Debt worries, I want rid of my credit cards!

Fay_elizabeth

Hello everyone,

I'm feeling a bit stressed and worried about mine and my partners spiralling debt. Despite both working full time we never seem to have any money.

Whats more depressing is that I worked out I'd actually be financially better off on housing benefit and JSA.

I've posted my SOA below, I'd be really grateful for any advice.

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.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 840
Partners monthly income after tax....... 750
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1590

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 650
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 80
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 80
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1210


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................1300......60........29.9
Capital One....................350.......25........34.9
Aqua...........................1000......40........34.9
Lloyds credit card.............3000......100.......15.9
Wonga Loan.....................750.......0.........4214
Vanquis........................250.......15........39.9
Total unsecured debts..........6650......240.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,590
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,210
Available for debt repayments........... 380
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 240
Amount left after debt repayments....... 140

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,650
Net Assets.............................. -6,650

sistafromanothermista

:wave: Hi and
First evil step over with, facing up to it....it's never pretty
Is there anyway you can reduce your mobile phone bill?
Also are you paying anything off the Wonga loan?

DCFC79

Fay_elizabeth wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I'm feeling a bit stressed and worried about mine and my partners spiralling debt. Despite both working full time we never seem to have any money.

Whats more depressing is that I worked out I'd actually be financially better off on housing benefit and JSA.

I've posted my SOA below, I'd be really grateful for any advice.

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.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 840
Partners monthly income after tax....... 750
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1590

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 650
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70 Is this for both of you ? if so then its really high, see if you can bring it down
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 20 could reduce this
Groceries etc. ......................... 160 looks ok
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 80 this bus or train ? would a monthly ticket be cheaper
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 80 what does this cover
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1210

What looks high to me is your mobile phone, your internet could be reduced. You could maybe look at shopping at the discounters if not already, do you meal plan and cook and freeze meals in batches ?

Might be other outgoings you could reduce.

Fay_elizabeth

Thats mine and my partners mobile phone bill combined. We both have contract phones which are on 18 month contacts. We both use out phones a lot for work so I can't imagine we can really reduce the amount we spend on them.

As for meals, we do tend to plan them in a hap hazard kind of way, but I will definitely take a look at some of the meal plans and ideas on here.

As for internet, again, we need a good connection for work, we have Sky who have always been faily reliable.

19lottie82

Fay_elizabeth wrote: »

Whats more depressing is that I worked out I'd actually be financially better off on housing benefit and JSA.


Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 840
Partners monthly income after tax....... 750
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1590

How can 2 adults with no dependents would get almost £1600 a month in housing benefit and JSA?

I'm a bit confused here. You say you both work FT, yet a FT salary (37.5 hrs a [EMAIL="week@£6.08"]week@£6.08[/EMAIL]), after deductions would be £884.82, yet you both bring home less than that?

AND you have to pay for your own mobiles and internet connection?

chevalier

I would also query your pay. The thing that I feel is good is that you have a paper surplus, but do you actually have this? If not then you both need to do a spending diary to see where that is going. But the thing that is killing you is you rent. One of your wages is just covering the rent and council tax. So can you move?

19lottie82

chevalier wrote: »

I would also query your pay. The thing that I feel is good is that you have a paper surplus, but do you actually have this? If not then you both need to do a spending diary to see where that is going. But the thing that is killing you is you rent. One of your wages is just covering the rent and council tax. So can you move?

OP's profile shows that they live in Crystal Palace. If this is still the case I'm guessing £650 rent is pretty cheap?

heyboots

19lottie82 wrote: »

How can 2 adults with no dependents would get almost £1600 a month in housing benefit and JSA?

I'm a bit confused here. You say you both work FT, yet a FT salary (37.5 hrs a week@£6.08), after deductions would be £884.82, yet you both bring home less than that?

AND you have to pay for your own mobiles and internet connection?

Fulltime counts as anything over 16 hrs

19lottie82

heyboots wrote: »

Fulltime counts as anything over 16 hrs

I wouldn't agree. There are no "set hours" that define a ft worker, but the general concensus is that a full time job is over 35 hours a week, usually 37.5 from my experience.

Tixy

Hi Fay

I think your SoA looks a little unrealistic - if you really had £140 spare a month your wouldn't have the level of debts that you do. I think you need to go back over your SoA and try to fill it in as realistically as possible.

-Do you have a TV? you have nothing budgeted for TV licence.
-You have nothing budgeted for clothes - which is not sustainable over a long period, put a small budget in just for essentials.
-Medical - do you never spend anything on prescriptions, dentist, opticians etc?
-Contents Insurance - do you have any?
-Presents - try to work out your annual spend and put 1/12 in your monthly budget.
-Haircuts - unless you do them yourself then budget for them.

Unless you budget for everything when an expense comes up you'll be back to hitting the credit cards.

Your incomes both seem low, especially compared to housing costs. Is there any way for either of you to increase your pay? overtime? better paid job? a part time job evenings & weekends?

Have you stopped all spending on the cards? are they cut up?

Are your rolling over the wonga debt each month? and how much is this costing you to do - again that needs to be in the budget.

What were the debts run up on? is there anything you could sell to help you clear the wonga loan? If you could get rid of that and not keep renewing it then you would at least stand a chance of being able to meet your repayments and not having to reuse credit.

heyboots

19lottie82 wrote: »

I wouldn't agree. There are no "set hours" that define a ft worker, but the general concensus is that a full time job is over 35 hours a week, usually 37.5 from my experience.

sorry I should have justified that. DWP consider anything over 16 hrs to be fulltime
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/fnd-quick-ref-guide.pdf

In All legislation I have to adhere to as an employer 29hrs per week is the maximim I have ever seen referred to as "minimum" to be considered fulltime.

Its almost always 16hrs or over.
and in my "other" job, no one works over 34 hrs per week. hope that helps clarify what I was referring to.