SOA-Help needed!!

CMorena

Hello,
This is my first post on MSE but I have been reading up on all the articles since i was first introduced to the site in October 2006.
I had my lightbulb moment November 2006 and have kept meaning to post an SOA on here cos you all seem to be very knowledgeable with great advice and it also helps to know that am not the only one; Being in debt is a very lonely place at times.Both myself and my fiance are in debt and we want to get oursleves sorted to get a house and plan the wedding.

I am £12,133 in debt. :eek:

£2000 overdraft
£5062- Halifax credi card
£998- Egg card
£714- Barclaycard
£3359 -Black horse car finance

(also have £15,000 student loan but as this comes out of my salary each month I do not count it in the debt that needs priority)

(Just to point out, I pay rent and my fiance pays majority of bills/food etc, its sort of same as rent so these costs are not included in my SOA)

Incoming cash:
Monthly wage: £1330

Savings: £350
Shares: £500

Outgoings:

Rent £450
Black horse Finance £78 (£3359 to pay off, this is included in total debt amount)
Mobile-£20
Car insurance - £35
Gym-£54 ( I know this is expensive but it close to my house and I need the proximity to motivate me, its the only time I'm not at work/home!)
AOL-£17
TV Licence-£11
Savings- £40
Halifax credit card-£100 ( this is only minimum payment)
Egg-£20- (minimum payment)
Barclaycard- £20 (min payment)
Petrol-£120
Haircut-£35 (have averaged out full yearly cost over 12 months)
Toiletries-£20 (am a sucker for products and makeup - have totalled this and spread it over year)

Other spends- car tax, xmas, bdays, holidays (not had one in 4 years!) car maintenance I seem to panic and pay when they come around, not saving for them.


TOTAL- £945

Leaving me with £315 left over for anything else. This is my problem I always seem to be up to my overdraft limit ( and a lot of the time am over it) even though by rights i should have this amount left (or at least something close to it).

I have started to keep a budget so that I know exactly where my cash is going and am trying to re-educate myself, its been a real learning process.
I got myself into debt by using Egg card to clear overdarft (while it was 0%) and then halifax to clear egg and then also halifax to pay 3 deposits on flats (we moved 3 times in 18 months) and it has all added up. Alos used egg to supplement current account so as not to go overdrawn when needed to buy bday/xmas presents/unexpected costs arose.

From reading the posts on this wonderful sight I am now in process of :

gathering info to reclaim bank charges
changing internet provider
and looking into doing some extra work
gathering items to list on ebay (amazing how much rubbish we have!)

I am looking for advice, the rates i am paying on my credit cards are extortionate and am only paying minimum payments (xmas wiped me out) and am not actually making any dent in the balances.

I applied for a Capital One 0% card in October 2006 and was rejected. I was accepted then rejected right at the lats minute. Have read up and done some
preliminary research and it seems that my credit rating is poor. We are hoping to get a mortgage this year and am really really panicking that my credit rating will affect this.

I am looking for advice on how to cut spends etc but also, should I apply for a consolidation loan to cut interest rates right back at the risk of being rejected and then not getting a mortgage ? argh am feeling really lost and panicky, please help!!
Many thanks for your time, sorry for the looooooooong post.
CMorena

all_hours

What are the APRs and credit limits on your cards + overdraft.

Can you clarify the rent for where you live is £450 for the two of you so you pay this and your fiance pays aroudn £450 a month on food and bills?

For car tax + maintenance, xmas & birthdays work out how much you spent last year and divide by 12 to get a monthly amount.

CMorena

Hi all_hours thanks for your quick reponse

Halifax limit £6050 (apr around 16%)
Barclaycard limit £750 (apr 17.9%)
Egg limit £3000 (apr 15% ish)
overdraft limit £2000 (9.9% interest)

I pay rent £450 for both of us
my fiance pays food and bills which adds up to £470


Other costs -£50 per month

any ideas?
Thanks

lynzpower

Ok for a start, this 470 on food and bills for 2 people seems very high indeed.

For example, for the 2 of us here its 125 for food for the month
108 for council tax and about 65 for everything else, electric, insurances etc.

