Long time lurker posts 1st SOA - Deep Breath....

worktolive_2

Here goes............(she says grimacing...)...

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................ 1682
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1695
Benefits................................ 145.16
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3522.16
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 263
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 281
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 129
Electricity............................. 48.5
Gas..................................... 48.5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34.09
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 72
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 260
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 260
Road tax................................ 33.33
Car Insurance........................... 54
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 595
Other child related expenses............ 70
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2524.54

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 178000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 126550...(263)......2.5<
Car Lease......................0........(281)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 126550....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco CC.......................3278......100.......16
Natwest CC.....................1450......50........16
Natwest CC.....................2322......23.5......0
Mum and dad....................5000......0.........0
Tesco Loan.....................5000......132.......0
Capital One....................888.......50........0
Barclaycard....................940.......50........6.9
Halfiax CC.....................4526......45.2......0
Natwest O/D....................1299......21........17
Total unsecured debts..........24703.....471.7.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,522.16
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,524.54
Available for debt repayments........... 997.62
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 471.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 525.92
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 178,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -126,550
Total Unsecured debt.................... -24,703
Net Assets.............................. 26,747
.

Well...now it's all written down it looks terrible. I feel quite overwhelmed at this. Even though we have a good income we are still pinched by debt. This debt has mounted up over the years, but took a massive hike about 3 years ago when I was not working due to being at home with the kids and my husband was in teacher training, therefore our income dropped dramatically and we just got by on cards. We are both working now full time and gor good salaries, but we really want to get these debts behind us and start enjoying our income and be in a position to save a good emergency fund and then start paying off the mortgage, which is on interest only currently.

I am sure you lovely lot will see areas of our SOA that could be rearranged - although I do really try to budget and get the best deal for most things, I find that sometimes we get carried away and say 'sod it, lets have a spend up'!!

Any advice would be welcomed.

Mach4

transfer balances to lower interest if possible.

your barclaycard limit is probably high, will they offer you a life of balance transfer?

If not and you arent being accepted for new interest free cards the work on one card and then call up to close it down when its cleared. Theyll often then offer you an interest free balance transfer period to try and keep you. Accept it.

Tixy

Hi and welcome

I guess the first question is do you have an extra £500 left after your minimum debt repayments and are you paying that to your debts each month?
If you do have it are you making sure you pay off the most expensive debt first - to reduce the interest you pay overall.

If you don't have it then start spending diaries to see where you are spending more than you have identified.

Some suggestions/ideas on your SoA

worktolive wrote: »

Here goes............(she says grimacing...)...

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................ 1682
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1695
Benefits................................ 145.16
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3522.16
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 263
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 281
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 129
Electricity............................. 48.5
Gas..................................... 48.5 these are not massively high combined but if you haven't shopped around recently its still worth doing.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34.09
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 72 how many phones is this for? it looks quite high if it just for the 2 adults - can you see if you can drop down a tariff?
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 260 this is good if its all you are spending - but watch out for top-up trips to the shop using up some of your surplus
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 260
Road tax................................ 33.33
Car Insurance........................... 54
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 595
Other child related expenses............ 70
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2524.54

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 178000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 126550...(263)......2.5<
Car Lease......................0........(281)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 126550....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco CC.......................3278......100.......16
Natwest CC.....................1450......50........16
Natwest CC.....................2322......23.5......0
Mum and dad....................5000......0.........0
Tesco Loan.....................5000......132.......0 try to find out the actual APRs assuming these are not 0%
Capital One....................888.......50........0
Barclaycard....................940.......50........6.9
Halfiax CC.....................4526......45.2......0
Natwest O/D....................1299......21........17
Total unsecured debts..........24703.....471.7.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,522.16
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,524.54
Available for debt repayments........... 997.62
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 471.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 525.92
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 178,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -126,550
Total Unsecured debt.................... -24,703
Net Assets.............................. 26,747
.

