Advice please

debtdoofus

Like many people on here, I've managed to raise some debt over the years. Stupidly (and yes it is stupidity) I've let it get out of hand.
Other than the mortgage - which I'm parking as I can't do anything about that at the moment - I've racked up about £25k on loans and credit cards. Repayments of £1000 a month are killing me, which is one reason the credit cards are in play.
The only option I can think of is to take a loan at as low interest rate as possible, so as to reduce my monthly repayments to something a lot more manageable. This will of course mean the debt wil take longer to pay off. Then, of course I'm going to cancel my credit cards (perhaps keeping one for emergencies)
Income boosting measures and "austerity measures" are underway too but I can't think of any other option. Any suggestions welcome

downsizer3

If you post a SOA ( statement of account) we can see exactly what you income versus outgoing sare - there may be some tops we can give. Follow the link on the DFW page to fill out your SOA.
Also - are any of your cards moved onto 0%? Thats the first step - to buy time with those? Is there equity in your house?
You'll get lots of help here - but we need the SOA first?

debtdoofus

Just to quickly answer your questions, no not all CC debt is interest free and we have 81% LTV on our house.
Thought about going for more interest free, but that's only a short term gain

GAH

If you have a read on past threads you will see that consolidation is never a great route to go down and does not work for the vast majority.

If you have £25k of debt already, and are looking to borrow another £25k, you would roughly need to be earning in excess of £100k a year to qualify for a loan this size, and from your post I would assume your not.

Best thing to do is go through your finances or post a statmenet of Affairs, can be found in a link at top of the board, and people will give you some ideas where you can make some savings.

It amazing once its alll written down where you can save some extra money

GAH

Here is the link

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

debtdoofus

I'm bound to have missed something...(Note the loans are not interest free, I'm just unable to get the AER just now)

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................ 3450
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3450
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 912
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 306
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 122
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 55
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 48
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 12.13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 13.75
Car Insurance........................... 510
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 19
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 216
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 43
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 59
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 6
Total monthly expenses.................. 2881.88

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 172000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 177000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 138000...(912)......5.8
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7605.3...(306)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 145605.3..-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan 1.........................3387......177.......0
Loan 2.........................9837......201.......0
C Card 1.......................3500......100.......17
C Card 3.......................282.......20........17
C Card 2.......................6000......145.......0
Total unsecured debts..........23006.....643.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,450
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,881.88
Available for debt repayments........... 568.12
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 643
Amount short for making debt repayments. -74.88
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 177,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -145,605.3
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,006
Net Assets.............................. 8,388.7
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/

Tixy

Hi

Does your partner not work? don't forget to include child benefit in the benefit section.

Is your car insurance a mistype? is that the annual cost?

debtdoofus wrote: »

I'm bound to have missed something...(Note the loans are not interest free, I'm just unable to get the AER just now)

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................ 3450
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3450
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 912
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 306
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 122
Electricity............................. 60 have you shopped around for the cheapest supplier and tried reducing your usage (turning things off not in use etc)?
Gas..................................... 55
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 48 does this include a lot of calls? and internet? have a look to see if you can find a cheaper supplier (some are only £25/month for phone & internet).
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 12.13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 13.75
Car Insurance........................... 510 hopefully this is a mistype?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 19
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 216 do you get childcare vouchers from work towards this to make this tax efficent? how long until your child is in school and this stops?
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 43 have you shopped around for this recently?
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 59 worth shopping around for this to see if you can get the same cover cheaper
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 6
Total monthly expenses.................. 2881.88

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 172000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 177000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 138000...(912)......5.8 is this a fixed rate? how long until the deal ends?
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7605.3...(306)......0 is this the car?
Total secured & HP debts...... 145605.3..-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan 1.........................3387......177.......0
Loan 2.........................9837......201.......0
C Card 1.......................3500......100.......17
C Card 3.......................282.......20........17
C Card 2.......................6000......145.......0
Total unsecured debts..........23006.....643.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,450
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,881.88
Available for debt repayments........... 568.12
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 643
Amount short for making debt repayments. -74.88 hopefully if the car insurance is wrong you should have an extra £300 or so spare to put towards the debts on top of the minimums?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 177,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -145,605.3
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,006
Net Assets.............................. 8,388.7
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/

Have a look out the APRs and correct the car insurance figure and the put the figures into the snowball calculator on the same website you did the SoA - this should show you which order to tackle your debts and how long it will take to clear them.

I doubt you will get a £25k consolidation loan on top of your existing debts you currently have.

What is the limit on card 2? what card is it? it might be worth paying off and then seeing if they will give you a 0% deal or a low life of balance deal that you could then use to transfer the other card onto.

Also do you have overdrafts that you are in by the end of the month? if so you need to include those in the list of debts.

BitterAndTwisted

Your car-insurance is £510 a month? If your partner is not working why are you paying £216 a month in child-care/nursery changes?

I think you need to have another look at your figures.