Help me get rid of my stupid debts

jambalaya

I'm looking for some help to get rid of my stupid debts for once and all. I've lurked here for long enough without taking my own situation seriously enough and its got to stop.:(

I've got around £7700 of credit card debt which i've been burying my head in the sand over for about 3 years.:eek: I keep paying the minimum payments, transferring them to new 0% deals as the old ones run out but it feels like i'm not actually getting anywhere...

I know that i'm in a fortunate position compared to most on here as i can still get new deals when i need to, but i feel like i've not been taking the debt seriously and now my finances have been getting squeezed since my childcare costs recently went up and i have to deal with a small amount of uncertainty over my acutal take home pay each month....

Please take a look at my SOA and offer anything up that you feel is obvious?

Cheers


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 535
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2215

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 656
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 93
Electricity............................. 48
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59
Telephone (land line)................... 23
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 33
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 31
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 17
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 240
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 17
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1712.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 1500
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 133500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(656)......4.24
Total secured & HP debts...... 120000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................5549.23...130.......0
Lloyds.........................1748.44...43........0
MBNA...........................451.09....25........17.47
Total unsecured debts..........7748.76...198.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,215
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,712.5
Available for debt repayments........... 502.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 198
Amount left after debt repayments....... 304.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 133,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -120,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,748.76
Net Assets.............................. 5,751.24

oldtractor

WElcome to the bord. First of all aim to pay off the MBNA as it has interest. Cut up the cards so you cant use them anymore.

oldtractor

jambalaya wrote: »

I'm looking for some help to get rid of my stupid debts for once and all. I've lurked here for long enough without taking my own situation seriously enough and its got to stop.:(

I've got around £7700 of credit card debt which i've been burying my head in the sand over for about 3 years.:eek: I keep paying the minimum payments, transferring them to new 0% deals as the old ones run out but it feels like i'm not actually getting anywhere...

I know that i'm in a fortunate position compared to most on here as i can still get new deals when i need to, but i feel like i've not been taking the debt seriously and now my finances have been getting squeezed since my childcare costs recently went up and i have to deal with a small amount of uncertainty over my acutal take home pay each month....

Please take a look at my SOA and offer anything up that you feel is obvious?

Cheers


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 535
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2215

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 656
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 93
Electricity............................. 48

---

seems high,check things are turned off when not in use.
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59
Telephone (land line)................... 23
Mobile phone............................ 50

---

very high shop around,use less,go PAYG
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 33===== too high,use what you have for now
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 31
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 17
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 240
Other child related expenses............ 50

---

what are these?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 17

---

reduce reduce
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 30

---

reduce to £20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1712.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 1500
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 133500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(656)......4.24
Total secured & HP debts...... 120000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................5549.23...130.......0
Lloyds.........................1748.44...43........0
MBNA...........................451.09....25........17.47
Total unsecured debts..........7748.76...198.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,215
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,712.5
Available for debt repayments........... 502.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 198
Amount left after debt repayments....... 304.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 133,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -120,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,748.76
Net Assets.............................. 5,751.24

Use the money saved to pay off debt and put a little aside each month into an emergency fund so you wont need to use cards again.

MrsTUS

jambalaya wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 535
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2215

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 656
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 93
Electricity............................. 48 This seems high, are you paying arrears? We pay £30pm for a 3 bed semi
Gas..................................... 50 See above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59
Telephone (land line)................... 23
Mobile phone............................ 50 Can you get these down any more or switch to PAYG?
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240 This is pretty high for 2 adults and a child. We pay £220pm for a family of 5, which included household items/toiletries/nappies/wipes
Clothing................................ 33 Could this go for the time being, or at reduce?
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 31
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 17
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 240
Other child related expenses............ 50 What are these?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 Maybe worth saving a little here?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 17
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 30 What does this typically include? Could you look at free days out for your child and for yourselves as a couple? Picnics etc? Use Groupon deal once in a while or have a 'date' in the house instead..
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1712.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 1500
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 133500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(656)......4.24
Total secured & HP debts...... 120000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................5549.23...130.......0
Lloyds.........................1748.44...43........0
MBNA...........................451.09....25........17.47
Total unsecured debts..........7748.76...198.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,215
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,712.5
Available for debt repayments........... 502.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 198
Amount left after debt repayments....... 304.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 133,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -120,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,748.76
Net Assets.............................. 5,751.24

THose are just a few things that stick out for me...