It really doesn't look too bad - its quite a chunk of debt but you know how it came about and seem to have sufficent income to tackle it. There is nothing particularly excessive on your expenses. Try putting your figures through the snowball on the same site as the SoA to see how long it will take you to clear your debts.

worktolive_2

Hi, thanks for replying.
We've tried to get new 0% deals but have been declined on several occasions so I dont want to keep on trying as I read that this has a detrimental effect. Every time I make a payment to the cards, i reduce the credit limit so as to stop us re-spending the payment.

Tixy

Rather than reducing the limit you might be better off keeping the limits as they are - and perhaps cutting up the cards if you think you might be tempted to spend.

If you keep the limit at the same amount of the balance it looks like you are using near 100% of your available credit - which can be one of the things that makes it harder to get new 0% deals.

Maybe stop reducing the limits and pay as much as you can in the next few months and then try for another 0% deal in 6months.

worktolive_2

Hi tixy,

Yes, we do have this cash left over (well most of it) and we do bung it off of one of the cards. when we are paid I work out what needs paying for the following month and what we will have left, then i draw out cash from the bank and separate it into envelopes for each week, so we have £60pw for groceries and i MUST keep under this as we are not allowed to do top up shops (only where absolutely necessary!). I am quite tight really! Any left over weekly money goes in our sealed christmas pot!
We do have 2 cars ATM, both ours, but one of them has cost us a fortune this month and we have decided to sell it and go for a lease contract on a new one. We can't keep shelling out throwing good money after bad on a car, so we took the plunge with a lease car. We are in the process of selling the car and so that money will be used to pay something down. Will prob be about £1500 - £2000, so looking forward to that.
We have 2 mobile contracts, unfortunately with ages to run on them:(
The gas and leccy monthly dd incorporates 3 months bills that went unpaid as the provider didnt take the dd for 3 months - i only realised this a few weeks back and arranged for it to be rolled into a new dd setup. useage is lower than £100 pm really, as we are all out all day.
The tesco loan, i think was 7.9% and was originally £7.5k over a 7 year period. The balance on this is now capital repayment. TBH this monthly bill is like a part of the furniture now!

Mach4

worktolive wrote: »

Hi, thanks for replying.
We've tried to get new 0% deals but have been declined on several occasions so I dont want to keep on trying as I read that this has a detrimental effect. Every time I make a payment to the cards, i reduce the credit limit so as to stop us re-spending the payment.

This is a good idea if you dont really trust yourself and you dont have the £500 surplus.

If the surplus is real which means you are paying of 500 per month and you can trust yourselves then stop reducing your limits. pay off natwest first (if it really is highest apr) it will be gone in 3 months. then call and cancel if you have good payment history probably 50:50 theyll offer you an interest free bal transfer to keep you.

Mach4

worktolive wrote: »

Hi tixy,


We do have 2 cars ATM, both ours, but one of them has cost us a fortune this month and we have decided to sell it and go for a lease contract on a new one. We can't keep shelling out throwing good money after bad on a car, so we took the plunge with a lease car. We are in the process of selling the car and so that money will be used to pay something down. Will prob be about £1500 - £2000, so looking forward to that.

Lease cars are generally expensive. Would be more sensible to buy a cheap 2nd hand car.

worktolive_2

Yes, the lease is a more expensive option, but we value the peace of mind knowing that the car is brand new and fully maintained and so we dont need to worry about MOT / Tax / Servicing. We have a cheap 2nd hand car (well 2 at the mo) and one of them has cost us over £1000 this month just to keep it on the road. We both need a car for work (you can see from the fuel we use that we do alot of driving!) and we feel that this is the best option for us.

Mach4

worktolive wrote: »

Yes, the lease is a more expensive option, but we value the peace of mind knowing that the car is brand new and fully maintained and so we dont need to worry about MOT / Tax / Servicing. We have a cheap 2nd hand car (well 2 at the mo) and one of them has cost us over £1000 this month just to keep it on the road. We both need a car for work (you can see from the fuel we use that we do alot of driving!) and we feel that this is the best option for us.

Fair enough, its your cash! Just realise it is a bit of a luxury which means that you cant choose another luxury.

I do more driving than you £300 per month on petrol and have a car worth about £500 quid (had it 6 years cost 2.5k). If it needs repairs costing more than £200 I'll replace with a £3.5k second hand car. You're now spending that amount every year.