Financial Problems

Vandaemon

Hi, Over the past few years my wife and I have accumulated a ridiculuous amount of debt and are finding very stressful to cope with it. We can just about manage our outgoings, but my wife's hours have now changed to part-time and it can sometimes be difficult to keep up financially. The debt isn't currently increasing but it isn't exactly getting much smaller either. We have 2 children aged 2 and 5 but no childcare costs due to my wife working part-time. I have detailed below a SOA and any constrctive comments would be appreciated. Thanks, Karl

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 800
Benefits................................ 300
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2700
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 804
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 287
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 123
Electricity............................. 95
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48.5
Telephone (land line)................... 32
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 42.75
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 35
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 7.5
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2312.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 179000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 186000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 149000...(804)......4.1
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5459.08..(287)......7
Total secured & HP debts...... 154459.0.-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
RBS Card.......................2458.84...75........16.9
Santander......................1890.32...19........0
Natwest........................1191.89...27........0
Creation.......................1148.29...35........0
Nationwide.....................3522.93...108.......0
Virgin.........................2685.27...76........17.5
Total unsecured debts..........12897.54..340.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,700
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,312.12
Available for debt repayments........... 387.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 340
Amount left after debt repayments....... 47.88
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 186,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -154,459.08
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,897.54
Net Assets.............................. 18,643.38

CH27

Hi

Your gas & electric is very high. Check you are on the cheapest tariffs.

£400 for groceries is very high. Dropping a brand & batch cooking should help you to reduce that.

Can your mobile costs be reduced? Change to pay as go you?

Do you really need Satellite Tv?

michelle1506

Lose the cable tv as well. I had Sky and stopped it. It's not necessary :-)

michelle1506

Can you cut down on your water usage? 48.5 seems VERY high. Might be worthwhile getting that checked out. That sure is a heck of a lot of water!

GeorgieFTB

Vandaemon wrote: »

Hi, Over the past few years my wife and I have accumulated a ridiculuous amount of debt and are finding very stressful to cope with it. We can just about manage our outgoings, but my wife's hours have now changed to part-time and it can sometimes be difficult to keep up financially. The debt isn't currently increasing but it isn't exactly getting much smaller either. We have 2 children aged 2 and 5 but no childcare costs due to my wife working part-time. I have detailed below a SOA and any constrctive comments would be appreciated. Thanks, Karl

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 800
Benefits................................ 300
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2700
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 804 - is this interest only? might be worth changing until you've paid off other debts?
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 287
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 123
Electricity............................. 95- quite high, check comparison sites to make sure you are then use cash back sites to get some money back
Gas..................................... 60 - ditto
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48.5 - are you on a meter or is this rates? Might want to check if its cheapest
Telephone (land line)................... 32 - high, are you making use of free minutes/mobiles when nessesary
Mobile phone............................ 35 - I assume this is for two contracts, can you reduce/ get rid of one?
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 42.75 - this should be gone/cut down... get the £20 bundle with landline and internet
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 - go over to the old style board and make friends, this could be got down to £200 with some work
Clothing................................ 40 - kids need clothes but can you get them on ebay?
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 -are you driving economically, check out the guide on the main site
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 35 - whats this for, can it be cut down
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 7.5
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2312.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 179000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 186000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 149000...(804)......4.1
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5459.08..(287)......7
Total secured & HP debts...... 154459.0.-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
RBS Card.......................2458.84...75........16.9
Santander......................1890.32...19........0
Natwest........................1191.89...27........0
Creation.......................1148.29...35........0
Nationwide.....................3522.93...108.......0
Virgin.........................2685.27...76........17.5
Total unsecured debts..........12897.54..340.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,700
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,312.12
Available for debt repayments........... 387.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 340
Amount left after debt repayments....... 47.88 - do you have this at the end of the month, if so throw it at the virgin debt
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 186,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -154,459.08
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,897.54
Net Assets.............................. 18,643.38

Once you have made some minor changes I suggest you use the snowball calculator on http://www.makesenseofcards.co.uk to figure out which debt to pay first and how long it will take you.

Gx

Vandaemon

Hi, thanks for all the replies.

I agree about the Sky TV. I've just called them and they offered me a half-price deal for six months. I know I should have refused, but I decided to try that and then I can still cancel after the six months - I guess £21pm is better than nothing!

The mortgage is capital repayment, but interest only may well be an option short term - thanks.

I already switched electricty and gas, so I am on a good tariff but unfortunately wasn't paying anywhere near enough for the first six months as it turns out, so I'm now paying £500 worth of arrears aswell :-(

A few people have mentioned about the water being high - I had no idea, so I'll get this checked next week - thanks.

The landline also includes broadband and I have checked comparison sites and can't really get a better deal than the one I have (even Sky couldn't beat my current deal with combined sky/phone/broadband).

My mobile is covered by business expenses. The one hear is my wife's iPhone which is on a contract - again I agree it is excessive but I can't really do anything about it until the contract runs out.

The shopping bill is a bit of an estimate and we have already discussed how to cut down hear. I'm sure with some useful tips from these forums we can cut it down even further.

Always difficult to estimate clothes/personal items but I have used ebay quite a lot in the past for both buying and selling and have found it very cost effective.

Difficult to cut down on driving costs but point taken, I'll look into this in more detail.

Extra child costs include clubs which we can cancel/cut down.

I started 'snowballing' a short time ago, but with very little left at the end of the month it is sometime difficult.

Thanks for all the advice:)

Cape_town

Hi - Just taking one item - phone bills both landline and mobile. I have got these down on our household by taking on BT Anytime - which gives "free" calls above the monthly charge to any UK landline at any time - so use that for all landline calls - and then get a very cheap pay as you go mobile which gives free texts + a certain number of calls per month for no extra cost - and use that for mobile calls/texts. ( mine is via Orange and costs £10.00 per month - which also gives 2 for 1 cinema + pizza express)

Our two mobiles + landline cost £35 per month in total - and we don't stint on calls. Just remember mobile to mobile and land line to land line!

+ do get rid of Satellite TV - free view + pay- as- you- go Love film ( so films work out at £2 each) almost as good.

good luck

dano17439

Vandaemon wrote: »

The one hear is my wife's iPhone which is on a contract - again I agree it is excessive but I can't really do anything about it until the contract runs out.

You can sell the iphone for £300 - £400 and put towards your debt, buy a crappy £10 to replace it and just swap the SIM