Debt Free by 2020.....

danross83

Hovel_lady wrote: »

Is your car maintanence really £500 a month? :think:

£500 a year!!!!! inc MOT & Servicing

rising_from_the_ashes

The SOA is slightly off as you've put £500 / month for car maintenance and it was £25 before - if you adjust this will take your available for debt payment sum to £536

If you add in £500 savings that I've mentioned above (bear with me) then this give just over £1000 / month.

Try to clear the really high debts eg the PDLs first (could do in under 2 months) and then, depending on interest levels on the others, some of the smaller debts over another couple of months & this would clear 10 of the debts in around 4 months - sometimes dealing with a smaller number of debts helps & it feels great to get rid of some of them!:)

Once you've reached a more manageable number, it may be poss to "lighten up" a bit on the others and put some extras back into the SOA - a 4 month hard push would be well worth it.

If you then increased the SOA a bit, but made cuts of £250 (instead of the £500 mentioned above) - you'd be able to clear the debts in under 2 1/2 years (dependent on interest of course)

Hovel_lady

danross83 wrote: »

£500 a year!!!!! inc MOT & Servicing

Pleased to hear that
Your SOA is now £450 a month better off.

Have you contacted any of the free debt advice charities?
They can set up a DMP for you (if you want) and they don't charge for doing so.

Do you know where the "spare" money goes every month? Do you keep a spending diary?

ss3n08

Just a small suggestion, with tesco mobile, if you pay £10 a month you get it tripled to £30. So you and your partners phone bill would only be £20 but you would still be getting the £60 credit you need.

triple_choc_chip

danross83 wrote: »

Or alternatively, i pay £1400 and me and her go bankrupt. Credit files shot to pieces for 6 years plus either way.....

But that way won't change your perspective or encourage you to change the way that you are presently living beyond your means. Which means there is a good chance you will be in the same situation again in a short time. As children get bigger, they get more expensive to provide for....

Getting a grip on it now will give you a much greater sense of achievement when you start to feel you are winning. It's frustrating for me and probably other contributors because we can see that if you changed a few of your present habits you don't need a dmp or bankruptcy; there would be ample funds available to pay down these debts quickly - but you need to be open to make those changes.

People will offer loads of suggestions, but you need to be open to trying and not be so defensive. For instance I would say your heating is high, the food bill is massive, as is xmas and clothes. and there are many family holidays much more economical than centre parcs. I'm still undecided as to whether it's worth expanding on that so I shall watch the thread and see if you are receptive to suggestions. :think:

danross83

triple_choc_chip wrote: »

But that way won't change your perspective or encourage you to change the way that you are presently living beyond your means. Which means there is a good chance you will be in the same situation again in a short time. As children get bigger, they get more expensive to provide for....

Getting a grip on it now will give you a much greater sense of achievement when you start to feel you are winning. It's frustrating for me and probably other contributors because we can see that if you changed a few of your present habits you don't need a dmp or bankruptcy; there would be ample funds available to pay down these debts quickly - but you need to be open to make those changes.

People will offer loads of suggestions, but you need to be open to trying and not be so defensive. For instance I would say your heating is high, the food bill is massive, as is xmas and clothes. and there are many family holidays much more economical than centre parcs. I'm still undecided as to whether it's worth expanding on that so I shall watch the thread and see if you are receptive to suggestions. :think:

In fairness, and hearing your points, all debts were incurred when much younger and more foolish. Not living beyond our means, in fact very comfortable if debts nuked.... I suppose my argument is thus...

If we do DMP to my reckoning in best case it'll take at least 7 years to pay all debts (assuming interest frozen etc.)

If we declare bankruptcy then still cant get credit at a good rate for 6 years, but equally paying into it for a maximum of 3 years (my case) and not at all (her case as all income is benefits...)

rising_from_the_ashes

danross83 wrote: »

If we do DMP to my reckoning in best case it'll take at least 7 years to pay all debts (assuming interest frozen etc.)

Or - you could make cuts as has been suggested & clear the lot in under 3 years .......

tallyhoh

Is the car really necessary? You cant be travelling very far on £100 a month petrol.

rising_from_the_ashes

Another thought before you consider BR or DMP in more detail - neither will allow you figures like £190 for Christmas/Birthdays or £125 for Holidays etc

mildredalien

danross83 wrote: »

SOA in Makesenseofcards format...

Debts are not complete, and are estimates largely (Awaiting credit files so as to send for values on all debts....)

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1076
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 2100
Other income............................ 515
Total monthly income.................... 3691
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 1000
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 124 - could pay this over 12 months for a slightly lower monthly payment?
Electricity............................. 76 - check comparison sites for your utilities to see if you are getting the best deals
Gas..................................... 72
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 56
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 60 - how many phones is this for? see if you can downgrade the plan/s
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60 - see if you can reduce, either by downgrading or ringing up and threatening to leave to get a better deal!
Internet Services....................... 10 - might be able to get a better deal combined with landline...
Groceries etc. ......................... 650 - see old style boards to try and reduce, can do it for £500 I'm sure, even less if you try
Clothing................................ 100 - reduce if possible (sell old stuff to fund new purchases)
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 19
Car Insurance........................... 165
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 500 - I see this should be £50/month
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 40 - check comparison sites
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 190 - reduce and/or use cashback sites for gifts. Presents are not a necessity and this is £2340 a year just on gifts!
Haircuts................................ 0 - need something here?
Entertainment........................... 0 and here?
Holiday................................. 125 - is this already booked? not a necessity...
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 3430

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 200

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Orange (Mine)..................3800......0.........0
Orange (DOH)...................3800......0.........0
HSBC (Joint)...................4000......0.........0
Cashgenie......................400.......0.........0
Wonga..........................700.......0.........0
Quickquid......................700.......0.........0
Vanquis (Mine).................450.......0.........0
EDF............................300.......0.........0
nPower.........................300.......0.........0
Scottish Power.................400.......0.........0
Weightmans LLP.................250.......0.........0
eBay...........................250.......0.........0
Shop Direct Group (OH..........2000......0.........0
Shop Direct Group (Me..........2000......0.........0
Provident (DOH)................1500......0.........0
Provident (Mine)...............1500......0.........0
MBNA (DOH).....................2000......0.........0
Capital One (DOH)..............700.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........25050.....0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,691
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,430
Available for debt repayments........... 261
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 261
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -25,050
Net Assets.............................. -24,850
Created using the SOA calculator at makesenseofcards
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/i]

Well the good news is you have money left for repayments so you can make minimums I assume?

If you reduce your grocery bill by £150, take off the £450 for car repairs and reduce all other non essentials to save say, £100 overall then with the £260 you should have left over that's almost £1000/month you should have to pay towards your debts. So they'd be gone in what, 25 months? 30 months maybe more realistically? Maybe 40 months if you can't/won't make such significant changes?

Check whether you actually have money left over at the end of the month and if not, you'll need to figure out what it's going on! Not always easy I find my money disappears quickly if I'm not careful, must be way worse with 5 children

You seem quite quick to turn to bankruptcy but I'd check out the bankruptcy board before you decide, you could easily start to make significant repayments to your debts if you tighten up even a little bit. Bankruptcy is a much more significant deal than just going on your credit record for 6 years so make sure you have all the facts before deciding.