Help!!!

Baileycat

Hi again folks,

We're fed up with the money thing now and have finally decided to do something about it after almost a year of burying our heads in the sand. Read some of Martin's articles and used his debt-busting tools, but our SOA is truly frightening!! :eek:

Will post it below for some thoughts - there are the obvious things like the ridiculous amount spent on fags, which will be changing to rollies til I'm brave enough to quit again, and I'm also trying to get a job closer to home as the petrol costs are crippling me.

I only have proper repayment arrangements with one or two creditors, the rest are proposed amounts (in the process of writing letters to all creditors but want to work out how much I can afford to offer first). After doing this SOA, I realised the amounts offered probably won't be realistic until I do something about the other expenses. I did consider entering into a DMP but have decided to try & go it alone - if they refuse my terribly tiny offers of repayment, I may have no other choice, but let's see how it goes.

Lastly, please be nice about the payday loans - we're all young & silly at some point! :P (I am a little worried about these actually, 2x £400 coming out in a matter of days which I simply can't afford - started as a genuine need and have continued borrowing every month to repay the previous month. Not even sure they'll allow me to repay over several months or if they'll try to take this, but will leave me in a horrid financial hole, as usual. Serves me right I guess!).

Thanks in advance for any helpful comments!

Baileycat

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Partner's Employment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Argos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Catalogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.00

Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Orange ........................................................................ 30.00
Virgin......................................................................... 20.00
Loan .......................................................................... 40.00
Council Tax repayments ........................................................ 20.00
Housing Benefit overpayment ................................................... 25.00
Bank overdraft ................................................................ 15.00
Payday loans .................................................................. 40.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1688.00

Standingtall

Firstly, hello and welcome Bailycat:).

Ok, unfortunately am I responding on a mobile device so i can't comment directly against your SOA. However I did notice a couple of savings that could be made;

Drinks for home - cut this by at least half. You simply cannot afford this amount right now.
Pet insurance - have a long think about whether you need this since many treatments fall below the excess so you can often not use it anyway. Having said that none of us have crystal balls and a serious illness can cost thousands. On balance I cancelled mine but that was my choice. I have children though and there needs had to come first.
Smoking - I recommend a course of Champix, it worked well for me and I have never looked back. I have also had two friends stop after hypnosis.

Regarding your payment plan. Do not hesitate to turn to CCCS or Payplan for a DMP if you need help. I am with Payplan and they have been fantastic. :A

Good luck.

Baileycat

Standingtall wrote: »

Firstly, hello and welcome Bailycat:).

Ok, unfortunately am I responding on a mobile device so i can't comment directly against your SOA. However I did notice a couple of savings that could be made;

Drinks for home - cut this by at least half. You simply cannot afford this amount right now.
Pet insurance - have a long think about whether you need this since many treatments fall below the excess so you can often not use it anyway. Having said that none of us have crystal balls and a serious illness can cost thousands. On balance I cancelled mine but that was my choice. I have children though and there needs had to come first.
Smoking - I recommend a course of Champix, it worked well for me and I have never looked back. I have also had two friends stop after hypnosis.

Regarding your payment plan. Do not hesitate to turn to CCCS or Payplan for a DMP if you need help. I am with Payplan and they have been fantastic. :A

Good luck.

Thank you for your response I wasn't sure what drinks for home meant, but we do drink a lot of fizzy juice at work so have included that there. It'd be an idea to perhaps take advantage of the free water at work instead

Pet insurance is something I've been putting off for a while, as I remember reading somewhere that it's invalidated if they don't have a dental checkup once a year (which my eldest cat hadn't by the time a year had elapsed) so have made a mental note to cancel this tomorrow as I'm just throwing money away really. Hopefully as they are indoor cats for the moment, the risk of serious accident/illness is minimised

Someone at work suggested Champix to me last week, and I was reading a thread on here about it earlier today, it's definitely worth a shot. I'm not sure my doctor would prescribe it to me but there's no harm in asking since I've tried just about everything else! Congrats on your successful quit with it and let's hope it'll be the same for me if I manage to get some

I have looked up CCCS as is commonly mentioned on here (long-time lurker, new poster ), however I decided to try & go it alone in the first instance, and have spent all night tweaking the SOA, drawing up a debt repayment schedule and composing letters to all my creditors, offering repayment, to be posted tomorrow... what an exciting Saturday night it's been haha If all else fails and they reject my offers then I shall look into Payplan thank you for taking the time to offer advice

rising_from_the_ashes

Baileycat - welcome to the forum .... best place to come, you'll get loads of advice & support.

I'm sorry to ask but could you put your SOA into one in the link at the top of the boards http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html - choose the MSE format when you're finished.

It's in a format that we're familiar with and has info which is missing from the one you've used (how many people, cars, APRs, min payments etc) and you'll get a lot more & useful advice. Ta

opinions4u

Baileycat wrote: »

Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800.00

Partner's Employment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00

Are there any ways to increase income? Overtime? Barwork etc?

Alternatively, take a look at the "Up Your Income" part of the forum where things like survey sites and mystery shopping might deliver an extra £50ish a month each.

