New (hopefully temporary) SOA

banwa

Hello all,

After my husband being in and out of work in the last few months, we are going through a bit of a tight spot. Although he has work now, it is on a low wage for the first 3 months. My biggest worry is that most of our debt is on 0% deals on credit cards, and they will come to an end, some of them very soon, and I think it's unlikely we will get any more good credit deals with the lower income (and we have defaulted on 2 payments in the last 3 months - disorganisation mainly:o).

I feel like we have cut back as far as we can (apart from Sky), so I'm not sure what you can suggest, I think i just would like some suggestions/reassurance on the credit card debt

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0 (but 4 step children)
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1721
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1109
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2830

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 675
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 110
Electricity............................. 78
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 16
Mobile phone............................ 20 - I could probably claim £15 a month of this back from work, I never have before, but needs must
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50 I have asked him to get rid of sports but he won't
Internet Services....................... 14
Groceries etc. ......................... 221
Clothing................................ 10 I don't think I have had any new clothes or shoes since Jan, and that was £30 of sales clothes but I need to put something in here
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 - I car share and get lifts 3 days a week
Road tax................................ 22 - 2 cars
Car Insurance........................... 70 - 2 cars
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 - 1 of our cars is quite old
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 300 - maintenance, 2 of the step children are 'children' 2 are adults
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 26 - 2 cats
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 22
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 - each child £50 for birthdays, £100 for Christmas, and I have a big family. This number includes Christmas food, cards, etc.
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0 - won't have a hol in 2012. But would like one next year
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Charity payments........................ 19
Total monthly expenses.................. 2000


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5500
Other assets............................ 3500 - art. Tis an investment and it is beautiful and I won't sell it
Total Assets............................ 134000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 97471....(675)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 97471.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin credit card.............528.......53........29
Virgin credit card.............4039......41........0 (but £2000 of this wil be 29% on 12th)
Halifax........................4943......50........0 current deal ends Dec
Tesco car loan.................1824......304.......8
overdrafts (3).................1500......30........0 (but we pay a daily fee)
Barclay........................1300......101.......0
Santander......................2191......22........0 current deal ends March I think
Natwest cc.....................3500......35........0 current deal ends Sept
Total unsecured debts..........19825.....636.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,830
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,000
Available for debt repayments........... 830
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 636
Amount left after debt repayments....... 194

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -97,471
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,825
Net Assets.............................. 16,704

Ok, I will brace myself

LondonGirl252

Hi there!

Well done for posting your SOA. Do you find that you have the £194 left after debt repayments each month? If not keep a spending diary and look at how you can save and put that money towards debt.

Also, definitley use the snowball calculator www.whatsthecost.com to work out which order to tackle the debts, I'd re-do it each time one of them comes of o% and make sure you're debt-busting the right ones!

Good luck, im sure more advice will be along later

[Deleted User]

banwa wrote: »

Hello all,


Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0 (but 4 step children)
Number of cars owned.................... 2Are two cars necessary? Could you get along with one until debt free?

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1721Any room for overtime?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1109You have mentioned that this is temporary for 3 months - what will it increase to then?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2830

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 675
Council tax............................. 110Is this over 10 or 12 months, if 10 then ask your local council if you can spread over 12
Electricity............................. 78every 6-12 months use comparison sites to ensure that you are on the cheapest tariff, if switching makes sense, then check cashback sites
Water rates............................. 35Is this a standard charge or meter - if standard, would a meter be cheaper?
Telephone (land line)................... 16What does this include, or is this just phone? Check other providers - I know talktalk do home phone and internet for £20-£25 per month
Mobile phone............................ 20 - I could probably claim £15 a month of this back from work, I never have before, but needs must definitely do this
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50 I have asked him to get rid of sports but he won'tThink you need to have another chat - consider freeview/freesat - you can always re-instate when closer to debt-freedom/debt free
Internet Services....................... 14see comment above
Groceries etc. ......................... 221 difficult to know if this can be reduced - depends if and how often the children are with you but try meal planning, batch cooking, dropping brands, shop lidl/aldi
Clothing................................ 10 I don't think I have had any new clothes or shoes since Jan, and that was £30 of sales clothes but I need to put something in herejoin some of the survey sites and save up the vouchers earned for new clothes amongst other things
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 - I car share and get lifts 3 days a weekAs above - are 2 necessary?
Road tax................................ 22 - 2 cars
Car Insurance........................... 70 - 2 cars
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 - 1 of our cars is quite old
Other child related expenses............ 300 - maintenance, 2 of the step children are 'children' 2 are adults
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0never?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 26 - 2 cats
Buildings insurance..................... 15At renewal use comparison sites
Contents insurance...................... 15as above, often combined is cheaper
Life assurance ......................... 22
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 - each child £50 for birthdays, £100 for Christmas, and I have a big family. I think that you can cut this down a fair bit - buy things in the sales and keep them, also as with clothes above, save up vouchers from survey sites for presents This number includes Christmas food, cards, etc.
Haircuts................................ 20see if there's a local college that will do cuts for cheaper, also see if you can go an extra week or two in between
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Charity payments........................ 19
Total monthly expenses.................. 2000


