hi i have had my lightbulb moment and need a great deal of help

thepinkladez_2

:rolleyes: ok here i go... deep breathe!!

im 24 and my hubby is 25 we have a baby girl and we are seriously in debt. wondering if anyone can help me out on how to get sorted.
my hubby is very stressed he is self employed but it hasnt worked out he has been offered a new job which he is going to start asap,we havent saved a penny for the tax man so thats stressful and we dont know how much it will be to we see his accountant is march.
we have considered bankruptsey but i desperatly dont want to lose our home, but not sure how we can get sorted.
sorry im a bit rambly!
our wages are as follows:
husband £1,200.pcm
me £500.pcm
benefits (tax cred, child tax etc )£100

our outgoings per month
mortgage £770.00
life,home and contents ins £25.00
gas & elec £90.00
water £17.00
council tax £89.00
telephone home, my mob, his mob, his work mob and internet £70.00
tv lic £11.00
sky £43.00
childcare £80.00
fuel £ 200.00
car ins £70.00
shopping £200.00

our debts
barclay card 1 £1,814.00
barclay card 2 £1,292.00
capital one 1 £166.00
capital one 2 £1684.61
hsbc gold card £545.00
a+l card £1000.00
egg card 1 £2,295
egg card 2 £17,987.00
hsbc loan £2,000
tax bill (guesstimate!) £5,000

we looked into getting a 30kish secured loan to clear all our debts above but im not sure if this is the best option it would help us as we would pay £350.00 a month for 10 years.

please if you have any advice i would be so very greatful any ideas on how we can tackle this debt and options available to us would be lovely.

i already feel a bit better writing all the debt down. its been awful the last few months as my wonderful husband has been so down it scares me. we cant share this with our families as they think we are dong so well financially as we have a nice 3 bed semi, beautiful baby, and my husband has his own franchise and that seems like a lot at our youngish age, we could never let them know as they would be sooooo upset that we have been so stupid with money.i cant believe we have been sooo silly no one else our age is in this kind of situation.

thank you for leeting me say all this!

jobbingmusician

The general advice on this forum is strongly AGAINST consolidation loans - do you really want a loan which costs you half as much as your mortgage hanging over you for the next 10 years?

Your total incomings are £1800, and the outgoings you have told us about are £1665 (if my maths is right) befire any debt repayments. You clearly cannot afford to take on an extra £350 a month in a new loan. (Sorry to be so blunt).

You have come to the right place, though! I don't have personal experience, but lots of people here (including Martin) recommend CCCS or PayPlan - links at the top of this forum. They are charities set up to help people deal with debt, and can be helpful in getting your creditors to reduce, freeze etc your debts

I'm sure lots of people here will have good suggestions for reducing outgoings, and there are good threads for 'bits on the side' - part time income generation.. but you need to get a big handle on this. I would strongly recommend one of the companies mentioned above

System

Firstly, welcome to the site, you are amongst friends and above all we have all been where you are now and the only way is up. If there is one thing people on here will say is 'Do not get a secured loan'. Your debts are unsecured at present your home is not at risk. So whilst it will seem the easy way out at the moment you will probably end up back where you are now - believe me I have done the same as you are considering and are in actual fact much worse off than used to be. You need to contact Payplan https://www.payplan.co.uk or CCCS https://www.cccs.co.uk. More information on these websites can be found at the links above and there are further links on this page under the title 'Non-Profit Debt Counsellors' Try these first. Keep us posted and keep posting no matter how silly YOU may think your question or concern may be.

Lenny

CLAPTON

well done for facing the debt problems..

can you edit your post and add the minimum payments and APRs on each debt please

also how much is the house worth and how much the mortgage?

justruth

OK well done on posting, calm down. In my personal experience, the tax man or woman tends to be quite understanding and will often help come to an arrangement. It is always better that you go to them with the problem rather than them come to you.

If it does come to bankruptcy then so be it, there are a couple of threads on here that can reassure you, you may even be able to keep your home!

The Gas/electric seems high - try Uswitch, it doesn't take long and could save you a fortune.
Are you on a water meter? Try to cut down your usage if you are.
Phone and internet bills - Uswitch for the best landline/internet deal and seriously cut down on the mobile use
Sky- Get rid or if you cant yet cut down to min package until you can. End of the day I'm affaid you cant afford it.
Car Ins- Is there any way of reducing this yet? I'd have a look if I were you.
Fuel £200 a month is excessive, this needs to come down.
I appreciate that you have a new baby but I also think that with careful planning you could get the shopping bill down.

