Loan/Card - help!!

jock2012

Due to the cost of living rising so much this year and pay freezes we have overspent as a family and are needing to address our debts ASAP. Here are are outgoings on debts:

Loan £20500 - £380 a month ( car and a caravan)
Overdrafts £1900 (£80 a month)
Credit Card £6200 (£min payment £ 70 a month)

I just don't know where is best to put it all!! Ideally we would also like to reduce our payments by as much as possible a month but not sure if this is too advantageous.

I am struggling to see how everyday families are managing as we bting in £46, 000 a year and really don't lead lavish lifestyles.

Great to get advice from anyone

Thanks

give_them_FA

Learn to play the violin, and squat on the pavement with your hat in front of you?
Seriously, I think you need to prepare a much more detailed account of ALL income / outgoings as there are guys and dolls here who can help.

heartbreak_star

Give us an SOA

Do you really need the caravan?

Didn't want to read and run - but good luck - someone will be along soon that will be more help than me!!

HBS x

jock2012

Caravan really can't go. We have demanding jobs and need to get away from it all. We never go abroad and always choose really cheap sites. I think if we ditched that we would end up going to hotels etc and spending more.:eek:

heartbreak_star

Hmm...I can see where you're coming from - I also have a demanding job and need my £15pm gym subscription as my escape - but I think you will be generally advised to get rid of it especially as it's been bought with a loan. If you want to pay this all off then you just kinda suck it up and get on with it...

HBS x

jock2012

I can understand why folk might think the van would be good to go but generally we use it to head to a very local site(hardly any desiel cost) and costs us £30 to put it there for the weekend. That is all we spend in that weekend as we cook in the van and don't incur any other expenses.
There are no shops for our kids to 'want' at and they can have so much fun and freedom.
It also gives us at tleast 4 weeks away a year at a really reasonable cost.
If we sold it we would get approx £10k for it.
We can manage the monthly payments but just wonder if we could be more sensible about where the loans cards are from to pay it off quicker?

Thanks:D

Tixy

Its difficult to advise wihtout knowing more about your circumstances.

For a start what are the APRs on all the debts?
If you can manage monthly repayments at the level you are paying now it doesn't really make sense to be trying to reduce them and keep yourself in debt longer. But thats not to say it wouldn't be sensible to try to reduce the amount of interest you will pay overall.

It looks like your repayments are fairly low already compared to the level of debt you have - aer you just paying the minimum on credit cards or do you throw more at them each month to work on bringing the balances down.

As suggested it might be useful for you to complete a statement of affairs so you can see how much you should have left each month for debt repayments - and if you post the results on here as well people can give you feedback and suggestions as to how to make things easier - http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

jock2012

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................ 2300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1600
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 138
Total monthly income.................... 4038
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1012
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 212
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 80
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 360
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 65
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 80
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 150
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 35
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 60
Other insurance......................... 40
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 150
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Boys pocket money....................... 20
Bike bits .............................. 20
Football................................ 15
Leisure membership (family)............. 57
School dinners.......................... 70
Total monthly expenses.................. 3485

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 210000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 10000
Other assets............................ 12000
Total Assets............................ 232000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 160000...(1012).....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 160000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................20500.....380.......11.9
Credit Card....................6200......70........0
Overdraft......................1900......80........0
Total unsecured debts..........28600.....530.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,038
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,485
Available for debt repayments........... 553
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 530
Amount left after debt repayments....... 23
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 232,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -160,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -28,600
Net Assets.............................. 43,400

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Hope this makes sense to someone. I've tried to be as honest as possible!

mellonicoley

jock2012 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.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1600
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 138
Total monthly income.................... 4038
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1012
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 212
Electricity............................. 50check out other energy suppliers, might be able to get a better deal.
Gas.....................................80 as above.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 60how many mobiles is this for? if on pay monthly, can you drop a tariff? does the contract end soon?
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25maybe switch to freeview?
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 360
Clothing................................ 100this seems high. check out ebay, charity shops, look out for vouchers online, shop through cashback sites.. you can easily bring this down.
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 65
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 80
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 150
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 35
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 60
Other insurance......................... 40
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200is this how much you spend A MONTH on presents? Again, seems very high! Definitely look at bringing this down. the extra money would be better off going towards your debts.
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 200high!!!
Holiday................................. 150you save this every month for your holiday? you mentioned caravanning but I assume this is for a different type of holiday... might be better to chuck this at your debts and put the holiday off for another year (if poss!)
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Boys pocket money....................... 20
Bike bits .............................. 20
Football................................ 15
Leisure membership (family)............. 57
School dinners.......................... 70
Total monthly expenses.................. 3485

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 210000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 10000
Other assets............................ 12000
Total Assets............................ 232000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 160000...(1012).....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 160000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................20500.....380.......11.9
Credit Card....................6200......70........0
Overdraft......................1900......80........0
Total unsecured debts..........28600.....530.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,038
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,485
Available for debt repayments........... 553
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 530
Amount left after debt repayments....... 23
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 232,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -160,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -28,600
Net Assets.............................. 43,400

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Hope this makes sense to someone. I've tried to be as honest as possible!

I'm not an expert but thought I'd make a few comments on the items that really stood out for me!

HTH
Mel

jock2012

We have 2 mobiles on contract shich are tied in for at least 12 months.
The £200 for presents is realistic for Christmas/Birthdays?Wedding and other occasions for all friends and family throughout the whole year. I bet if everyone was as honest with themselves they would see how easy this mounts up. It's very scarey.
Thanks for the advice. I'm sure to go and check out electricity and gas suppliers.
:T

Tixy

Is the credit card 0%? how long for?
Is the overdraft 0%?

Given the level of debts you have I would be loooking to increase your repayments not decrease them. There are quite a number of areas you could make savings whilst still living well.

Your entertaiment/lesiure costs are high given the level of your debts.

jock2012 wrote: »

Benefits................................ 0 child benefit should be included (unless that is the other income).

Monthly Expense Details
Groceries etc. ......................... 360 could try reducing this a little
Clothing................................ 100 you could reduce this a bit

Buildings insurance..................... 35
Contents insurance...................... 15 try shopping around for B&C at renewal, would expect you could find a bit cheaper than this looking at your house value.
Life assurance ......................... 60 is this competitive? have you shopped around recently?
Other insurance......................... 40 what does this relate to? is it competitive
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200 this is high, try halving until you are out of debt?
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 200 does this include caravan site fees? or are they in holiday? try to reduce this a little
Holiday................................. 150 is this just the caravan costs? if so its quite high over a year.
Emergency fund.......................... 50 are you saving this each month? how much is saved?
Boys pocket money....................... 20
Bike bits .............................. 20
Football................................ 15
Leisure membership (family)............. 57
School dinners.......................... 70
Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 160000...(1012).....0 what apr? is it fixed at the moment? how long until fix finishes?
Total secured & HP debts...... 160000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................20500.....380.......11.9
Credit Card....................6200......70........0 is this 0%?
Overdraft......................1900......80........0 is this 0%?
Total unsecured debts..........28600.....530.......-

You should be able to cut a good £200 a month off your outgoings whilst still living very well, and this would enable you to start clearing your debts. At the rate you are paying off the card now it will take you probably over 10years to clear the debt (depending on the interest rate).