Assets
Cash.................................... 0do you save somewhere for non monthly bills - MOT car tax, Xmas, birthdays?
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Car(s).................................. 5500
Other assets............................ 3500 - art. Tis an investment and it is beautiful and I won't sell it
Total Assets............................ 134000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 97471....(675)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 97471.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin credit card.............528.......53........29 Focus any overpayments that you can make towards this one as it's the one that is costing you the most at the moment
Virgin credit card.............4039......41........0 (but £2000 of this wil be 29% on 12th)On the 12th july? Make this one your second priority then, once the above one is clear make any overpayments you can towards this one
Halifax........................4943......50........0 current deal ends DecWhat will the rate be then?
Tesco car loan.................1824......304.......8I'd sort out the CC's first before considering any overpayments here - the CC's are more likely to have higher interest rates after the 0% period than this
overdrafts (3).................1500......30........0 (but we pay a daily fee)Is this reducing any each month, or are you only managing to pay the monthly fee for now?
Barclay........................1300......101.......0When will the 0% end? What will the balance be then? What will the rate revert to?
Santander......................2191......22........0 current deal ends March I thinkCheck if it is March, and also what the rate charged will be then?
Natwest cc.....................3500......35........0 current deal ends SeptSept 2012? Also what will the interest rate be then?
Total unsecured debts..........19825.....636.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,830
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,000
Available for debt repayments........... 830
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 636
Amount left after debt repayments....... 194Do you actually have this left at the end of each month? If you do then pay this towards the debt costing you the most in interest. If you don't then keep a spending diary to see where it is going.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -97,471
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,825
Net Assets.............................. 16,704Well, overall things are in the black - so not that bad. You just need to tackle the CC's before they all start charging higher interest. You're in a good position at the moment in that most of your debts are 0% and therefore any payments that you are making towards them are actually reducing the balance owed. Start by overpaying your SOA surplus to the debt that is costing you the most in interst - the CC @ 29% - you should have this completely clear in a couple of months and then you can concentrate on the other card that will start charging interest on the 12th.

Hi, and welcome to the boards, and well done for posting.

I have made some comments above, I hope that they help. You really need to get a plan in place before all of your debts start charging higher interest rates - which you are doing, so I hope it goes well.

Good luck,

D9

katsu

banwa wrote: »

Hello all,

After my husband being in and out of work in the last few months, we are going through a bit of a tight spot. Although he has work now, it is on a low wage for the first 3 months. My biggest worry is that most of our debt is on 0% deals on credit cards, and they will come to an end, some of them very soon, and I think it's unlikely we will get any more good credit deals with the lower income (and we have defaulted on 2 payments in the last 3 months - disorganisation mainly:o).

I feel like we have cut back as far as we can (apart from Sky), so I'm not sure what you can suggest, I think i just would like some suggestions/reassurance on the credit card debt

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0 (but 4 step children)
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1721
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1109 - is this the lower income? What will it increase to?
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2830

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 675
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 110
Electricity............................. 78 no gas/other heating? If only two of you use comparison sites to see if you can get cheaper and take energy saving tips and apply them - turning things off not in use etc.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 16
Mobile phone............................ 20 - I could probably claim £15 a month of this back from work, I never have before, but needs must
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50 I have asked him to get rid of sports but he won't
Internet Services....................... 14
Groceries etc. ......................... 221
Clothing................................ 10 I don't think I have had any new clothes or shoes since Jan, and that was £30 of sales clothes but I need to put something in here
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 - I car share and get lifts 3 days a week
Road tax................................ 22 - 2 cars
Car Insurance........................... 70 - 2 cars
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50 - 1 of our cars is quite old
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 300 - maintenance, 2 of the step children are 'children' 2 are adults
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 26 - 2 cats
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 22
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 - each child £50 for birthdays, £100 for Christmas, and I have a big family. This number includes Christmas food, cards, etc. You are spending £1200 on gifts and christmas. You could halve that and have the holiday you'd like to take. Use sales, charity shops etc to shop all year round, and you can cut this back. Cards are to be purchased in sales or cheaper shops, not full price in the supermarket etc. Do surveys for amazon/love to shop vouchers for pressie purchases.
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0 you and DH never spend anything on a coffee or a drink out?
Holiday................................. 0 - won't have a hol in 2012. But would like one next year
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Charity payments........................ 19 This is costing you your highest interest rate. Cut if out for now and get debt free. Volunteer and give your time if you want to support charities for now.
Total monthly expenses.................. 2000


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5500
Other assets............................ 3500 - art. Tis an investment and it is beautiful and I won't sell it
Total Assets............................ 134000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 97471....(675)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 97471.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin credit card.............528.......53........29
Virgin credit card.............4039......41........0 (but £2000 of this wil be 29% on 12th)
Halifax........................4943......50........0 current deal ends Dec
Tesco car loan.................1824......304.......8
overdrafts (3).................1500......30........0 (but we pay a daily fee) you need to account for the fees in your SOA
Barclay........................1300......101.......0
Santander......................2191......22........0 current deal ends March I think
Natwest cc.....................3500......35........0 current deal ends Sept
Total unsecured debts..........19825.....636.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,830
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,000
Available for debt repayments........... 830
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 636
Amount left after debt repayments....... 194 got this? If not start tracking it down. £2k off your debts a year if you can find it, and nearly £400 for your holiday?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -97,471
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,825
Net Assets.............................. 16,704

Ok, I will brace myself

Any room on the cheaper cards to shuffle your higher rate debts?

