My SoA. Any and all advice is appreciated

bupster

Jenny, I'm still a bit confused about the four cars you've listed? You say you've got a loan out that went to buy one; then there's a classic car and your husband's van. What's the fourth? Does the classic car work? Can it be used? Does it have any value at all? It seems bananas to spend that much on keeping four cars on the road when the maximum you really ever need is two - and then only if you're right out in the sticks or you need it for work (and if the van's used for work its insurance shouldn't be coming out of this). Can you sell a car and pay off some of your credit card debt rather than the loans, if it's the monthly repayments that are killing you? Especially if the 0% deals are up shortly. And you do need to dump the satellite TV.

You could probably get the groceries bill down a bit too, but I'm concerned that there is such a big gap between your income and outgoings, and you've no wiggle room. One small disaster and it could all crash down, and small disasters come along all the time. You're not saving for holiday spending money - you're going into debt for it.

I remember I think reading your posts on another thread, but I can't recall if your OH is on board with all this? You do need to sit him down with this SOA I think and talk seriously about flogging everything that isn't nailed down with a view to getting your incomings and outgoings to line up, otherwise it's only going to take one thing - a household appliance going wrong, the van blowing up - and it's going to spiral out of your control, if it's not already.

I wish you all the best, it's a really scary thing to get a hold of finances and get them back on track. But loads of people on these boards have done and there's no reason you can't be one of them.

[Deleted User]

jellyjenny 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.................... 4 Can you get rid of any of these?

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 700 Any way to increase?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 700 Any way to increase?
Benefits................................ 590 Are you claiming all that you are entitled to?
Other income............................ 400 What is this? Can it be increased? If this is not a lodger, do you have space that you could take one in under the "rent a room scheme"
Total monthly income.................... 2390

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 680
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 113 Are you currently paying over 10 or 12 months? If 10 use the Ctax free months to overpay on your most expensive debt (highest APR), or alternatively ask your council if you can spread the payment over 12 months to reduce the monthly payment
Electricity............................. 57 Is this and below on the cheapest tariff available for your area - often online and duel fuel tariffs are cheapest (check every 6 months or so), and if switching is cheaper check the cashback sites(Quidco, topcashback, onepoll cashback) for incentives. Also switch things off instead of on standby, switch the thermostats of the central heating and boiler down by a few degrees (you are unlikely to notice), use energy saving bulbs, etc - Also if you are paying by Direct Debit check that you are not in credit with either energy bill (and if so claim it back)
Gas..................................... 57 (as above)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 46 Are you on a regular payment or metered - consider if metered would be cheaper as you would only pay for what you use (although this might not be cheaper with 4 in the household)
Telephone (land line)................... 0 none?
Mobile phone............................ 40 How many phones is this for and do you use all the texts/calls etc in the package? Are you tied into a contract? If/when out of contract look at switching to SIM only deals or PAYG - I have switched to GiffGaff and have saved a fortune so well worth a look when you are able to switch (and you can keep your number)
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60 I think this needs to go - I am assuming this includes phone, internet and TV, switch to internet and phone only and go freeview for tv (or investigate freesat), compare the different companies in your are but you should be able to get home phone/internet for approx £20-£25 per month.
Internet Services....................... 0??
Groceries etc. ......................... 320 I think that you can cut this back a lot - meal plan, batch cook, drop brands, shop at Lidl/Aldi, cook from scratch etc
Clothing................................ 40 do you actually spend this? Or save it somewhere for when it is needed? Perhapse halve?
Petrol/diesel........................... 80 If this is all that gets spent, do you really need so many cars?
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 110 Any way to reduce?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 probably need something here
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0 Would public transport, cycling, walking be an optoin some or all of the time for anyone in the household?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 20 What does this cover? Can you get the same or similar for cheaper elsewhere?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 never?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 5
Buildings insurance..................... 10 would combining buildings and contents be cheaper? Compare and shop around at renewal - and use cashback sites if appropriate
Contents insurance...................... 10 as above
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 never?
Haircuts................................ 0 never?
Entertainment........................... 0 nothing?
Holiday................................. 30 how much more needs saved here before you have enough spending money?
Emergency fund.......................... 0 should probably put aa little here
Total monthly expenses.................. 1725

