Newbie drowning in debt circa £330K

Allypops

There's always a solution. It wont be easy and it might take a while.

Of course you don't have to share the reasons for your debts but I urge you to have an honest look at how you have got to this position. What has the money gone on and why? Not to beat yourself up about it but as a first step to turning things around.

Secondly you could go onto the Consumer Credit Counselling Service website and complete their debt remedy. It is completed anonymously and will give you an indication of your options. It also produces a report with lots of useful information in it. It may suggest a DMP where any surplus after essential expendidture and priority debts is shared amongst remaining creditors on a pro-rata basis. It will mean that your credit rating is hit badly but also means that your home is safe.

From your SOA, it looks like your groceries stand out as very high and one area that you may be able to make substantial savings.

Now your SOA is up I expect others will be along with some useful advice.

Take care

Joanne123

Explore learning for the twins £186 per month
I can only stop it at the end of the tax year and I will be doing so in March as it is through the system at work when I lose £186 before tax. It should up my take home income by around £100 per month.

I think will contact one of the charities youand other posters suggest rather than the man from the CAB at work it's probably a bit less embarrassing.

Joanne

I really am going to bed now

merlot123

http://www.rnib.org.uk/livingwithsightloss/yourmoney/benefits/Pages/council_tax.aspx

This may help you. Its not only for those with blind persons.

Don't know which council you belong too otherwise I've could of got accurate info, but its worth looking into - every little helps.

Growurown

Joanne123 wrote: »

Our debt is around £330K. I stopped counting at £326K and there's at least another few cards which I don't have the courage to count.

The biggest debt is the mortgage which is £261K. The rest are all credit cards plus a zopa loan which finishes next year.

Initially when I saw your post and thought hell that's a lot of money but that includes your mortgage. There are lots of people here in very similar situations to yours and there is a solution to your debt problem. Get some advice from one of the agencies such as CAB, CCCS or Payplan. I suspect because of your income they will recommend that you start a debt management plan, but you need professional advice. This problem can be sorted so try not to worry.

michelle2008

Hi Joanne. One for the morning but have you got the APR and repayments back to front for the John Lewis debts?

I know you have said you can't move - but have you really looked into it properly? You house value is high - as is your mortgage. Give such a big chunk is interest only have you thought how you will repay that £160k at the end of the term?

There are lots of great folks on here - I am sure they will have lots of great advice for you. Hope you have a good nights sleep

retepetsir

Welcome to the board!

It's good to get it all written down.

Firstly, as mentioned by someone else, you can certainly reduce that grocery bill if you use meal plans, etc. £750 between two adults and three children is huge.

Life assurance also seems very high, is it good cover? You may be able to reduce this although understand your OH's age may not help.

National_Debtline

Hello there. We can see that you've had some great help and support so far. Like the others have already mentioned, your housekeeping figure is very high. DLA is regarded as an allowance so doesn't need to be treated as income, and since it is for a dependant you can keep it off the budget.

We have created a useful system called My Money Steps which can provide you with free, tailored information about the best options open to you. You can find it here: http://www.mymoneysteps.org/

Do consider having a chat with one of the debt charities, as we are all here to help you move your situation forward

Best wishes,

NDL.

slowlyfading

Joanne123 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2350
Partners monthly income after tax....... 905
Benefits................................ 1022
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4277
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1360
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 177
Electricity............................. 85
Gas..................................... 80
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36
Telephone (land line)................... 34
Mobile phone............................ 14
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 760 - this is high - I know there's a few mouths to feed but this can be scaled back quite a bit, pop over to the Old Style board for lots of tips could definitely get this down to £350/£400 with a bit of planning!
Clothing................................ 40 - every month?
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 50
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 2 - really?
Other travel............................ 5
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 186 - what's this for?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 16.5
Contents insurance...................... 16.5
Life assurance ......................... 122 - does this need to be so high?
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 40 - every month?
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50 - stop this for now!
Emergency fund.......................... 30 - good to see this here, but do you actually save it somewhere safe?
Total monthly expenses.................. 3305.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 320000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 800 - what's this?
Total Assets............................ 323300

