SOA-Please Help!

CarrieB_4

Hello Everyone!

I have been in debt now for a few years,even though it is manageable i would really like to become debt free sooner-am just sick of having it hanging over me!!I have posted an SOA below,i just hope you good people will offer me some advice!


Wages(after tax) £1620

MONTHLY OUTGOINGS-

Mortgage- 482.64
Loan(1)-£321.90 (approx 2.5 years left to pay)
Loan(2)-£131.41(approx 3.5 years left to pay)
Council tax-£38.00(which will be increased to 65 in march 07)
TV Licence-£11
Sky-£15 (need it as cannot get freeview and reception in area is so bad!)
BT-£56.50 (includes b/band and a £10 buffer for calls)
Electricity-£40
Water rates-£26
House Insurance-£13.92(contents)
House insurance-£33 (for management company,building insurance)
Mobile phone-approx £20/30
Account charge-£10

Overdraft-445.94 DR (£800 limit)
C/Card(lloyds tsb platinum)-£345.35 DR £6000 limit
catalogue-approx £300-pay around £25 a month

I think this is it all!! It feels good to get it off my chest!

Thanks in advance

peterg1965

Hello Carrie B

There will, undoubtedly, be gallons of advice. However here is mine.

- BT you are paying well over the odds here. You could probably halve this dependent on your call profile. Here is what I do; BT line rental (£11), Euphony for calls (£1 month for unlimited (unmetered) calls inc international) (this goes up to £5.99 after 6 months). Free Orange Broadband with an Orange Contract phone (my contract is £35/month) Therefore for my mobile/internet/land line I pay £47/month. You pay up to £86.50.

- What sort of mortgage deal do you currently have? Are you locked in? More details and I may be be able to advice more.

- How much left outstanding on loans?

Hope this helps as a starter for ten!

medman

Another little bit of the jigsaw for you.

If you cancel Sky, you will continue to receive the freeview channels through your Sky box. That's what we have, there is a couple missing such as E4 but most are there and when you examine what you watch very often it is the free channels anyway. If you find you can't live without it they will always have you back.

Even just asking them to cancel will get an offer of three months at half price.

Worth a go.

It would be useful to see what your other outgoings are. Have you started a diary to track current spending habits, it really is very revealing and well worth the effort.

cheers for now

CarrieB_4

Thanks peterg for replying!

I know im paying over the odds for BT,but when i first signed up with them a couple of years ago-i started my account with a £100 debit before id even started as they put the services charges,modem charge etc straight onto my bill!even though what i have paid monthy to them since has covered the cost of my bills-that £100 debt rolls over each month so i cannot afford to pay them off!

I owe on each of my loans (1) 9096.96 (2) 4150.07

The first loan is at a rate of 5.9(i think) and the second is something astronomical like 18%!!!!!

CarrieB_4

medman-thanks for replying also!

I was under the assumption that you have to have sky for a year before you
can cancel?!?!

carrieb x

medman

Sorry, yes you do, but once your year has expired, you can cancel and still get all the free stuff.

MM

miggy

Welcome
I'm not an expert -there are others who will give much better detailed help than I can - but what do you allow for food and transport? Also clothing?
Do have a run through with Martin's budget planner - I found the categories there very helpful to get me to think about where other bits of money go.
You may find it helpful to keep an eye out for the various challenges people are running and to keep a spending diary - that's a good way to become aware of your money's escape routes. Then you can begin to chip away at expenses (the OS board is great for this). You may also want to have a look at the 'bit on the side' board for ways of earning extra.
Well done for catching your debts before they get bigger: it looks do-able to me and there is plenty of friendly advice here, just ask!

lynzpower

Mortgage- 482.64
Loan(1)-£321.90 (approx 2.5 years left to pay)
Loan(2)-£131.41(approx 3.5 years left to pay)
Council tax-£38.00(which will be increased to 65 in march 07) ( do you live alone?)
TV Licence-£11
Sky-£15 (need it as cannot get freeview and reception in area is so bad!)
BT-£56.50 (includes b/band and a £10 buffer for calls)
Electricity-£40 ( check out https://www.est.org.uk to find ways of saving electric & gas)
Water rates-£26
House Insurance-£13.92(contents) ( have you checked this is the cheapest?)
House insurance-£33 (for management company,building insurance)
Mobile phone-approx £20/30 ( could you go PAYG?)
Account charge-£10 ( ok id get rid of this you dont need it!)

Overdraft-445.94 DR (£800 limit)
C/Card(lloyds tsb platinum)-£345.35 DR £6000 limit
catalogue-approx £300-pay around £25 a month

CarrieB_4

miggy-I do not drive,but am currently trying to takes lessons-but is very expensive!!! I spend approx £100 a month on food
lynzpower-yes i do live alone.My council tax is quite low at the moment as the council stupidly didnt band my old property properly so they ended up oweing me lots!am already on PAYG,i didnt want to get a contract phone as i would end up even more in debt!!!

CLAPTON

i think it would help you greatly if you produced a 'proper ' budget..that is one that includes all your spending and what you will spend over the next 12 months..

at the moment its impossible to tell whether you are currently overspending or living within your means. also without knowing where the money goes its much harder to cut back or prioritise your spending.

so start a spending diary and write everything down so as well a food/grocies, any travel costs, takeaways, socialising, work lunches/coffees/haircuts etc etc...

also look at all you annual and one off spending over the last 12 months and try to estimate what you will spend over the next 12 months....divide by 12 to get a monthly figure and add it to your budget.
so ..do you spend anything on holidays, xmas, presents, weekends away, clothes,....with a house its essential to have some sort of emergencies savings...something's bound to go wrong over the next 12 months....
with the yearly spends you need to save the monthly amount each month so when you need it you dont need to use a CC but already have it saved.

miggy

CarrieB wrote:

miggy-I do not drive,but am currently trying to takes lessons-but is very expensive!!! I spend approx £100 a month on food

Have a look at the Old Style board for ways to cut down a bit on food costs - and yes, driving lessons are scarily expensive! A friend told me (haven't checked it myself) that if you go via Tesco.com you can use Tesco vouchers towards BSM lessons, e.g. £20 of vouchers pays for £80 of lessons. She said the lessons aren't on their leaflets, you have to go hunting for them.