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00: Is this really an essential? Can you cope without? Would they allow a reduced contract? If you can reduce the amount, make sure you don't exceed any minutes allowances!
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00: Are you paying 6 months up front with a view to this dropping to around £12 shortly? Or are you in arrears?
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00: Are you sure? No landline rental that the internet piggy banks on?
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00: No water rates or meter?
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00: Take a look at the Old Style Money Saving part of the forum for meal choices that can knock this down.
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00: I'm afraid tap water should be your new best friend!
Argos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Catalogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.00

Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00: Can you do more walking? Work from home occaisonally? Car share? Adjustment to driving style could save £20 or so.
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87.00: Use comparison site to shop round
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00: Not even MOT? Puncture?
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00: Probably a false economy unless it's included in the car insurance. You should be able to get a basic policy for £30 or less.

Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Orange ........................................................................ 30.00
Virgin......................................................................... 20.00
Loan .......................................................................... 40.00
Council Tax repayments ........................................................ 20.00
Housing Benefit overpayment ................................................... 25.00
Bank overdraft ................................................................ 15.00
Payday loans .................................................................. 40.00


Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00: Is it time to find a new home for the pet?

Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00: Is this essential?

Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00: Is this essential?
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00: can this be removed?
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00: www.whyquit.com ... you can do it!


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1688.00

As alaready requested, please can you re-do the SOA using the MSE template at www.makesenseofcards.co.uk.

That will help order things slightly better and may bring clarity that will bring support and ideas from other readers.

Mobile phone, TV licence, shopping and drinks, review pet, smoking. There's a good £500 there if you can make some tough choices.

It may be stating the obvious, but have you considered selling stuff on eBay and paying the proceeds off the most expensive debts?

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi and well done for posting some great ideas already. I have pet insurance and was 12 months in and moaning about it not covering anything then I needed it for my dog for costs of 5k and it seems I won't get to paying that amount back so I feel like its worth it. On the front of dental checkups I've never heard that it invalidates your policy? Could you point me in the direction ? Keep posting and keep positive we all start somewhere it may mean living minimalist for several months until you make head room. Cut back on cigarette spends cut back where you can and keep posting :-)

triple_choc_chip

Hi Bailey Cat well done for starting out, it will soon get less stressful once you feel you're in control of your debt and you see the totals decreasing - even by small amounts - you will know you've stopped the rot when debts stop increasing. For instance if you have to borrow again from the payday loans, make it a smaller amount so that you owe less the following month.

Try not to think of 'all or nothing', just the thinking will make you feel desperate! If you can cut your smoking down by half that will give you £80 a month to throw at the debts.

There are two in my household (one a ravenous teenager) and I average £35 a week for food, we eat well and I include the odd takeout in that total, so it's possible to save about £60 a month here overall.

My best buy at the start of last yr was sodastream for DS. With your liking for fizzy juice this would pay for itself in a month. We don't buy the expensive syrups, just use squash or half and half with juice. The gas refills are £9 and last about 6 weeks so you could save £50 a month from that.

How easy was that - £190 per month to throw at the debts and you wouldn't really notice any change in lifestyle - go for it!

Good luck.

deeleybopper

Well done - an inspiring step forward! Best wishes to you on this new, but amazing journey...

re vets bills - I have cat insured with petplan - I was under impression her insurance was invalid if immunisations were not kept annually...not teeth check. Having said that, they kids of check her teeth at the booster visit so maybe that ticks the box....

I do know that for the first time in 10 years, I claimed for her having some tests last year...well I tried to....the excess was £100, want to guess cost of tests....yes....£105. Didn't bother with hassle.

However, when I was teenager my cat at home was hurt by a car, and eventually pulled through but later had leg amputated as a result - that was in high hundreds so insurance my dad had for her was a godsend....

as someone else posted, crystal ball time....;)

rising_from_the_ashes

deeleybopper wrote: »

re vets bills - I have cat insured with petplan - I was under impression her insurance was invalid if immunisations were not kept annually...not teeth check. Having said that, they kids of check her teeth at the booster visit so maybe that ticks the box....

I do know that for the first time in 10 years, I claimed for her having some tests last year...well I tried to....the excess was £100, want to guess cost of tests....yes....£105. Didn't bother with hassle.

However, when I was teenager my cat at home was hurt by a car, and eventually pulled through but later had leg amputated as a result - that was in high hundreds so insurance my dad had for her was a godsend....

as someone else posted, crystal ball time....;)

You'd need to check the T&Cs of your policy but it's usually that any required dentistry work wouldn't be covered if an annual check hasn't been done - not everything. This is because "routine" dentistry (like a clean) isn't covered by insurance but other things (absesses etc) would be provided the cats' been checked each year and any routine cleaning etc has been done if the vets said it's needed.

Annual teeth checks should be routinely done each year when the vet checks them over for their vaccinations so, as long as these are done, you should be OK.

If you don't get vaccinations done, again check the T&Cs as some insurers insist on this and others don't. HTH

Angry_Bear

On the smoking thing, I tred and failed several time cold turkey but managed with the inhalators about 10 months ago and ever looked back. The NRT stil worked out cheaper than the smokes for the couple of weeks I was using it and I've never looked back. It depends on what makes the difference to you, but £160 per month is £48k over an average 25-year mortgage :eek:.

Good luck