My 1st SOA..go steady on me!!

ICanDoIt_2

Hi there!

This feels strange posting my finance's to the world but, hey, can't be too bad, as I've seen from this site over the last few weeks, a lot of people have plucked up the courage to do so and I want to follow suit!

Light bulb moment - May 2006. I had a few personal problems, leading to a bit of depression and general not being bothered about anything for 6months and kept overspending, making small payments, running around in circles etc. A long awaited promotion at work saw my income change and gave me a kick up the rear to think "Yeah! now I can actually afford to live and repay some debts!"

My finances are as below:

Halifax insurance (life and buildings and contents) £63.36
British gas £33.50
Car insurance £28.30
TV licence £10.99
Council tax £92 (single occupancy discount applied, high payments due to dispute and missed payments)
Npower electricity av£17 (token meter)
Anglian Water £25
Diesel £120
Food av£70
Phone bill av£80
Save £50 (budget for birthdays, MOT, repairs, xmas etc)


Mortgage £375.27 (£68k)
Egg c/card £40.00 (£103 debt, £1400 limit)(15.9%)
Halifax c/card £60 (~£1500 debt, £3500 limit)(0% BT until Oct 07)
HSBC loan £125 (£7300 debt, inclusive of interest over 5 yrs)
Overdraft *paid off!!* (16.9%)
Total debt £8903 to banks (not including mortgage)

Debt to family members £6400, no payments

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£1370 min income, (+o/time, expenses, bonus, sales of my stuff, matched betting, (non of these guarunteed))
£1140.42 outgoings

left - £229.58

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This is my general plan of attack and some rules I've set myself:
1) No more using the overdraft. I've just taken £1000 off it, and it was hard.
2)have a £1000 safety net. Now I know if you owe money, you shouldn't have any money, but thats for things like if interest rates change and I can fund myself until I get a new mortgage deal,fees etc etc. I've nearly saved that now.
3)Snowball where-ever possible.


The plan is to sell my house. It has been a really hard decision to make, and one that I have not made easily. My house is a result of my hardwork and makes me feel proud, as it has gone from a doss-hole to a home, through blood sweat and a broken arm. This is to start in Feb2007(fingers crossed) as it will allow me to finish the little jobs off over the winter months, and finish saving to my target. The house should sell for around £95k (I know, I know, it could all go down-hill next week, damn pesamists!) with the £68k mortgage, after fees/contingency's that's around £25k. Phase 2 is to go and get a shared tenancy job on a new housing estate. A flat within walking distance from work (£? savings on diesel) is around £110k. This should be a c.£55k mortgage. Take the bank debts of £9k out the pot, put £16k deposit down = £39k mortgage + rent. Additional benefits are less commuting, nil bank debt (bar mortgage), reduced risk on negative equity, better quality of lide.

I'm 23 at the moment, and feel that I have time on my side in terms of being able to sort these things out now before things links relationships/kids/dodgy knees stop me from being able to do these things without out to many setbacks.

Well, that's a couple of tons of my shoulders. You guys and gals are the real experts on these things so any comments or critisisms are taken onboard. I thank you in advance!

MCBIRNIE25

Hello and well done for taking the first step. It's always the biggest. My first thought is your phone bill is huge. 80 quid???????? There are loads of options available to reduce this to a quarter of this.
The house plan sounds a viable option.
Oh and I would also put as much debt on the 0% card as possible to reduce the interest slightly.
People who are experts in this area will come along shortly.

See youa round.
Mike.

Rgc_3

Hi and how you doing:beer:

I see where your coming from with the plan you ve laid out and it seems well thought through(assuming you can get a shared ownership deal)

Id hang off for a bit and see what everyone comes up with as you ve built up equity in property and it be a shame to throw it away for the sajke of 8 k debt which at first glance looks manafeable

good luck

ICanDoIt_2

Thanks for the input Mike and RGC!

The phone bill is a bit big, and I'm currently reviewing some new contracts, so I'll keep you posted on that one.

I've got to transfer the Egg cc balance onto the 0% Haifax, that's tomorrows job. Once that jobs done, I'm going to be doing some serious ebay work to get rid of some bits and bobs. I've got two cars and a motorbike to get shut of, mixing equipment, clothes, PC's, ton's of stuff really!

Thanks again!
Dave

Rgc_3

Hi again

I ve just re read your post and im convinced you really dont need to take such drastic action......hows this work for you??

1)clear egg straight away(its only 103 but gives you an extra 40 notes a month)

possibly an interest only payment on mortgage for now??(wait for more feedback from others on that point

2)I know its 0 interest but id attack halifax next to get hold of that extra 60 per month (your e bay selling can help alot here ...especially the cars!!

3)start hitting into mbna loan after those

This way you keep the flat but its still a contingency in selling it if all goes pear shaped

just another angle for you to consider and like already said im sure others will see other savings as your post grows

good luck

david_hellier

Hi and well done on posting your SOA.
According to my calcs you have £96.83 per week to spend on anything including food, going out, clothes etc.

I suggest you write this amount in a little note book each Monday and keep a record of what you spend by deduction. Carry forward any you have over to the next week. With your debts you are not in a position to save regularly. Any extras will need to come out of this figure. If you are happy in your new home, stay put. Now is not a good time to move. Interest rates are on the rise and we are on the brink of a recession.

Good luck, the figures are as follows:

income weekly monthly
self 1370.00
partner







total 0.00 1370.00 divide by 4.33
£316.16

£316.16 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 375.27
council tax 92.00
elec 17.00
gas 33.50
water 25.00
secured loans
TV licence 10.99
fines
halifax ins 63.36
car ins 28.30
phone 80.00
egg 40.00
halifax cc 60.00
hsbc 125.00
















total 0.00 950.42 divide by 4.33
£219.33

£219.33 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = £96.83 per week

justruth

Hi, I would really reconsider the whole selling your house thing unless you want to move, as the debt you have is not only entirely manageable but you could in theory clear it all way ahead of schedule.

I may be miss calculating something here but I get your outgoings (including debt) as £1150.42 excluding the £40 a month for the egg card, as I agree with an earlier post, to just pay it off. That gives you a surplus of £219.58 to throw at you debts, which is £2634.96 a year. Your loan payments are £1500 a year, so you could feasibly put all that money against the loan, a grand total of £4134.96, and I would imagine that you would be near the settlement figure with that, as the amount owed above is inclusive of interest. If you find yourself short you could top it up when you BT your 0% CC, as it appears that you have £2000 left on it.

If you can pay off the intrest accruing debt, in a year or there abouts, you then have the choice as to paying back family members or paying off the CC. Either way the £125 will be going towards it, and you get to keep your house.