what to do with out debt

dancingfairy

Hi Em - I would get in touch with one of the debt charities Martin recommends such as National Debtline, CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Service) or your local CAB - they can chat through the various options with you.
Your childcare is very high - is there any way to cut this? any family that can help out a bit? can you use childcare vouchers from work - although check this out carefully as it affects certain benefits so can work out for some and not for others.
Your options at the moment seem to be:
1) perhaps some kind of debt management plan - obviously things are likely to change for you in the next few years - hopefully children will go to school and childcare will go down etc so your 'spare' money to pay debts will go up.
2) potentially an IVA
3) bankrutpcy - you may or may not loose the house - you would need to research this carefully -I believe the official receiver doesnt look at equity in your house for 2 years - if it that time you are in negative equity then they won't have any interest in your house, if positive equity then they may want the house to sell to repay creditors - so look into this very carefully.
I would suggest that your best options are potentially 1 or 2 but the debt charities will talk you through it all.
df

sp1987

Can you do your shopping online if you normally go instore? If you have not ordered online before you normally get £10 off your first order over £50 with tesco or asda too which pays delivery and saves whatever petrol you would have spent and gives you a few free bits.

If you cannot hold or smell anything or see it looking pretty you might lose a few pounds because online you automatically look for deals. Bulk buys are often pretty easy to spot too online, especially with baby wipes. I tend to buy baby wipes in large bulk when I see them too as it is cheaper and you then always have them.

I hardly ever want anything as a treat when I am buying online as I am so bored of having to do it I can't be bothered to look. Which is very cheap! Lol.

That might save you a bit of money with little to no effort which is a nice way to start.

BigCraigJohn

You could do a cca request on the loans if they were taken out before 2007. In simple terms you are asking to see the credit agreement. If they cant provide it or if its wrong you can effectively with hold payment and they cant take legal action but they will default you and set the debt collectors out but you just tell them where to stick it. Theres lots of guides online. If you could lose 1 or 2 debts it might leave you a bit better off. Loans seem to be better than credit cards but for the sake of a pound youve nothing to lose and its your legal entitlement, they will only get nasty once you stop paying.

[Deleted User]

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2 Do you need to cars - you could sell one and pay off a chunk of debt, but also save on the running costs - insurance, tax, petrol?

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 950 Any way to increase? Overtime? Second job?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1400 As above
Benefits................................ 160 Are you claiming all that you are entitled to?
Total monthly income.................... 2510

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 550
Council tax............................. 106 Are you currently paying over the usual 10 mnths, ask your council if you can spread the payment over 12 months.
Electricity............................. 42 Check comparison sites (eg USwitch) to ensure that you are on the cheapest tariff for your area - often duel fuel and online tariffs are cheaper - if switching makes sense use chasback sites (Quidco, Topcashback, Onepoll)
Gas..................................... 42 as above
Water rates............................. 41
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 70 This is pretty steep - how many phones, high even for 2, if in contract see if you can drop a tariff, if/when out of contract look at SIM only deals or PAYG - some good £10 pm deals out there
TV Licence.............................. 15 (12.37)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25 Go freeview
Groceries etc. ......................... 500 This is high - drop brands, meal plan, batch cook, shop at cheaper supermarkets (lidl/Aldi) - check out The Old Style Board for tips and inspiration
Clothing................................ 0 never?
Petrol/diesel........................... 200 Are all journeys essential?
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 80 Check comparison sites at renewal
Car parking............................. 12
Childcare/nursery....................... 368 Any way to reduce - do either of your employers offer childcare vouchers?
Buildings insurance..................... 20 Both this and below seem high - usually combned is cheaper - check comparison sites
Contents insurance...................... 20 as above
Life assurance ......................... 18
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 never?
Haircuts................................ 0 never?
Entertainment........................... 0 nothing?
Total monthly expenses.................. 2149

Assets
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Car(s).................................. 3000
Total Assets............................ 123000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 115000...(550)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 115000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR You really need to find out what the APR's are so that you can work out exactly how much they are each costing you every month, and then be in a position to priorities any overpayments that can be made to minimise interest paid back, and maximise debt payment
loan...........................25000.....410.......0
loan...........................9000......115.......0
Total unsecured debts..........34000.....525.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,510
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,149
Available for debt repayments........... 361
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 525
Amount short for making debt repayments. -164 I think that you can make this up quite easily through careful planning - reduce grocery bill, mobile hone accounts, cancel pay for TV, ensure all your utility and essential bills are on the cheapest tariffs.

If you want to make overpayments and get rid of the debt quicker, you will have to be more careful, and make further cutbacks, and/or increase your income. I think that without to much further change you could end up with a surplus at the end of the month to overpay the most expensive debt.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 123,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -115,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -34,000
Net Assets.............................. -26,000

HTH

burge23

I'd agree about the following:

Mobiles: Are you tied in? We have 2 mobile smartphones with unlimited internet, tons of texts and minutes and 1000's of same network minutes for £25.69 per month. If you could cut that that would be £20

Insurance: Again shop around. Use the comparison sites and check the likes of Direct Line and Aviva that aren't on them Once you have your cheapest check their own website. We're were with a certain ladies company with wheels but brought ours down by cancelling and taking out a new policy with them! £16.57 per month buildings and contents.

Groceries: You can also bring that down. We have 3 adults and a 5 year old. Forget the brands unless you can't live without them and downshift. My son won't eat the coco pops from a famous company now but loves the supermarket brand. Check out Aldi and Lidl if they are near you and look out for their half price weekend offers particularly on meat and Aldi's veg offer. Don't forget Iceland and farmfoods too. Not for ready meals but for frozen veg (no waste), cheap milk and bread, and Iceland also do reasonable fresh meat. Also get on the supermarket websites or Fixture Ferrets (:money:) and identify the usesful deals before you go shopping. It saves time and money!

Kids: If you can use childcare vouchers look into them but check if they'll affect your tax credits. Also Lidl's nappies are good as are Mr T's value wipes at 20p a pack. We swapped to them and never looked back!

Good luck!

Check out the "Shopping Smarter" and "What Luxuries have you cut" threads too. I found them and they have a lot of good ideas and tips.

Heyman_2

Do either of your workplaces do employee loans (or do you think they might)? It depends on the company, if it's a smaller company then you can do like I did and just go and have a chat with the MD - a few years ago I managed to get a £7K loan on really good terms. They didn't officially do anything, but as I went and asked they put something together for me. You might be able to clear the smaller of the two loans doing this and lower your monthly payments as a result.

holidayaholic

It would be worthwhile joining some of the DFW groups focussing on cutting spend and / or increasing income, eg NSD (no spend days), grocery challenge, make £10 a day, ebay challenge.

Re ebay - kids stuff do well on there & they grow out of things so quickly I bet you have loads of stuff you could sell!

I personally have found the NSD group particularly friendly and from popping my head in & out of the others, they all seem great & a good motivator to kick start your way to getting that balance right between income & expenditure.

Good luck