Tixy

Hi and welcome and well done for realising that you are ready to make changes

jambalaya wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance SheetMonthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 535
Benefits................................ 80 are you entitled to anything else? tax credits at all? or are your earnings too high?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2215

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 656
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 93
Electricity............................. 48 this looks a bit high, any arrears? have you shopped around to see if you can find cheaper supplier/tariff through the comparison sites or have you tried to reduce usage at little?
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59 Ouch, is this any arrears? metered or unmeasured? if not on a meter maybe you could look into one, if on a meter do a leak test and read up on reducing water usage.
Telephone (land line)................... 23
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 13
Groceries etc. ......................... 240 Might be able to reduce this a bit for 3 of you? Could you aim to maybe reduce to £200 and see how that goes?
Clothing................................ 33
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 31
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 17
Childcare/nursery....................... 240 how old is your child? can you get salary sacrafice vouchers from work towards this? are you entitled to the so many hours free soon?
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 17
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 1712.5

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,215
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,712.5
Available for debt repayments........... 502.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 198
Amount left after debt repayments....... 304.5do you have this left a month? are you using it towards the debts? Can you use it this month to pay off the MBNA card charging interest?

if you don't have the extra £300 towards your debts and don't know where it goes then it would probably help if you both keep spending diaries to try to track down where this is going each month.

GeorgeUK

Do you really have £300 left at the end of the month? It may be worthwhile keeping a spending diary and writing down everything you spend as soon as you pay for something. This should help you to see where any extra costs are going to and enable you to budget for these.

mustang1

jambalaya wrote: »

I'm looking for some help to get rid of my stupid debts for once and all. I've lurked here for long enough without taking my own situation seriously enough and its got to stop.:(

I've got around £7700 of credit card debt which i've been burying my head in the sand over for about 3 years.:eek: I keep paying the minimum payments, transferring them to new 0% deals as the old ones run out but it feels like i'm not actually getting anywhere...

I know that i'm in a fortunate position compared to most on here as i can still get new deals when i need to, but i feel like i've not been taking the debt seriously and now my finances have been getting squeezed since my childcare costs recently went up and i have to deal with a small amount of uncertainty over my acutal take home pay each month....

Please take a look at my SOA and offer anything up that you feel is obvious?

Cheers


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 535
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2215

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 656
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 93
Electricity............................. 48 this and gas are high - have you looked at switching?
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 59 - this is very high - have you got a water meter?
Telephone (land line)................... 23
Mobile phone............................ 50 - can you cut this down - get PAYG
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 33 - every month? Can you live on what you have for a few months at least
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 31
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 17
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 240
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 17
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1712.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 1500
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 133500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(656)......4.24
Total secured & HP debts...... 120000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................5549.23...130.......0
Lloyds.........................1748.44...43........0
MBNA...........................451.09....25........17.47
Total unsecured debts..........7748.76...198.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,215
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,712.5
Available for debt repayments........... 502.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 198
Amount left after debt repayments....... 304.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 133,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -120,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,748.76
Net Assets.............................. 5,751.24

I've put a couple of thoughts above. You do seem to have £300 left to pay off this debt though so what happens with that extra money? May be a good idea to do a spending diary for a month to see why you don't seem to have this extra £300 left.

Also worth getting that MBNA debt onto 0% if you can (or pay off with your extra £300!)

jambalaya

First of all thanks for taking the time to read through my post and not have a go at me for not being in as worse a position on here as some. I know were not in the worst of situations but i think its helpful to get others to look at what were doing and perhaps see stuff i don't see.

There have been numerous replies and instead of replying to each individually i'll just address the points you all raise in order.

Also - first things first out of the £300 that the SOA calculator spits out is spare both me and the wife take £80 each per month for 'pocket money' - (feels stupid typing it).

We use the MBNA card for 'emergency purchases' - i know its wrong but without an emergency fund i had to buy 3 tyres for the car last month and tax and MOT the car - they went on the MBNA card.

The figures for gas and electricity are my estimates - we get them both from EON but its £98 a month direct debit combined. I think that they are high but were in summer so i should be in surplus on the account by now, but were not - i think its £30 debit!
We have in the past looked into cavity wall insulation to try and reduce the heating bill - but they said we couldn't have it. 1930's semi and there are too many 'tie in' bricks IIRC.
Last year i looked quite a lot at the usage and reduced the leccy by 1% over the year (according to EON) - but gas stayed the same.

I have been around all windows and doors and sealed gaps - draft proofed where necessary.