Assets
Cash.................................... 0 should have something here for less regular bills
House value (Gross)..................... 155000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5500 selling one/some would not only get you a lump sum to pay off highest charging debt (highest APR), but you would also save in running costs and maintenance and repair
Other assets............................ 3000 what's this? Cah it be sold to cover higher charging debt/s?
Total Assets............................ 163500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 112000...(680)......4 Could you extend the length of the mortgage until your other debts are a bit more manageable, you could always over pay when you are debt free?
Total secured & HP debts...... 112000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan.....................7000......233.......9.9
barclays personal loan...7000......263.......10.1
santander loan...............10000.....250.......14.1
overdraft......................1900......5.........9.9
santander card.................1600......16........0
asda card......................1700......17........0
Barclaycard....................200.......5.........19.9 This is your highest charging debt, and also your smallest, so if you can find any extra cash pay this one off first! Maybe if you are paying your Ctax over 10 months you could use your CTax saving next month to over pay this?
nationwide card................1700......25........0
Loan to family.................1100......50........0
Total unsecured debts..........33900.....892.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,390
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,725
Available for debt repayments........... 665
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 892
Amount short for making debt repayments. -227 I think that you can make this up through saving on things like pay for TV (cut out will save £40), but longer term things are going to be tight, and I think there are things that you are missing in your SOA - as others have recommended, try contacting one of the debt free charities.

Is there any chance that either of you are expecting a wage rise soon? Also, if you have the space seriously consider a lodger.

As a short term fix, have a good clear out and see if you can have a car boot and/or e-bay, amazon, gumtree things that are no longer used/needed, good condition grown out of clothes, Cd's books etc and see if you can use the proceeds to pay off your most expensive debt

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 163,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -112,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -33,900
Net Assets.............................. 17,600

I have made some comments above, I hope that at least some of them help,

D9

jellyjenny

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. There are actually three cars, not four. I filled in the soa wrong. I don't use all of my minutes or texts and neither does my husband. However we are tied in until October, but we will most certainly reduce our tariff then. The mortgage is really tricky, we bought our house in the middle of the boom when they were much more lenient about who they gave mortgages to. To do anything other than renew our fixed rate, we would have to make another application. Since we bought our house, I have gone part time and though I'm now earning more than I used to when I was full time, we would not be able to get a mortgage for our house again. We have tried. We can switch to an interest only mortgage though, which we are looking into.
We don't pay for haircuts as I do them.
We went to Aldi for the first time today and I was impressed. It may just be our local branches though, but I couldn't see that I could do our entire weekly shop there. There wasn't a huge amount of choice.
I have had a sort out and have got a few things to sell on eBay etc.
We really cannot accommodate a lodger. We are struggling to accommodate us four!
Our buildings and contents are combined and up for renewal in may. I will shop around at that time, unless it is worth doing now and paying a cancellation fee.
We pay our council tax over 10 months. I had planned to use those two months payments to pay off some of the credit card debt otherwise it would just get absorbed back into the account/overdraft.
The other assets are jewellery, it asked for them on the soa form.

camuk81

Jenny can you offer out your services round your time? I struggle finding a hairdresser with working and then the weekends are booked solid! I know its difficult with times but maybe its a little extra income dependent on tax that might help?

Poosmate

I agree with most of what's been said here already. I would seriously consider selling one of the cars to free up some cash. Obviously the first debt to settle is the Barclays CC, you never know, once it's paid off they may offer you a 0% BT.

Do you pay your water rates over 8 months too? If so, then you are £159 better off this month and the same next month adding your Council Tax to it. These two months are the absolute best to make over payments to your debts.

If you sell your car and move on to an interest only mortgage you should be able to clear a few of your CC debts and the more you clear the more likely one or more will offer more 0% BT's (hopefully in the near future). Maybe you could pay off one of the loans with a new 0% BT (if you can get one).

Your first debt to pay off is the Barclaycard CC then concentrate on the CC with the shortest remaining 0% term.

Hope that helps a bit.

Poo

jellyjenny

Just a quick update. I used the money we saved on our council tax payment this month to pay off some of my barclaycard, this meant that they have increased my limit and given me a 6 month 0% balance transfer. I did it the day the council tax normally goes out, so I didn't even notice it had gone.
We have also sold a lot of items on ebay. However, my paypal account is in my maiden name and my bank account is in my married name and I found out today that I can't transfer from paypal to current account if the names don't match grrrrrr.
That's the good news. Everything else has gone utterly wrong.
It seems unlikely that we'll be able to pay off some of our dd's next week as my husband hasn't got paid yet. We are already at our overdraft limit. So it's not going great this week