SOA - got the hard hat on - straight talking required!

EKAndrew

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1796
Partners monthly income after tax....... 450
Benefits................................ 122
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2368
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 511
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 177
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 95
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 8
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 7
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1689

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 82500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 69361....(511)......5.98
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8935.72..(177)......13.32
Total secured & HP debts...... 78296.72..-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................5096.98...120.......20.9
credit card....................4274......64........23.9
credit card....................3824.94...100.......21.94
loan...........................2400......200.......0
credit card....................6098.86...170.......24.9
Total unsecured debts..........21694.78..654.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,368
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,689
Available for debt repayments........... 679
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 654
Amount left after debt repayments....... 25
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 82,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -78,296.72
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,694.78
Net Assets.............................. -17,491.5
Created using the SOA calculator at .............Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

EKAndrew

hi all - please send me some MSE love and help me out!
I have a good credit history and my score is currently above average, but times are getting tough and its becoming harder to pay the bills. My main downfall is the debt and the interest rates that go with it. The amount I am paying every month is nearly chewed up in interest therefore not making an actual dent in what I owe.
I'm in a position where we really want (not need yet!) a house. I currently live in a 2 bed flat and its a squeeze.
Last year, I applied for a loan to consolodate some of the debts and I was rejected - it was the first time in my life I had been rejected and I was very disappointed. Since then, I have applied for nothing as I'm too scared. I know I could save a fortune getting a 0% CC or a loan - but I dont want to tempt fate as I dont want to damage my socre for when i need a new mortgage.
Any questions please let me know.........i need some MSE help!

thank you all kindly

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Andrew, welcome to MSE:D loads of support and advice available .....

A few comments from me.....

EKAndrew wrote: »

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1796
Partners monthly income after tax....... 450
Benefits................................ 122
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2368
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 511
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 177
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 95
Electricity............................. 50 Have you checked comparison sites for a better deal?
Gas..................................... 50 As above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 Sorry but this isn't an essential - you can get a Freesat card for a one off payment of £25 & get a good range of channels
Internet Services....................... 8
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 You should be able to get this down a bit - pop over to the Old Style board for ideas & try the grocery challenge (families of 4 can eat/live well on £220/month)
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 You need to put something in here
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 15 Again, check comparison sites to make sure you're getting the best deal
Contents insurance...................... 7 As above
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80 Sorry but this needs to come down - say £20/month
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 100 Again, this is on the high side - cut by at least 1/2
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1689

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 82500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 69361....(511)......5.98
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8935.72..(177)......13.32
Total secured & HP debts...... 78296.72..-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................5096.98...120.......20.9
credit card....................4274......64........23.9
credit card....................3824.94...100.......21.94
loan...........................2400......200.......0
credit card....................6098.86...170.......24.9
Total unsecured debts..........21694.78..654.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,368
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,689
Available for debt repayments........... 679
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 654
Amount left after debt repayments....... 25
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 82,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -78,296.72
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,694.78
Net Assets.............................. -17,491.5
Created using the SOA calculator at .............Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

So, if you can cut:

Sky - £40
Presents - £80
Entertainment - £50
Groceries - say £50

That's a monthly saving of £220 - even if you put say £20 away for car maintenance, you'd still have an extra £200 to pay the debts quicker

Consolidation isn't usually the best route to go down (been there, done it!) as it doesn't address the reasons for the debt ... if you're overspending and need credit to survive/fund items etc, then you'll run the risk of doing it again.....

Try keeping a spending diary for a month and write everything down and see if there's other savings that could be made.

HTH:)

RAS

A few thoughts.

You amy also be able to reduce your monthly card costs by moving debt around.

EKAndrew wrote: »

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1796
Partners monthly income after tax....... 450 - any chance of increasing this?
Benefits................................ 122
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2368
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 511
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 177 - I assume this is a car? When coud you hand it back if things got bad?
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 95
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 - this needs rto go
Internet Services....................... 8
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 - this is too high - take it down by £40-60
Clothing................................ 0 - you are spending money here, so you need to account for it. How much
Petrol/diesel........................... 160 - are all these journeys essential?
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - you need something in here
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 and something heree
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 7
Life assurance ......................... 0 - if you have a mortgage, you need to add this
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80 - you simply cannot afford this £20 max.
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 100 - and you cannt afford this maybe £20-30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1689

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 82500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 69361....(511)......5.98
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8935.72..(177)......13.32
Total secured & HP debts...... 78296.72..-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................5096.98...120.......20.9 - what is the limit on this card?
credit card....................4274......64........23.9
credit card....................3824.94...100.......21.94 - what is the limit on this card?
loan...........................2400......200.......0
credit card....................6098.86...170.......24.9
Total unsecured debts..........21694.78..654.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,368
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,689
Available for debt repayments........... 679
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 654
Amount left after debt repayments....... 25 - I seriously dubt you have this as you have various items missing from your SOA.
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 82,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -78,296.72
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,694.78
Net Assets.............................. -17,491.5
Created using the SOA calculator at .............Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

elaine12022

If you cancel sky you can actually still get a lot of channels free even without paying for a card:)

Have you got anything to sell to make some extra cash (and a bit more room?)...I have been to countries where living in flats is the norm, and people sleep in the living room, making a bed up every night. I say this, because we don't know how lucky we are sometimes. (this is not a criticism by the way, just to point out the different ways of doing things elsewhere).

