enough equity in the house to re-mortgage
I sold my car and quit smoking – there is not much else I can do.

I am paying about 600 pcm to debt and because of the interest I am paying nothing on the Balance.
It is soul destroying to pay so much and not reduce the balance

In total I owe about 17500 (not including the 3 grand I owe my parents)
My balance goes down less than 100 PCM

I am wasting 500 pcm on interest and am considering selling my house and renting so that I can just not waste the 500 quid and save again for another deposit...

It is not as though the housing market is doing anything at the moment anyway.


Any idea's anyone please???

This is my SOA



Thank you all for any help

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1885
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1885

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 100
Council tax............................. 59
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 10
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 120
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................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1033


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 150000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 128000...(450)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 128000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
cc.............................7600......100.......0
cc.............................3400......100.......0
cc.............................3200......100.......0
OD.............................1500......50........0
cc.............................1000......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........16700.....450.......

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,885
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,033
Available for debt repayments........... 852
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Amount left after debt repayments....... 402

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 150,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -128,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,700
Net Assets.............................. 5,300

saz19_2

you seem to be in a similar position to myself, i keep paying the monthly payments but nothing goes from the balances. I have a decent job so wouldn't want to lose this by having to go down the bankcrupcy avenue but i just cannot see how i can pay off anymore each month.

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Just looking at what you have posted on your statement of affairs. You are showing as paying £450 to your debts each month - are these the minimum amounts or the actual amounts you are paying?
Do you know all the APRs to add in?

You are showing a surplus amount left of £402 per month. I'm guessing you dont actually have all of this spare each month.

I think you probably need to look back through your expenditure again and see what else you are spending on to work out where this £402 goes and how much if any of it you have spare to start paying more towards your debts. If you work that out and put in the APRs then you should be able to use the snowball calculator (same website as the SoA) to work out they best way to repay your debts to pay the least amount of interest, and to work out how long it would take you to get debt free. I think this might be a big help to you and can be a big motivator to find an extra few pound each month to pay extra off your debts.

If you cannot work out where that £402 is going then start keeping a spending diary for a month or 2 to find out what you are spending it on. I do notice that you haven't got anything budgeted for clothing, presents, entertainment, B&C insurance etc so would guess some of it is being used for these items?

katsu

OhNoNotAgain wrote: »

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1885 can you increase your income - a part time job in a bar or supermarket one night a week for example?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1885

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 100
Council tax............................. 59
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 10
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25 consider a meter - I save about £5pcm on what you pay but have two adults using the water
Telephone (land line)................... 25 you can get just the phone for less. Look at the main site articles
Mobile phone............................ 35 you can reduce this
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 150 this can reduce for just one person - check the old style board for tips
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 120 can you reduce this?
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 you never buy these?
Haircuts................................ 25 go to a hairdressing college to save on this - prob would cost less than £10
Entertainment........................... 0 never?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1033


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 150000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 128000...(450)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 128000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
cc.............................7600......100.......0
cc.............................3400......100.......0
cc.............................3200......100.......0
OD.............................1500......50........0
cc.............................1000......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........16700.....450.......

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,885
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,033
Available for debt repayments........... 852
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Amount left after debt repayments....... 402 I suspect this is untrue. Keep a spending diary and look at old bank statements.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 150,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -128,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,700
Net Assets.............................. 5,300

Some comments above, HTH.

OhNoNotAgain

Monthly income after tax................ 1885 can you increase your income - a part time job in a bar or supermarket one night a week for example?

I have tried! My CV is an IT CV showing no other experience..... There is a sat Job in the Estate agents but I just sold my Car and thus am not aplicable!

Mortgage................................ 450 interest only at the mo!



Water rates............................. 25 consider a meter - I save about £5pcm on what you pay but have two adults using the water...I live in a manageged block and this is not an option I don't think...will check!
Telephone (land line)................... 25 you can get just the phone for less. Look at the main site articles....I did this because I keep getting big quaterly bills I cannot manage
Mobile phone............................ 35 you can reduce this - cancelled
Groceries etc. ......................... 150 this can reduce for just one person - check the old style board for tips
Other travel............................ 120 can you reduce this? Only by bus or bike...looking into...I live in London
Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 0 you never buy these?.....not at the moment
Haircuts................................ 25 go to a hairdressing college to save on this - prob would cost less than £10 I have not cut or died my hair in 6 months...this was an average
Entertainment........................... 0 never? Only the local pub now and agian.



