Crunch point

Scottishdiva

Please help, my OH have reached the point where the money just isn't balancing, he has kind of done a very basic SOA and there is around a £300 shortage each month without spending anything on luxury items such as food, fuel etc.

I just don't know what we can do, as I can't afford to top it up that much and he can't increase his income much more.

Where should we start ? We own our own home and have done for about 1.5yrs, there is around about 14k of equity in it.

I have tried applying for a personal loan, but my bank has rejected it because of the way in which my OH managed what was his account and now is a joint account ( became joint so I could keep an eye on the bills)

I just don't know where to start

Joek_2

Hi and welcome!

There'll be plenty more folk who'll have a better idea of how to hep you out, but if you're able to post a full SOA, then we can see if there are any savings to be made there.

Also, I always recommend giving CCCS a call to see if they can give some advice - they usually do!

Don't panic, something can always be done!

SunderlandBlackCat

Firstly he will need to progress from a kind of partial SOA to a full SOA. You need to know where every penny is going as its no good plugging a small leak here & there while theres a huge flood of money going out elsewhere.

Start a spending diary so you/he can see exactly where it all goes.

Getting more debt to make ends meet is not the answer & will only make things worse in the long run.

When its ready post the SOA on here & the people will be able to recommend ways to reduce the outgoings.

Scottishdiva

Thanks Joek,

He seems unwilling to speak to CCCS, or the card people as he doesn't want any defaults or something like that. I am not entirely sure which is what is worrying me more

Scottishdiva

I have gone through his SOA and he isn't spending any money on anything other than, debt, bills and fuel. He isn't paying over and above the minimum payments so there isn't any way we can cut down these costs.

It really does seem like there is no answer

Joek_2

Scottishdiva wrote: »

Thanks Joek,

He seems unwilling to speak to CCCS, or the card people as he doesn't want any defaults or something like that. I am not entirely sure which is what is worrying me more

I completely understand. I was pretty much in the same boat - and didn't want to face up to the fact that for me all the payments were doing was delaying the inenvitable (I was doing the usual thing - taking out from one credit card and popping it into another).

The day I decided to stop that and speak to CCCS (and the lovely folks here) was fantastic.

I think the situation is this - you need to find that £300 that you are missing.

Now, with a full SOA, that may well be possible (and have you guys thought about eBay?).

But if it isn't going to happen (and he does need to be utterly realistic about it), then another route has to be found. My philosophy was this:

"Why worry about a bad credit rating if all that means is that I'm going to go further and further into debt?".

It is tough, but if he can be persuaded to take that first step, then it only can get easier.

Whatever happens, I wish you both very well.

SunderlandBlackCat

I don't think there's much else you can do until he has his LightBulb Moment.

Could you get him to come on here & talk anonymously about his concerns?

azjh77

Only 2 things I can suggest:- phone CC companies, ask about reducing the rate, long shot but they did it for both my cards. Also, phone mortgage co. enquire about increasing mortgage term, we had 14 years left, but increased it to 25, saving us £200 pm. We hope to reduce the term once our debts are paid.

Good luck

warburtonrichard

Hi there, £300 seems like a lot, and it is defnitely a lot to be overspending in a month, but cosmically speaking, it's not a milliuon miles from being able to get yourself in balance with some of the following steps.
post an SOA here and include all the bills, the things people will say include:
You can save money on your utility bills by switching and get cashback for the switch. E.g. We saved £20 a month.
Have you got sky/cable? Do you need it need it need it? No really? Savings £40 a month?
Mobile bills - more than £20 a month? Do you need this? Mine used to be £60 a month and it's half of that now.
Water bills - would a meter be cheaper for you? I moved to a metered property and saved about £10 a month
Shopping - We went from £65 a week to £40 a week MAX - saving about £120 a month
Packed lunches - £3 a day from the sandwich man turned into £5 a week TOPS, plus we sometimes cook a bit more of a night and have it for next day's lunch (mmm tuna risotto today)
This kind of stuff turns £300 overspend into a near breakeven.
Then you can start selling things, reducing minimum payments on the most expensive cards by paying more than the minimum, get them down one at a time by snowballing.

but the best way to get the advice on this is to post your joint SOA here and let people point these things out in their most helpful way.

Good luck

Warby

lindens

Hi there
You don't say if you are a stay at home mum or have kids, but if you don't work how about making money otherways such as mystery shopping or clicking and doing surveys on the web. There are separate threads for both those things with lots of links and other tips. You can do those whether you are working or not - i have a fulltime job and do myster shopping in my lunch hour in town.

immoral_angeluk

IF you are on a water bill and pay over 8 or 10 months ask them to spread it over 12. Same for council tax.