I need help

seaside_sid

Well done Fleurd for talking to your partner, I know from personal experience how hard that must have been, 20 years of marriage and we never talked about money- I just spent it!

You can post your SOA right here where lots of us can offer advice.

Do consider carefully taking out another loan to pay off your outstanding debts unless you are really ready to change your spending habits.

Consolidation may make your debt appear more manageable but you may pay more back in the long run.

fleurd

Ok here goes, Can you believe this is the first time I have done this EVER...

Monthly incomings
My Salary £1199.00
Partners Salary £1250.00 (although I believe I am doing the majority of this alone)
Total incomings £2449.00

Monthly outgoings
Mortgage £734.00
Service charge £32.00
Council Tax £115.00
Gas £30.00
Electricity £30.00
Water £30.00
TV license £10.99
Broadband £15.00
Phone (including mobiles) £72.00 Fix contract until Feb 07
Car insurance £28.72
Petrol £80.00
Dental bills (paying off Brace) £50.00 December last payment
Food and other luxuries!!! whatever is left over no fixed budget
Total outgoings £1677.00
Left over £1222.00
Now this sounds great to me on paper but then I have to take into consideration that my OH wont help with the loan £322.00 a month and also wont help with the MBNA Credit card Minimum payment around £20.00 and also the dental bill is my own

Credit repayments....
Mint Loan Balance at start £20,700 APR 8.9% 84mth term 66mths left
Mint Credit card Balance £8130.00 limit £8000
Egg Credit card Balance £5200.00 Limit £5200.00
Virgin Credit Card Blanace £2400.00 Limit £2400.00
Lloyds Credit Card Balance £1750.00 Limit £1750.00
MBNA Credit Card Balance £500.00 Limit £500.00

I have absolutly no idea what the APR is on any of my cards as I was drawn into the 0% thing but that has expired on all of them now. Currently we are paying approximatly £420.00 a month in minimum payments. All cards/loans and pretty much all bills are in my name.....:mad: :mad:

Thanks for any help and suggestions out there guys

Welshlassie

Well done on popsting your SOA, this is one of the first steps to helping yourself out of debt.

Youhave alot of spare cash left over so should be able to make some inroads into your debt quite quickly.

YOu will need to work out how much you will actually need for things like food, christmas presents birthdays, holdays etc so you know exactly how much you have left over. Have a look at Martins Budget planner this will bring it all together for you.

Also you will need to find out what your APRs are on you credit cards. This will be listed on your statement (if it is monthly (maybe around 1.7%) times it by 12 to get the annual rate). Then plug all your figures into a snowball calulcator, this will show you the order to pay off the cards and how long it will take you also who you how much interest you will be paying, which is quite an incentive to pay it off quicker if you think you are affectively giving the companies this money for nothing.

Have you had any charges applied to any of your cards or bank accounts, if so it may be worth looking into claiming some of these charges back which can then be used to pay off some of these debts.

Most of all well done again on making this move to do something about your position.

fleurd

Hi there, thanks for your comments
I have been charged for a being over my limit this month but it was the interest that put me over my limit is this something that I can disputeas this has happened on a couple of cards. Also where can I find the snowball calculator you were referring too?
I have to remeber that I am paying back the debt myself as my other half for some reason doesnt think he is responsible for most of it, he helps me make the minimum payments but as far as asking him to make any more is against the odds, with my monthly salary and paying my half of the minimums each month leaves me with £15 a month disposable income and that isnt including any food, going out or extras that is purley paying bills.

lynzpower

the first thing you need to do is phone up & find out what the APRs are. You cannot get a hnadle on anything till this is resolved.

One thing, you have a final payment on the brace happening in december, which gives you a further 50 quid to the debt ( highest APR first)

Second, a find 125 a comfortable figure for montly food shop for 2. Visit the Old style board where people are posting up thier weekly menu plans- and costs ( sometimes) Go thourgh cupbaords & freezer & work out how long you can go for without buying much , plan it all into your budget.

If you are delaing with the debts alone, why not get a seperate bank account where you both put in by standing order the mortgage & bills money.
This can tick over, nothing bounces, no surprises.

Have you cut your cards up? one of those is130 over limit- i take it you have been charged for going over limit. Check out https://www.consumeractiongroup.com to find out howe to sue your bank for those charges back. Lots of us have done it and put the money gained back to the debt.

Next up what can you sell?

yOU HAVE petrol listed there but no mot costs or parking etc. is it a companyt car?

