My SoA....please help!

Benson112

Debt

Amount APR Other Details
Egg Loan -£4,548.14 6.9% No PP
Post Office Credit Card -£1,670.62 14.9% No PP
Dad (loan in his name) -£7,000.00 6.0% No PP
Overdraft (Barclays) -£2,105.53 ? Reclaiming charges
Overdraft (A&L) -£44.71 ? New account £50 OD
Littlewoods Catalogue -£565.81 ? n/a
Barclays Loan -£2,640.01 24.9% With PP

TOTAL -£18,574.82


Income

Work £1,247.00
Benefits £167.00


Outgoings

Payment Frequency
TV Licence -£34.12 Quarterly
Council Tax -£116.00 Monthly
House Insurance -£12.13 Monthly
Rent -£152.36 Monthly
Mobile Phone -£60.00 Monthly
Electricity -£37.00 Monthly
Gas -£38.50 Monthly
Water Rates -£33.03 Monthly
Mortgage -£320.97 Monthly
Car Insurance -£74.55 Monthly
House Phone -£10.50 Monthly
Sky -£46.00 Monthly
Egg Loan -£76.12 Monthly
Post Office Credit Card -£60.50 Monthly
Dad (loan in his name) -£129.03 Monthly
Littlewoods -£40.00 Monthly
Barclays Loan -£94.15 Monthly
Petrol -£150.00 Monthly
Food -£200.00 Monthly

Total -£1,498.60 -Monthly
-£34.12 -Quarterly


Outstandings

Rent (x2) -£304.72
Post Office Credit Card -£170.62
Electric -£95.00
Ebay purchases -£100


As you can see outgoings outway incomings. My g/f is job hunting at the min but her benefits have officially stopped! Shes not going to get paid now for at least a month if not 2.
Weve been on a payment break from the motgage for the last 3 months...same with the egg loan and wasted the extra cash as ever.

Credit History is not that great!! Ive missed payments because of moving bank account / direct debit issues so i now have some arrears. Im moving banks because im taking barclays for the charges they have stung me for...thats £1300 i should be gettin back but cant put my claim in until i have £130 to file it!!

My house has around £12k equity in it...but im jut moving into the last year of a 3yr fixed mortgage so after 28th Jan id still have to pay 1% to get out of it. Still....there is an option to remortgage, may help me out!

I have been spending my time trying to keep my monthly outgoings down which inevitably means incraesing loan terms etc and basically paynig more interest on them!! My projected debt free date is April 2012 and that just isnt good enough. My kids will be 6 and 8 by then...they cant just have no birthdays between now and then so i need to sort it asap!! I want all my wages to be mine and not the banks. Id love to be able to say yes to everything my kids want.

Mrs_pbradley936

Well, the car has got to go – it is costing you £224.55 and you have not even considered depreciation and maintenance. Unless you live deep in the countryside with only one bus a week get rid of it. Next to go is the mobile and Sky – they are costing you £106 per month. Unless you are tied in to a contract get rid and if you are tied in to a contract see if you can get onto a lower tariff. But cheer up because making those adjustments will be saving you £330.55 per month which you can use to clear you debts and become free.

Mrs_pbradley936

Oh and please do not say yes to everything the kids want even when you can afford it – you are setting them up to become poor money managers themselves. The sooner they can tell the difference between wants and needs the better.

Benson112

Lol they are 2 and 4 months...they dont get that yet. When they are old enough to understand i will teach them the error of my ways. But for now it would be nice to be able to afford a packet of sweets for them! lol.

Right, the car simply cannot go. We cut down from 2 cars to 1 to help out in costs but its such a nightmare sharing 1 let alone not having one at all so that had to stay.
Sky - recent 12 month contract with sky plus....to have sky plus you have to have a premium package etc blah blah blah...ill speak to them see what i can do to cut it down. Mobile phone contract ends in January so its a possibility to can this. Thing is, the contract we have is unreplacable. Its brilliant, we never pay any more than £60 for both our lines (we have one each) and we get free upgrades everyyear. If i go back to PAYG ill be paying out approx £20 each on top ups and lose the upgrade therefore have to buy new phones. So i wouldnt really be saving much there. nowerdays its not pratical to not have a mobile. I need mine for work and the g/f has hers there so i can get hold of her. I know all these sound like excuses but ive done this excersise before and got rid of things we didnt need, but the things left kind of need to stay there.

house phone is a gonner in 2 months when the minimum contract period is over. Sky ill try to change but everything else has to stay the same! What im more looking for is suggestions on what to do with my current debt to get it into a managable state so that im not missing payments etc.

lynzpower

[house phone is a gonner in 2 months when the minimum contract period is over. Sky ill try to change but everything else has to stay the same! What im more looking for is suggestions on what to do with my current debt to get it into a managable state so that im not missing payments etc./QUOTE]

Honestly? Im looking at your SOA, and I cant see that you are even breaking even, so in the immiediate, you HAVE to cut back. You are short by 30-odd quid a month and you havent taken into account a lot of expenses here. You have a car, burt theres nothing there for MOTS/repairs etc.

Personally getting rid of the car is the only major cutback I can see.

Why isnt your OH working this is a priority if you cant get rid of the car.

the only way to get this sorted is by earning more, spending less and dumping all luxuries, as you are already overspending.

You dont need sky plus or a mobile.]