I would avoid the secured loan as it costs more long term and doesn't solve your spending habits. Could you put up the APRs and monthly repayments?
have a look at http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx to see what I mean about the secured loan.

Smashing

Firstly, there are other people your age in this kind of situation - you say you 'appear' to be doing well - so do many other people, but you never know what goes on behind closed doors. You are NOT alone in your predicament.

First thing that stands out - SKY. Get rid and use freeview, or if you're still within your contract at the very least reduce to the minimum package.

Your shopping bill could be reduced by at least £50 a month - take a look on the Old Style board for tips regarding shopping, batch cooking and generally eating well for less.

Your car is a big expense - are all journeys absolutely necessary? Could you walk/cycle/take public transport more?
Can you break down the phone/mobile/internet costs further to see what is costing what?

Have you checked you're getting the best deal on your gas/electric? Who is your supplier?

There is nothing in your SOA to cover haircuts/clothes/dentist/social/birthdays etc. all these need to be considered.

thepinkladez_2

ok thank you all for your kind words and advice i have corrected my soa?!


mortgage £770.00 (our mortgage is £111,000 bought 6 months ago for 126,000 average price is £135 -145,000)
life,home and contents ins £25.00
gas & elec £90.00
water £17.00 (not on a meter)
council tax £89.00
telephone home, my mob, his mob, his work mob and internet £70.00
tv lic £11.00
sky £43.00 (this is sky+ i know this sounds bad but this is the only entrtainment we have dont really have money etc to go out we both dont smoke or drink -so dont really want to lose it!)
childcare £80.00
fuel £ 200.00 (think this is actually about £120ish tbh will add it up over this month)
car ins £70.00 (just recalc this is £60- we shopped around as both renews were in dec this is the cheapest!)
shopping £200.00( average shop is between £40 and £50 a week is that a lot inc all toiletries nappys cleaning prods sanitary items etc!?)
we probably spend £20 ish pcm on presents roughly £5/10 per person not buying presents for adults for xmas this year just the kids in the family
and mums and dads
haircuts is £40 and thats maybe 3 times a year

our debts
barclay card 1 £1,814.00 (£45.00 pcm)
barclay card 2 £1,292.00 (35.00)
capital one 1 £166.00(8.50)
capital one 2 £1684.61 (84.00)
hsbc gold card £545.00 (16.00)
a+l card £1000.00 (20.00)
egg card 1 £2,295 (50.00)
egg card 2 £17,987.00 (279.00)
hsbc loan £2,000 (150.00)
tax bill (guesstimate!) £5,000 (agghhh!)

bobsa1

By no menas an expert but sky is really expensive, if you can get rid and get freeview.

The telephones are also costing you a lot are you on contracts?

I think your shopping is quite expensive for 2 adults and a baby. I have two adults, 1 teenager, a nine year old and a two year old and spend what you spend on shopping.

Are you getting help with childcare through tax credit or are you using any tax free voucher schemes, that would help with the cost.

Well done on posting here, welcome and I'm sure someone with really good advice will be along soon.

lynsayjane

hiya, welcome to the forum. i'm not far off your age (25) and while i'm not in anywhere near as much debt as you, i'm on my own and only make about the same as you (not oh!). i know it's hard, but your in the right place and we'll do all we can to help.

are any of your debts on 0% or life of balance rates? i'd suggest posting up the aprs to see if we can't move some of your lower balance cards over to reduce the number of debts you have.

i know it's hard but i do think you need to reconsider your position on sky. i understand it's your only form of entertainment, but in your position is it worth it? i cancelled my sky AND my tv licence five months ago and have to admit i've not missed it, but at the time i was loath to do it. if you still wanted you could get a freeview box cheap enough which would still give you a good selection of channles.

Dumyat

sky is a luxury at the moment. you dont need a freeview box if you cancel sky you get some of the free to air channels through your dish.
do you have two cars...could you get by on one car?
you didnt include car tax in your caculations.

you are paying out nearly 700 in repayments. the numbers just dont balance. you either have to increase your incomings or reduce your outgoings...or both.

Gemmadm

Hi and welcome, just to add is there any way of you getting some help towards the childcare from tax credits or family helping out. I have 2 adults and 2 children in our house and using the old style board (and shops own value items) have got our shopping down to £20-£25 a week so try that cos there's some good things on there. Also is there anyone in your family you could confide in or try citizens advice bureau as they may be able to help and maybe talk to you about a debt management plan if thats something you'd want to look at. Hope everything goes ok.
Gem xx