I need help. Massive debts.

plumpgoose_2

I think you should seriously consider postponing the pgce. When you are already in this much debt with two salaries to give up your job and rely on further loans seems an unwise move. Pgce is incredibly stressful-you are still young enough that you could leave it a few years and have plenty of time . I understand that you want to get a better paid job but a couple of years to consolidate your position wouldn't be a bad idea.....

wolveslass

Be aware with the PGCE that teaching jobs are becoming increasingly hard to find. Redundancies are high and unless you are doing Maths or Science jobs are few. For every job we have available we have close to 30 applicants.

rachel23

Morning,

Sorry have not been back sooner have one poorly child.

Re: cars

My husband financed £6k on his car and it's worth £10-11k - is there any way we can get some of the money we put in back?
My car has about £2.5k left to pay on it and it's worth £3-4k I think so again anyway I can get some money from that to buy a cheaper car?

Re Benefits:
I can't see why these would change if we moved as we only get child benefit and tax credits. The figures might seem high becuase they include the childcare element of WTC (for 2 children). I need to redo the figures though becuase I have only included the shortfall we pay for childcare not the actual payment but I have

Re: Is it really worth working .... probably barely but I do enjoy working and if I gave up my job I probably wouldn't ever get another one in this climate.

Here is a corrected SOA (sorry I didn't do the first one very well)

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 890
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2590
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 335
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 75
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 60
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 23
Car Insurance........................... 85
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 380
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12.5
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 16
Life assurance ......................... 19.22
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 2178.22

Assets
Cash.................................... 3250
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 14000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 17250

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6000.....(210)......9<
Car 2 .........................2500.....(125)......9
Total secured & HP debts...... 8500......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan 1.........................7500......388.......10
Loan 2.........................11300.....299.......10
Santander......................3250......32.5......0
American Express...............3000......50........27
Lloyds.........................3000......50........17
Virgin.........................6900......69........0
Total unsecured debts..........34950.....888.5.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,590
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,178.22
Available for debt repayments........... 411.78
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 888.5
Amount short for making debt repayments. -476.72
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 17,250
Total HP & Secured debt................. -8,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -34,950
Net Assets.............................. -26,200

rachel23

I do realise that teaching jobs are hard to find. Any job is hard to find at the moment! I have wanted to go into teaching for years.

I am specialising in MFL.

To be hoenst even if I get a TA job - I currently earn minimum wage so I can't go down.

I don't think I will lose out doing a PGCE. My student loan is already £20k from my 1st degree. I have not earnt enough to pay anything back yet. Should I include this somewhere on the SOA? I have been told that I can get help with childcare as well so here are the figures for that year -
Grant: £3250
Loan: £2750
These combined over the 10 months I am doing the PGCE = £600pm. I will work right up to when term starts and them hopefully find a summer job in July.

Childcare costs: £200/week
Childcare grant: £170/week I am told I will be able to claim back 85%

rachel23

Also 30 applicants per job is pretty GOOD I think?! I went for a 17 hr/week office job which paid £7/hr a few weeks ago and I actually got an interview where they told me they'd had 162 applicants! I didn't get it which was a shame as had good fixed hours but I will keep on applying if anything comes up.

wolveslass

Teaching is a great job, and I think you'd love it. I didn't want to be negative, just want ed you to be realistic. Years ago people thought of teaching as a job for life, unfortunately that's not the case now.

One thing to look into is are you entitled to a bursary when you're on your PGCE? I was and it worked out at about £600 a month for the duration of the course (this was over a decade ago now though so not sure what happens now). The other option is to do a GTP (graduate teaching program). This is a bit more in at the deep end - less college hours and more straight into the classroom, but you get a lot more money. We have a lot of trainees that now take this option at our school.

plumpgoose_2

Funding rules have changed a lot also for teacher training-im pretty sure without a 2.1 you dont get funding, which is a bit harsh ! Good luck with it-but be realistic, unless you live in big city areas teaching jobs are a bit scarce and just being a qualified teacher wont necessarily guarantee you a TA job.
Seems a bit grim, I know but better to go into it with your eyes open.:eek:

DancerSupreme

rachel23 wrote: »

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 890
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2590
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 335 see my notes below re the cars
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 75 this seems really low - I take it this does not include your mother's share?
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 60 as I said before this seems pretty high
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 for 2 adults and 2 children you could shave another £100 off here. I assume, seeing as this budget is after you move in with your mother, that this does not include her contribution?
Clothing................................ 25 could still be cut
Petrol/diesel........................... 200 you say you need two cars but could you car share with anyone or reduce the number of journeys outside of your commute?
Road tax................................ 23
Car Insurance........................... 85
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 380 this is pretty high - if I remember it was 2 sessions a week? Have you advertised in local shops or freeads for a flexible childminder. If you are driving 10 miles (?) to the current childcare, are you searching in the same area?
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12.5
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 16
Life assurance ......................... 19.22
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 2178.22

Assets
Cash.................................... 3250
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 14000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 17250

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6000.....(210)......9<
Car 2 .........................2500.....(125)......9
Total secured & HP debts...... 8500......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan 1.........................7500......388.......10
Loan 2.........................11300.....299.......10
Santander......................3250......32.5......0
American Express...............3000......50........27
Lloyds.........................3000......50........17
Virgin.........................6900......69........0
Total unsecured debts..........34950.....888.5.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,590
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,178.22
Available for debt repayments........... 411.78
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 888.5
Amount short for making debt repayments. -476.72
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 17,250
Total HP & Secured debt................. -8,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -34,950
Net Assets.............................. -26,200

How are you getting the figures of what the cars are worth? I have a 5 year old VW with only 40,000 miles on the clock, still immaculate yet it is only worth £6,000 at a push.

Personally if you think your cars are worth as much as they are, I would be seeling them both, paying off the finance company and buying cheaper - and possibly more effecient - cars with the remaining funds. That would then cut over £300 in outgoings straight away.

You could look into a DMP but that will seriously damage your credit rating and I don't know what they would say to you going back to uni.

You show as having cash in the bank. This will earn far less interest in the bank than you are being charged for your debts. Definitely keep a smalll rainy day fund because you never know what will happen but I think you need to consider paying off some debts.

shamac

I have 7 years teaching experience in an Outstanding school, had kids, have done a return to teaching course and volunteer in school, live in a big city (Newcastle)-have applied for dozens and dozens of jobs-there are 200+ applicants for every job. Have a look on the TES website for the reality, teaching is VERY hard to get into, the PGCE is really hard work (you will do NOTHING else for a year!) Don't want to be too negative but you must be realistic-it isn't an easy option and there is little or no guarantee of work-even supply is super hard to get (and badly paid).

eyeopener2

Firstly and probably sounding very harsh is that you need to forget the teacher training for now and concentrate on sorting this out. It is not going to be easy, believe me.

Options are some or preferably all of the following

Forget entertainment - your not going out anywhere unless it's free, (i've been out once in the past 15 months and that was because we underspent on groceries)
Sky is going I see - good.
Food bill - drop by at least £100 if not more
Use savings, or most, to pay one debt off - American express maybe (£50 towards another debt or even just to make sure your not overspending)?
You need to earn more money - bar work? Anything to bring in extra cash
Decide whether its worth working, not whether you like doing it, is it making your situation worse? by a)having the car (petrol, finance, tax, insurance, mot etcetc), b) spending so much on childcare.
Sell the cars and get cheaper ones?

Ultimately you either have to drop your spending by £400 or earn £400 more, or a combination of the two just to stop the situation getting any worse.

Good luck, it's doable but you will need to dig deep and get your OH totally onboard.

E2