Need to get ontop of this

Alcofrolic

Finally decided that its the time I should get ontop of my debts. My partner recently went bankrupt and sorted all his, but I dont want to go down that route.

A little bit of background. We rent a property as not in a position to get a mortgage. He has 4 kids from a previous relationship that he pays CSA for. The children also come and stay with us every other weekend and school holidays. We are also expecting a baby so we really should get ontop of our money as my wage will drop dramatically when I go on maternity leave.

Ive done an SOA and it looks really bad. We are using credit cards each month expeciall for petrol and food shopping.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 4
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1189
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1190
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2379
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 595
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 87.9
Electricity............................. 52
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 68.9
Telephone (land line)................... 45
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 54
Internet Services....................... 19.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 90
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 19.99
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
CSA..................................... 222.6
Total monthly expenses.................. 1877.56

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC Loan......................7250.88...172.......0
HSBC Credit Card...............1946.18...49.9......22
Littlewood Catalogue...........1136.06...198.......0
Barclays Overdraft.............300.......0.........0
HSBC Overdraft.................500.......0.........0
Capital One Credit Ca..........200.......20........32
Aqua Credit Card...............400.......20........34
Vanquis Credit Card............2260......100.......35.4
Very...........................385.25....20.3......0
Next...........................337.44....35........0

mdr86

Hi there!
Congratz on confronting things and posting on here
A few things from the expenses section which seemed high:

Telephone (land line)................... 45 http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/home-phone-calls
Mobile phone............................ 70 I guess this is a contract - have you tried reducing it & when does the contract end?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 54 Same for mobile
Internet Services....................... 19.99 http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-broadband
Car Insurance........................... 90 http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-travel-insurance

Also, are the debts which say APR 0 actually interest free? (I know the SOA generator doesn't have a 'don't know' option and just puts zero instead)

Alcofrolic

Thanks for the reply.

I dont have an option to change the land line or internet as I live in Hull and we can only use Kingston Communications.
Sky is a bit high I know but as we dont go out thats our only luxury. I will look into taking off some of the programs we dont watch to try and lower the package. If we were not in hull I would go for the whole in one package with sky, broadband and calls but were not allowed.

Car insurance is for 2 cars. They are up for renewal in august and septmeber so hopefully with an extra years no claims and doing a bit of shopping around we can get this lowered.

We have 2 mobile phone contracts that still have over a year left on them. His is about £26 a month and mine is £35 so not the 70 I thought. Ive been looking to see if we can lower the plans to save money there.

I also forgot to add in £52 a month for 2 gym memberships. He goes 4 nights a week so its well worth it for him. Now im pregnant ive only really been going to swim so im going to ask if they can suspend my memebrship till after the baby is born.

I get some expenses back in my job that can sometimes be and extra £300 a month but that usually means ive had to pay more out in petrol as I work in the community.

Im thinking of maybe taking on another job, maybe some bar work. Im going to have to have a look about see if anything is going. By July the catalogue should be paid off so that £198 can go on other debts to get them down. Just kinda feel a bit suck at the moment and I hate having to use credit cards every month as then nothing is getting paid off them.

mdr86

Oooh, ouch re the Hull phone+internet! Though looking at http://www.k-c.co.uk/home/bundles/ that looks like you should be able to get a phone+internet package for £29.99/month from KC.
Just to check, do you definitely need both cars?

[Deleted User]

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 4
Number of cars owned.................... 2 is having 2 cars essential?

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1189 Any way to increase this, or below - overtime, second job?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1190
Total monthly income.................... 2379

Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 595
Council tax............................. 87.9 Are you paying this over the usual 10 months, ask your council if you can spread the payment over 12 monthd
Electricity............................. 52 Check comparison sites (USwitch) for this and gas and ensure you're on the cheapest tariff for your area - often online and duel fuel are cheaper - also if switching is worthwhile check cashback sites (Quidco, onepoll, topcashback etc)
Gas..................................... 40 as above
Water rates............................. 68.9 this seems quite high
Telephone (land line)................... 45 this is high - can you reduce the bundle
Mobile phone............................ 70 high, especialy given the cost of your home phone, if in contract see if you can drop a tariff, if/when out of contract look at SIM only or PAYG - some good £10 deals
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 54 high, drop to basic package, or consider freeview
Internet Services....................... 19.99- look at a bundle with home phone
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 meal plan, batch cook, drop brands etc
Petrol/diesel........................... 160 are all jouneys essential
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 90 shop around at renewal
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20 Is this prescriptions? - if so consider a pre-pay vertificate to see if it would work out cheaper. If contacts, see if you can get the same for cheaper online
Contents insurance...................... 19.99 quite high, shop around
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0 never
Entertainment........................... 50 what does this get spent on?
CSA..................................... 222.6
Total monthly expenses.................. 1877.56

Assets
Car(s).................................. 3500 selling one car would bring in a bit of cash, but also save in running costs
Total Assets............................ 3500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR I have put these in the order that you shoud prioritise paying them off - the ones that are costing you the most in interest
Vanquis Credit Card............2260......100.......35.4
Aqua Credit Card...............400.......20........34
Capital One Credit Ca..........200.......20........32
HSBC Credit Card...............1946.18...49.9......22
HSBC Loan......................7250.88...172.......0 what's the APR, on this and the ones below
Littlewood Catalogue...........1136.06...198.......0
Barclays Overdraft.............300.......0.........0
HSBC Overdraft.................500.......0.........0
Very...........................385.25....20.3......0
Next...........................337.44....35........0

2379-1877.56=£501.44 (This is what you have left to cover all your debt repayment every month.)

Once you have added up all the minimum payments, what is the difference between the figure above and the minimum payments? When I added them up - I got about £615? So the shortfall you need to make up is about £115 (you can possible make this up by making a few cutbacks entertainment, SKY TV, mobiles, and ensuring you are on the cheapest tariffs for all else).

In order to overpay and make any descent inroads you will need to make further cutbacks (get rid of one of the cars), or increase your income (overtime, second job)

If you are unable to make your income meet your expenditure, you really need to speak to a professional debt advisor (CCCS, National Debtline etc), as you are currently getting further in to debt by about £100 every month.

HTH

D9