Some ideas and comments above.

banwa

Hello, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to reply. If I am honest it's because I was so worried about the credit card debt and was awaiting a decision from RBS on a credit card I applied for and couldn't face posting again until I had an answer.

Thankfully I got the card, 0% on £6800 for 22 months, I was able to clear the virgin 29% with that, and also the Halifax credit card which was due to run out much sooner than I'd thought. Also when I called virgin to check the outstanding debt was still at 0%, they offered me 0% that day too so I was able to do a big shuffle and we are 'safe' again for a few months.



So here is the revised SOA.

• We are making mimimum payments on all cards monthly.
• We make £2 payments to each card each week so that it appears we are making more than minimum payments too.
• The exception is the Natwest card to which we pay £48 per week
• We ALWAYS make all these payments, we NEVER pay extra, we NEVER spend on credit cards or extend overdrafts so incoming and outgoings are realistic.
• We did extend the joint and Mr B's overdraft (by £400 in total) when he was out of work. Overall though the debt continued to go down, as our payments exceeded the £400
• The debt has slightly increased since last posting, due to balance transfer fees and also I had miscalculated the barclayloan by one payment.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1721
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1109 until mid Oct when it might go up to £1440 (fingers crossed)
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2830
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 675
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 110
Electricity............................. 78 on strange 'dual' meters and can't go elsewhere, have tried twice
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35 (not metered)
Telephone (land line)................... 16 (we were charged £66 for last quarter though when Mr B was searching for work)
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 14
Groceries etc. ......................... 218 - this is a guess, I monitored this at the start of the year and will start to do so again
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 cut from £150 by lift sharing. Don't do any non essential journeys- too tight
Road tax................................ 22
Car Insurance........................... 70 we did shop around for these
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 300 child maintenance
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 can't remember the last time one of us had a prescription
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 26 2 cats. Insurance +vaccs + flea and worm treatment
Buildings & contents insurance..................... 30 (cover for high risk items, I shop for this every year)
Life assurance ......................... 22
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 4 children, £50 for birthdays, £100 for Christmas, plus other borthdays and Christmas
Haircuts................................ 20. Trim and dyeing for me, I do Mr B's (lucky him)
Entertainment........................... 0 if Mr B were to get a payrise, I fear this is where the extra would go, not extra debt repayments. We never go out anywhere
Holiday................................. 0 ditto
Emergency fund.......................... 100 - replaced iron and kettle this month. Something is always cropping up. If it doesn't, we would put this toward debt payment
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Charity payment......................... 19
Total monthly expenses.................. 2097

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5500
Other assets............................ 3500
Total Assets............................ 134000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 97471....(675)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 97471.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin CC part I...............941.......10........0 until 15/03 then it would be 29%
Virgin CC part II..............3157......32........0 until July 2013 then 29%
Tesco car loan.................1824......304.......8 last payment Jan
Overdrafts x 3.................1900......0.........0
RBS CC.........................5657......57........0 until end of April 2014 then 16%
Natwest CC (husbands)..........3500......208.......0
Santander CC...................2068......21........0 until October 2012 so this is the worry at the minute. 18.9% thereafter
Barclayloan....................1414......101.......0
Total unsecured debts..........20461.....733.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,830
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,097
Available for debt repayments........... 733
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 733
Amount left after debt repayments....... 0
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -97,471
Total Unsecured debt.................... -20,461
Net Assets.............................. 16,068
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.


So he focus now has to be Santander and Natwest, and although at the minute I do feel like we are back 'in control', I am just terrified these deals are going to come to an end and my luck will run out.

I think the main reason for me posting is either

a)for some reassurance that we are doing the right stuff. At this rate it will take us over two years to clear which is pretty daunting. I can't imagine we can sustain these 0% deals for that long.
b)Or do we consolidate now while the going is good? I know I have asked this before but £15k of credit card debt rolled into 1 monthly payment does seem very appealing

Not sure I can do another 2 years of this:(

dancingfairy

Hi - it looks like you are doing well.
A few comments:
1) emergency fund - do you need to save this much each month - maybe you could cut it to 50 a monthand pay the rest of the debt?
2) sky? could you cut this down at all?
3) presents - is this 100 per child at christmas or total? maybe you could cut down to 35 a child for birthdays and less at christmas?
4) charity payment - can you cut this?
5) also hopefully your OH will get a payrise in October?

Why not have a play with the snowball and see how much difference an extra 50 pounds a month or 100 a month would make to your DFD? then you can decide what you want to cut (or not).

The car loan finishes in January as well so that will really help you.
Keep going.
df