Amount left after debt repayments....... 402 I suspect this is untrue. Keep a spending diary and look at old bank statements.....the management fees on my property are in arears, I pay 100 pcm to them and 50 to my overdraft too...not account for in soa's


I feel I have cut everything I am able.....the house it the only thing I have left to be debt free.....not sure this is a realistic solution. If the house market falls then ???

Thanks everyone
x

NorthernLas

I suggest it would be really useful to start a spending diary straight away so that you can get an accurate SOA. I would add in your mgt arrears, parents and overdraft and your aprs (as suggested by Tixy).

If on paper you can 'manage' but actually you can't then there is something missing. Even if it looks much worse, you may be able to get more help if it is accurate.

If you add how long your arrears will take to pay off that would be useful as well as the APRs. Also your electric and gas is really low - are these accurate?

alona1

I used to be in a similar situation. I contacted Payplan and got a DMP, this is far easier to manage and I pay extra when I can through salary rises, etc. There's no need to sell up and move if you dont have to. Speak to Payplan about a DMP? Good luck x

dancingfairy

Hi - o.k so from that 400 pounds 'spare' you have 150 coming out - that still leaves about 250 unaccounted for. If you can find that and even put 100 a month towards your debts then your debts will start to come down. You may find that things are unsustainable in which case you'll be able to appraoch the debt charities and explain where all the money is going and that actually you do need their help
Also how long until the managed fees are paid off? hopefully when you are up-to-date you can redirect that 100 pounds a month to paying smething else off.
Good Luck
df

missworks2jobs

You might want to check whether anyone else has tried this successfully first before trying it (any MSE converts out there help me out here) BUT
could you be cheeky and ask the card companies to lower your APR?
Its worth a try, if you dont ask you dont get; explain to them you are in a bit of a financial pickle and ask them if they would consider lowering your interest rate (even just temporarily) so you can make a dent in the amount owed, as you are struggling financially. This may sounds crazy but if you think about it logically after that some of the other options are a DMP or bankruptcy, or to sell your house to pay the debts off in full. The threat of not getting any more interest off you (if you settled in full from selling your home) or getting only peanuts (DMP or bankruptcy) might persuade them into being more lenient. After all they're looking at getting as much money off you long term and a lowered rate (even temporarily) is better than no interest (extra money) at all.

DS4215

Are you actually paying the minimum on each cc? - If not, it might be worth putting them all on the lowest possible repayment and put the difference into the lowest card. So instead of bring 4 cards down by £100, you are bringing 3 down by £10 (say) and the other by £70 - it would feel like you were making a significant reduction to *that* debt and when its paid off work on the next smallest.

As for part-time jobs as an IT person, look at eLance or try some contract agencies - I have worked somewhere that occasionally needed night-shift or weekend cover at short notice. Also you could try advertising your services in the evening/weekends for friends/neighbours with IT problems - even 1-2 hours at £20 an hour a month would make a difference...

alexandrajf

OhNoNotAgain wrote: »

Hi There

This is my 1st post.

Basically I am in what I consider to be a lot of debt – however when I try and attempt to get help I am not in enough trouble to require assistance.
Because I am earning and I can make the minimum payments I am considered OK.

However I owe enough money to be deemed a liability when applying for a consolidation loan.

I do not have enough equity in the house to re-mortgage
I sold my car and quit smoking – there is not much else I can do.

I am paying about 600 pcm to debt and because of the interest I am paying nothing on the Balance.
It is soul destroying to pay so much and not reduce the balance

In total I owe about 17500 (not including the 3 grand I owe my parents)
My balance goes down less than 100 PCM

I am wasting 500 pcm on interest and am considering selling my house and renting so that I can just not waste the 500 quid and save again for another deposit...

It is not as though the housing market is doing anything at the moment anyway.


Any idea's anyone please???

This is my SOA



Thank you all for any help

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1885
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1885

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 100
Council tax............................. 59
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 10
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 120
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................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1033


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 150000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 128000...(450)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 128000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
cc.............................7600......100.......0
cc.............................3400......100.......0
cc.............................3200......100.......0
OD.............................1500......50........0
cc.............................1000......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........16700.....450.......

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,885
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,033
Available for debt repayments........... 852
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Amount left after debt repayments....... 402

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 150,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -128,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,700
Net Assets.............................. 5,300

it makes no sense to sell your house AND rent. What would make sense is to rent something small for yourself, and rent out your house to someone else. Then you will still be paying the mortgage on it and you will still have that asset. but you will be saving money because your tenant's rent will be paying the mortgage, not your own money. You will still save the money from renting instead of owning. but you will keep your house for a rainy day!