If i go back to PAYG ill be paying out approx £20 each on top ups and lose the upgrade therefore have to buy new phones.

why do you NEED new phones? You can get them from freinds ( mine are always giveing them away or get a cheapie off ebay for a few quid.

you need to distinguish the difference between want & need. you wont die withut a new phone annually. as an aside my sister got a new phone from vodaphone on payg, and she has some sort of top deal with unlimited free texts a month and free calls to one number.

Benson112

You need new phones because the majority of modern phones die after about 6 months. Weve already been putting up with broken phones for 6 months.

I totally understand that cut backs are required and believe me they have been significantly made. What is left was the choice of every luxury we had, we decided to keep one or two an it had helped.

The OH isnt working because she was on maternity leave (not from a company just from work in general lol and paid by the governement). She is currently looking and should have a job for xmas period lined up shortly.

I understand the difference between a need and a want. I dont particularly need a house, a car even a bed but i still have them. Cars, sky and mobiles are a "comon all garden" accessory nowerdays. I wont allow my OH out without her mobile so that she can contact me if she needs me. Im a worry wart! lol. PAYG not an option....contracts and car stay!! Sky i will change as best i can depending on contract situation.

Still looking for any advise on what to do with the current debt! I know that isnt structured as best it can be!!

Millionare

Benson112 wrote:

Lol they are 2 and 4 months...they dont get that yet. When they are old enough to understand i will teach them the error of my ways. But for now it would be nice to be able to afford a packet of sweets for them! lol.

Right, the car simply cannot go. We cut down from 2 cars to 1 to help out in costs but its such a nightmare sharing 1 let alone not having one at all so that had to stay.
Sky - recent 12 month contract with sky plus....to have sky plus you have to have a premium package etc blah blah blah...ill speak to them see what i can do to cut it down. Mobile phone contract ends in January so its a possibility to can this. Thing is, the contract we have is unreplacable. Its brilliant, we never pay any more than £60 for both our lines (we have one each) and we get free upgrades everyyear. If i go back to PAYG ill be paying out approx £20 each on top ups and lose the upgrade therefore have to buy new phones. So i wouldnt really be saving much there. nowerdays its not pratical to not have a mobile. I need mine for work and the g/f has hers there so i can get hold of her. I know all these sound like excuses but ive done this excersise before and got rid of things we didnt need, but the things left kind of need to stay there.

house phone is a gonner in 2 months when the minimum contract period is over. Sky ill try to change but everything else has to stay the same! What im more looking for is suggestions on what to do with my current debt to get it into a managable state so that im not missing payments etc.

Hi, lets see, problem you may have in transferring your debt to cheaper deals if you say your credit history not very good due to missed payments. Have you tried 0% balances transfer on cc?

you need a car with young kids but Car insurance is very expensive, Any reasons? have you shopped around? how much your car worth?

Sky plus - you paying quite abit for sky. i would like to have all the bells and whistles but do you really watch tv that much to account for £46 of your hard earned cash every month plus tv licence just wasting away?

Mobile, do you use all your minutes. text per month or are they being wasted?(both phones) etc. This does not include ringing for the sake of using up your minutes/texts each month.
also do you need a new phone each year? find the most expensive free upgrade and sell the new upgrades on ebay. i do this and make £200 a year which is basically my line paid for and thats 1 new phone.

Tariffs are alot better nowadays than they used to be.

you could try a consolidation loan to put your debts in one place but it is a must that you CANCEL ALL YOUR CARDS. trust me you'll end up using them if you dont and end up further in debt.

looneyleo

I'm a bit confused why you are paying rent and a mortgage? Is this because you are in arreas with rent? Totally agree with Lynzpower. You don't NEED a new phone every year. Go to PAYG and don't make calls/text unless abosultely necessary. Mobile phones are an addicitive time filler in many cases (but that's my opinion) I spend less than £5.00 per month on my mobile. Totally understand about the car. Having two small children is difficult enough without having to get them on and off the bus... Can the cost of the car be reduced any? can you sell and buy a cheaper model to pay off some debt?

Your GF working again seems critical but then there is the childcare etc. I personally feel you haven't been drastic enough in your monthly outgoings trying to reduce as much as possible etc. can't help with debt management but wish you well

scootw1

Could I ask why you have got rent AND mortgage down as two payments? Does this mean you rent a place and have a separate house? Why don't you live in the house you mortgage if you are not now?

Uniscots97

I think the OP probably has a shared equity house in conjunction with a housing association. For some its the only way to get onto the property ladder but it means not only do you pay a mortgage on the bit you own you pay rent on the bit you don't. Looks like a 75/25 split on the house to me. 25% still being owned by the housing association.

Millionare

Unfortunalty Benson, Lynzpower is spot on. Your missing stuff on your SOA thats not been accounted for which means your going to be more in red then what is in you SOA currently.

Regarding phones your paying over £700 a year on a mobiles also your buying the wrong phones if there breaking in 6 months, theres nothing wrong with modern phones unless you got a slider or flip? ignore these, one drop and they break.

get a candybar style phone, ive had mine 3 years and ive dropped it so many times yet it refuses to die and works perfect. i even smashed it off a wall once, still works perfect. nokia 6230i

ive got a contract and my missus has payg, she only uses it to ring me 5 fiver a month if that and 25 quid for me and i use it for work as well.


Also over £650 for your tv per year including licence. very expensive