All the best
lynz

Starry-eyed_surprise

Just wanted to say Hi fleurd and welcome to DFW. You have already had lots of good advice here. I agree with other posters that a call to cccs can't do any harm. You will definitely get more good advice from them. Also, I would be very careful about taking n any further debt/loans at this point. It is probably better to rearrange existing debt first. Have a look at Martin's article on credit card shuffle. If you want a link to the snowball calculator it is here

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

Lots of luck.

p.s your SOA lists food and other luxuries as no fixed amount. It is a good idea to define 'other luxuries' and to fix amounts for food etc. That way you know exactly what you are dealing with.

chevalier

You do not say why your OH will not pay off these loans etc. What were they for? Did he not benefit in any way from the money that came from them? If he did then it is unfair for him to refuse to pay.

Secondly taking out a loan in his name. Why is he willing to do this, but not help to pay off the original debts? Seems a bit odd to me. Also if it is a consolidation, loan it may mean that it is secured on your property. Converting unsecured debt ( ie credit cards etc), into secured debt can be a very bad idea, as if for some reason you cannot pay, they can (in extreme cases) force you to sell your house.

I would suggest that the first thing you do is that both of you keep a spending diary. You will be amazed how much things like a daily paper, starbucks coffee, lunch at work etc, costs per month. And they are relatively painless things to cut out.

Best of luck
chev

fleurd

Cool advise about the spending diary am definatly going to get that set up today, although havent spent any money all weekend as have not got any. In regards to my OH not helping with debt I believe it is because he feels it is not his fault and he blames me, the debt racked up cos we were using cards for everyday items and general living and he said yesterday that I should have told him before it got this bad which is true, but alot of the debt racked up was for large items for the house so yes he has benefited from the money spent but fails to understand how it has got so high, the Loan I have which is a large chunk of the debt was from before we moved in together and although he has definatly benefitted from that i.e from all the house hold items we didnt need to buy together as I already had them, I dont expect him to pay for that part.
The loan he applied for I understand was for an unsecured loan but I doubt he will be able to get it as he has NO debt in his name, ne credit card, no HP, no loan, only thing he has is a mobile phone jammy !!!!!!.
I will repost my SOA with the costs I have missed out, but in the mean time wicked advise guys thanks so much xx

fleurd

Hey there this is my updated SOA.
We have a few items to sell but really not much my other half is a huge horder and cannot get him to part with anything..My brace repayment will most defiantly be going towards one of my credit cards although as it stands at the moment I am left with no money at all each month not even £10 so I'm sure just having that £50 will go towards day to day living.


Monthly incomings
My Salary £1199.00
Partners Salary £1250.00 (although I believe I am doing the majority of this alone)
Total incomings £2449.00

Monthly outgoings
Mortgage £734.00
Service charge £32.00
Council Tax £115.00
Gas £30.00
Electricity £30.00
Water £30.00
TV license £10.99
Broadband £15.00
Phone (including mobiles) £72.00 Fix contract until Feb 07
Car insurance £28.72
Petrol £80.00
Dental bills (paying off Brace) £50.00 December last payment
Food approx £125.00
Road tax £16.00
MOT £20.00
Total outgoings £1838
Left over £611.00
Now this sounds great to me on paper but then I have to take into consideration that my OH wont help with the loan £322.00 a month and also wont help with the MBNA Credit card Minimum payment around £20.00 and also the dental bill is my own

Credit repayments....
Mint Loan Balance at start £20,700 APR 8.9% 84mth term 66mths left
Mint Credit card Balance £8130.00 limit £8000 APR 14.9%
Egg Credit card Balance £5200.00 Limit £5200.00 APR 15.9%
Virgin Credit Card Blanace £2400.00 Limit £2400.00 APR 15.9%
Lloyds Credit Card Balance £1750.00 Limit £1750.00 14.9%
MBNA Credit Card Balance £500.00 Limit £500.00 APR15.9%

Storm

If your OH really won't contribute to the debts then I definitely agree with lynzpower that you should get a separate bank account for joint outgoings & keep the remainder of the money in your own personal accounts - that way you won't find that money you'd earmarked for a debt has been spent on a night out, food or whatever.

In terms of getting him to contribute however, why don't you make a list of everything that's been bought on the credit cards that has benefitted you both, i.e. furniture, repairs on the house, paint, food etc - that way he'll hopefully get a much better idea that it's not all been on shoes and handbags!

Also, if he's never had any credit then he won't neccessarily find it easy to get some now as he won't have a credit history - some lenders may look at him and think 'is he in trouble now, why is he suddenly wanting a large amount of credit?'

Storm