A fresh start...again!

daviesalie_2

Well, after a year of farting around with my finances, I'm back for a fresh start...new mortgage :j and new car in tow!

I've spent the last year paying my parents back the deposit they loaned me to buy my house, but in the meantime my debts have remained the same, if not increased slightly.

I took the step of taking out a 3 year loan to repay my extortionate MBNA 34.9% credit card. The minimum repayments were £110and the interest was £100 a month. I'd had the card for 3 years and was going around in circles, so at least there's light at the end of the tunnel now. 29 payments to go!!

The new car...it sort of makes sense. I was paying £85 for the finance on my old car, but it was a 1.6 petrol costing me £40 a week in petrol and £240 a year in road tax. I bought a brand new car, which does 70mpg and no road tax. Insurance also down by £8 a month. It's costing me about £40 a year less to run than my old car, so it made sense at the time

Anyway, here's my SOA. Be harsh! I need a good talking to to get me back on track

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2277.69
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 204.1
Other income............................ 365
Total monthly income.................... 2846.79
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 597.2
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 376.9
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 62
Gas..................................... 70
Water rates............................. 32
Telephone (land line)................... 14
Mobile phone............................ 47 (Mine & son's)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 22-No aerial
Internet Services....................... 0-Inc in phone
Groceries etc. ......................... 216
Clothing................................ 43-for 4 people
Petrol/diesel........................... 108
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 26
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 14
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 415.5-for 3 days:eek:
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 25.58
Contents insurance...................... 0-Inc in buildings ins
Life assurance ......................... 28.15
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 75
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25
Total monthly expenses.................. 2349.45

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 150
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 125150

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 110000...(597.2)....3.99
Secured Debt.................. 4900.....(200.9)....8
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8000.....(176)......8
Total secured & HP debts...... 122900....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card 1..................950.......24........18.9
Credit Card 2..................800.......30........4
Credit Card 3..................1300......30........19.9
Loan...........................1500......75.26.....18.9
Next...........................500.......45........24.9
Overdraft......................3400......59........20.9
Laptop HP......................400.......21.5......24
Credit Card 4..................375.......15........20.9
Total unsecured debts..........9225......299.76....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,846.79
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,349.45
Available for debt repayments........... 497.34
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 299.76
Amount left after debt repayments....... 197.58
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 125,150
Total HP & Secured debt................. -122,900
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,225
Net Assets.............................. -6,975
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

asparagus1968

Hi, not sure why no-one has replied yet?
shop around for all utilities and insurances
join cashback sites
meal plan
any way to swap CC debts to the lower interest cards?
is it sky you are with? if so,after you cancel with them the existing card you have on the box will act as a freeview card!you won't need an aerial.
then you just look for a good deal for phone and broadband.
could have a look at giffgaff for mobiles?

good luck

InsertWittyName

Your SOA seems pretty spot on, my only points would be:

• Groceries seem lean - is it accurate?
• Gas & electric seem high, it's double what I pay for 2 adults & 2 children (with someone always at home). Have you looked at switching?
• I assume the other income is fixed (child maintenance?) and not something that can be increased?
• Can you get childcare vouchers from work via salary sacrifice? Could save you a fair bit and with your take home pay you're heading towards higher rate tax territory.

I don't think you need to go the route of a DMP or anything as severe as that - you're showing some money left according to your SOA, so use that money wisely.

You're also quite 'lucky' in the fact that you have small (but many!) individual debts, so snowballing will work well for you to ensure you pay minimum interest and still get spurred on by clearing debt.

I would tackle your debts in the following order:

Next...........................500.......45....... .24.9 (2 months to clear using money left over)
Laptop HP......................400.......21.5......24 (1 1/2 months snowballing Next's payment)
Credit Card 4..................375.......15........20.9 (1 month)
Credit Card 3..................1300......30........19.9 (4 months)
Credit Card 1..................950.......24........18.9
Overdraft......................3400......59....... .20.9
Loan...........................1500......75.26.... .18.9
Credit Card 2..................800.......30........4

Every time you clear a debt, close the account.

When you've cleared Credit Card 3 I would look into 0% credit cards, 0% super balance transfer cards etc. to try and tackle the remaining debt.

The reason I say this is that you'll have paid a good chunk of debt off already which will put you in a better standing for new (lower interest) credit to clear the remainder.

To give you some hope, 14 months ago my SOA looked very similar to yours...

I now owe less than £600 and will be debt free in 4 weeks I cleared roughly half my debt to put me in a more 'credit worthy' position and then used that to refinance the remainder of the debt.

Hope this helps!

mildredalien

Your SOA looks reasonable - although that is a pretty hefty hire purchase sum!!! Cutbacks could be made here and there (clothes, presents, entertainment, making sure you have best deals on utilities). Try the old style board for tips on reducing costs, look for freebies, and sell old stuff (clothes, toys etc.) to make money.

The main thing it seems is to actually stick to the budget in your SOA and make sure that £200 (or more) is left over each month to tackle your debts. Plug your SOA into the snowball calculator, it may give you motivation to see how quickly you can pay off your debts if you knuckle down! Once it's gone, you'll have an extra £500/month to play with