I could switch to another supplier but have no confidence whatsoever in the comparison sites - how do you know if they really are comparing like for like?

Mobile costs are high - i'm locked onto a £25 contract till next March - wife is on 3 and not in contract but uses the internet and texts loads and i've not seen a cheaper deal which allows lots of data and texts for cheaper.

Groceries budget has creeped up over time - we used to spend £40 a week before my daughter came along and then it went to £50 and now its usually between £50 and £60...
We already use lists, get all we can in aldi then get the rest at Morissons.
We plan meals but we are both on a diet so my perception is that it costs a little more than if we weren't dieting. (extra costs seem to be more fruit, lots of low fat yogurt, chicken breasts etc)

jambalaya

carrying on:

the clothing figure is not a monthly cost really. In truth we both rarely buy clothes - that figure was based on us both spending £200 per year (which is what we spent before we went on a short holiday at the start of the year) - split over 12 months.

The child related costs cover nappies (we buy pampers at 2 boxes for £18 pounds from Asda - works out at around 11p a nappy each), wipes, nappy cream, and the small amount my wife spends per month on buying clothes for DD. We are in the early stages of potty training so hope these child costs will lower in the near future.
Also we have tried cheaper price point nappies but never found any which worked out for us. Also we did try washable nappies but gave up due to it not suiting us after a 6 week trial.

The medical/prescriptions/dentist etc we just seem to find as it arises, mostly out of the £80 we both have each month as pocket money.

the £30 entertainment is usually 1 takeaway meal per month and then a family day out somewhere.

on the benefits side of things - we get child benefit and a tiny amount of tax credits due to my earnings - the tax credit will disappear over the next year or two due to the tax credit changes in the budget.
We have already checked and can'[t get any more benefits due to our household income.

£59 water rates is exactly that. Were not on a meter and i'm apprehensive to sign us up to one and my reason is as follows: i know it might make for a short term gain now, but my wife is a high water user and despite my best efforts she doesn't seem to reduce her usage. Also with a 2 year old daughter this will only get worse in time and if we have another child eventually i can see us losing any benefit me may have gained.

On childcare, i already do get salary sacrifice vouchers from work. Recently our childcare costs increased from £200 a month to £240 through my wifes work spreading her hours over 3 days rather than the 2 it was. So we now have to pay a childminder by the hour over 3 days rather than the 2 full days it previously was.
Also, our childminder is fantastic and one of the cheapest in our area.
Were already checked about the free hours - we don't get them till next september.

At the end of the month there seems to be £30 or £40 left over - and when i realise its there i generally try and pay it off the MBNA card, unless there is something else that needs cash.:p

jambalaya

Also i might add that my mortgage is on a standard variable rate so we are at the mercy of the bank of england's interest rate decisions each month. We don't own enough equity to secure a good deal fix anywhere at the moment

So from your comments and looking at things further i'm going to do the following over the next month to see if i can improve my situation:

1. look at gas and electricity to see if i can be confident that we will save by switching.

2. look into a cheaper mobile phone deal for my wife.

3. work towards getting the grocery budget back down to £50 a week. (dunno how with rising food prices).

4. try to reduce the amount we spend 'pocket money'wise.

5. sell 4 old mobiles (actually i already did this the other night - £110 total which i'll pay off MBNA when i get the cash in)

Hope i manage to get all of these done...:eek:

joedenise

With regard to 2) I am with Virgin and have unlimited mobile use, 100 minutes of talk and, I think, 300 texts a month, this deal costs me £15 a month, don't know if they're still doing this deal as I got mine several months ago, it is a 24 month contract with a Blackberry phone. This might be worth looking into.

With regard to 3) Do you mealplan, batchcook, stick to a list, compare prices online (mysupermarket.com) before going shopping? I do all these and rarely spend more than £30-35 per week (for 2 of us). I stretch meals with extra veg, use smaller portions of meat than I used to, make veggie soups and freeze in single portions and we use these as starters (take 2 from freezer), my OH also takes to work for his lunch and microwaves thus saving money.

With regard to 4), you'll probably be able to reduce this once you both do a spending diary and see where you are "wasting" money. Perhaps it's something like coffees on the way to work, magazines, chocolate etc; all of which add up over the month. My OH and I have about £20 between us a week, so half of what you and your partner have, but more often than not don't use it, in which case I don't draw the money the following week and we make do, so in effect we probably don't spend more than about £40-£50 a month.

HTH

Denise