Could you break this down for us?

Also its not worth having savings when your APRs on your debt is higher, I suggest you use those savings to clear some of your highest APR debts & reduce your credit limit accordingly.

charl8888

Hi
I'm not an expert but I do know that Capital One are a very harsh credit scorer and you do not have to have a bad credit rating to be rejected by them. My OH was rejected recently and went on to obtain his credit report which had nothing negative in it, he had just alot of credit already available to him on other cards. He had also made a few other applcations recently. So, be sure you have closed the accounts on any other cards you may have held previously. You may be eligible for another 0% deal or transfer for life of balance (Martins article on this is good in case you haven't read it).

Another thing, if you open an A & L current account you get an interest free overdraft for the 1st year.

Have you considered giving up the gym and going running for free instead? I did and never looked back.

All the best!

CMorena

Hiya lynzpower, thanks for your reply:)

ok so breakdown of food and bills:

Water £32
Gas n/a
Elec n/a
C Tax £60
Food £160
BT £18
Sky- £50
Powergen debt-£55 (see below)

TOTAL £375


Council tax debt: £112
Powergen det: £55

Not paid an electric or gas bill since moved into new flat (May 2006) have been onto suppliers since then and they have still not sorted it out.
Apparently they have not been able to find the account or set up a new one beacuse it is a new build. Even though when I had the last convo with them before xmas, they said they could rectify problem in a matter of weeks and I would get a bill by end of Jan 2007. (We will see). It is incredibly frustrating as this happened in my last property and my fiance has had to pay £55 off each month to clear the debt .

As this will prob be a huge amount that will have to pay when finally get bill through then have arranged to pay this off in monthly instalments and am anticipating that along with current usage and debt, my fiance will be paying £80 per month to utility suppliers.
Until the account is set up, we cannot change suppliers, and then we will look at changing. Even then we will have a large debt to pay for 9 months gas and electricity.

Also council billed us incorrectly in last flat and we have steadily been paying this off, £112 to go, my fiance also pays this when he has any extra cash.

Lynzpower, how do you get your bills so low?
Thanks

all_hours

Hi,

You're saving £40 a month is that for a specific reason. Usually its not recommended to save while you have debts as the APR on the cards dwarf the savings interest. But you should start a few little saving pots for things like car tax so that you have the money ready when the bill is due.

Look at the ING savings account you can have up to six pots under the same main account. So you could have one for xmas and birthdays and one for car expenses.

https://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx - it will show you the order to pay and give you a debt free date. You pay the minimum on all debts and any over payment is made to the one with the highest interest rate.

Have you looked at your credit report to determine why you were turned down for the 0%. Sign up at quidco and apply for the online 30 day trials.

It could be because you've moved so many times so after you've been at this address longer you could try applying again. It could also be because you have £2000 credit on your egg card. When will you get your 0% anniversary offer on egg?

Can you give a breakdown of the household bills and shopping?

A spending diary is a good idea so that you can see where the 'spare' £300 is going each month.

CMorena

Charl888,
thanks for the advice re Capital one, I think will get a credit report cos i do need to know what the situation is.
maybe LOB cards might be better.
Also saw the A+L account on this site yesterday and thought its definitely soemthign to look into.
Thanks for your advice:)
ps well done on your bank charges!!!

CMorena

all_hours,
£40 is for emergencies although having read up on this on this site I do now see that probably best to change this or as you say do the ING thing (great idea!)
Not looked at credit report but read that moving jobs and addresses can affect it, annoying really as had to move to save costs and cut rent down!
Yes will get a credit report. Rent had actually just gone up ( got low rent as it was a new build and site not completed) and am very annoyed as the site we live on is in a disgusting state (still not completed after 9 months, heating borken, broken security gate bins never emptied, scavenging dogs roaming about the place )and have written to landlord and complained but the rent is still going up and do not want to move as wnat to stay in one place to improve credit rating.
Hmmmm.
0% anniversary on Egg in March- do I reduce credit limit to improve rating or wait til then and transfer some other debt, THEN reduce limit?
many thanks again