Have you tried keeping a spending diary to see where the money goes?

The loan you have is 0% - is that to someone you know? can you negotiate a smaller payment while you sort things out?

Does your partner know you are struggling? You need to work together or it will be even harder.

saving4life

I might be mistaken here but it looks like you have counted your mortgage twice, once in your monthly expenses and again in your secured debt repayments? If so, you have more left than you think!

EKAndrew

Hi All - thanks for the quick replies...........

Elec / Gas - I will check this, but I had over used and owed the company money, so I increased my payments to cover this as I never had a lump sum to pay what I owed
Building Ins - as it is a flat I live in, the building is "owned" by the council, therefore the buildings insurance is through them
Contents Ins - I have recently changed this as it was previously £9.50 pm, so I have saved something!
I agree SKY is not essential - but I'm in the middle of an offer which I moved over from Virgin and it has saved me £50 per month - once the deal expires, it can go
Groceries - this is something we could improve on. Maybe cut out a bottle of wine and other luxuries!! I'll certainly look into this one. We have started bulk cooking - spag bol or chilli or home made soup and what we dont eat gets frozen or taken to work the next day for lunch
My partners salary has dropped by £800 per month.......she was sick for over a year, then fell pregnant - meaning we had no maternity pay, infact no income (from her) at all. She has returned to work earlier than most as we need the money. (albeit on 16hrs per week)
The petrol has increased, but this is so we dont need to pay child care costs - the "grans" look after the kids when OH works. But they do not drive, so we need to take them and drop them off. I get the bus to work.

My attitude to the consolidation loan is that I can clearly afford one, based on the payments I am paying just now. Infact, the APR would be lower than the above and the monthly payment would probably be around £150 less per month and it would have an end date!! The credit cards will be destroyed so there is no temptation to spend

Thank you to everyone but please keep the advice coming

EKAndrew

elaine12022 wrote: »

The loan you have is 0% - is that to someone you know? can you negotiate a smaller payment while you sort things out?
Does your partner know you are struggling? You need to work together or it will be even harder.

hi elaine - thanks for the reply

she does know we are struggling - i think its hit her harder than me, as she was always the one who had the spare cash, but with her not in that job anymore and having another baby - she has noticed a big difference.
In saying that, I think sometimes she buries her head in the sand as everything is in my name and comes out my account. I think sometimes she forgets that the money she once transferred into my account to help with the bills is no longer coming my way!!

The loan is not 0% - my mistake. Its with the bank and I cant find paper work to find out the APR %. Its due to finish in 1 years time

JimmyTheWig

OP, that's about £30,000 worth of debt, excluding your mortgage.

I presume that the HP is for the car which some would say is reasonable.
But do you know why you have the rest of the debt?

I think you need to consider this before you go down the consolidation route. Not only do you need to work out how to pay off your debts, you need to work out how not to get further into debt!

EKAndrew

hi Jimmy - thanks for the response

the HP is for a car - we used to have two cars, but when the OH fell ill - we got rid of one of them, and when this new baby arrived, we changed the other one for a more family orientated one

the rest of the debt is due to a few things.........a bit of a care free attitude, using cards to pay for things so we could get the "benefits"(cash back, reward points), it was never an issue as we had equity in our home and were both earning a reasonable sum - then BOOM! housing market crashed and she fell ill - double blow and has hit us hard.

lesson learned..........but we need to get out the mess we are in just now.

we had savings, but stupidly gave them to a life long family friend as her business was about to go under and her house was about to be reposessed and we didnt want to see her, her hubby and kids lose everything. (if only we couldve seen into the future!)

i still feel as though a consolidation loan is the best way forward for us.........we can afford the payments as it would be cheaper than what we are paying just now - but is someone going to give us a chance? should i speak to my bank(or bank manager?)? i have only ever had an account with them - does it make a difference? does loyalty mean anything these days?

thanks again

RAS

Do not consolidate, please. Over 85% of people who do end up with the consolidation loan and more debt.

Can you answer the question about the limits on those cards, please.