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 261000...(1360).....5.89
Total secured & HP debts...... 261000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
John Lewis (me)................8054......16.9......270
John Lewis (Husband)...........6750......17.9......195
Kays...........................260.......45........0
Nationwide.....................5950......133.......17.9
Bank of Scotland...............6977......69.77.....3.94
MBNA (husband).................3748......115.......23
MBNA (me)......................7942......181.......14.95
Halifax one CC.................1849......18.49.....7.92
Post Office CC.................945.......94.5......18.9
Marks and Spencer CC...........10849.....270.......18.9
Overdraft (husband)............1200......0.........21.2
Overdraft (joint acco..........1800......0.........18.9
Overdraft (me).................1650......0.........18.9
Zopa...........................1682......210.......8.9
Barclaycard (husband)..........10780.....195.......11.4
Barclaycard (me)...............7800......185.......10.5
Total unsecured debts..........78236.....1551.56...-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,277
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,305.12
Available for debt repayments........... 971.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,551.56
Amount short for making debt repayments. -579.68
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 323,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -261,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -78,236
Net Assets.............................. -15,936

Made some points above - look at paying off the Post Office CC first, as it's the lowest amount but still quite high interest - one you start crossing them off you'll have more money for the others. Have you cut up the cards? You really need to stop spending on them ASAP.

Also, do you have anything you can sell? Have a look around, I bet you have!

Another thing, have a look through all of your food cupboards and see if you can make meals from them for the rest of the week and into next - try and save some money from the grocery fund and pay it off

Good luck - it is possible but you need to bring in lots of changes to your lifestyle!

Heffi1

I agree with the others, the grocery spending is far too high, now it might seem difficult to know how to cut this down, but do an inventory of all of the food you have in the house today and see how many meals you could make with what you already have, then try to not spend anymore on food apart from maybe milk and bread, it is surprising once you actually look at what is in the house, you could probably feed everyone for at least a week without buying anything else. This would save you at least £150 this week alone. also if you are spending on the credit cards, then these will not increase by this much either meaning next months interest will not be so high.

I would have a look on the money saving board for hints and tips, they are brilliant at making meals out of nothing and they are good meals too. i have put the link below so you can find it easily.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

Let us know how you get on.

heartbreak_star

Joanne123 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2350
Partners monthly income after tax....... 905 - can he do some freelancing or paid surveys from home?
Benefits................................ 1022
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4277
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1360
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 177 - is this over 12 months?
Electricity............................. 85 - seems high, check tariff
Gas..................................... 80 - as elec
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36
Telephone (land line)................... 34
Mobile phone............................ 14
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 760 super duper high! If you have a stay-at-home dad, batch cook from scratch!
Clothing................................ 40 - can you cut this, or ebay old stuff to offset?
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 50
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 2
Other travel............................ 5
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 186
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 16.5
Contents insurance...................... 16.5
Life assurance ......................... 122 - monthly? really? can you lower this at all?
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 40 - monthly? can you buy a set of clippers and do men's yourself, or leave a week or two between cuts (can offset one/two set of cuts a year)
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50 - you can't afford this at the moment
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 3305.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 320000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 800
Total Assets............................ 323300

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 261000...(1360).....5.89
Total secured & HP debts...... 261000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
John Lewis (me)................8054......16.9......270
John Lewis (Husband)...........6750......17.9......195
Kays...........................260.......45........0
Nationwide.....................5950......133.......17.9
Bank of Scotland...............6977......69.77.....3.94
MBNA (husband).................3748......115.......23
MBNA (me)......................7942......181.......14.95
Halifax one CC.................1849......18.49.....7.92
Post Office CC.................945.......94.5......18.9
Marks and Spencer CC...........10849.....270.......18.9
Overdraft (husband)............1200......0.........21.2
Overdraft (joint acco..........1800......0.........18.9
Overdraft (me).................1650......0.........18.9
Zopa...........................1682......210.......8.9
Barclaycard (husband)..........10780.....195.......11.4
Barclaycard (me)...............7800......185.......10.5
Total unsecured debts..........78236.....1551.56...-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,277
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,305.12
Available for debt repayments........... 971.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,551.56
Amount short for making debt repayments. -579.68
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 323,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -261,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -78,236
Net Assets.............................. -15,936

Few bits and pieces in purple from me. Try the snowball calculator on here if you think you'd like to try hammering away at one debt at a time. Like others, I suggest calling CCCS though - they can be life savers.

I wish you the absolute best of luck!

HBS x