Bunnylady

Incoming cash:
Monthly wage: £1330

Savings: £350
Shares: £500

Outgoings:

Rent £450
Black horse Finance £78 (£3359 to pay off, this is included in total debt amount)
Mobile-£20
Car insurance - £35 (have you checked this is the cheapest you can get, it seems very high)
Gym-£54 ( I know this is expensive but it close to my house and I need the proximity to motivate me, its the only time I'm not at work/home!)(Really worth considering cancelling and going running with OH as this would give you £648 extra a year to pay off your debts - or maybe look at a cheaper one a bit further away)
AOL-£17
TV Licence-£11
Savings- £40(It might be worth keeping these savings to cover your car expenses, birthdays, christmas and your energy back payments)
Halifax credit card-£100 ( this is only minimum payment)
Egg-£20- (minimum payment)
Barclaycard- £20 (min payment)
Petrol-£120(Can you reduce this at all by walking short journeys? Is this your petrol or yours and OH's?)
Haircut-£35 (have averaged out full yearly cost over 12 months)(If you're in debt you can't afford this - this is a lot - You could get a decent haircut for £25 every other month and save £45 every other month)
Toiletries-£20 (am a sucker for products and makeup - have totalled this and spread it over year)(think of all the chemicals you are introducing to your body - the skin absorbs a fair percentage of everything that is put on it - you need to reduce this considerably until your debts are paid off)

Other spends- car tax, xmas, bdays, holidays (not had one in 4 years!) car maintenance I seem to panic and pay when they come around, not saving for them.

You could have a spare £86.50 a month by cancelling the gym, halving a cheaper haircut every 2 months and having your toiletry spend.

You can also have a look at your food spend - if you meal plan and shop to your list you should be able to reduce, we manage on £30 a week and this covers myself, hubby and veg for 8 rabbits, 3 guinea pigs and 12 snails!

Good luck

Bunnylady

CMorena

[QUOTE=Bunnylady]Incoming cash:
Monthly wage: £1330

Savings: £350
Shares: £500

Outgoings:

Rent £450
Black horse Finance £78 (£3359 to pay off, this is included in total debt amount)
Mobile-£20
Car insurance - £35 (have you checked this is the cheapest you can get, it seems very high) This has just been renewed, just gone down by £25 per month!! this is very cheapest I can get
Gym-£54 ( I know this is expensive but it close to my house and I need the proximity to motivate me, its the only time I'm not at work/home!)(Really worth considering cancelling and going running with OH as this would give you £648 extra a year to pay off your debts - or maybe look at a cheaper one a bit further away)
AOL-£17
TV Licence-£11
Savings- £40(It might be worth keeping these savings to cover your car expenses, birthdays, christmas and your energy back payments)
Halifax credit card-£100 ( this is only minimum payment)
Egg-£20- (minimum payment)
Barclaycard- £20 (min payment)
Petrol-£120(Can you reduce this at all by walking short journeys? Is this your petrol or yours and OH's?)this is just my car, only drive to work, its a 50 mile round trip every day.
Haircut-£35 (have averaged out full yearly cost over 12 months)(If you're in debt you can't afford this - this is a lot - You could get a decent haircut for £25 every other month and save £45 every other month)I have hair done every 3 months, this is my one luxury as i do not go out EVER.sad but true!
Toiletries-£20 (am a sucker for products and makeup - have totalled this and spread it over year)(think of all the chemicals you are introducing to your body - the skin absorbs a fair percentage of everything that is put on it - you need to reduce this considerably until your debts are paid off)
have cut this right down now, and I mean right down.
Other spends- car tax, xmas, bdays, holidays (not had one in 4 years!) car maintenance I seem to panic and pay when they come around, not saving for them.

You could have a spare £86.50 a month by cancelling the gym, halving a cheaper haircut every 2 months and having your toiletry spend.

You can also have a look at your food spend - if you meal plan and shop to your list you should be able to reduce, we manage on £30 a week and this covers myself, hubby and veg for 8 rabbits, 3 guinea pigs and 12 snails!

Good luck

Bunnylady[/QUOTE]


thanks, advice taken on board and much appreciated